Maple vs Rosewood fretboard

[DigitalMan]

I prefer a maple wireless.

 

[Ronnie Thunders]

I love the look of unkle w's 75 ghs maple fretboard but I wouldn't trade it for my 89 p bass rosewood. He plays blues I play rock, maybe there's something

 

[Ronnie Thunders]

Maple is just fender getting cheap and lazy!!!

 

[Dave814]

For me it’s feel, not sound. I had an early 80s Stingray with a maple neck for years and liked it but never loved it enough to keep it. I have had a 10 ton Gibson RD with an ebony fretboard for my entire bass life and can’t get rid of it because of the ebony. My Jazz Bass is rosewood and my favorite ever bass. It’s about the feel for me.

 

[Rnr..........4]

Depends. I like maple on the Geddy Lee Jazz bass and some of the classic Stingrays. Rosewood tho all the way for the Precision bass but I do own a maple neck Player Precision. Might end up selling.

 

[TrevorG]

There are some interesting comparison tests on you tube. I've heard differences ranging from slight to non existent.

 

[ejaggers]

I have 11 basses, both maple and rosewood, but none are the same kind.
My '72 Jazz is maple, my PBass is RW, and both do what they're intended to do.

I don't really worry about this issue for sound, it's more aesthetic for me.
I agree with what @4andnomore said, except I prefer maple.

However, I'm GAS'N for ebony, so much that I dyed my neck black
on my sandbox bass (used for mod experiments).
I believe it is pau ferro, which hasn't been mention in this post yet....057912

 

[jd56hawk]

Have any of you played the same bass with both a maple or a rosewood fretboard? Is there a distinctive difference? There was a bass I was looking at on Ebay a few days ago, actually it had an ebony fretboard. My instructor said he liked the bass except for the ebony fretboard. He said he preferred maple. I like the looks of the darker wood myself. But sometimes you have to sacrifice looks to get the sound that you want. Just wondering what your experience has been with the different fretboards and which you prefer?

Two basses. Exactly the same except for the fretboards.
GHS black tapewounds.
Is there a difference?
Maybe an elephant can tell, but I doubt most people can.

 

[SBassman]

Outside of the tonal differences which are minor, I find there is a Major difference in feel.
I absolutely prefer the feel of a maple board over rosewood. Certain types of rosewood can feel quite crappy to me. Maple boards are alway tight grained and smooth feeling.

 

[B-Mac]

Outside of the tonal differences which are minor, I find there is a Major difference in feel.
I absolutely prefer the feel of a maple board over rosewood. Certain types of rosewood can feel quite crappy to me. Maple boards are alway tight grained and smooth feeling.

Although guitar oriented, Eric Clapton said something similar about Stratocaster guitars with maple FB....and who am I to argue with E.C.?

 

[Rnr..........4]

There are only very minor differences in sound. Feel is the more noticeable difference. Unless it's a Rick with a lamented rosewood board which feels like maple.

 

[bassplayer1960]

Throw Your Lead Cord In The Garbage Today!

Although I have enjoyed reading this old thread that is mostly concerned with tone variations based on using a maple or rosewood neck, I felt compelled to mention that regardless of bass configuration, the critical consideration is signal strength and shape, as we are playing an "electric" instrument.

Before condemning your bass or amp, realize that there are huge losses in signal strength and fidelity in the signal path between the bass jack and the amp jack. If you're using a cheap, poor quality, crushed, lengthy or curly lead cord, don't waste thousands on a good bass! In fact, the next time you shop for a lead cord, try to find out the capacitance of the cord. There are Capacitance Meters if you have an electronic buddy. I say this because there are some very degraded lead cord rip offs on the market.

After replacing the long, curly lead cord with a good quality, shorter, un-damaged one and buying a Line Driver, I could not believe the difference in sound. All those years I had been listening to a muffled, dead bass tone without realising it. Now my sound sparkles. Lead cords are plagued with stray capacitance that kills the instrument's signal as it filters out all of your higher frequencies to ground. They should be as short as you can stand it, to prevent signal loss. The Buffer Op-Amp in the Line Driver compensates for most of the line loss. Best money I ever spent.

 

[MtManiac]

Have any of you played the same bass with both a maple or a rosewood fretboard? Is there a distinctive difference? There was a bass I was looking at on Ebay a few days ago, actually it had an ebony fretboard. My instructor said he liked the bass except for the ebony fretboard. He said he preferred maple. I like the looks of the darker wood myself. But sometimes you have to sacrifice looks to get the sound that you want. Just wondering what your experience has been with the different fretboards and which you prefer?

In my own experience going back to 1982, I’ve owned several P basses, with just about every combination of body wood and fretboard wood in common usage, from agathis, alder, ash, basswood and ebonol, ebony, laurel, maple, pau ferro, and different varieties of rosewood, and although I can hear differences between different P basses, I can’t hear differences that I can assign to one wood over another. I’ve had lots of maple fretboards that I’d describe as “warm” and rosewood fretboards I’d describe as “bright”, and vice versa. Strings, pickups, amps/cabs, and technique of note attack make the biggest tonal difference to me, so my criteria around fretboards or wood in general is based entirely on looks and weight of the specific instrument. YMMV.

 

[MtManiac]

…most cases rosewood comes with alder body, and maple comes with ash body, don't forget!...

No, in most cases for American-made Fenders, modern ones, they’re alder. They have been using ash for natural and transparent finishes, because of the grain, and they’re now using pine for these finishes for the same reason. American 50s reissues are often ash with maple, but they also often have more open finishes like two tone sunburst and transparent blonde, which is period correct - solid colours are typically alder as well. I believe all of the Performers and Players are alder, regardless of finish and regardless of fretboard, and American Pro/Standard sunbursts have been alder since the 1960s. You find basswood common in Japanese Fenders and woods like agathis and basswood common in Squiers - independent of fretboard wood.

I have an ash Dimension with Rosewood - ash, because it’s a violin burst.

 

[MtManiac]

A rosewood fingerboard will help stabilize the neck, helping to reduce the chance of twisting,
especially today with lesser select and old growth maple stocks.

Maple fretboards are separate pieces of wood from the rest of the neck, just like rosewood fretboards.