Why are Maple Fretboards unpopular for bass?

Maple boards are very popular, and yes the fingerboard wood does affect the tone. I love maple!

 

Some people think rosewood is warmer, I think maple is more popular than you think it is.

 

Maple boards are really popular, maybe a little less common. It is possible, depending on manufacturing techniques, that a neck with second piece of wood for the fingerboard/fretboard is less expensive to produce. With a one piece neck the truss rod is installed through the back of the neck and that slot needs to be filled and smoothed which may be more expensive/time consuming than dropping the truss rod in through the front...again it would really depend on the manufacturing process.

 

There are gazillions of maple fretboards out there. They're extremely popular.

 

I like them!

 

who says they're unpopular? i see them everywhere. Prefer rosewood myself.
maybe start a poll?

 

They are not unpopular at all. There may not be quite as many as there are rosewood, but they are plenty popular.

 

Aesthetics. Some people simply prefer the way darker fingerboards look.

 

I actually prefer Maple for instruments with low tunings. That extra *snap* really helps it to cut through! I used to keep an old G&L SB-2 JJ with a Maple board tuned to Ab, F, Ab, Eb.

 

It seems for the longest time MIM Fender Standards were rosewood only.

Around '09 they started offering maple boards. I was all over it and bought two Precisions and a Jazz.

 

Maple fretboards are unpopular???

When did THIS happen???????

 

I have no idea...

 

I think most mid range manufacturers make them the same way as a rw neck i.e. glue a maple fretboard onto a maple neck and smooth off the edges. I have a maple neck stingray and this was how it was done. You have to really closely though. Some signature p basses are made from one piece. I don't know if there's a difference in the sound but I think the maple neck looks cooler. Unless the neck is lacquered though they can get very dirty. I had this problem with the stingray, it had a very light satin finish and it got very grimy.

 

I don't.

I see equal numbers of both.

And I like both. I have one of each.

 

I'll take the two on the left. And could you throw in some fries?

I'm getting to hate rosewood. My warwick has ebony, my squier maple. Take a guess which one is in my hands tonight.

 

I have a MIJ P that has a rosewood board, but I love maple boards.

 

Rosewood has a warmer tone.

I have 8 basses with maple boards, one bubinga, and 4 rosewood.

 

I had the same question long ago. To this day i still have a hard time finding maple neck/fretboards. I find that maple while warm gives your tone a nice high end punch. i own a maple neck silver-tone guitar and a maple neck fender jazz bass. Both my first maples and love them very much.