Maple isn't as hard as Ebony or Rosewood. Tone not only depends on the individual piece but also on the rest of the instrument and a host of other variables not being considered here.
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Rosewood vs. Maple vs. Ebony? Help me choose.
- Thread starter OhulahanBass
- Start date
Maple isn't as hard as Ebony or Rosewood. Tone not only depends on the individual piece but also on the rest of the instrument and a host of other variables not being considered here.
But varnished Maple is.
I also find maple harder, more attack, and maybe a tad faster. Rosewood is softer in tone, and a better feeling on my fingers when slow grooving. I have 4 basses : 2 rosewood, 2 maple.
As for Ebony, not tried enough to give you a review.
Yeah I'm a bit lucky, buy me bass stuff for a bday...keeper for sure. Thanks for the advise all!
It seems like it is, but it's not really. Rosewood is WAY harder-nearly as hard as ebony, look it up. Whatever...use what looks/feels good to you.
They had an article in BP sometime in the last month or so about this. If I remember, Rosewood has more of a dark, warm sound, maple is more bright, and ebony, tho' dense like rosewood, is thunky and it's somewhere between the two. I know the artilce was in an issue since the first of the year, and I want to say it was after they let Bill Leigh go. They covered body wood too. Nice reference.
Ebony is the hardest and brightest in tone but expensive
Maple next
Rosewood having a softer tone
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Just Thumpin'
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The fingerboard makes a HUGE difference in the sound of a bass if all other things on the bass are equal. Maple is the brightest, rosewood is the warmest and ebony will fall somewhere in between with a bit more low end punch than maple, and bell-like highs.
It is amazing to me that people still debate whether or not this spec makes a difference. Again, if all other aspects of the bass are the same, you will notice a fairly significant difference in sound by changing the fingerboard wood IME and IMHO....
It is amazing to me that people still debate whether or not this spec makes a difference. Again, if all other aspects of the bass are the same, you will notice a fairly significant difference in sound by changing the fingerboard wood IME and IMHO....
Yeah I meant the usual lacqer finish, I know the mild difference in tone depends on other things though, that's why I said it was a very subtle part of the sound.
Ebony is the hardest and brightest in tone but expensive
Maple next
Rosewood having a softer tone
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That doesn't mention what you'll be finishing your maple fingerboard with though does it?
S'okay - got my own.
[url=http://www.freesmileys.org][/URL]
Dear Christ haven't you got anything better to do? I'm 22 and I'm above all that internet behaviour for gods sake, by all rights I should have checked my facebook page 5 times during writing that sentence.
That is an untestable hypothesis since the only way to test it would be to change fingerboards and the act of changing the fingerboards would nullify the results since the change process would introduce it's own variables.
I've never posted on this yet, so I'll post one time:
Fingerboard material has absolutely no substantial effect on tone for a fretted bass. And you guys are talking about passive instruments? Even if you could somehow scientifically discern an audible difference in your bedroom, what does that mean at all once your on stage? Moving your fingers a quarter of an inch toward the bridge will have much more effect than maple over rosewood.
Fingerboard material has absolutely no substantial effect on tone for a fretted bass. And you guys are talking about passive instruments? Even if you could somehow scientifically discern an audible difference in your bedroom, what does that mean at all once your on stage? Moving your fingers a quarter of an inch toward the bridge will have much more effect than maple over rosewood.
Wood tone differences are subtle but real...
read this from the warmoth site
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read this from the warmoth site
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Well they sell expensive necks so I'm not gonna go with everything they say about how much difference it makes, I still think it makes a difference and I still think all those people "eating" e-popcorn need to get a life...
Ebony shrinks and expands laterally a little more than the others with changes in humidity, so it's not unusual to feel the fret ends sticking out a little more noticeably in winter on an ebony board. It's not a big deal, but something to keep in mind. I do like the glassy look and feel of a good ebony board, but I like them all and I'd probably agree with the "go for the look you like" view.
Yeah I meant the usual lacqer finish, I know the mild difference in tone depends on other things though, that's why I said it was a very subtle part of the sound.
That doesn't mention what you'll be finishing your maple fingerboard with though does it?
Dear Christ haven't you got anything better to do? I'm 22 and I'm above all that internet behaviour for gods sake, by all rights I should have checked my facebook page 5 times during writing that sentence.
It does not make a difference laqure or not.... the starting point of the tone is the the starting point. If you have balls made of steel, wood and a raw egg and you coated them with laqure and threw them against a wall...wood density effects how the string vibration behaves. Ebony is harder than maple and maple is harder than rosewood. Graphite is harder than all of them but it is not a tonewood. Alembic is the only company I know of who make basses designed to be "wood neutral' as far as tone while using wood.
I think some of the posts on TB are purposely wrong just to start long threaded arguments and have something to watch while eating pop-corn.
