Maple Neck, Wenge fretboard VS Wenge Neck, Ebony fretboard

Interesting poll. Another choice is Maple w/ebony fingerboard.
I would think it would somewhat brighter than the Wenge/Ebony. Sharp looking too.

I had a PJ project and tried several neck & pickups settled on Maple/Ebony and Classic Barts...

Good luck on your build!

 

Here is an example of wenge shaft + ebony fingerboard, built by @Bass Viking :
Squier Fretless Jazz with Warmoth neck

 

Here`s a video of my Warmoth with wenge, ebony, and black limba.

 

Ever since I got my Roscoe and found the magical combination of maple neck and wenge board, I don't think I'll have anything else if I can help it!

But now as far as feel, I love a wenge neck. Sound wise...maple/wenge.

So why not wenge/wenge? Works for Warwick.

 

Well, whatever combo you go with will sound the same, so don't worry about that aspect of it.

Now, onto more practical matters - the feel of wenge, IMO/IME, is second to none. I'd have nothing but wenge necks on all my basses if I could. As it stands, I've got one bass with a wenge neck and wenge fingerboard, and the other is a wenge/padauk neck with birdseye maple fingerboard.

I also prefer wenge feel on the fretboard as well, so count me amongst those that would actually vote for using it for the whole neck construction.

Weight - I don't really notice any issue with it to be honest. I know a wenge body can be a bit of a beast, but with a neck...although that korina body could be light. Now funny enough, my one bass that has the all wenge neck also has a korina body (with a figured maple top). It is lovely, light, and well balanced. Feel free to choose that combo without hesitation.

As it stands, I voted for the combo with the ebony, because the other part of it is the looks, and I think any dark fingerboard always looks fantastic.

Just for fun, here are some pics of my bass that I described above.

 

You`re right, the electronics will make a difference but I don`t find the wood combination too dark at all. The pickups are active but there`s no preamp so it`s plenty bright as is.

The bass is over 10 lbs but not particularly neck heavy.

 

I owned an MTD 535 with a korina body, wenge neck and board, and there was no lack of anything...

 

Maybe 8.5 pounds? It was serial #28, previously owned by Adrian Garcia, here on the boards, played with KC and the Sunshine Band, and Cirque de Soleil, and covered with an amazing sea foam green lacquer...miss that bass! It was a special one...tons of mojo

 

I should add that my korina warmoth also a maple/ebony neck at one point and it sounded amazing.

 

This whole album was recorded with that bass. Caveat - I also have about a half dozen pedal going on at any point in time, and the goal is to achieve an aggressive punk tone, so keep that in mind when listening to it.

The Foul English, by The Foul English

Having said that, the bass does sound amazing, and has a huge amount of range to it. I really give full credit to Alan/ACG (@Skelf) for creating such an incredible preamp and pickups for it...not to mention the whole rest of the bass!

P.S. My bass weighs about 7.7 lbs or so, which should tell you that wood combo can be quite light.