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Ebony fingerboard vs. rosewood
- Thread starter Bruce Morrison
- Start date
Rosewood is harder than many people give it credit for. Is ebony harder? Yep. Rosewood is pretty farking hard though.
Ok. You got me there. I look at this bass beside my old Fender P with rosewood and they do look like completely different woods. It is a great piece of rosewood IMO.
There aren't much cooler looking FBs than ebony with no dots/inlays IMO though. My guitarists hate it when they get lost during a song and try to see what note I am playing, but I refused to screw up the clean look on my last custom....
I have one of each (plus a maple). I thinks the differences are minor. the basses all sound/feel different, but I believe the FB wood plays a very small part. Pups, electronics, and strings (body wood to a lesser degree) seem to make a much bigger difference. Having said that, my favorite bass is the one w 1/4" thick quarter sawn coal black ebony, but I attribute my love for it to the total package. I'm probably also biased in that it is the one and only bass I ever made from scratch.....
I'm assuming it's for a fretless because you used the term fingerboard instead of fretboard.
If so, it depends on the tone you're going for, or strings you want to use. If you want to use rounds, or get a good singing tone, I'd go with ebony. If you want to use flats and are going for a thumpy, somewhat upright tone, I'd go with rosewood.
If it's a fretted bass, I'd probably go with rosewood. Not only is it cheaper, but ebony has cracked (though it's not common) due to being too dry. Rosewood is less likely to have that problem. And if you prefer the look of ebony, you can dye rosewood to make it look like ebony.
If so, it depends on the tone you're going for, or strings you want to use. If you want to use rounds, or get a good singing tone, I'd go with ebony. If you want to use flats and are going for a thumpy, somewhat upright tone, I'd go with rosewood.
If it's a fretted bass, I'd probably go with rosewood. Not only is it cheaper, but ebony has cracked (though it's not common) due to being too dry. Rosewood is less likely to have that problem. And if you prefer the look of ebony, you can dye rosewood to make it look like ebony.
I prefer ebony to rosewood as well, but I'm surprised no one's mentioned pao ferro yet. Nice fretless wood with the attack of ebony, the feel of rosewood, and the best of both tones. Just throwing it out there.
Jim Carr
Dr. Jim
- Jan 21, 2006
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- Disclosures
- fEARful Kool-Aid dispensing liberal academic card-carrying union member Musicians Local 72-147
I like the Brazilian Rosewood on my fretted 4-string Sadowsky P/J (humcancelling pickups), but the wood has it's travel and sustainability problems. My black fretless Valenti 5-string has Ebony and is strung with Ken Smith Slickwounds. Ebony works well on that instrument, which has Nordy fatstacks and an Aguilar OBP-1. Ebony is also a threatened wood. The BE Maple on my blue Valenti 5-er with Sadowsky soap bars and Sadowsky pre is in between them in a way. Clearly the strings and electronics are big factors.
IMHO, Ebony is much brighter than Maple. Brazilian Rosewood has that old school warmth.
I like them all.
IMHO, Ebony is much brighter than Maple. Brazilian Rosewood has that old school warmth.
I like them all.
I have one of each (plus a maple). I thinks the differences are minor. the basses all sound/feel different, but I believe the FB wood plays a very small part. Pups, electronics, and strings (body wood to a lesser degree) seem to make a much bigger difference. Having said that, my favorite bass is the one w 1/4" thick quarter sawn coal black ebony, but I attribute my love for it to the total package. I'm probably also biased in that it is the one and only bass I ever made from scratch.....
Personally I never evaluated the tone of the fretboard/fingerboard relative to all the other tonal factors, i.e. electronics, strings, etc. But rosewood has a different tonal vibe than maple, which has a different tonal vibe than ebony, which has a different tonal vibe than rosewood. And it's a difference I can recognize when I hear it. Regardless of how those differences stack up relative to all the other factors, the fact that I can discern the differences in the boards is reason enough to make it a point of emphasis whenever spec'ing out a bass.
All the more reason to condition the fretboard/fingerboard on a regular basis - at least twice a year, IME. At present, all eight of my basses have ebony boards (yeah, I like ebony that much). The oldest one is 11 years old. Have never had the slightest problem with drying or cracking. I never allow the boards to get even close to being in such a condition.
Remember to do your maintenance, and you'll never again have to worry about avoiding a fretboard/fingerboard wood on the basis of its propensity to dry and crack.
MM
Absolutely!
My basses are mainly ebony and rosewood (2 are coated maple so don't require the same treatment) and I quickly condition them every time I change my strings. It takes a few minutes every 2-3 months. Not a big deal and I have never had a cracking problem. The temperature and humidity fluctuations in Toronto are brutal as well.
Even if a bassist plays with ancient flats they never change.... just remove the damned strings a couple of times a year, slap on some fretboard conditioner, Feed N Wax or other conditioning agent, let it sit for a couple of minutes and wipe it down. Done.
I personally enjoy the whole ritual of cleaning my bass, conditioning the fretboard and changing the strings. Usually while my wife is watching some crappy reality or vampire type show that I have no interest in.
I don't like rosewood that much, if I have a choice I'll always go with ebony or maple. Rosewood looks like rust and so the color doesn't match easily ... with hot color like yellow, red etc it is ok but with blue or black etc it is awful to me. Ebony being black match with anything and maple fits with a lot of color since it is almost the same color as gold.
From the look of the pic on my tiny iPhone screen, I would say rosewood.
my benchmark for fingerboards is [gasp!... an electric guitar 
...] a Les Paul Custom... yep, ebony w/ pearl blocks and a split diamond headstock.
i like ebony for the bright tone and smooth, solid feel. and rosewood wears down too easily for how i play
here's my holy grail fingerboard:
_dash
...] a Les Paul Custom... yep, ebony w/ pearl blocks and a split diamond headstock.i like ebony for the bright tone and smooth, solid feel. and rosewood wears down too easily for how i play
here's my holy grail fingerboard:
_dash
Ebony finger board is elegant. Had one on a G&L L2000 that I sold a while back. I miss that neck!!!!
