Maple, rosewood, ebony or other?

[Salem6127]

Ebony. Maple is a close 2nd. I only buy rosewood if it's such an awesome bass I can't live without it. I kinda dislike rosewood. Too soft for a proper fretless, tone too dull.

^This

Rosewood is actually harder than maple.

Rosewood is indeed harder, but being a naturally oily wood it dampens the tone a tad. Not that this makes it inferior, we all like different levels of brightness.

 

[Salem6127]

I have one of each and match strings accordingly to balance the natural tone:

Ebony: Nickel rounds
Rosewood: Steel rounds
Maple: Nickel flats or Tapes

That said, ebony is by far my favorite: A middle ground between the prominent brightness of maple and the dampened sound of rosewood. Also, I'm all about those mids and the midrange focused tone that ebony delivers just sings to me.

 

[2112]

I've never noticed that much difference in tone between the woods. So, for me, it boils down to aesthetics. Generally I prefer a maple board or a dark-as-possible ebony board. Both with contrasting blocks. Don't care at all for pau ferro, but with the right body color, I really do like the Caribbean rosewood G&L offers.

While I enjoy the nice, even black color they offer, I don't usually care for the sound of phenolic and other synthetic boards at all.

All that said, there are plenty of exceptions.

 

[STRMan]

Back in the late 70's Aluminum was the hot neck material.

 

[STRMan]

Granted, we're talking about fretboards here.

 

[Jeremy Crockett]

Voted "None".

I love Maple, Rosewood, and Ebony. Since fretboard material is strictly a cosmetic consideration, I will take any of the three.

That said, I am developing a theory that White/Aged Pearloid pickguards sonically enhance most Fender-Shaped Objects.

 

[StereoPlayer]

Yes

 

[Tom Bomb]

Rose decidedly would.​

 

[stuntbass77]

I prefer dark woods so I go with rosewood, ebony, and wenge. I think that density of an instrument, especially the neck, plays a huge part in the tone , even on a solid body. So a heavy, maple fretboard could sound identical to a rosewood board. I have moved the same neck to three different bodies and found the tone generally follows the neck. I’ve moved on from the word tone Woods, and look at it more as a density factor. Heavy basses with dense wood, that does not vibrate much has notes that don’t swell as much. Fenders are known for notes that swell/bloom and I love that. I also love heavy neck through bases with really tight, focused notes that do not swell/bloom.

 

[deesonic]

In my early days I definitely preferred rosewood. But at some point a few years ago, I became more of a fan of maple fretboards. Now that real rosewood has become so scarce, I find myself looking at that option again. I have 5 P Basses and every one of them have maple fretboard necks. My RIC and one of my 3 J Basses have rosewood. All 3 of my treble guitars have rosewood though.

 

[Afc70]

Overall, Ebony is my favorite, love the look, feel & clarity.. for p basses I dig rosewood, & j style basses, I like maple or ebony.

 

[stuntbass77]

It’s funny also that everybody wants a 60s era Fender because of the pre-Indian rosewood but when I look at some of those necks, I see a very thin, almost laminate of Brazilian Rosewood which makes me think most of the tone is coming from the Maple neck itself, and not the board. I could be wrong as it’s just my observation.

 

[Boneless]

No preference whatsoever. That said, all my basses bar one had a "dark" fretboard (usually rosewood, one pau ferro, one ebony). I must say that Gibson-style instruments and semiacoustics don't really work with a maple fretboard, aesthetics wise. Also, I have a dislike of overly fancy-looking woods (but I might be able to do purpleheart).

 

[stuntbass77]

I like a P-Bass with rosewood and a Jazz with maple.

I can say that I have switched necks on my 08’ Fender MIA jazz with my 2010 Fender MIA P bass neck ( sold the P bass ) and totally heard a difference. I need to find pictures of this.. This is talkbass and pictures are just about mandatory The maple neck made the jazz bass sound a bit brighter and the rosewood neck made the P sound a bit smoother. in a mix.
nobody would heard the difference but played alone, I could tell. I prefer smooth when it comes to jazz basses. Ebony sounds amazing and should be used more. It’s very bright in my opinion and on the right bass sounds awesome.

 

[Pings Bass]

I only really care for fretless. I've got two that are rosewood and one that is panga panga.

The rosewood looks nicer, but I don't notice any difference in playing. Ebony looks great, too, but I like the lighter reddish hues of rosewood.

 

[jmlee]

I had Warmoth make me a jazz neck with a pau ferro fingerboard and blocks. For a fretted bass, it has the nicest feel under the hands that I’ve experienced.

 

[fretlessman71]

I am convinced I can hear the difference between three basses that are otherwise alike in every respect, save that the fretboards are maple, rosewood, and ebony respectively. Fender basses are generally like that. Rosewood gives a softer edge to the tone, maple imparts a certain "snap", and ebony yields a certain "focus". All are excellent choices, and only one ingredient in the mulligan stew that is bass construction and tone wood.

 

[BioDriver]

Ebony for fretless because of how hard it is, maple for fretted because I won’t want to oil my fretboards.

 

[Iristone]

Ideally I'd like a Richlite board on my bespoke instrument. Carbon fibre neck too. Not sure how I could afford one, unfortunately.
If I'm stuck with wood, I like rosewood over maple. I've played splintering ebony boards so I'd shy away from one.

 

[flatwound251]

I like maple, primarily because of the feel and durability, but also because it is a little easier to see in low light vs. a dark finger board. Otherwise, it really doesn't matter to me.