Does switching from rosewood to maple visually throw you off?

[Thom Fioriglio]

My issue is if the side dots are too small or indistinct against the wood. I have a dark Wenge neck, gorgeous, but with tiny dots that I’m thinking to adding stickers to. Generally rosewood or ebony vs maple in itself isn’t an issue.

Yeah this is more what I’m talking about. I find the contrast of the dots on the maple board easier to pick out than the rosewood. Actually it’s Indian Laurel which is a bit lighter.
Someone had mentioned a fretless. I have an ebony fretless board and that is not a problem at all. The white dots pop out visually against the black ebony.

 

[Thom Fioriglio]

Played a rosewood fretless and maple fretted interchangeably for years. Never was a problem because my focus is on the strings, not on how it looks visually.

I have a fretless with an ebony board and that has never been a problem. It’s the lighter brown Indian Laurel which the contrast with the dots is not as great.

 

[Thom Fioriglio]

I have and had both.

The only problem I've ever had in this regard is with new/ish faux clay dots on a Fender vintage reissue type neck with rosewood board.

The dots were too dark aesthetically for reproduction sake and functionally in dark or dimly lit spaces. In instantaneous moments to reset initial bearings in low light was less easy. Looking for the white bone nut in low light was better to re-establish connection and coordination with the neck.

I replaced Fender's faux clay dots myself with much more natural or accurate, lighter colored, aged clay dots I purchased from Musikraft. The neck turned out perfect.


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Funny you should mention this. I briefly owned a Lakland 44-94 that had maple inlays for fretboard dots and side dots. They were so hard to see.

 

[dalkowski]

Never.

 

[covermego]

Yeah, my brain kinda tilts when I grab onto a Maple neck. Kinda like that weird angle when standing in a swimming pool and your leg is angled weird.

JK. Definitely different for me, though. Takes a while to get comfortable with maple.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Hey there bass friends! Just curious if this happens to anyone else. I’ve been a maple fretboard player for years and recently got a Lakland 44-02 with a rosewood fretboard. When I play it, I sometimes feel like I am thrown off a bit as to where the frets are. Meaning it takes a little adjustment visually to get my bearings. The maple fretboard with the black side dots are easy to see. The rosewood board with off white dots sometimes takes getting used to. It’s just a visual thing. It could also be that the 44-02, when played sitting sits a little further back than my Jazz bass with the maple neck so my positioning is off by a fret. I think I explained that clearly.

Never noticed any differences but, aesthetics-wise, I prefer dark boards.

 

[Ghastly]

I've never thought about it, so I think my answer is no.

 

[InhumanResource]

Hey there bass friends! Just curious if this happens to anyone else. I’ve been a maple fretboard player for years and recently got a Lakland 44-02 with a rosewood fretboard. When I play it, I sometimes feel like I am thrown off a bit as to where the frets are. Meaning it takes a little adjustment visually to get my bearings. The maple fretboard with the black side dots are easy to see. The rosewood board with off white dots sometimes takes getting used to. It’s just a visual thing. It could also be that the 44-02, when played sitting sits a little further back than my Jazz bass with the maple neck so my positioning is off by a fret. I think I explained that clearly.

I share the concern and can see this being an issue, however my experience is not quite the same. I do a lot of my at home practicing on a bass with a maple board, but my bass that I bring to rehearsals and shows has an Ebony board (same model). I thought it might be an issue but everything translated smoothly. This particular bass is a little slimmer and easier to play than my practice bass, so that might be helping things. I can definitely see this tripping someone up if they are used to looking at the neck a lot, though.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

I have 50/50 and that never happened to me, but all of my electric basses are the same scale length.

 

[alex1fly]

Hey there bass friends! Just curious if this happens to anyone else. I’ve been a maple fretboard player for years and recently got a Lakland 44-02 with a rosewood fretboard. When I play it, I sometimes feel like I am thrown off a bit as to where the frets are. Meaning it takes a little adjustment visually to get my bearings. The maple fretboard with the black side dots are easy to see. The rosewood board with off white dots sometimes takes getting used to. It’s just a visual thing. It could also be that the 44-02, when played sitting sits a little further back than my Jazz bass with the maple neck so my positioning is off by a fret. I think I explained that clearly.

No, but if dots are small or low contrast (like dark brown fingerboard against medium brown dots) I do struggle visually. I've put Jockomo fret inlay stickers on two of my basses to help with this issue.

 

[jd56hawk]

 

[Bass-ball]

Throws me off too, OP. Not horribly or anything, and it's possible it could be other factors at play, but yeah, it takes a few moments to get used to it for me. That said, I only have one maple fretboard in the collection, so it doesn't happen often.

 

[Thom Fioriglio]

Throws me off too, OP. Not horribly or anything, and it's possible it could be other factors at play, but yeah, it takes a few moments to get used to it for me. That said, I only have one maple fretboard in the collection, so it doesn't happen often.

Thanks! And to the others with similar replies that I am not alone. Again, it’s not a major problem, but just a difference enough to make a bit of a difference

 

[MAJOR METAL]

I experience this more switching between 4 & 5 string bass.

 

[Mike Vee]

It just takes getting used to. I have 3 rosewood Fenders and a Maple Stingray. The more time I have all of them, the less time it takes when switching around to adapt to maple vs rosewood, and more so, to the different neck widths / thicknesses. For me, the biggest shocker and difference is from the Jazz bass to the Stingray. If I have been playing the Jazz a lot the Stingray will feel a bit uncomfortable for a bit. But then soon enough I will adapt and then love it - that neck is just amazing, but it's chunky and flat. I just know they are all REALLY good basses, so I just try to see them all as individual flavors, and not trying to be the same thing. If one bass isn't quite as fast, that's not necessary a bad thing. None are uncomfortable to play.

 

[SemiDriven]

1/4”? Where did you get those?

 

[micguy]

One of my necks has a Goncalo Alvez fretboard on it - It looks like it’s half maple, half rosewood. I think it’s cool, but for those who don’t like rosewood or maple, it may not be a good choice.

 

[Cristo]

I played rosewood fretboard basses early on, and when I switched to a maple board it was different at first, although it didn't really create a problem.

I can see that the reverse could possibly be a little more troublesome since there is less contrast.

 

[JimmyM]

No it doesn’t throw me. You can get used to anything.

 

[juancaminos]

I grew up with Maple fingerboards exclusively but since I've gone to unlined fretless it's been Ebony.
However I did buy an unlined Maple neck from Warmoth and, while it looks great, it just doesn't seem right.
I recently bought an unlined Rosewood neck that just got ate up quickly, I mean real fast. But I do like the looks.