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Fretboards: maple or rosewood, and why?

Muddslide

Muddslide

Feb 23, 2007
5,284
5,082
Mobile, Alabama
#1
I know there have been innumerable maple vs. rosewood discussions on here, so I apologize for this one, but I have a different aim in mind for this thread.

I don't really want to argue about which is "better" or the relative tonal qualities of each or anything.

I just simply want to know which you prefer and why.

Me, I picked up bass in the late 70s. Back then I could go either way when it came to guitars. For instance, I prefer Strats with rw and Teles with maple.

But I always insisted my basses had rosewood.

Can't explain why, really. Just felt right and I preferred the looks as well, but it was mainly the way rosewood boards felt under my fingers.

Back a few years ago I seemed to have made a switch. I just prefer maple now.

Again, I can't really quantify why--I just prefer maple. As with before, it's a "feel" thing.

How about you?
 
#3
I had exactly the same penchant with rosewood fingerboards years ago. It really felt right to touch the rosewood and the maple fingerboard felt odd. Some years ago after I got a Celinder I started to like that 70s maple neck feel and especially the sound. Now I have a maple board Fodera and I love the feel and look of it's Birdseye Maple neck. And the sound has this characteristic Maple snap. Still have some basses with Rosewood, Pau Ferro and Ebony fingerboards but the Maple feels the best.
I guess it's related with the overall perception of the right sound, look and feel as well as the self-image. Perhaps there's also a tiny bit of a wish to imitate one's heroes as well.
 
#4
When I was young and naive I preferred rosewood cause I thought maple looked cheap. Don't know why. Now I like them equally. Probably maple a little more because I don't have one at the moment and never have, so there's that desire. I have a fretless J with rosewood and would really like a P with maple and a nice foam mute :)
 
#5
I have A/Bed the same exact bass in Maple and Rosewood at a store. Rosewood sounds warmer and Maple sounds brighter. Its probably only noticeable under those circumstances. I have never noticed the difference until then.
 
#6
Maple. Only for looks :D
I think it looks off with a dark fretboard and light head. If I have to go rosewood fingerboard the headstock will have to match body.
But I want the maple looking old and yellow. Nothing looks cheaper than that almost white fretboard shining your eyes out. So I guess it's like wine. Basses get better with time.
 
#7
My first bass had a maple fretboard. I have owned basses with rosewood, but I still prefer maple. I think maple looks better with unpainted Fender/Squier headstocks, and I like the feel of maple better than rosewood. And if the maple board and neck are all one piece, as they are on my Squier VM P, then even better.
 
#9
Meh. Makes no difference except in fretless, where I want ebony. I buy basses because they sound good first, and feel comfortable second, and third is structural integrity. Other details are so far down the list that they don't really matter. My two favorite basses are poles apart, except for the maple necks screwed on to the bodies. One is an alder body, a 1.75" wide maple neck with rosewood board, a single split PUP, one knob to make it more quite, one to that makes it muddier. It's painted Lake Placid Blue. The other is an ash body with a maple cap, a 1.625" wide maple neck with a glued-on maple fingerboard, two PUPS, one shaped like a Jazz bass, one shaped like a Music Man StingRay PUP, active electronics with a 3-band EQ. I didn't buy either one because of any of those characteristics. I bought both because they said "Hi, honey, I'm home!!!" after playing one unamplified note on them. I've had the Precision since 1983 and haven't been seriously interested in another P since then. I've had the Lakland 4-94 since 1999 and it's been my #1 first-call bass since. If the '57 P had spoken to me the way the VS '62 did back in '83 I'd have a maple neck Precision. If the Lakland had a rosewood or ebony board and still spoke to me, I'd have bought it. What the fingerboard is made of is simply inconsequential to me.

John

John
 
#11
Doelle said:
Maple. Only for looks :D
I think it looks off with a dark fretboard and light head. If I have to go rosewood fingerboard the headstock will have to match body.
But I want the maple looking old and yellow. Nothing looks cheaper than that almost white fretboard shining your eyes out. So I guess it's like wine. Basses get better with time.
Click to expand...

+1

Vintage tinted maple is my favorite. After that I would prefer ebony to rosewood
 
#13
Man! Is everybody on this one train?!

I like maple or ebony. Don't really like rosewood or pau ferro or any other brown wood. All just because of looks. Like these: :D

IMG00072-20110120-2148.jpg
 
#14
Makes no difference tonally on a fretted, but on fretless I tend to prefer ebony. Ebony is a harder wood and wears better with roundwounds, nowadays my preferred type of string. Rosewood will work on an FL also, tho it seems to be a slightly softer wood and so will probably not wear as well. Never owned an FL with a maple fingerboard, but I've heard maple is even worse as a fingerboard wood for FL.

I mildly prefer the appearance of maple tho, and if I could order a carvin bunny with a maple fingerboard and a 1/2" of solid clear plastic finish on it, ;), I probably would....

LS
 
#15
Until recently I had never owned a maple board. Consequently, looking down at rosewood remains more 'normal' for me. But I have very much come to like the sound and feel of maple as well, especially when the frets are installed directly on the neck, sans board. Now I'm equally comfortable using both and am glad to have them. Unplugged (which I do a lot around the house), maple definitely has a louder, snappier sound. Amplified that may or may not be so.
 
#16
Doelle said:
Maple. Only for looks :D
I think it looks off with a dark fretboard and light head. If I have to go rosewood fingerboard the headstock will have to match body.
But I want the maple looking old and yellow. Nothing looks cheaper than that almost white fretboard shining your eyes out. So I guess it's like wine. Basses get better with time.
Click to expand...

+1, imho

I don't mind the brighter maple look when it's paired with a solid color body - Black and Maple's still my fav. But I do have problems liking a nice burst body with a RW FB, and then this glaring bright piece of wood at the top - looks like they gave up and never 'finished' making the bass.....
 
#17
I play fretted basses. On these, I feel that the tonal contribution of the fretboard is negligible at best, so I choose based on looks rather than tone. From top to bottom below, the boards are rosewood, maple, ebony. All basses sound great, with the white bass being the tonal oddball due to its MM-style pickup.

SadowskyTrio2009.jpg
 
#19
Fuzzbass said:
I play fretted basses. On these, I feel that the tonal contribution of the fretboard is negligible at best...
Click to expand...

Same here (play fretted, though I've owned and played fretlesses and would again someday if $$$ were no object.)

I also agree about the tonal contribution, as you put it.

I DO think there is some difference under certain circumstances that can be ascertained (rw mellower, maple brighter and snappier is a good way to put it) but when playing in a mix with a band, or playing live, I don't think any perceived differences will be notable.
 
#20
Doelle said:
Maple. Only for looks :D
I think it looks off with a dark fretboard and light head. If I have to go rosewood fingerboard the headstock will have to match body.
Click to expand...

Rosewood w/ unpainted headstock doesn't bother me, but I agree a matching painted head on a rw neck looks classy as all get out.

Conversely, most of the matching headstocks I see on instruments with maple fingerboards looks kind of cheap to me, though I have seen beautiful examples of this too.

But I want the maple looking old and yellow. Nothing looks cheaper than that almost white fretboard shining your eyes out.
Click to expand...

Kind of agree here as well in most cases.

That's my one thing about the Squier VM basses with maple necks--they are so stark and unfinished looking (though they are great feeling!)

If I get to go through with my plan to purchase a VM P-bass in amber with the maple neck, I will very likely tint the neck with some Re-Ranch stuff to make it look more yellowed and give it a little more of a nitro gloss feel.
 

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