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Roger's take, in a nutshell
- Thread starter TyBo
- Start date
There's enough posturing in this thread already.
Also cheaper and easier to swap pickups than the wood. A big reason why wood matters!
You obviously have not explained your meaning clearly or specifically. An analogy about milk remains opaque. But if you want to leave it at that, no problem.
I think many people here argue for the sake of arguing.
I like how most can agree that even the wood from the same tree can sound different. So, wood has an impact on tone, right? But if you say that maple fingerboards have a certain general characteristic while rosewood has a different general characteristic, then that becomes contentious.
Not to mention how old the tree was when it was cut, or, once its on the fretboard, how does it age ? Is that Maple neck just as bright after 20 years of gigging? What you get with this discussion is, as Sadowsky himself says in the video, alot of empirical knowledge, but not much cold hard science behind the whole subject.
Does this rosewood fingerboard make my ass look big?
I agree with Roger. His experience with his basses. Of my various basses over the years, with my ears, in my hands - I’ve found it to be quite true, regarding fingerboard wood. Maple is a bit brighter, tighter, and snappier, rosewood has a bit of a mellower bloom, ebony is punchier. I always wish maple had more of that soft rosewood bloom. But I accept it for what it does. Everything matters, but the video focused on fingerboard wood, and how it reacts in a player’s hands and ears, so yeah.
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The viewpoints expressed on this thread are symptomatic of today's society.
An expert in a particular field states facts as they seem them based on years and years of education, research, and hands on experience and those with casual, limited knowledge insinuate that those facts are self beneficial and quite possibly even promoted to further status, make money, or even bring to fruition nefarious intentions.
"This vaccine will help you" - "They're trying to poison us!!"
"There is very much a difference between maple and rosewood fingerboards" - "He's just trying to get me to buy a Zebrawood fingerboard!!".
An expert in a particular field states facts as they seem them based on years and years of education, research, and hands on experience and those with casual, limited knowledge insinuate that those facts are self beneficial and quite possibly even promoted to further status, make money, or even bring to fruition nefarious intentions.
"This vaccine will help you" - "They're trying to poison us!!"
"There is very much a difference between maple and rosewood fingerboards" - "He's just trying to get me to buy a Zebrawood fingerboard!!".
I'm not a superstitious person....unless it comes to basses.
Fit of the parts? Resonance or age of wood? Witness points or whatever they are called? Mojo? If it works, then it works and I try not to question it. I'll admit that strings and pickups contribute a lot to the overall tone though.
I'll go to my grave proclaiming "A good bass is a good bass", and I really think the answer here is "Balance" more than "+1 part makes it +1 better...". I think there is some overgeneralizing on wood as well, where you can get a garbage piece of wood or a great piece from multiple species of wood too. If it sounds good, play it
Fit of the parts? Resonance or age of wood? Witness points or whatever they are called? Mojo? If it works, then it works and I try not to question it. I'll admit that strings and pickups contribute a lot to the overall tone though.
I'll go to my grave proclaiming "A good bass is a good bass", and I really think the answer here is "Balance" more than "+1 part makes it +1 better...". I think there is some overgeneralizing on wood as well, where you can get a garbage piece of wood or a great piece from multiple species of wood too. If it sounds good, play it
I can't really comment on Roger's work (never owned one), so my following comment has nothing to do with him or his products...
Playing Devil's Advocate here, when we're talking about an industry where people sell $200 standard power cables to "enhance tone", preamp tubes in a solid state amp that basically glow, and Monster's instrument cables that knew what genre of music you were playing...there will be some skepticism bred for any product coming to market.
I don't agree with it being lobbed at him (Roger), because I don't think he was implying it, but I think the tonewood knee jerk skepticism comes from the folks who would swear you can't get a decent bass made of just alder and maple.
Again, not sticking up for any TB'ers or lobbing an opinion about Roger....I'm just seeing that as where the jump to skepticism likely stems from.
EDIT: the products discussed above were also endorsed by respected players/industry folks....it wasn't just the company marketing them.
Whether tonewood is real or not is unimportant to me. That said, vaccine skeptics tend to reject arguments that are based on mainstream science (i.e., data from controlled and repeated experiments), whereas many or most tonewood skeptics object to the lack of data from controlled and repeated experiments (e.g., double-blind tests along the lines of those which demonstrated that professional violinists were unable to distinguish reliably between revered centuries-old Italian violins worth millions and high-end violins manufactured in the last 20 years).
Whatever I said about making comparisons is way too deep for something like this. LOL
EVERYONE is entitled to their opinions. As Roger very clearly stated YOU have to decide what is best for you. My $549 used Schecter Stiletto Custom is the best playing and sounding bass I've ever owned. Strings almost laying on the fingerboard with no buzz, resonant body, cuts through the mix, and fits my small frame perfectly. Throw on some Elixir nickels and I'm in Heaven.
$549....Makes no sense but it's my perfection.
EVERYONE is entitled to their opinions. As Roger very clearly stated YOU have to decide what is best for you. My $549 used Schecter Stiletto Custom is the best playing and sounding bass I've ever owned. Strings almost laying on the fingerboard with no buzz, resonant body, cuts through the mix, and fits my small frame perfectly. Throw on some Elixir nickels and I'm in Heaven.
$549....Makes no sense but it's my perfection.
And that is all that matters, honestly. I have $5000+ basses and under $200 basses (and a bunch in between). I love each one of them for different reasons, but they all make me smile.
Never thought about it, but I just realized that I would describe my 1965 Sears Silvertone/Danelectro model 1444 bass (bought used in the '70's for $80) in exactly the same way. Short scale, resonant hollow Masonite body on a pine frame, one lipstick pickup, LaBella light-gauge flatwound strings (authentic reproductions of the LaBella strings that Danelectro used originally).
Amazingly straight neck after all these years. (A good thing, because the truss rod isn't adjustable.)
And I just (finally) did a search: "What is Masonite?"
"Masonite is a brand name for hardboard, a type of engineered wood made from compressed wood fibers."
"Hardboard" is a polite word for "compressed cardboard." Tonewood!
