So if a rosewood fretboard were to be finished as maple? alla Rickenbacker sandwiches
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Does fretboard wood make a consistent difference in tone that you can hear?
- Thread starter Gorn
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- difference fretboard tone wood
So if a rosewood fretboard were to be finished as maple? alla Rickenbacker sandwiches
Lol all bets are off (I actually have a Gibson knock-off with a finished rosewood board. Except for the fact that they didn't use grain filler, It feels almost exactly like maple).
But your research doesn't tell us if it was about buying a bridge or nut ... or changing fret or plek the fret ... or changing the poopy Fender bridge for a Badass. How many of those hits talk about the effect on tone ... not that much if any
This isn't a "bad" thread but it's kinda taking on that KVR/GEARSLUTZ aroma 
This is a complete cop-out. The same can be applied to any single element of the signal chain, even the ones that are fairly blatant- "The day someone performs the feat of consistently and correctly identifying (fill in the blank) by listening to an instrument (without touching it or seeing it) is the day I'll believe it".
Can you consistently and correctly identify the pickup by listening to a recording? Can you even consistently and correctly identify the pickup position?
Does the pickup impact the voice of the instrument?
Can you consistently and correctly identify the speaker being played through? Can you even identify the size of the speaker, consistently and correctly?
Does the speaker have an impact on the voice of the instrument?
What about some of the basics- can you consistently and correctly identify the bass being played? The amp being played through? The microphone used to record it? The microphone placement? The placement of the amp in the room? The size, shape, and acoustic properties of the room?
Is it your position that none of these elements have any impact on tone whatsoever, or are you just being very selective in terms of what you're willing to apply this criterion to?
This is a false dichotomy, a logical fallacy. The fact that A impacts tone does not negate the fact that B impacts tone.
I can most definitely listen to recordings and pick out tones that I like, and tones that I don't like. I can pick out tones that are appropriate in certain circumstances that would be inappropriate in others.
I can hear a wide variety of nuances that comprise a broad spectrum of very different bass guitar sounds.
If nothing made any difference to the voice of the instrument, then all electric bass guitar would sound exactly the same, right? And yet, that's clearly not the case.
The final recorded tone is the end result of many elements impacting the voice of the bass, from the player, to the bass itself, the pickups, the strings, and yes, even the wood the instrument is constructed from, to the amp, the speaker, any effects being used, the microphone and its placement, the placement of the amp in the room, the room itself, the engineer, and much more.
The greater our understanding of how each of these elements come together and contribute to the final sound, the more control we have over achieving the outcome we're looking for. This is one of the ways we learn and grow as musicians.
Saying that a person cannot consistently and correctly isolate a single element of a very complex mix, and therefore nothing makes any difference, contributes exactly nothing to increasing that understanding.
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Teles have two single coil pickups, Strats have three. Why would you expect them to sound the same?
SGs and LPs aren't built the same. Isn't this thread about fretboard material affecting tone?
Your Tele/Strat point is well made.
The thread is about fingerboard wood but you notice it drifted into "body materials don't matter." Hence my introduction of the ES vs SG vs LP example. You answered it. Same pickups different build they sound different.
The thread is about fingerboard wood but you notice it drifted into "body materials don't matter." Hence my introduction of the ES vs SG vs LP example. You answered it. Same pickups different build they sound different.
Yes it does. But it makes more difference between maple and rosewood than between rosewood and ebony. I'd also say than the clear finish coat on the maple fingerboards makes even more of a difference...
What *does* add to understanding is an objectively measurable difference. Can you provide even one scientific study that demonstrates a consistently humanly identifiable difference between rosewood and maple? Can you identify which harmonics heard through an amp comprise a "warm" or a "bright" tonal characteristic? Not a resonance detected by the body, but harmonics within the range of human hearing, reproduced through a signal chain and an amp? That's all I've asked for and nobody has produced it yet.
Play a Tele and a Strat using the neck pickup solo'ed.
