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Calling all P-bass players!

Which board do you prefer when you play with a pick?

  • Rosewood fretboard

    Votes: 56 38.6%

  • Maple fretboard

    Votes: 89 61.4%
  • Total voters
    145
  • Poll closed .
#62
mark beem said:
Ash body - maple fretboard
Alder body - rosewood fretboard

Both my Fenders have rosewood boards (alder bodies)

View attachment 794827 View attachment 794830
Click to expand...

Wow. I've got a couple of lookalikes on my wall.

P1060557.JPG
 
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#65
My favorite fretboard wood:
Maple > Ebony > Rosewood for the big 3. Of course, there are always beautiful exotic woods that I would choose over all 3 depending on the grain.
My favorite bass I own has ebony fretboard, second favorite bass I own is rosewood, but my P bass is maple!

1d8HdALl.jpg
 
#66
I always tried to carry two basses when I was gigging, usually a Jazz Bass with a rosewood board on a swamp-ash body dressed with round wound Rotos, and a P Bass with a maple fretboard on another swamp ash body, dressed with Roto flats. Each has its own unique groove, and I can finish the night with either one if something goes south with the other. But I own about twelve basses, so it largely depended on how I was feeling any given night-- I have a hybrid that we built a million years ago, way before Lynn Elssworth started Boogie Body-- basically a Jazz body cut from Claro walnut, with the neck, bridge and pickup out of my old '65 Precision, and a pickup from my '63 Jazz. (This sounds more horrifying than it really was, because both instruments had been modded out of collectability before I got them.) This thing sounds better than any of my other basses-- I'll get some photos up when I get a chance.
Wait-- I have one here--
424390_2812562002345_192876379_n.jpg
 
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#68
My MIA Precision V is rosewood because that's how the sunburst's come, but I wish they were available with a maple neck.

I really don't think I'd hear a difference between them that I'd attribute to the fingerboard wood. I just think a maple neck would look even nicer with the sunburst and tort than the rosewood does. But the rosewood is still pretty.
 
#70
Rogatien022 said:
Like a fool I sold my P last year, it was damaged, bruised, hurt but it played like a dream. So i decided I didn't need it anymore for stupid reasons. Maple with a pick and/or fingers, always song dependent.

Before spring I'll get another P, I'm actively on the hunt.
Click to expand...

Consider G&L LB-100 with #8 neck satin finish:
G&L P bass

G&L P bass

G&L LB-100 Honeyburst | Pine | #8 rosewood neck | satin finish
 
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#71
I have had a lot of P basses with both those, and among those, I think I liked the maple boards better. But I play with a pick like 5% of the time.

Currently:
Custom PJ bass, Ebony board
Custom Warmoth build, Pau Ferro
Custom fretless P build, Ebony
Spector NS-2A P/J, rosewood (about to put it up for sale)

But my go-to bass overall is the Dingwall with Rosewood. Pick playing is amazing. Closely followed by the Pau Ferro P-Bass.

I do like maple, but a big thing for me on a bass that I'm keeping is, I like a fretboard made of wood that doesn't have to have finished on it.
 
#73
Well 1st off I prefer Maple fretboards period.
2nd I dont use a pick more than 15% of the time....for my style there is hardly any use for it....BUT I can and do use a pick when needed...
3rd I would prefer 3 P basses.....a Single P, a Double P and a PJ layout. All of them have their advantages in tones and I like to use them ALL...
:)
 
#74
I prefer rosewood for the ease of maintenance and generally the look, but it just so happens that my favorite P-Bass has a maple board. It's a fantastic bass, so I don't get worked up over the specs too much.
 
#75
That's a near perfect picture of a late '70's/early '80's rock band. 5-7 piece drum, an SG through a Fender Twin, a Les Paul through a Marshall half stack and of course a Fender (heavily modded probably) through an Ampeg. Once those pieces fell into place, everything else came easier. It was a true American sound; loud, brash, and just a touch of menace. Records then rarely captured the sound, that presence, of those bands.

Ductapeman said:
I always tried to carry two basses when I was gigging, usually a Jazz Bass with a rosewood board on a swamp-ash body dressed with round wound Rotos, and a P Bass with a maple fretboard on another swamp ash body, dressed with Roto flats. Each has its own unique groove, and I can finish the night with either one if something goes south with the other. But I own about twelve basses, so it largely depended on how I was feeling any given night-- I have a hybrid that we built a million years ago, way before Lynn Elssworth started Boogie Body-- basically a Jazz body cut from Claro walnut, with the neck, bridge and pickup out of my old '65 Precision, and a pickup from my '63 Jazz. (This sounds more horrifying than it really was, because both instruments had been modded out of collectability before I got them.) This thing sounds better than any of my other basses-- I'll get some photos up when I get a chance.
Wait-- I have one here--View attachment 795131
Click to expand...
 
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#77
I'm glad I'm not alone in the sacrilege of not noticing a difference. I've only owned one maple fretboard in my bass life, but it's not as if I planned it that way.

For me, the fretboard wood is more of a visual thing, so whatever goes best with the bass I'm buying at the moment.

I also feel as though any difference in tone between fretboard wood could be compensated for downstream in the signal flow.
 
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#78
I don't know, in my case, whether it's a change in tone as much as the feel of the strings against the wood-- though now that I think, the maple necks are a bit brighter.
 
#79
I need two P-basses, but I need one fretted and one fretless. I play either either one with fingers or pick as needed and I don't much care what the fingerboard is as long as the action is lowish.
 

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