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Ebony fingerboard vs. rosewood

#61
Joebone said:
I think Roger Sadowsky is also on record that fretboard wood is more determinative than body wood.

I think the tactile experience of your fingers on and along the fretboard has a lot to do with your ultimate sound - you're in contact with the wood as well as the frets, and if you gliss, slide, pull and do vibratos, then you are definitely getting the feel and sound of the wood.

In general, as a finger player often in a jazz or latin vibe, I prefer ebony. I find it centers pitch very quickly, and sounds clean - I like the quick attack. Maple is too bright and I don't like the feel. Rosewoood is rounder, and can have that purr thing going on - hard for me to get ebony to purr. Pau ferro also is pretty cool - the missing link between ebony and rosewood, a bit on the brighter side.

That said, I'm having a fretted bass built, and have decided to go with rosewood (ash body). I'm looking for one flexible axe that can cover a whole lot of scenes, and have decided that rosewood will give me that flexibility, whereas the ebony often kind of stands out in certain contexts.

On fretless, ebony, ebony, ebony. The feel, the sound and the pitch clarity absolutely rule. Ebony is super-responsive to left-hand technique on fretless. I keep flat wounds on my fretlesses, (one neck through, one bolt-on) and get positive feedback on the sound of those instruments pretty much whenever I play them in public.
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well put. I will only add that each flavor is equally delicious depending on individual tastes :thumbsup:
 
#64
I have a couple of fretless basses - one with ebony, the other one with rosewood. I can't honestly say that I prefer one to the other. Mind you, ebony is a neckthrough, whereas rosewood is bolt-on. Ebony is a tad brighter, but not much - more modern, less forgiving. Rosewood is warmer, gives the tone almost an acoustic quality.
 
#66
Most of my experience is with rosewood, however, I have a '61 Gretsch Firebird Jet 6-string electric guitar with ebony and I love it! I'm presently building a Frankenbass with a Warmoth fretless ebony fingerboard that I can't wait to explore and enjoy. I like the look of ebony, as well as the feel, which to me seems a little more warm than maple (but only from guitar experience) - Rosewood seems warmer, despite even softer rosewood being harder than maple.

As for ebony's brightness spoken much about in this thread, I hope it brings out the whine on my f-less. If it's "clacky" then that's up to me to tone down with better fingering technique and the right strings and EQ. I plan to use D'Addario Chromes (flat wound) on it.

Esthetically, I love the dark look, as well as the super tight, silky grain. My fretless board is very close to black, only showing its deep grain coloration under extremely bright flood light.

I like rosewood, as well, but some I've seen seem to have a more open grain which is a "feel" that I don't care for as much, which, of course depends on the finish of it - (unless I'm mistaking my woods). But otherwise, some of it can look super pretty.
 
#67
I would only go for ebony on a fretless due to its durability. It looks great on any bass but reading the above comments it sound like it could be a 'noisy' wood. But I think it could be a personal thing. I think like a warmer mellower tone with just a little bit of treble (like from a p-bass).
 
#68
Though black ebony tends to be sought after I prefer to see some grain pattern in it.
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#69
As it has been eluded to prior in the thread...
There is a different kind of brightness that Ebony has over Maple has...

Ebony has more of upper focused ping that comes out then maple IMO where as Maple has more of the wider range in the upper mids (at least to my ear).

I find Pau ferro maybe slightly more focused and brighter then rosewood but not as much a maple or ebony (again to my ears).
 
#72
dincz said:
It certainly eludes me :)

And what's all this stuff about feel? I don't know what my fingerboard feels like. My fingers only touch the strings. What am I doing wrong?
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Well as you know I'm specifically speaking of "sound/tone". There is ever ever so slight 'give' factor that players are referring to especially to the guys who smaller frets...It super-super subtle, but I can understand if something 'feels' different.
 
#75
Ebony is beautiful and very hard. It has one issue to consider. It is also very brittle from a woodworking perspective. If your or a luthier has to refret or change the nut, it is possible the fingerboard could be chipped in the process. This I got when I was considering an ebony neck.
 
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