What is it about a maple fretboard P?

[ClassicJazz]

I like maple on all my basses! Just so happen three of them are P-Basses!

 

[Michedelic]

They look naked and sterile.

 

[Igotsoul4u]

I love the sound of maple fingerboards. It brightens up the natural tone of the instrument. The attack is more percussive but you can roll it off with the tone knob. I have two maple P basses and a US Geddy Jazz. The all have a nice high end growl. My Maple Ernie Ball Music Man sterling H has that same growl but with the imprinted music man tone. Same zing. My F bass BN5 is also maple and again has that same high mid boost. On my fretless with Gaboon ebony I am always boosting the heck out of the high end and I think it's because I am missing that maple crispy high end. My other BN5 has a purple heart fingerboard and its similar to maple. I've always gravitated towards maple but it's not a deal breaker. You always boost the highs.

 

[MadJack]

My top three...

Fender Player II


Ashdown Roasted Saint Soap (roasted maple neck)


Modified Harley Benton, Dusty Hill tribute Peeler Precision

 

[bass12]

I love the feel of a maple fretboard - but then I have to ruin it by putting strings on.

 

[Prodigus Filius]

I reckon a maple board makes the bass look 'alive'. Hard to explain

 

[fretno]

It’s that 3.7% tonal change that drives the chicks wild.

 

[Prodigus Filius]

It’s that 3.7% tonal change that drives the chicks wild.

Ha ha

 

[lyonaudio]

They look so good.

Not as good as rosewood.

 

[DWA2469]

Curious — is it a visual thing or a feel thing? Tone?

I was ambivalent until I got a maple with block inlay neck — could be the shape of the neck or the visual aspect or maybe the combo of PU, strings and neck, but that bass became my favorite. Then of course I had to tinker with it

For me it is a feel thing! I love how they look!

 

[Ian774]

My maple P. It’s got a fantastic neck, super comfortable, however I’ve been going back and forth about the aesthetics. I’ve been tempted -and still am- to get another neck with rosewood fretboard. But my other P already has a rosewood board, and I guess having different options is interesting.

 

[DCErik]

2 out of 3 ain't bad! For me it's mostly aesthetic. I like the headstock and fretboard to match, as it makes the entire neck look like one 'thing'.

 

[JTNuney]

I may now have to be excommunicated from this thread, if not TB entirely…

Went to my local GC today (with a little day-job bonus burning a hole in my pocket) to look at the three (?!?) used Vintera 50s Ps (with maple boards, natch) they had on the wall. I’ve played a Vintera before and really liked it, so I figured it was a guaranteed NBD… but none of them felt “right” in my hands.

That Dakota red with gold PG, though…

(EDITED to change Fiesta to Dakota… got my reds mixed up!)

 

[BassHole1]

I prefer rosewood fretboards on my basses and guitars. It seems like a darker tone. I have a candy apple red P bass with a maple Jazz neck on it. It's really treble-y. I also have a 5 string Squier natural with a maple neck - good color combo, but I don't play a 5 string much.

 

[dougjwray]

For me, maple fingerboards put more "air" in the sound than rosewood ones. I like either on a P-Bass, although if I were to look back on my decades of playing and tally it up, maple might win.
I don't like the airy thing on Jazz Basses, though... not solid enough. Great for slapping, I guess, but I'm a fingerstyle person.

 

[pfschim]

yeah, no.

I'm a rosewood or ebony guy myself. I've had one or two maple necked basses over the decades, and have played a few others over that time. I just don't like the sticky, plasticky feeling finish that is usually associated with maple necks (particularly Fenders), and I kind of feel it imparts a kind of clacky sound that I really hate. Most recently I had a very nicely made MIJ '51 P reissue with a maple neck ... only lasted a few years for me because of the neck.

But hey, play what you like, like what you play!

 

[BRoth]

When I bought my P-bass I had to have rosewood. I just wanted that 60s look and I didn’t really love the look of maple fretboards. Now that I have one, I’m starting to think I need another one with maple. Those Empire ‘58s are the ones that made me start to reconsider…that roasted maple looks great.

 

[MIJ Fender Guy]

I’ve had some good maple Ps