Gary! I suppose this means I have to send you an Fbass strap now!
Yes, finger ramps are wonderful, aren't they? I DEFINITELY prefer them. They allow me to play with much more freedom, whereas without ramps I find myself playing with my right hand over one of the pickups.
As for the ash+maple vs. ash+ebony...I have an ash and maple BN5 and I love it and will no doubt be buried with it...
But I ADORE ash + ebony. That's what I have on my BN6 (and of course my 2 AC6s).
Ebony is much more rare on BN5s than on BN6s, which makes that bass you are considering cooler in my opinion.
But the ebony is a fantastic fit with the ash body and 60s pickup positions.
I had a Fodera Yin Yang for years with an alder body and maple finger board which I loved for fingerstyle playing, but disliked for slapping -- which is very ironic when you consider that it is Victor Wooten's signature bass. But the slap tone was just too clacky for me.
Not long after I sold my Yin Yang, I noticed Victor Wooten stopped playing his maple board YY and started playing one with an EBONY finger board.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed].
Roger rates finger board wood from brightest to warmest like this:
Maple (brightest)
Ebony
Morado (a.k.a. Pau Ferro)
Madagascar Rosewood
Amazon Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood (warmest)
In this article, Roger writes that maple is "best for slap." That may be true if you are talking about a 4 string bass with an ash body, and play like Marcus Miller.
Interestingly, Roger also wrote, "EBONY: Not as bright as maple. Most immediate attack and punch of all our fingerboard woods. Note is more fundamental with less overtones. Best for fretless. Pure black ebony from Madagascar is limited. African ebony has some grey mottling but is still very beautiful."
That totally squares with my personal experience. While I LOVED my maple boarded Yin Yang for finger style playing, I could not make myself like its slap tone. Using modern slapping and plucking styles, it was just too clacky -- too percussive and not enough fundamental.
It tried every kind of string I could come into to improve that bass's slap tone and never found a string that helped, so I resigned myself to playing that bass for times when I'm not slapping. The problem was, I pretty much never play a 4 string bass, much less play a 4 string bass I can't slap, so I sold that bass.
Then I saw something interesting; Victor Wooten, whose main bass was a perfectly fine alder and maple Yin Yang... suddenly started playing a Yin Yang with an EBONY board instead.
As Roger Sadowsky said, ebony has the quickest attack and the most fundamental, so if you are Victor Wooten and can slap and pop 10,000 notes per second, an ebony board is going to let us hear more of the note and less of the clacking than a maple board would. Plus, the brightness of the maple board brings out that sharp fret attack sound.
BTW, 10,000 notes per second was NOT my problem on the Yin Yang or any other bass.
So I can totally see why you would like an ebony board on a BN5.
And of course ebony is very nice for fretless, so when you dial up a Jaco sound, you are going to get a wonderful tone there too.
I say you have a rare find that is probably a great price compared to new, and you shouldn't let it get away.
Thanks Tom! I was hoping you would chime in. This F Bass is absolutely superb. Ash/Maple may simply be another flavor. This bass 'spoke to me.' I instantly bonded and felt like I played better in this BN5. The tone is amazing. The neck profile has more beef than I remember. (and I like it if its any different than my former BN5's.)
The Ramp? WOW! I never would have thought I'd like it, but it instantly felt great and I felt my right hand attack was more fluid and even with the ramp to temper and modulate my attack more evenly. (If that makes sense?)
Yes, one way or the other this F Bass is mine. Money on it has my name attached to it. I just have to decide whether to give up one of my Nordy's to fund it, or take a longer road and buy it outright. We will see.
As for the Weight, I don't remember if my back was sore or not back in the day with my former F Basses. So it must not have been an Issue. Yes, I used a wide bass strap. ..Would not feel right asking for that strap, but what a kind offer.
The Macassar Ebony board sounded great. They didn't have an Ash/Maple in stock to do a direct A-B. But I am a huge fan of 'fundamental' and the bass growled on the bridge like Jaco and had arguably as good a funk/slap tone as I've "ever" heard.
She will be coming home soooon! I'll make peace with the weight. But since it's a question, I think it might be best to bring the F Bass home first and gig with it before letting go of one of my Nordy's.
