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Maple vs. Rosewood
- Thread starter BAbassist
- Start date
Visually, I've always preferred the look of rosewood.
Playability, never noticed a difference.
Tonally, never noticed a difference.
Playability, never noticed a difference.
Tonally, never noticed a difference.
As you've seen, the tone factor is debatable. You asked about playability: in short, my fingers have never noticed any difference between fretboards of any type, assuming other factors (width, fretwire, etc) were about the same.
Put me in that group of crazies who hears a slightly brighter tone with a maple board (all other details being identical).
As for playability or feel, I could not routinely pass a blind test between a maple and a rosewood board.
As for playability or feel, I could not routinely pass a blind test between a maple and a rosewood board.
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,348
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
Neither feels different to me, but I'm not feeling the fretboard wood while I'm playing.
Tone wise I got nothing for you. I've had bright Rosewood boarded instruments and 'dark sounding' maple boarded instruments.
Pick the one that you like the look of.
Tone wise I got nothing for you. I've had bright Rosewood boarded instruments and 'dark sounding' maple boarded instruments.
Pick the one that you like the look of.
I'll sometimes bring several basses to a studio session, and if they say they are looking for a different sound, sometimes I will switch to another bass, and if they like it better, I sometimes tell them, "Well this one has the maple fretboard" as the reason for the better sound, when it is another bass entirely. Makes me chuckle.
Exactly my thoughts. Also, in my experience, most of my dead-spot free basses have been maple. I'm sure this is luck-of-the-draw.
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
Maple all the way (on the P-Bass.)
Rosewood all the way (on everything else)
Um, what was the question?
Rosewood all the way (on everything else)
Um, what was the question?
Rosewood on everything for me. I hate every other fingerboard finish i have tried. I may just be set in my ways.
Cheers!
MJW
Cheers!
MJW
Ironically 5 out of the last 7 basses i bought were neither maple or rosewood boards. They were either ebony, wenge, or Purple Heart. I haven't had a maple board since the first bass i owned which was a p bass i sold back in the 90s. I will say one of the big complaints with rosewood boards is they often have an oil finish with no clear coat and because of that they tend to get scratched up and show more wear from playing. Ironically my fretless jazz has a rosewood board and i had the fingerboard professionally "glazed" so it does have a finish on it. While the fingerboard woods can make a significant difference on a fretless, i wouldn't say they make a huge difference with fretted basses. I do know that the purple heart fretboard bass (Modded gt7) is my favorite for tapping and slapping, but it also happens to have the smallest frets by far of all my basses so that may have more to do with it. The ebony board bass (warwick nt5) was great for finger style but i got awful overtones when tapping as if you hear the pitch between your finger and the bridge and your finger and the nut at the same time. One benefit about darker woods like rosewood, wenge, purpleheart, and Ovankol, is they can be dyed black with dye or made darker with oil. Maple tends to only change with its exposure to cigarette smoke, an now that smoking is not allowed in clubs in my state i don't know if I'd want a bass with a fingerboard that looks like its made out of balsa wood.
