Is maple fingerboard good idea for fretless??

[Epitaph04]

Any wood. Tone's in your fingers, amp, cab, pickups, strings, room, technique, EQ.

Pretty much.

 

[Liam76]

I played a 70's unlined burst/maple fretless years ago, was probably the coolest Fender I ever played.

Eventually I ended up with a fretless with an unfinished Ebony fingerboard, and really prefer the sound of the unfinished wood compared to finished or my other fretless with Ebonal.

 

[Teacher]

Just for the record: on the Janka scale of hardness, hard maple is harder than rosewood (by a fair amount) but softer than either Macassar or Gabon ebony.

 

[Blue_Whistle88]

It would work because it's a hardwood, that's all you need for fretless. Also, John Paul Jones' fretless Precision has a maple fingerboard, and he sounded fine to me when they played at the O2 Arena. The kind if wood your guitar is made out of doesn't determine how good a player you are, not beyond basic construction requirements (in this case, that any given hardwood is used).

 

[Teacher]

Uh oh, Blue Whistle, that was a can of worms you just opened!

 

[gurensan]

All of the maple fingerboards I've ever seen have been epoxied or otherwise finished, never ever raw.

It's not that it can't take it, it's that it gets fantastically dirty way too fast and lemon oil won't get it clean.

If you don't do string bends like a guitar player tried to do on my Warwick once (ONCE!!!!! %@#*!), you shouldn't dig into the board.

I defretted & definished my first bass, which had a maple fretboard.. It's got a grey fingerboard now.

 

[ShortScale24]

It seems odd that maple is rare for fretless, but it makes sense. It's harder than rosewood and a bit brighter. With nickle strings, wear should be minimal.

I agree with steve about ebony. It's the most solid sounding wood, though, as strange as it may seem to some, I think "ebonol" (essentially a synthetic fiberglass material used to make bowling balls) sounds amazing for fretless. The Squier deluxe uses it and it sounds awesome, especially considering the price.

No, rosewood is typically harder than maple.

 

[GIBrat51]

I'm thinking of defretting one ( on a fender jazz).

What kind of sound might I expect? Why is it rare to find fretlesses with maple fingerboards? Rosewood even though softer seems more common, and course ebony ....

Well...
A Maple fingerboard is not a bad idea, but it's not what I would call "ideal", either. Some kinds of Maple are pretty hard, so the wear factor is no worse than that of some other fretless fingerboards. The main "problem" with Maple, IMO, is what others have pointed out; unless it's seriously sealed, Maple gets nasty looking - pretty quickly. The other woods used for fingerboards don't have that problem because they're naturally oily - which keeps them from turning that grimy looking mess that Maple does, when the finish wears off. And, which can only be cleaned up with lots of sandpaper...
Some Rosewoods ( the real, genus Dalbergia ones) are pretty hard, but... those are still on the CITES list, and are difficult (and expensive) to get. Ebony? There are some kinds of Ebony that are actually surprisingly soft (take a look at www. wood-database.com some time); the few that are popular for finger/fretboards are getting pricey, too. But, real Rosewood and Ebony are naturally oily woods, and won't get nasty-looking like non-oily Maple does.
As for Synthetic fingerboards? Well, first; none of them are - or ever were - made of bowling ball material. That stuff is- or was - "Ebonite". Ebonol is the trade name for black Micarta. Micarta was invented in the 1920's for use as a heavy duty electrical insulator - and is usually green. It's made of layers of either fine linen or high quality paper, soaked in a phenolic resin; compressed under high pressure and heat. Although it wears like iron, ebonol fingerboards- according to some - are "dead" sounding. I don't own a fretless bass with one, but both my aluminum-necked Kramer basses have ebonol fretboards; they work just fine for that...
Richlite is another synthetic material that's becoming popular - for fretboards, anyhow. It's wood of some kind, that's impregnated with some kind of resin under high pressure - similar to how micarta is made. Would it make a good fingerboard? I have no experience with it, so... I can't really say. So...
Bottom line? If you want to de-fret a Maple fretboard? Knock yourself out... Just know that you'll have to seal it with something that won't wear off real soon - or just resign yourself to a fingerboard that will eventually look... nasty.

 

[Gino t]

I would just look for a cheapo ebay special to experiment. Guessing it'll last awhile with flat s if you don't slap pop/dig in hard but not too long with rounds if you do, check the janka charts:

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I have a defreted strat with unfinished maple f'board but i never really played it enough to show wear)

 

[Abner]

I think it's a great idea!

 

[Lo-E]

Wow…. Major thread resurrection here!