Rosewood/Maple Finger Boards - Tone difference?

[Akami]

All my basses since I started playing have had a dark colored fingerboard (ebony,rosewood) but I never owned one with a maple board.

Whenever I pickup a bass that has maple, it feels weird to me when I look at the fingerboard and play. Does anybody else feel this way, or do I need to stop confusing myself, and get out there and play more? Wish I didn't have this psycological barrier though. How do you do it?

I used to have only dark sounding... I mean dark colored fingerboards and don't remember taking anytime to get used to playing on maple other than to recall how I used to hate the look of them.

I wouldn't beat myself up about it though; it's all an individual choice and if you don't like one then go with the other. Everyone elses choice is a good choice too, but only for them.

My first maple fingerboard decision, including my most recent, both came at a time I was looking for rosewood and accidentally fell in love with something else.

 

[Fuzzbass]

No comment on my part. Just FYI.

Excellent.

How it sounds is more important than how it's supposed to sound. My experience is the same as Mr. Thompson's: the actual can vary tremendously from the theoretical. So, take your best guess on what the end result of your custom order should be, but don't bet the ranch that you'll get your desired tone.

And yeah, every factor in the chain counts. Slightly related note: We all know that a bass that sounds blah with one set of strings can totally rock with another. But I've observed that the reverse can also be true: a particular set of strings can totally rock on one bass and sound blah on another. This makes life difficult sometimes.

But really, I have endless fun (not being sarcastic, either) mixing and matching my strings, basses, preamps, speakers. I also match my gear to the rooms I play: acoustics matters. And hell, so does my mood on any given day: it can vary as much as any other factor!


So anyway, props to Carl for the astute quote.