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Rosewood or maple fretboard?

#21
Maloy Poor said:
I am looking at a short scale bass one is white with rosewood fretboard the other has maple fretboard. I have no ideal which is a better fretboard. Help please!
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My most recent purchase was a bass with a maple fingerboard. That aspect was irrelevant for me here - I got the bass for its lighter weight and wider neck. This might be only the second bass I've ever owned that has a maple board, but I don't notice that it's different aside from when I look at it. It plays great and sounds yummy!!

In the few cases where looks indeed matter, I just :drool::drool::drool: over something like a P-bass or a Stingray with a black body and maple neck. That's just nails.

The one fingerboard wood that gets me a little excited is ebony. I don't know whether it makes a huge difference, but two of the nicest sounding basses I've ever played had ebony boards.

Enough about me... Both fretboards you're looking at are potentially great.
 
#22
Rip Van Dan said:
They're both great. I had a rosewood fretboard on my '65 Jazz that I bought in '66, and I have a maple neck and fingerboard on my '82 Jazz that I bought in 1985. Didn't really feel any difference between them, although it took me almost 10-years to find another MIA Jazz with the same neck shape, profile, and radius that my '65 had. My '65 was stolen in 1976 and I bought my '82 Jazz in 1985 (the one in my avatar). My '82 Jazz has significantly more sustain than my '65 did. A lot of folks attribute greater sustain to a maple neck and board.

My Jazz also has different pickup spacing than my '65 did too though. My '65 had that 60's pickup spacing of 3.6" center to center whereas my '82 has the 70's era 4" center to center spacing. I think the 60's spacing is used on the current Jazz Bass but don't quote me on that. I also think that spacing has more to do with the ability to make my Jazz growl more easily than my '65 did because that bridge pickup is located closer to the bridge itself. If I want growl, I just dig into the strings a bit over the bridge pickup and that large cat comes out to play.

I'm happy to play either one as long as the bass sounds good. I would play both basses if you can and see which one sounds better and feels better to you. I wouldn't let the fretboard's appearance alone determine which bass I bought. I would be more concerned with how the neck feels because you are gong to be spending a lot of time with it. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention my 5-string is a rosewood fretboard too. I do think that maple fretboards go better with some colors than rosewood does, but that's really just a personal preference. Don't really know that one is better than the other.
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And one other thing, I prefer the look of a maple neck on a white bass. My Olympic White Jazz has white binding on the neck, white pickups, white pickguard, and white strat-type control knobs. But if I got the same sound out of it with a rosewood fingerboard, I'd be fine with that:
WhiteLadyOutside2.jpg
 
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#23
My reason for preferring maple FB over a darker one like rosewood is really pretty pragmatic: easier to see the lighter color in dim lighting. Other than that, I don't care. And actually, my favorite neck is rosewood FB, but has white binding, so I can see it in dim lighting just as well as a maple FB. So there you have it. Inconclusive proof that it really just comes down to personal preference LOL.
 
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#28
Here's a practical consideration that I think is very important: The contrast of the dots on the edge of the fretboard. A maple FB typically has black dots which contrast nicely. A rosewood FB typically is not bound so you look down at the neck from a playing position you see both dark (rosewood) and light (maple). If a white dot is put there it doesn't contrast well against the maple which is what my situation is. As far as the tonal consideration, not worth considering. See this link: Proof that the neck has a big impact in tone.
 
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#31
My only gripe with rosewood is the CITES treaty, I know I don't tour around the world or carry instrument across countries often, but I would like it to be hassle-free when I do. I think they did exempt musical instrument, but it's still a little confusing.
 
#32
mikeyjm2 said:
My reason for preferring maple FB over a darker one like rosewood is really pretty pragmatic: easier to see the lighter color in dim lighting. Other than that, I don't care. And actually, my favorite neck is rosewood FB, but has white binding, so I can see it in dim lighting just as well as a maple FB.
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SB300 said:
Here's a practical consideration that I think is very important: The contrast of the dots on the edge of the fretboard. A maple FB typically has black dots which contrast nicely. A rosewood FB typically is not bound so you look down at the neck from a playing position you see both dark (rosewood) and light (maple). If a white dot is put there it doesn't contrast well against the maple which is what my situation is.
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In the stage lighting I've been in, I couldn't see either dots worth a damn. My solution was fishing lure stickers. They're designed to capture and reflect light in extremely low light situations, so they're ideal for stage use, for me at least. I put them half on the fretboard, half on the side of the neck, and they never interfere with my playing. And they'll work on any neck. Just FYI.
119120560_4495941540462179_1660907210111632590_n crop.jpg
 
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#35
As the others have already said, its entirely up to what you like better. Both are equal as far as quality, so its just about looks (though some people say maple fretboards make it sound brighter and rosewood deeper but thats debatable) I prefer maple boards but I have both. For a reason that escapes me, I much prefer maple boards on Fender basses (which includes Fender, Musicman & G&L). But my Ric and Wal have rosewood because neither made them in maple (Ric now has them on a couple of their models but didnt for a long time)
 
#37

Not a fan of grubby chic, not where fretboards are concerned. As the finish wears away, the lustre fades. So rosewood's my choice — no finish other than oiled wood. They say that if you paint wood, you will trap its soul. I wonder :) Got my first maple board a few weeks ago so we'll see :ninja:
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#38
I have fretboards of Rosewood, Pau Ferro, Jatoba, and Goncalo Alves. I like them all. I believe they impact the tone, but as they're on different instruments, any comparsions I've done were with neck swapping, where you really can't hear one vs the other back to back. So, my scientific background says I might be fooling myself (we do a lot of very controlled listening tests at my work; the things that can go wrong with trying to quantify sonic nuances are something I fully comprehend); my artistic side says no, it's real.

I did have one fretboard I just couldn't get along with. It was roasted maple. When I didn't like the instrument it was on (harsh and bright), I changed the neck to one with a Rosewood fingerboard. I liked the instrument a lot better.

Thinking that whole thing was silly (the tone issue was all in my head, and I could rise above it), I built another instrument, and used the neck again. Same result; changed the neck to one with rosewood, again much better. 3rd try, I decided to try a Goncalo Alvez fretboard. It also made me like the instrument more than the Maple one. Eventually, I gave up and decided I just don't like Maple fretboards. Or at the very least, not that one. I threw the maple neck in the trash, rather than risk making another instrument that I hated to start with.
 
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