• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Does fretboard wood make a consistent difference in tone that you can hear?

I can hear a consistent difference between fretboard materials

  • Yes

    Votes: 183 41.5%

  • No

    Votes: 181 41.0%

  • Highly figured birdseye quartersawn carrotwood

    Votes: 77 17.5%
  • Total voters
    441
#81
oren said:
On a fretted electric bass the string vibrates between the metal fret and the metal bridge piece, and that vibration is transmitted magnetically to the pickup. Maybe I’m missing something, but I cannot logically see how the wood of the fingerboard could have an effect on the sound in that chain.

Fretless could be a different story altogether.
Click to expand...

The strings vibrate on the resonator (neck / body) which affect the overtones and harmonics that the strings emanate. The transducers pick up these vibrations while also coloring the sound.

Fun Fact
There's also a difference between round woumd strings and flat wounds ;-)
 
#82
oren said:
On a fretted electric bass the string vibrates between the metal fret and the metal bridge piece, and that vibration is transmitted magnetically to the pickup. Maybe I’m missing something, but I cannot logically see how the wood of the fingerboard could have an effect on the sound in that chain.

Fretless could be a different story altogether.
Click to expand...
Quick thought experiment.

Take a 3” metal pipe, 20’ long. Put your ear up against one end, and have someone tap it with a hammer on the other end.

Can you hear the tap? Of course, because metal conducts vibration very efficiently.

Now, bury that pipe so that only half of it is exposed, and do the same thing.

Can you hear the tap? Probably, but not nearly as clearly as before, and it will no longer ring at all. Why? Because the ground has soaked up all harmonic energy from the metal, and all you hear is the first harmonic, and even that is much more subdued.

Take that same experiment and repeat it in water. The pipe will ring like a bell, even though it is still half submerged.

Saying that embedding the metal fretwire into a wooden board eliminates the properties of the wood, is to not understand how vibration is transferred in a system.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: MattZilla, quickervicar, M.R. Ogle and 2 others
#84
2tonic said:
Submitted for your consideration.........
The fretboard/neck combo is the resonant connector between the nut (or fretted fret, which now acts like the nut) and the bridge, so its specific rigidity will affect tone, attack, and sustain.
Different combinations of woods deliver different results.
Identical combinations can deliver varying results, due to the vagaries of wood composition, glue up, mating surfaces, and 10,000 other factors.
So I'm suggesting that each neck is an "entity unto itself".
Sure, maple/maple usually seems brighter than maple/rosewood, but a badly made MM could sound dull and lifeless while a perfectly constructed MR shines.
Fretless? All bets are off!

The concensus thinking of Rosewood is warm, Maple and Ebony are bright and good for slapping can prove true, but be due to the units rigidity, not the hardness of the fretboard.
Look at Status graphite necks....very hard, yet sound warm.
Pedulla Buzz bass with Diamondcoat......somewhat brighter with lots of bloom (mwaaah?)
Modulus? Seem very bright.
I'd bet the Rockwell hardness of these fretboards is within 10% of one another, but they sound very different.
Jus' sayin!:cool:
Click to expand...

I generally agree with you but bring to the table that even similar densities of woods may resonate differently affecting the tone as well. There is of course, differences within the same wood type as we're working with organic materials.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2tonic and tfer
#87
Im in my late 40’s, been playing bass since the mid 80’s... have owned numerous basses, i say a resounding “yes”, i noticed early on, even as a teenager, there were subtle differences in rosewood vs maple board’ P basses, for example.( I believe body woods play into the sonic nuances as well).. i also agree with tobias, Sadowsky, etc.., not just because they are legends, icons & experts in instrument making, but because of my own experience.. they just confirm what I already believe.
I do believe the people who cannot hear any differences- for example, a good friend of mine has severe tinnitus and I guarantee he cant hear any differences in wood types, lol.. Ymmv
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Pbassmanca, GrapeBass and tfer
#89
Afc70 said:
Im in my late 40’s, been playing bass since the mid 80’s... have owned numerous basses, i say a resounding “yes”, i noticed early on, even as a teenager, there were subtle differences in rosewood vs maple board’ P basses, for example.( I believe body woods play into the sonic nuances as well).. i also agree with tobias, Sadowsky, etc.., not just because they are legends, icons & experts in instrument making, but because of my own experience.. they just confirm what I already believe.
I do believe there are people who cannot hear any differences- for example, a good friend of mine has severe tinnitus and I guarantee he cant hear any differences in wood types, lol.. Ymmv
Click to expand...
Coincidentally, I have tinnitus. Hmmmm.... ;)
 
#93
I'm a fan of maple fretboards (mainly for the looks) and have owned several maple-boarded guitars and basses of various types. I've also owned and played several instruments with different fretboard woods, some of which were nearly identical to my maple boarded instruments in most other respects (model, primary body wood, pickups, etc.). Various changes in pickups and strings have helped me to differentiate between the inherent tone of each instrument and the elements of the tone supplied by those parts. In my personal and probably biased opinion, I notice a slight difference between the maple boarded instruments that I would attribute to the board due to a similarity across the different instruments.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Afc70
#94
I have two StingRay 5HHs, one rosewood and one maple. The rosewood bass purrs; the maple one bites. That’s for sure.

But I have other rosewood- and maple-fingerboard basses (and an Ebinol one, too), and the other variables — pickups, electronics and body woods combined have a greater impact. That is, a rosewood, basswood, neo-p’up, four-band 18v-pre, bent-bridge Bongo and a maple, alder, single-coil, passive, high-mass bridge, string-through Jazz just don’t sound anything like each other or either a maple or rosewood, ash, alnico-p’up, three-band 9v-pre, bent-bridge, StingRay. And a P Bass with flats (sunburst and a tort guard), a whole other world of tone.

A stringed instrument is a system — all components matter.

And in a band mix, much of this is lost on the audience.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bassomane and birminghambass
#97
JRA said:
you would have to be considered an expert (in some area/pursuit) to know the difference. ;)
Click to expand...
not sure what you mean.

“Well he’s wrong, but he sure knows what he’s talking about” is something i’ve never heard

I think maybe “know what they’re talking about” means different things to different people.

Man this subject is touchier than gun control in America.
 
#99
On a more serious note, I've read a few threads here on TalkBass and on other guitars forum on that subject. It's always the same debate.

Over the years, I've owned numerous Stratocaster / Telecaster with both Maple & Rosewood board. Look isn't important as I enjoy the view of both wood but, I realized that I always bonded much more with the Rosewood. Maple's used to be traded / sold much more often.

And that's all I will ever say on that subject.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GrapeBass

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back