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MAPLE vs. ROSEWOOD NECK - Can You Tell The Difference?

WHICH NECK IS WHICH?

  • NECK 1 is Maple/Rosewood, NECK 2 is Rosewood/Rosewood

    Votes: 58 54.7%

  • NECK 1 is Rosewood/Rosewood, NECK 2 is Maple/Rosewood

    Votes: 48 45.3%

  • Mark Wilson Smells Of Elderberries

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    106
  • Poll closed .
#83
-=DanAtkinson=- said:
Drumroll please....








NECK 1 is Rosewood/Rosewood, NECK 2 is Maple/Rosewood.

The votes were close. 43% got it right, 57% got it wrong. It's funny that many people identified the rosewood neck as snappier and brighter. Just goes to show that wood can vary in tone, but doesn't necessarily behave as you would expect it to. If you want a brighter tone, you might have better luck with rosewood than maple!

In hindsight I should probably have included "I can't hear a difference" as an option. I'm sure many folks would have chose that. I'll be sure to include that in the test I'll be posting tomorrow night. It should be fun. I'll be testing 2 Jazz basses: one with an Alder body + Rosewood/Rosewood neck, and the other with a Maple body + maple/maple neck.
Click to expand...


I noticed that brighter & snappier remark on neck A several times during the thread. I wuz bewildered:confused:. Neck B was "brighter & snappier" on my laptop with teeny H/K speakers which is why I chose it as the maple/rosewood neck.
 
#85
nachodaddy said:
I noticed that brighter & snappier remark on neck A several times during the thread. I wuz bewildered:confused:. Neck B was "brighter & snappier" on my laptop with teeny H/K speakers which is why I chose it as the maple/rosewood neck.
Click to expand...

Yes, to my ears Neck #2 (maple/rw) was brighter. But some folks heard the opposite. Just goes to show how much individual hearing and interpretation can impact things. Once again, conventional wisdom has been shown to be less reliable than many believe. Want a warmer & more mellow tone? You may get the desired result by replacing your all mahogany neck with all maple!
 
#86
-=DanAtkinson=- said:
Yes, to my ears Neck #2 (maple/rw) was brighter. But some folks heard the opposite. Just goes to show how much individual hearing and interpretation can impact things. Once again, conventional wisdom has been shown to be less reliable than many believe. Want a warmer & more mellow tone? You may get the desired result by replacing your all mahogany neck with all maple!
Click to expand...

This supports my long held "crapshoot" concept.
 
#87
I'm disappointed I couldn't come here in time to vote (thought a loony had simply bumped an old thread), but it was enlightening as always. I'm really beginning to confirm my beliefs about wood's impact on tone, and I've learned never to trust random TB'ers about their "expertise" on tone.

I really appreciate you not burying the heck out of the bass in an overly loud drum mix. Not everyone plays like that, after all.

Overall, my findings were the same as yours, Dan. My heart had almost skipped a beat reading everyone's comments about Neck 2 being brighter, and I thought I'd gone nuts again. The differences were so great this time around (especially with the neck pickup-only clips) that I was pretty damn sure about this.

Now all that's left for me to do is compare the fretboard change against a neck wood change. According to Roger Sadowsky, the fretboard should have a great impact on tone, so here's my chance to finally see how that statement holds up!
 

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