If nothing matters except the strings and pickups, they should sound identical. If you can't hear a difference between the two, I'd suggest that you protect the remainder of your hearing, because you haven't got much of it left!
Science is great stuff. I really like it! Where research is done, we get proof. That's so cool. But an absence of scientific research neither proves nor disproves a hypothesis. The "show me the science" argument cuts both ways: Fretboard wood makes a difference — show me the science; fretboard wood does not make a difference — show me the science. And the lack of science does not negate the the human experience (I know beer makes me pee; I don't need science to tell me).
Play a Tele and a Strat using the neck pickup solo'ed.
If nothing matters except the strings and pickups, they should sound identical. If you can't hear a difference between the two, I'd suggest that you protect the remainder of your hearing, because you haven't got much of it left!
Do both have the same fretboards? :-D
Does it matter? According to you the strat could be Rosewood while the tele is asphalt, and it wouldn't matter.
Still no facts, just snark. This thread hasn't changed in the past week.
If there were measured differences, we could definitively say things like "this bass has a warm tone, and this Sadowsky is warmer than that Fender." We can't currently say things like that because the terms are 100% subjective. I'm exactly as right about this as you are, and Roger Sadowsky is just as right as Mark Tobias, even when they disagree, in the absence of science and facts. I say where there's any difference in tone between two otherwise identical basses, very little if any at all is attributable to what *type* of wood the fretboard is made of. You can't say I'm wrong if you can't prove it.
Where did I say asphalt is a useful guitar building material?
Look, dude - if you have some facts, lay em on me, and I'll agree you're right. There haven't been any yet. There was a report posted that said construction matters (not the topic being debated) and the guy who posted agreed it was irrelevant to the topic. There were a couple of physics videos posted arguing that type of fretboard wood doesn't matter, and there's been nothing to refute any of that stuff except anecdotes and opinions.
A Strat still has three pickups, which have magnets, and even if you're not using all three pickups in the signal, the magnets are still affecting the strings. If you want to prove a hypothesis, you have to control variables. Of course a SG and a LP sound different. Of course a P bass and a PJ sound different. Of course two identical P basses sound different. Prove that it's because of the type of fretboard wood.
Don't bother, it's like dude needs an apple to fall on his head to believe that gravity exists.
I don't want to derail but the Strat Tele comparison isn't valid -both use single coil pups but different construction by design. Carry on...
Okay.
I just called my tech. He worked on the Jefferson Airplane' gear then Alembic, Fender and is Gibson and Martin authorized.
He said the difference between a Tele and Strat are their bodies. Swap pickups and they still sound respectively like a Tele or a Strat just not as good. The Teles neck pickup is wound with more and different guage wire to give a bassier response. The bridge pickup sits in a metal plate that has the effect of changing its magnetic response. The Strat has no metal plate but in it's design the pickups get sound from their back too. What's metal behind them? Springs. There is a phase issue which we appreciate. The Strat has staggered pole pieces which where originally designed for wound low strings. The Tele does not. Hendrix had a different sound among all the other reasons because his pickups were flipped.
So to my tech the others parts while significant contributors don't eclipse the effect of the body.
Okay important derail over.
I just called my tech. He worked on the Jefferson Airplane' gear then Alembic, Fender and is Gibson and Martin authorized.
He said the difference between a Tele and Strat are their bodies. Swap pickups and they still sound respectively like a Tele or a Strat just not as good. The Teles neck pickup is wound with more and different guage wire to give a bassier response. The bridge pickup sits in a metal plate that has the effect of changing its magnetic response. The Strat has no metal plate but in it's design the pickups get sound from their back too. What's metal behind them? Springs. There is a phase issue which we appreciate. The Strat has staggered pole pieces which where originally designed for wound low strings. The Tele does not. Hendrix had a different sound among all the other reasons because his pickups were flipped.
So to my tech the others parts while significant contributors don't eclipse the effect of the body.
Okay important derail over.
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