Rosewood/Maple Finger Boards - Tone difference?

[lpdeluxe]

Once you get into "what I hear" versus "what you hear" you are on a slippery slope indeed. Perhaps all any of us can hope for is to satisfy ourselves that we hear what we hear, without necessarily being able to convince anyone else of the distinctions.

I am playing bass with a singer/g**tarist with super ears, great intonation, great time...I remarked on the 'twang' of the roundwounds on my 51 P RI: he didn't hear it. I replaced the strings with LaBella DTB nylon-tape wounds: it sounded no different to him.

To me, it was night and day difference...but, I guess, that's my job. I'm the bass player. He only knows that the "feel" is the same, and that's all he cares about. Come to think of it, that's how I perceive his singing/sound, so there you are.

For the record, I own 6 basses: 4 have maple fingerboards, and I no longer play the other 2.

 

[savit260]

A more audibly noticeable example of the rosewood vs. maple sound would be in acoustic guitar bodies. You may claim apples and oranges, but in this scenario EVERYONE should be able to hear the general characteristics of both woods. Of course this is going to be a far more dramatic difference than in fingerboards, but if you can't hear the difference there, I don't know what more to say. I'd be willing to bet that any one of us here could play 5 Gibson J200's with maple back and sides, and 5 Gibson J200's with rosewood back and sides, with the same strings and be able tell them apart blindfolded. Will they all sound the same?

 

[Moo]

Just applying Moo's logic....

That aint my logic baby!!!

 

[Moo]

If a Bass player can't distinguish the difference between a 10,12 or 15 then he/she needs to be shot.

Heck I can tell the difference just by looking

 

[JAUQO III-X]

Heck I can tell the difference just by looking

 

[Moo]

I do know that some people just can't hear certain things. I was once trying to explain how to get better fuel mileage by listening to the turbocharger, to an ex girlfriend. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't hear it. Does the fact that she couldn't hear the difference between the turbo spooled up or spooled down, mean that there's no difference in sound?

I understand this completely, it may take some time to learn to discern impeller whine from cam noise. If you say you can hear this we can easily test this by watching the boost gauge or something while you describe what's happening by ear. If fingerboard wood is the same way people should be able to listen to a bass and tell me the FB species without looking. I've never met anyone who could do that, they all need to see it first.

I'm currently trying to put something together to demonstrate this. But from anecdotal evidence so far no one will be able to do it. Any one want to get in early and claim they will be able to tell no problem? (this is usually where we start to discuss how things are subtle and the test may be flawed etc... Not unlike when psychic abilities are tested)

 

[Moo]

So according to some of the logic here, since HE couldn't hear the turbo, it must sound the same as the naturaly aspirated version, and the only reason you can hear it, is because you've seen it under the hood.

No, that's not according to logic but the Wizard of Oz.

 

[JAUQO III-X]

Moo,you know I'm in.

and I can tell if the fb is maple,rosewood or ebony(Gaboon).with out seeing the fb if the amps tone is set flat as well as the eq setting on the instruments.


come on with it.

If you can get out to Chicago,I'm sure we can do this test at Lakland and all the Basses for the test does not have to be Laklands and we can invite a bunch of witnesses and even tape it.

 

[Moo]

Do those that agree there's a difference also agree that it's a "HUGE" difference that eclipses all other woods on the instrument?

My thought is that there is a difference but it's trivial and can't be heard without foreknowledge of the answer as seen in all examples shown of people hearing this difference.

Room temperature rising 3 degrees will make a difference in the way a bass sounds, another person walking into the room will also have an effect on tone as will walking around your amp. Those 3 examples can have a rather large effect on the way you hear sound. Claiming you can hear how warm the room is and how many people are in it by listening is BS. IMHO

 

[Calif De Funk]

i did, actually, to compensate for responding + searching i clicked twice as fast

Ha ha ha... I liked this one, but never the less, this has been covered here and you should be able to find it. Good luck.

 

[Fretless5verfan]

I understand this completely, it may take some time to learn to discern impeller whine from cam noise. If you say you can hear this we can easily test this by watching the boost gauge or something while you describe what's happening by ear. If fingerboard wood is the same way people should be able to listen to a bass and tell me the FB species without looking. I've never met anyone who could do that, they all need to see it first.

