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Lakland 44-01: Maple or Rosewood FB?

Rush-2112

Rush-2112

Dec 14, 2008
721
71
New York City
#1
I am so close to pulling the trigger on this in the 3-tone sunburst finish...only thing holding me back is the fingerboard option. So does the fretboard really impact the tone that much? Which would you guys recommend?


P.S.
Musician's Friend has the maple in stock, while the rosewood is back-ordered until the 26th of March. No way do I wanna wait that long! :scowl:

I will if I must though...depending on what you guys tell me, I may be making my purchase tonight.
 
#2
Rush-2112 said:
I am so close to pulling the trigger on this in the 3-tone sunburst finish...only thing holding me back is the fingerboard option. So does the fretboard really impact the tone that much? Which would you guys recommend?


P.S.
Musician's Friend has the maple in stock, while the rosewood is back-ordered until the 26th of March. No way do I wanna wait that long! :scowl:

I will if I must though...depending on what you guys tell me, I may be making my purchase tonight.
Click to expand...

If you can, please wait until you try them both and then get the one which feels best to you.

You won't be buying a bass so much as entering into an intimate and (hopefully) long-term relationship.

Be faithful to your creativity by exercising patience in your instrument selection.

Nothing but the best one for you will do...
 
#4
steve21 said:
maple fingerboards are badass, man.
Click to expand...

+1

Yes, and so are those with rosewood. Both rock. Try both. :ninja:

BTW, the rosewood on the one I sold :crying: :crying: :crying: was dark, thick, warm and and...oh stop me, here it is:

my_lakland4401snatrswfront.jpg
 
#5
I actually went through the exact same thing about a year ago. I got a 3-tone burst 44-01 with a rosewood fretboard - only because I was waiting for the maple fretboard to come in and they (sam ash) let me hold on to the rosewood one for about a month or so. Both were great. No regrets in trading though. Maple just looks so good in my opinion with the burst finish. Play both if possible, but, honestly, I think it'll be hard to go wrong.
 
#6
Rush-2112 said:
I am so close to pulling the trigger on this in the 3-tone sunburst finish...only thing holding me back is the fingerboard option. So does the fretboard really impact the tone that much? Which would you guys recommend?


P.S.
Musician's Friend has the maple in stock, while the rosewood is back-ordered until the 26th of March. No way do I wanna wait that long! :scowl:

I will if I must though...depending on what you guys tell me, I may be making my purchase tonight.
Click to expand...
Since you're in NYC, why not go to local stores and see if you can find one, the other or both? Try'em for yourself.:)

For the most part, it seems to me that people think maple vs. rosewood either affects the tone not much or at all. So I wouldn't sweat that. I have a couple of each.
 
#7
You may want to check out what Bass Central has in stock.

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Looks like they have some in both maple and rosewood.

I tried both and to my ears the maple might have a slightly brighter tone while the rosewood is a little warmer. The difference however is very subtle and you can probably get either one to sound like the other with some eq.

So it kind of comes down to what look you prefer.

I wound up going with the 55-02 deluxe cherry sunbusrt with a rosewood neck. It looks and plays awsome.
 
#9
Thanks so far guys...by the way, I have indeed tried the maple one, but in a Natural finish. Sounded awesome. Also, only reason why I don't buy it in one of the stores down here in NYC is because none have it. I went to practically all the shops I know of (Matt Umanov's, Rudy's, Manny's, and Sam Ash). Only store that had one was GC, and they didn't have anything in the warehouse, so I would have to buy the one hanging on the wall, which kinda showed some wear. I'd rather pay full price for something brand spanking new. But yeah I have tried the maple in GC... just haven't tried the rosewood, so can't compare.
 
#15
Rush-2112 said:
I am so close to pulling the trigger on this in the 3-tone sunburst finish...only thing holding me back is the fingerboard option. So does the fretboard really impact the tone that much? Which would you guys recommend?


P.S.
Musician's Friend has the maple in stock, while the rosewood is back-ordered until the 26th of March. No way do I wanna wait that long! :scowl:

I will if I must though...depending on what you guys tell me, I may be making my purchase tonight.
Click to expand...

It really doesn't matter. If this is your first Lakland, you'll probably find out that you'll just end up buying another. And another. And another... :bassist:
 
#18
Despite conventional wisdom, in my experience the difference between rosewood and maple is at least as much cosmetic as is it sonic. There's simply too many variables to pin the difference between two basses on to whether the fingerboard is rosewood or maple. GENERALLY the rosewood will be a bit darker sounding, and maple will be a bit snappier. But it so subtle that unless you're doing a true side-by-side comparison with new strings, I doubt if you'd be able to tell.

My 55-01 is a standard (plain ash body) with a rosewood board. The other bassist at church uses a Deluxe 55-01 (maple cap on the ash body) with a maple board. The only way to tell which bass Ron's using is to look. Even soling the bass at the board and listening through headphones I can't tell a sonic difference.

So, play a bunch of them and buy the one that speaks to YOU.

jte
 
#19
Interesting point JTE. I only ever had the Rosewood, but it sounds like mine was indentical to yours. Honestly I kind of guessed more than new about any sound difference. I will say that as much as I could get a ton of sounds out of mine, it had a preference for a bright, snappy sound (especially with the pre-amp bypassed), and I used it for a lot of different things including metal, so it seemed the rosewood was a good choice to add just that little bit of darker "thickness" to the sound for certain situations. I will agree that in my general experience, especially with active electronics, the sound difference is pretty minimal, but some people will insist on a difference. I still say the rosewood looks better with most darker finishes, but the natural looks abit better with maple.
 

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