Fretboard: ebony vs. maple

[somegeezer]

If all you are changing is the fretboard, and everything else is the same, you're unlikely to hear any difference. However, ebony is more dense and so would be brighter. I'd worry less about a single fretboard on sound, though. Choose for what feels best under your fingers, or looks best to your eyes. Those two will be far more significant.

 

[bass12]

The idea that wood affects the sound made by a steel wire vibrating in a magnetic field is just silly. It makes no difference. People think it does, but it's an illusion, just like this:

View attachment 2879030

People are easily fooled.

So dead spots are just illusions?

 

[Luther P]

To answer your question of which wood has the brightest sound:

From my experience (fretless natural uncoated wood fingerboards), I would say all things being equal the maple has a slightly brighter sound -but I would say to my ears the sound of the ebony is more focused (my favorite choice of the two). I use round wound strings -the harder ebony fingerboard lasted three times as long as the maple before the fingerboard had to be redressed! (remove string grooves). It's important to consider the fact that the exact same wood species used to duplicate the exact same instrument will always result in the instruments not sounding exactly the same. i would suggest if at all possible, go to music stores and play the models of instruments you are interested in and check them out for your self. You could also check out any brand of basses that are sold with a maple or ebony option. Some brands may not be exactly what you're looking for -but if you stick to testing the same models, you will get an idea of any tonal differences between the two. Just keep in mind to compare apples to apples. You could also look up bass builders on this site or iNet and see how they describe the tonal differences of combinations of neck and fingerboard/fret board woods.

That said, everything I've said may or may not be that noticeable on a fretted bass -I would defer to the fretted bass players on this list.

 

[MobileHolmes]

There is all kinds of debate about how much difference (if any) fingerboard wood makes to overall tone. But setting that aside for a moment, those are two woods that are both on the bright end of the spectrum, so even if FB wood matters, those two will have negligible differences

If you go by warmoth's judgment, Ebony is just a whisker brighter than maple. They don't quantify it, but I'm guessing the amount of difference is comparable to strings during your second set vs during your third set
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[mikewalker]

...as millions of pianos wake up and say “wait, what?”

if yer piano is being PLAYED, its ebony keys are being oiled by your fingers (well - most of them, one would hope!)

 

[Ricky Caboverde]

For me, the overall construction and electronics of a bass seemed to affect the tone more so than the woods. Where the woods seemed to make the most difference (again, for me) was in how the bass felt/responded. For instance, maple fretboards seemed to respond with more snap and immediacy, but the tone wasn't necessarily brighter.

 

[mcarp555]

Wood choice is the basis. Lower frequencies propagate more easily through denser materials and dissipate more quickly in less dense. Higher frequencies are opposite. Also sound waves refract when passing from one material to another. Hence the wood choices and mixes affect the frequencies available to the pickups.

That makes sense on acoustic instruments, but not electric ones. The pickup can only measure the vibration of the string, not the resonant frequency of the wood. Sound waves traveling through wood have zero effect upon magnetic fields.

So dead spots are just illusions?

How does wood affect a magnetic field? Dead spots are more likely a result of the fact that most string instruments use an even-tempered scale. The frets for some notes are only in approximate positions, which can cause a string to vibrate slightly more or less than it would in a more natural frequency. This may cause a damping effect that is perceived as a dead note. I don't see how the material of the neck, body or fingerboard have anything to do with it.

 

[songwriter21]

I voted maple, but I'm not THAT much more into it than rosewood/pau ferro/ebony/whatever (even composite). I love my maple SR5's neck because it's nicely figured birdseye, but other than that, I can't tell it from its plain rock maple + rosewood brother, neither in feel nor in tone.

View attachment 2878902

That green bass have a roasted neck?

 

[Vinnie Boombatz]

No difference! It's in the pickups and electronics! Choose the one you think looks best!

This reply should have ended this thread 4 pages ago! Straight and to the point.

 

[Slidlow]

Wood choice is the basis. Lower frequencies propagate more easily through denser materials and dissipate more quickly in less dense. Higher frequencies are opposite. Also sound waves refract when passing from one material to another. Hence the wood choices and mixes affect the frequencies available to the pickups.

I guess I should have clarified that denser materials (E.G. Ebony) will accentuate the lower frequencies and less dense (E.G. Maple) will accentuate higher frequencies. Multiple layers will diffuse the frequencies and blend or meld the overall tone. I have been building with primarily solid one piece necks.