This is faulty logic. Turbo whine is a very discernable noise. It's either present or it's not. The tone differences in woods are generalities and nowhere near as cut and dry. Which is many people say "tends to" when they describe tone differences.

 

[Moo]

For gosh sakes, I have two basses made by the same manufacturer with the same body woods, hardware, neck woods, preamp, strings, pickups, etc., etc.... and they sound VERY different.

You obviously drive a turbo

 

[savit260]

This seemed more relevant to me than your turbo example at first, but I'm not sure it really is.

Are you saying that because the difference in woods used in the enormous body which amplifies the sound of an acoustic instrument is audible that's proof that the comparatively tiny strip of wood comprising the fingerboard of an electric instrument is audible?

, do you agree that the fingerboard on an electric bass has a "HUGE" impact on its tone that's larger than even the body woods used?

The difference in an enormous body which amplifies the sound makes the differences much easyer to distinguish. So Yes.

As to the amount of impact on the tone from the fingerboard??? I would not say it has a "HUGE" impact, but it does have some impact.

As to the turbocharger thing, That was just an example trying to illustrate how not everyone hears everything the same. My ear is dialed into that particular sound from well over a million and a half miles of listening to them. Trust me when I tell you the sound is there, it's just the ex couldn't pick it out from all the other mechanical noise. Seems the same pricipal could apply here.

 

[Moo]

I believe most of us are assuming this discussion involves fretted fingerboards.

I'd say so, fretless opens a new can of worms with the wood actually being a witness point directly absorbing or reinforcing certain frequencies.

This getting polarized into something it's not. Not believing that people can identify the species of FB by listening only does not mean nothing can change the tone of a bass.

 

[Moo]

Rosewood is more porous so some of the higher frequencies, being a smaller wavelength, fall into the pores of rosewood and get lost whilst a tight packed grain like maple bounces them all back into the string. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Those pores would have to be a bit bigger But don't be surprised if someone doesn't repeat your new myth in another thread.

 

[jobo4]

You might not but others can. This is the problem with these types of arguments and this type of politically correct logic. This is junk/pop/science.

What's so politically correct about the fact that a significant group of skilled bassists disagree with you? Others can tell the diff? I submit that hey must have an agenda: to make themselves feel better or to sell more basses with different fingerboards or some other...

Whatever makes you sleep better...

 

[savit260]

I understand this completely, it may take some time to learn to discern impeller whine from cam noise. If you say you can hear this we can easily test this by watching the boost gauge or something while you describe what's happening by ear.

This I can prove any time. You can even blindfold me! Too bad we can't put a boost guage on a basses neck. I even told the ex to watch the guage and pyrometer and listen for the noise that went along with it. Still nothing.

 

[Moo]

A more audibly noticeable example of the rosewood vs. maple sound would be in acoustic guitar bodies. You may claim apples and oranges, but in this scenario EVERYONE should be able to hear the general characteristics of both woods.

Most people can hear the difference between a car horn and a tuba, therefore???

Therefore nuthin!



Showing there are other sounds that may or may not be differentiated only shows there is more than one sound available and has no bearing on the claim some make that they can hear the species of FB wood just by listening. It's more apples to lemurs.

 

[Moo]

Moo,you know I'm in.

and I can tell if the fb is maple,rosewood or ebony(Gaboon).with out seeing the fb if the amps tone is set flat as well as the eq setting on the instruments.


come on with it.

If you can get out to Chicago,I'm sure we can do this test at Lakland and all the Basses for the test does not have to be Laklands and we can invite a bunch of witnesses and even tape it.

I want to have more than just one guy try though, I want to make something available on the web so people can put on their headphones and study the sound clips, compare them back and forth and then decide what the woods are and see if they're right. Lakland would be great as they have a standardized line with the wood options.

You've already shown me you can hear things I can't, If you can tell species I'll be very impressed.

 

[jzucker]

What's so politically correct about the fact that a significant group of skilled bassists disagree with you? Others can tell the diff? I submit that hey must have an agenda: to make themselves feel better or to sell more basses with different fingerboards or some other...

Whatever makes you sleep better...

Who are these skilled bassists you speak of? I want names and resumes.

Incidentally, nice cheap shot against the folks at roscoe and sadowsky with your last comment. I guess you know better than them.