I'm getting a replacement neck for a jazz bass and would appreciate some opinions re: ebony or rosewood fingerboard
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Ebony fingerboard vs. rosewood
- Thread starter Bruce Morrison
- Start date
Doner Designs
Steve Doner
- Jun 2, 2012
- 5,784
- 6,819
- Disclosures
- Doner Designs is an alias for Steve Doner
Personally I would go by which look you prefer (assuming the bass has frets). If you notice the tone difference between fingerboard woods I think ebony gives you the dark look with the snappy tone of maple. Ebony tends to be viewed as a higher end thing but since its not used on Fenders a purist might prefer rosewood or maple.
Warmoth wenge/ebony is my favorite combo and the price is not too bad considering you don't have to finish it.
Warmoth wenge/ebony is my favorite combo and the price is not too bad considering you don't have to finish it.
Ebony rules. Stable, strong and expensive for a reason. Like others have chimed in....looking for the best bass or trying to keep with the fender tradition??
I find Ebony to be sort of a hybrid of maple and rosewood, its got an airy, bright and hard attack. Rosewood tends to me more mellow and warm.
There are other factors to consider, what kind of tone you like, how your pickups sound, what kind of strings you use. If you want to brighten things up, Ebony, if you want to mellow things out, Rosewood.
There are other factors to consider, what kind of tone you like, how your pickups sound, what kind of strings you use. If you want to brighten things up, Ebony, if you want to mellow things out, Rosewood.
Ebony tends to have the top end of maple, but added low end as well. Think of it as a slight smiley face EQ curve.
If given the choice, I'd choose ebony every time.
I have Brazilian rosewood, maple and Ebony boards on my active 5ers. I find that the body wood, pickups and preamp can affect how the different boards sound.
But apples to apples, I find Ebony to be nearly as bright as maple and rosewood is warmer and more rounded out.
As far as one being "better", I don't think that should be a factor. Ebony is expensive but the Brazilian rosewood board on one of my basses would cost many times a what any ebony would cost.
I personally love ebony, maple and rosewood, but if I had to pick one for a build, it would be ebony almost every time. It looks cool, is solid as a rock and gives me the snappy highs of maple but some of the warmth of a darker/softer wood.
But apples to apples, I find Ebony to be nearly as bright as maple and rosewood is warmer and more rounded out.
As far as one being "better", I don't think that should be a factor. Ebony is expensive but the Brazilian rosewood board on one of my basses would cost many times a what any ebony would cost.
I personally love ebony, maple and rosewood, but if I had to pick one for a build, it would be ebony almost every time. It looks cool, is solid as a rock and gives me the snappy highs of maple but some of the warmth of a darker/softer wood.
BassHappy
Supporting Member
My opinion is probably off kilter - according to many - but here it is.
As a guy who plays really hard with a pick exclusively on fretted basses, I just can't do ebony. It is the wrong kind of bright for me. It's what I like to call "klacky". Hey finger players and fretless players, there is probably nothing better, you need the brightness in the attack - but the extra brightness doesn't work for me. The pick is adding attack to the sound and frankly, so do the frets.
It was funny, when Rob Allen made my Mouse, he mentioned that for fretted pick players, he always found ebony to be klacky. I grinned my knowing grin when he said it. A little something I had picked up from Paul Reed Smith years before. I played a couple of fretted ebony basses in his shop and sure enough - "klacky" and then some, especially with the shorter neck. Doing the A-B test on the spot with two identical basses - one rosewood and one ebony - was a total eye opener for me on the klack test. I highly recommend it, especially for those who are going by looks or feel. Ultimately, it's all about the sound for me.
We needed the look of ebony on the bass to go along with a busy spalted top, so Rob ebonized some rosewood for me. Not sure if he used a quality black dye or if he actually ebonized it - some use both - but it has held up perfectly for over 10 years. So it looks like ebony but sounds sweet and warm like rosewood should - with no klack. There is a great article here on the process
Ebonizing Wood
If you are interested, true "ebonizing" involves more than the use of dye.
As a guy who plays really hard with a pick exclusively on fretted basses, I just can't do ebony. It is the wrong kind of bright for me. It's what I like to call "klacky". Hey finger players and fretless players, there is probably nothing better, you need the brightness in the attack - but the extra brightness doesn't work for me. The pick is adding attack to the sound and frankly, so do the frets.
It was funny, when Rob Allen made my Mouse, he mentioned that for fretted pick players, he always found ebony to be klacky. I grinned my knowing grin when he said it. A little something I had picked up from Paul Reed Smith years before. I played a couple of fretted ebony basses in his shop and sure enough - "klacky" and then some, especially with the shorter neck. Doing the A-B test on the spot with two identical basses - one rosewood and one ebony - was a total eye opener for me on the klack test. I highly recommend it, especially for those who are going by looks or feel. Ultimately, it's all about the sound for me.
We needed the look of ebony on the bass to go along with a busy spalted top, so Rob ebonized some rosewood for me. Not sure if he used a quality black dye or if he actually ebonized it - some use both - but it has held up perfectly for over 10 years. So it looks like ebony but sounds sweet and warm like rosewood should - with no klack. There is a great article here on the process
Ebonizing Wood
If you are interested, true "ebonizing" involves more than the use of dye.
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Ebony all the way. Looks killer and feels like silk. Very upscale. I dislike rosewood and would never choose it voluntarily.
I dunno, most of my basses are Ebony but the one below IMO looks MUCH better than plain black Ebony. Rosewood can look pretty upscale.....
Another vote for ebony. I have an 8 year-old fretless Warmoth bass with an ebony fingerboard, always strung with nickel roundwound strings. It does have some shadow markings from the strings, but no gouges. It's a tough wood.
I do have a 3 fretted basses with rosewood boards, one with an awesome grain pattern. There's one in particular that I always go to for slap and really digging in, and you can see parts of the board that's gouged between frets.
Rosewood would never be a deal-breaker for me, but if I had a choice, I'd pick ebony.
I do have a 3 fretted basses with rosewood boards, one with an awesome grain pattern. There's one in particular that I always go to for slap and really digging in, and you can see parts of the board that's gouged between frets.
Rosewood would never be a deal-breaker for me, but if I had a choice, I'd pick ebony.
On many basses that might be true, perhaps including J-basses, and I mostly play with a pick so I'd probably avoid ebony for this reason. But of course other factors matter. For example, I used to have a DiPinto semi-hollow with an ebony board that wasn't "klacky." With its hot single-coils, it did have plenty of zing with rounds when played with a pick, but this was tempered by the "warm" elements, especially the semi-hollow mahogany body. Overall, an outstanding pickstyle tone, like a P-bass but with some hollowbody "thud" and single-coil "air."
