maple vs. rosewood fingerboard..?

no, i think its 99.9% cosmetic

 

100% not "only cosmetic" at all.

Yes it does. Maple is a bit brighter with a quicker/snappier attack. Rosewood is a bit warmer sounding, as its a slightly softer wood.

Here is what Roger Sadowsky has to say about the various fingerboard tonewoods he uses:

http://www.sadowsky.com/pop/roger_talks.html

 

Frudua GFJ 5 Bass - Rosewood vs versus Maple fretboard - YouTube

Why don't you see for yourself? Here's some light fingerstyle. Though when comparing tones, a much heavier attack makes the difference that much clearer, you can still hear a pronounced difference in this clip.

Edit: Just noticed the passive tone roll-off knob is set slightly differently on those two basses. Damn.

 

Maple fretbaord has finish on it. Rosewood does not. The feel of wood versus finish makes rosewood better to me. Not a fan of maple fopr looks or feel myself. For broghter snappier sound then rosewood Id pick ebony rather then maple.

 

Purely subjective on my part but I have to have a maple board. I do own two basses with rosewood boards but my very next purchase will have a maple board. The puchase after that has to be rosewood or ebony as it will be a fretless. I had a frteless P-Bass with a mapple board. It was very pretty but not warm sounding at all.

 

Check it out - I believe this settles the "can you tell maple from rosewood?" question. http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/maple-vs-rosewood-neck-can-you-tell-difference-763957/

 

My only maple fingerboard sounds much different than my rosewoods....maybe because it's fretless

 

i believe its pretty 80-90% cosmetic, there are factors that have bigger impact like Pickups,Bodywood, strings, amp, Room, the player?
the different tone wise between Rosewood and maple would disappear in band/song context