Maple vs. Rosewood?

[A9X]

I'm not going to comment on the actual debate because it's been done to death. But I'll point out that saying "a well respected luthier told me..." isn't any sort of logical argument. Luthiers can in some cases be just as prone to belief in pixie dust and sweeping unsupported generalisations as the rest of us, if the threads in the luthiers corner are any guide.

A while back, I contacted a number of luthiers about having a custom built, and gave basic specs incl desired woods in different locations. All of them came back with different reasons and tonal attributes and relative importance of different woods and different locations in the bass. And for each one I could find another respected luthier who would exactly contradict them.

 

[MtManiac]

Just got back from GC, well, a few hours ago, and A/B'ed IDENTICAL 2008 Fender American Standard Jazz basses. Identical, that is, except one rosewood and one maple fingerboard.

Played through same rig, GK1001RB-II and GK's 410GLX cab (the cab was not my first, second or even third choice, but pickens were small)

I will never listen to anyone who says that the fingerboard wood makes no difference in the tone ever again!!!

The difference was significant.

I played the same lick, same settings on the basses: both pups and tone up full, and sames settings on the amp: flat, no boost, no contour or presence.

The Maple was brighter, more articulate. The rosewood was warmer, somewhat darker. Hands down I, and everyone listening, preferred sound of the Maple neck. (Including two very good bass players that happened to be shopping at the same time)


Now, I'm not saying the rosewood fingerboard sounded bad. Not in any way, it was a very nice sound if you are looking for that darker warmer bass tone.

However, with just a small roll-off of the tone on the maple, I got a warmer bass sound that still was more articulate than the rosewood.

Soooo... I'm ordering a new white Jazz V with a maple fingerboard. What am I playing now. you ask? A 2 year old American Jazz V with rosewood.

I'm not saying there is or isn't a difference one way or another in sound between the two, but your test was not scientific - two different bodies (same wood, yes, I know, but not the same piece of wood), two different necks regardless of fretboard, and the strings were likely of differing ages with differing amounts of playing time. What you need to do, to be scientific, is to try that same test about a thousand times, graph the results, calculate the statistical significance of any variance from standard deviation, and then report back.

Go! What are you waiting for???



Just kidding, by the way...

 

[Bassin']

There you have it, dark fingerboards sound darker and brighter woods sound brighter.

Not exactly. In general I think ebony has a more focused attack on the higher frequencies than rosewood as well.

 

[BobXboB]

Not exactly. In general I think ebony has a more focused attack on the higher frequencies than rosewood as well.

That's because it's shinier

By the way, what does more focused attack on the higher frequencies mean?

 

[Bassin']

That's because it's shinier

By the way, what does more focused attack on the higher frequencies mean?

I meant to say ebony sounded bright than rosewood in... um... so many words (even though it's a darker wood).

 

[Fuzzbass]

Just got back from GC, well, a few hours ago, and A/B'ed IDENTICAL 2008 Fender American Standard Jazz basses. Identical, that is, except one rosewood and one maple fingerboard.

You make the assumption that basses made of identical materials must have the same tone, and as anyone who has owned "identical" pairs of basses will tell you, this is NOT TRUE. Even within the same species, the tonal response of wood will vary from plank to plank.

Your experiment doesn't account for tonal variations within the same species... and as noted above, it doesn't account for differences in string sets.

 

[Fuzzbass]

A while back, I contacted a number of luthiers about having a custom built, and gave basic specs incl desired woods in different locations. All of them came back with different reasons and tonal attributes and relative importance of different woods and different locations in the bass. And for each one I could find another respected luthier who would exactly contradict them.

+1

Expert opinion is still nothing more than opinion. Nobody really knows.