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Maple Vs. Baked Maple

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OhCompassMyComp

Oct 13, 2012
17
2
#1
I am looking into different short scale basses to give my rig a bit of a mix up. I have a flat wound strung american standard p-bass (60th anniversary ;) ). I am considering either a vintage fender mustang bass with maple fretboard and a gibson sg standard bass, worn cherry with a baked maple board. I'm looking for more of a trebly sound so both would be strung with roundwounds. In the end i'll hope to end up with both guitars but which one would you guys here at talk bass consider to be a brighter tone the sg worn or the vintage mustang?

Thanks for the help :bassist:
Lucas J. Rice
 
#7
Not baked ... the term is roasted

Roasted%20Neck%20Flyer.jpg
 
#8
OhCompassMyComp said:
I am looking into different short scale basses to give my rig a bit of a mix up. I have a flat wound strung american standard p-bass (60th anniversary ;) ). I am considering either a vintage fender mustang bass with maple fretboard and a gibson sg standard bass, worn cherry with a baked maple board. I'm looking for more of a trebly sound so both would be strung with roundwounds. In the end i'll hope to end up with both guitars but which one would you guys here at talk bass consider to be a brighter tone the sg worn or the vintage mustang?

Thanks for the help :bassist:
Lucas J. Rice
Click to expand...

Tony Levin and John Abercrombie might be able give you a better and more useful assessment of roasted necks.
I personally have only heard about them and would guess it to be a marketing gimmick mostly, at this point.
 
#10
Gibson calls them baked maple on their site. Yeah it might be no different, as it was a technique employed to give them darker finishes for fretboards while gibson has their pants sued off. But saying it's no different sounds like shite to me, if you put wood under heat it's tonal qualities are going to change.
 
#12
Ric5 said:
Not baked ... the term is roasted
Click to expand...

The term "roasted" has been applied to necks.

"Baked maple" is a relatively new technique for fretboards. Gibson has been using it since coming under pressure from the feds to stop using ebony and other protected woods.

Two different animals.

My understanding is baked maple fretboards are a little harder and brighter than normal maple fretboards, making it closer to ebony than maple. I am in the market for a Gibson Les Paul Junior Special at the moment (TV Yellow, P-90s), and if I buy one made within the last couple of years, it will have a baked maple fretboard.
 
#13
OhCompassMyComp said:
Those are the kinds of jokes I'm looking for!

But actually I was just hoping somebody could define the differences in the tonal qualities of a maple vs. baked maple fretboard.
Click to expand...

I just purchased the Gibson grabber 3 tribute bass and it has a baked maple fretboard and that thing is as lively a bass tone as I have. Tons of punch with plenty of lows and snappy but throaty highs. Will start giggin with this monster. The entire body is maple as well, so its heavy as hell and I'm sure that adds to the tone but I love the fretboards baked maple tone and feel....my two cents....the thing also has some real big pole single coils in it which contributes to the fat punch, so its hard to single out just the baked maple fretboard but I know it adds to the flava'...
 
#14
jamminology101 said:
I just purchased the Gibson grabber 3 tribute bass and it has a baked maple fretboard and that thing is as lively a bass tone as I have. Tons of punch with plenty of lows and snappy but throaty highs. Will start giggin with this monster. The entire body is maple as well, so its heavy as hell and I'm sure that adds to the tone but I love the fretboards baked maple tone and feel....my two cents....the thing also has some real big pole single coils in it which contributes to the fat punch, so its hard to single out just the baked maple fretboard but I know it adds to the flava'...
Click to expand...

Pics?
 
#15
Flaked Beans said:
Pics?
Click to expand...

I don't have any on me but will post when I get home....there are some great pics and descriptions on the grabber 3 tribute on gibsons website....I bought this thing brand new for 900 bones, a steal for the sound. Only thing to be a lil leary of is the thing is a lil longer scale at 34.5" and the "horn" pickups the strap at around the 15th fret vs around the octave like a fenders so the neck sticks out from ur body a little further than I'm used to and the thing being all maple is heavy as hell but the tone is worth it...
 
#17
electracoyote said:
The term "roasted" has been applied to necks.

"Baked maple" is a relatively new technique for fretboards. Gibson has been using it since coming under pressure from the feds to stop using ebony and other protected woods.

Two different animals.

My understanding is baked maple fretboards are a little harder and brighter than normal maple fretboards, making it closer to ebony than maple. I am in the market for a Gibson Les Paul Junior Special at the moment (TV Yellow, P-90s), and if I buy one made within the last couple of years, it will have a baked maple fretboard.
Click to expand...
Yeah thank you guys with those last few posts, they were really helpful. To break it down further which bass would be best for that brighter tone i'm hoping for?
 
#18
OhCompassMyComp said:
Yeah thank you guys with those last few posts, they were really helpful. To break it down further which bass would be best for that brighter tone i'm hoping for?
Click to expand...

What makes it hard to answer this question is the fretboard is only one factor, and it can be trumped by other factors such as body wood, density, electronics, etc.

The only thing that seems certain is, regarding the fretboard only, the baked maple will probably be brighter than the plain maple fretboard. But other factors could come into play, and the only way to know for sure which bass is brighter overall is to A/B the two basses.
 
#19
I have a re-issue Gibson G-3 and it has a baked maple board, it's definatly got some snap to it. Really tho, those two basses are quite different in other ways (i.e. set neck vs. bolt on and especially the pickups) that it's not a valid comparison - I think the Fender will be a brighter, more defined note with the Gibson being and wider, warmer somewhat less defined note.
 

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