Wenge or Ebony

Warmoth has a great section on describing tonal characteristics of wood for bodys, necks, and FB's.

I like ebony myself, but thats because it suits my playing style perfectly.

 

So different, Wenge is more open grain & Ebony is really closed- two different animals

 

I am looking for a Wenge Neck with an Ebony Fretboard. The 2 woods should compliment each other for a complete tonal spectrum.

 

Wenge - Think Warwick growl...

Ebony - Think fast attack, piano-like clarity...

 

Both are pretty dense woods with ebony being the denser.
Alex pretty much has described it.
Mix these two together and your sound will most likley
be tight, bright, and punchy.

 

Granite body to balance?

 

If only....

I find walnut is a good candidate for wenge/ebony.

 

I still can't figure how the fingerboard wood on a fretted bass would have a noticeable effect on tone.

 

That's interesting as many think the FB wood has all to do with tone aside from electronics.

 

Chris Stambaugh(IIRC)says much the same thing. That said, I've always liked(the sound of basses with)rosewood, pau ferro & mac ebony fretboards over maple, though I can't be terribly specific about why(it may have absolutely nothing to do w/the fretboard).
THAT said, the one bass I have w/a wenge fretboard(Warwick FNA)is very snappy, bright and strong in the mids.
Again- the tone may have little or nothing to do with the fretboard.

 

I haven't seen many opinions that strong, though Roger Sadowsky posted once that he thought it had a much bigger effect than the body wood.

But I clearly remember a thread testing a rosewood vs maple board and not only were the votes split almost 50/50 (the same as random chance) but the comments showed people hearing completely different things.

I'm not trying to state as fact that it doesn't, I just don't understand how it would. On a fretless I can see the case being made, but on a fretted it's just a small part of the overall neck and I think would have a proportional effect on tone.

 

Hard to say how much. But imagine if you will, a fingerboard made of soft plastic, or rubber. Would it affect the tone? Or how about one made of glass, or hard metal?

 

Same goes for the "Guess which jazz bass" thread. People couldn't guess the Sadowsky from a Squire Jazz, well some could but it was just about split 50/50 as well.

IMHO, there's only a noticable difference in extremes like ebony vs. rosewood.

It's just that the strings vibrations go directly into the fret then straight into the fretboard, which makes me think that the FB wood has a lot to do with tone, atleast the front end of the note. Example: Ebony= Clear and focused. Rosewood= warm and round.

I'm no expert, not even close. Just going by what (little) experience I've had with woods.

 

If this doesn't change your mind nothing will...

 

The hardness of wenge vs ebony is IMO going to be much more similar(& thus hard to discern)than plastic, rubber or glass. But I do see your point. Like Big O, I'm not stating anything as fact here, just saying out loud that I likely couldn't hear the difference(though admittedly, I have my preferences )between wenge & ebony.

 

Not really about changing my mind per se, I'm not really resolute one way or another. But I've heard basses made identically (same manufacturer, same body/neck/fingerboard woods, same electronics and pickup placement) that sounded different. I'm just not sure that you could ever control variables enough to really determine the effect of different fingerboard woods on tone.

Then again, I'm not going to hold myself out as someone with golden ears. That's not to say I'm not discriminating. I've gone through a lot of basses, amps and especially pedals. But listening to the three "Dual Coil" samples I couldn't tell enough of a difference to say that I could accurately pick them out in a blind test.

And Bassteban, as far as Chris Stambaugh is concerned, I don't know exactly what his thoughts are on tones and how best to achieve them, but my process both times has been to give him samples and describe in words the sound I wanted and he nailed it.

 

Ebony. I have a Wenge F/B and it is mid heavy and
shrinks a lot here in winter leaving the sides of the frets exposed.
Playable but feels a bit odd.