 

[Slidlow]

Maple costs about $10 a board foot. Ebony costs around $100.
Not saying that price has anything to do with the sound people hear. Just an interesting point.
My guess is that if ebony cost about $15-20 a board foot we would see it on a lot more instruments.

How many board feet to you think went into this?

 

[Slidlow]

Density of the wood affects the resonance of the strings and can dampen or augment certain frequencies the string vibrates at. How could that not affect what the pickup sees? I have two extreme examples of neck through basses, one with solid ebony neck and one with solid maple neck and both with ebony fingerboards. Maple neck great for higher clarity less so for deep bass. Ebony neck solid bottom weak top end. From that basis pickups and electronics amplify and further define what's available.

 

[skwee]

The one with the brightest pickups!

 

[bass12]

That makes sense on acoustic instruments, but not electric ones. The pickup can only measure the vibration of the string, not the resonant frequency of the wood. Sound waves traveling through wood have zero effect upon magnetic fields.


How does wood affect a magnetic field? Dead spots are more likely a result of the fact that most string instruments use an even-tempered scale. The frets for some notes are only in approximate positions, which can cause a string to vibrate slightly more or less than it would in a more natural frequency. This may cause a damping effect that is perceived as a dead note. I don't see how the material of the neck, body or fingerboard have anything to do with it.

Just because you don't see it doesn't mean that it isn't. Yet another illusion?

 

[Liam Wald]

How many board feet to you think went into this?

I have no idea but that sure is beautiful!

 

[JPaulGeddy]

These threads are like reading a wine tasting.

And, as with wine - get what you like. Within particular strata, there is very very little difference, if any.

 

[chadds]

The idea that wood affects the sound made by a steel wire vibrating in a magnetic field is just silly. It makes no difference. People think it does, but it's an illusion, just like this:

View attachment 2879030

People are easily fooled.

Well we went there.

When you strike a string the first impulse of the string vibrating is picked up by the, wait for it, pickups. The vibration of the string goes through the entire bass and creates a second impulse that aides the vibration to a lesser or more degree. This happens at a speed that there is no delay.

Now the humans involved in the listening fall in different categories. Some people actually hear harmonics that others can’t. Some people use rigs that have such high THD that the distinctions are not evident. Some people’s technique obscures these distinctions. Some people’s technique accentuates these distinctions. Some people’s bands play in such a way that the distinctions are obscured. Some people play purposely with technique induced, pedal induced, preamp induced, amp induced, speaker induced distortion or any combination that can mask the differences.

It’s been oft repeated that different pieces of wood from the same tree sound different. Basses are complete systems that work together to sound. If one is more rigid it can sound different than one that is less so. What we subjectively like about one over the other is personal and is the fun of GAS.

It is far from silly however. If you hear it and feel it then use those senses as part of your search and selection criteria.

The real deal is to find that instrument that doesn’t limit your expression and in fact inspires it.

 

[MDBass]

The idea that wood affects the sound made by a steel wire vibrating in a magnetic field is just silly. It makes no difference. People think it does, but it's an illusion, just like this:

View attachment 2879030

People are easily fooled.

Suggesting that the anchoring materials, which also vibrate, have no affect at all on the vibration means two things:

1. You don't believe in physics.

2. You do believe that essentially every luthier who makes these instruments is wrong/delusional.

Whatever helps you sleep better at night

 

[GrapeBass]

That makes sense on acoustic instruments, but not electric ones. The pickup can only measure the vibration of the string, not the resonant frequency of the wood. Sound waves traveling through wood have zero effect upon magnetic fields.

How does wood affect a magnetic field? Dead spots are more likely a result of the fact that most string instruments use an even-tempered scale. The frets for some notes are only in approximate positions, which can cause a string to vibrate slightly more or less than it would in a more natural frequency. This may cause a damping effect that is perceived as a dead note. I don't see how the material of the neck, body or fingerboard have anything to do with it.

The wood affects the resonance being part of the system, if it did not, most basses would sound the same.

The wood does directly affect the properties of the metal string, it contributes and counteracts the way the string vibrates affecting the resonant harmonics. Strings make the most significant difference in tone.

 

[Laurent]

To my ears ebony is a lot brighter than maple.
It's a lot harder and heavier as well.
It's easy to have an oversight on the weight aspect of ebony.
If you typical Fender maple neck is in the 2.4 lbs range, an ebony neck can easily be in the 3.2 lbs range.