Not One Of The Typical Rosewood Vs. Maple Thread

[lousybassplayer]

Aww crap, I went and ruined another perfectly good thread. Sorry OP, I can't help it sometimes.

coyote, I like the cut of your jib. You can have the Jimmie Dean sausage meaty man of the month award. Congratulations, and now back to the thread.

 

[carlos840]

Rosewood, always thought maple was sticky on the fingertips...

PS: and Jazz Basses are clearly better than P basses if they have a rosewood fretboard.

 

[David Jayne]

I prefer carrotwood myself, then baconwood.

 

[BassyBill]

Well I guess it isn't really a fingerboard per se, but graphite necks without wood fingerboards are my preference. The surface is still graphite.

Ah, I see. All the basses with graphite necks I have played have some sort of phenolic composite for the fingerboard. It's sometimes called "ebonite" or something similar.

 

[BassyBill]

I'll tell you what my LEAST favorite is, that ebanol crap on my Squier fretless. Rubbed through it day one, from the strings it shipped with
It's not even gouges, the lightest of scratches goes right through this stuff. I have 4 string shaped columns of white rub marks going down my fingerboard.

That sounds like a quality issue to me - maybe on your bass the stuff wasn't applied right, or hadn't hardened sufficiently. Usually that stuff is twice as tough as your old granny's boots. How old is the bass? Is it still under warranty?

 

[snaverb]

Maple is what I got on my SR5

Love it

 

[BassyBill]

Do you feel the fretboard when you play? I don't think I do...

Same here. My own left hand technique is such that my fingers hardly touch the surface of the fingerboard at all when I'm playing on a well set up fretted bass, so differences in feel are pretty small AFAIC.

Fretless - well, that's different.

 

[lousybassplayer]

Ah, I see. All the basses with graphite necks I have played have some sort of phenolic composite for the fingerboard. It's sometimes called "ebonite" or something similar.

I may be totally nuts. As I recall my Modulus had just a graphite neck with fretls in it, a la a one peice neck of some kind. I know what you mean on that ebonol/ebonite whatever, but I thought that was mroe of a resin type of stuff made in a mold. Maybe some other modulus guys can back me up (sold it long ago) or maybe I really am nuts.

 

[BassyBill]

The Modulus catalogue on their website says they have a phenolic composite fingerboard. They charge $100 extra for a fretless, as well - I wonder why?

 

[TonyP-]

Graphite for sound, maple for feel. Aesthetically it varies by the bass' body color.

Interesting.
I like hard fingerboards.

Graphite / Phenolic 1st.
Ebony / Maple 2nd (Depends on the bass)

I have no interest in owning anything else.

 

[TonyP-]

I'll tell you what my LEAST favorite is, that ebanol crap on my Squier fretless. Rubbed through it day one, from the strings it shipped with
It's not even gouges, the lightest of scratches goes right through this stuff. I have 4 string shaped columns of white rub marks going down my fingerboard.

That has to be a cheaper ebanol then, because a decent phenolic Jaco on cocaine and steroids could not burn through.

 

[mongo2]

Interesting.
I like hard fingerboards.

Graphite / Phenolic 1st.
Ebony / Maple 2nd (Depends on the bass)

I have no interest in owning anything else.

You do realize that rosewood is harder than maple, right?

In fact, Brazilian Rosewood ranks just under Ebony with Hard Maple considerably lower on the Janka Hardness Scale. Even "Rosewood" ranks higher than Hard Maple.

Janka Hardness Scale

From the Janka hardness scale for the woods noted above:

Ebony 3220
Brazilian Rosewood 3190
"Rosewood" 1780
Hard Maple 1450

 

[TonyP-]

You do realize that rosewood is harder than maple, right?

In fact, Brazilian Rosewood ranks just under Ebony with Hard Maple considerably lower on the Janka Hardness Scale. Even "Rosewood" ranks higher than Hard Maple.

Janka Hardness Scale

From the Janka hardness scale for the woods noted above:

Ebony 3220
Brazilian Rosewood 3190
"Rosewood" 1780
Hard Maple 1450

Well I will admit...I'm not to scientific about it.
I'm just a player.
To me Maple feels harder and is brighter sounding.
I like a that quicker attack sounding with just a touch of subtle ping.

I don't get that as much with rosewood.

 

[lousybassplayer]

I saw composite, not phenolic, but I only looked at the VJs, which is what I had. Not saying it doesn't mean the same thing, but it wasn't that plastic'y type of stuff that s on those squiers. MIne was also like a 96ish I think, pre truss rod days anyway. Why the hell did I sell that thing?

 

[J. Crawford]

Maple.

 

[Hyper-sloth]

Wenge.

+1!!

I don't like rosewood. Feels cheap to me. Maple I like but can seem "sticky". Ebony has a nice clean feel to it.

 

[duckbutter]

Do you feel the fretboard when you play? I don't think I do...

Kinda with you on this one, especially on a fretted bass.

 

[SpamBot]

That has to be a cheaper ebanol then, because a decent phenolic Jaco on cocaine and steroids could not burn through.

It's definitely not the phenolic I'm used to

 

[mongo2]

Well I will admit...I'm not to scientific about it.
I'm just a player.
To me Maple feels harder and is brighter sounding.
I like a that quicker attack sounding with just a touch of subtle ping.

I don't get that as much with rosewood.

Understood. Is the maple hard finished? If so. that could be where that "ping" originates.

 

[TonyP-]

Understood. Is the maple hard finished? If so. that could be where that "ping" originates.

Well I don't think I have ever played on an unfinished Maple neck (board and all) so I guess to answer correctly that would be a yes.