Calling all P-bass players!

[mark beem]

Ash body - maple fretboard
Alder body - rosewood fretboard

Both my Fenders have rosewood boards (alder bodies)

 

[Mr. Business]

I guess my answer is obvious, but I rarely use a pick.

 

[Nev375]

Cucumber wood is the best !!

I have cats so I can't use anything with cucumber wood.
It frightens them.

 

[Jeff K]

I agree with DigitalMan.... the fretboard defines the colour of the pickguard. Since all P basses *must* have a tort pickguard, you need a rosewood neck!

I love me some tort; but disagree that all P's need tort. (Yes, I realize that your comment was tongue-in-cheek!!)

 

[stringthrough]

I've owned both. Prefer the feel, look and "cleanability" of a maple neck. That said I've recently moved on to all-rosewood necks (fretboard AND back of neck) thanks to their availability by the likes of Warmoth.

 

[MainelyRiff'n]

Hi - new here - long time player (43 yrs). I finger pick on a maple neck 79 Sienna PB, pick on a newer Pro IV TB, and use a plectrum for most of my guitar playing (outside of slide) on both maple and rosewood strats, teles toronados and p-90 LPs. I find neck material is more influential than fretboard material, fav is a solid indian rosewood neck on a 57 nitro finish Strat.

 

[nonohmic]

I was all rosewood, 24 frets thin necks all the time. But then got GASing hard for a P. Didn't want to jump in at Am STD prices (>$1k) so bought a Matt Freeman sig, because i really wanted white. Didn't want maple tho, but made the compromise.

Man was I wrong, maple is awesome! Less forgiving imo than rosewood, slicker which means it's easier to mess up. Which is good. Sounds great, and looks fantastic.

Def a recent P convert, and maple convert. GASing for an expensive one now ha.

 

[thebreakman]

I like maple fretboards better but it really doesn't matter to me which one I play. I have both, just depends on which tuning I'm using since they are tuned different.

 

[jbd5015]

Just did a great experiment the other day.

Ive got two p-basses that needed some work. The rosewood fingerboard bass needs a refinish, so i ripped it apart to send out. It has lollar 10% overwound pickups in it. I love them, they are great! The maple fingerboard bass i have needed to have the seymour duncan quarter pounders replaced. I feel they have a very unpleasant mid frequency quality to them. Great highs, high output, good price, just not my cup of tea. I could never get the gross part of the mids out of this bass. Mids are EXTREMELY important to my tone, but some of them i dont care for, particularly the ones coming out of the duncans.

I swapped in the Lollars into the maple fingerboard bass, and would you believe that it now sounds just like the rosewood board bass. It was always my backup, but now with the right pickups, id have no problem recording with it. Strung it with TI flats and its a dream. All the other basses have TI rounds, i needed flats bass!

Ill be getting some aguilars or lollars for the refinish bass. Im OFFICIALLY in the camp that believes fingerboard material has NO impact on tone. Not looking to start any fights over it, just stating my findings!

 

[GregT]

Rosewood sounds and feels best to me with my Thomastik flats on both of my Precisions.

Maple is for Stratocasters and Telecasters in my world.

 

[Tom Howland]

The fingerboard wood makes no difference to me when I play with a pick.
Each bass has it's own sound. A Pick works great on any wood.

 

[pedroims]

Depends on the color of the body, my current P is black and maple.

 

[xUptheIronsx]

This thread has made me think of a couple of otehr things:

I feel like I see more rosewood than maple in my recollection, and I always remember people sayign that maple necks play "faster" (?) than rosewood. I have never felt a difference in my ability to play fast from neck to neck.

Thoughts?

 

[SonnyBassPlayer]

I just pick whatever has strings.

 

[twinjet]

Rosewood on Am Std P. Rarely picking.

 

[rogerbmiller]

Carrots. I think the pick colors the tone way more than the fingerboard wood.

 

[Joedog]

I don't think the wood makes much difference. Strings surely do!

 

[jp58]

I prefer maple, but both basses I currently own have rosewood. Not a lot of choice with the first one. The second one, I did have a choice but went with rosewood as it was cheaper. My current gas basses, one has a choice, and one only comes in rosewood.

I prefer maple because it's easier to clean. I've never noticed a difference in tone.

 

[Hi-End Basses]

Fender MIA Precision with Rosewood, Rotosound Swing Bass 66 Stainless Steel, Jim Dunlop USA Nylon 1mm.

 

[RiZzBot]

I chose rosewood because I already have maple on my MMSR4. Love'em both though. Have to say my P edges out the MM by a hair. Just installed David Allen pups in my P. They sound soooooooo good.