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Rosewood vs. Maple vs. Ebony? Help me choose.

OhulahanBass

OhulahanBass

Supporting Member
Nov 6, 2008
1,675
598
Baton Rouge
#1
I'm replacing the neck on my 2000 lefty MIM Jazz Bass. I want to buy from Warmoth, they have 5 lefties in my price range: 2 Maples, 2 Rosewoods and 1 Ebony fingerboards. It will be a fretted neck. Is there any difference in sound between the 3 fingerboard woods?
 
#6
mongo2 said:
Get teh one you like the looks of best.

Personally I like this one best of those 5:

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Click to expand...

+1

That neck looks nice.
There is a tone difference, but its not big enough to start an argument on what is better. Especially not on a fretted bass, we could also be talking about the different materials for the frets...

Choose the one you like most!
 
#9
FunkMetalBass said:
It's all aesthetic as that sliver of wood makes almost no difference at all on a fretted neck (compared to the other 8 lbs of wood used, the strings, hardware, and electronics, as well as the amp).

Pick whichever one looks best.
Click to expand...

Especially when you consider this is going to be a fretted neck.

Pick the one that will look the best on your bass.
 
#16
Wow, I'm actually pretty surprised by the replies here. I mean, I've A/B:t a lot of basses and I think the fretboard makes a significant difference. It's not a huge ground breaking difference, but still a very audible difference. But I guess it's also good to point out that I always listen to the acoustic sound first, amplified second. And it's also worth noting that I might put more emphasis on wood selection when it comes to basses, but that's just the way I see things.

Maple would be brightest, rosewood the warmest and ebony would be sort hifi version of something in between. Some could call ebony best of both worlds (or worst for that matter), but personally I don't have an opinion which is best. They're all just differend.
 
#17
I definantly think they do play some difference. Rosewood does tend to have a warmer sound to it in comparison to mample, but most people can overlap this by just tweaking their EQ and from playing closer to or farther from the bridge.
 
#18
Don't overstate the difference though, it is quite subtle, I've been able to tell on every blind test I've come across but you'd struggle to tell on sounds that are a bit more mellowed out.

Primarily you wanna go with it for the feel, I like the hardness of maple boards personally for bass, guitar I'm not really too bothered and if anything have slightly more preference for rosewood/ebony, but I do feel that maple boards do add a tiny little bit of snap to a bass tone which I quite like. Like I said though it's a very small amount of your overall harmonics.
 
#19
I'm getting a new neck because my current one is 8 years old with worn frets, worn fret board from string bending and there is an un-even warp between E and G sides of the neck. I'm going with warmoth because I hear they are the best and my girl wants to buy it for my birthday in June. Thanks for the advise, I think I'll go with the ebony for the unique look or the rosewood for the vintage look.
 

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