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Why do, if you do, prefer one fingerboard material over the others?

#141
murmur70 said:
I like maple best but for me it is purely aesthetics. I don't like the look of a maple headstock with a rosewood board.
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I like Rosewood best. I prefer the look of a maple headstock with a rosewood board.

Sound? Leaning towards the "no perceivable difference" camp, but recently watched a demo of Sadowsky ME JJ5's. An excellent vid done by another TB'er, Michael Schmitt. Scroll to halfway point to get to the playing, and I'll be danged- for whatever reason, you can see, multiple times, a comparison of maple vs morado fingerboards, and there does seem to be a bit of an audible difference in tonality. Not an argument or pitch for one sounding better than the other, but based on the otherwise identical instruments, seems there may be something to it. Of course, could simply be a set of other small subtleties between the two instruments that cause it, but worth a quick look. Completely incidental by product of the video, but it's as close to a study of this debate as I've seen:

 
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#142
Dlew919 said:
There's no wrong answer, and it's not about which is better. Why do you like the fingerboard you like? I love maple boards because I like the feel of them and I like the aesthetics. I have rosewood boards which I like too. But I prefer maple.

Your turn.
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Ebony is my favorite, followed by maple. I know there's a huge debate about whether or not wood makes a difference. To me, it does. I feel ebony and maple fingerboards add "punch" to the attack of the notes.
 
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#143
petermwright said:
As it happens, I was in town today without wife and/or kids (which, like, never happens). So I went into the music shop and had a look at the basses. Tried out a Player Plus active Jazz, as I'd never tried an active bass, and wanted to see what the fuss was about.

Not having seen them in person before, I couldn't believe how light the colour of the Pau Ferro fretboards was. Like nowhere near rosewood. The colour seemed just about closer to a to a tinted maple than a traditional rosewood.

If I wasn't used to rosewood, I might have liked it. However, it did strike me as having a slight diarrhoea tinge to it. The lighting in the shop may have contributed.
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Most of the Pau ferro fretboards I saw in music stores were lacking oil and were on the dry side so this may explain the light color.
 
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#146
For aesthetics, I like exotic hardwoods like Pale Moon Ebony, Mac Ebony and Bloodwood. Outside of that I don't really care.

For fretless though, I prefer phenolic it's the most resistant to rounds…

Bloodwood

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Mac Ebony

IMG_4117.jpeg


Pale Moon Ebony

68550857181__269BEEAC-D98F-4F04-974D-F80703063CD6.jpeg
 
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#149
Purely personal preference: Macassar Ebony. I have a couple of instruments with Macassar Ebony fingerboards, and I'm planning a custom build for 2024 the same. I just like the look and feel of it. I don't think it does anything really different tonally than Gaboon ebony, Chechen, Bubinga, Purpleheart, Pau Ferro, Jatoba, or other hardwood fingerboards that are considered "uber maples." I just like the look and feel of it.
 
#150
Crash 56 said:
I like the harder wood - ebony and maple, for some reason they feel faster to me.....
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Ebony is a bit harder than Rosewood and...
Rosewood is twice as hard as Maple.


Arthur U. Poon said:
Ebony is my favorite, followed by maple. I know there's a huge debate about whether or not wood makes a difference. To me, it does. I feel ebony and maple fingerboards add "punch" to the attack of the notes.
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Why do you think that is?
What about Rosewood?.... how do you feel that it sounds?


USMC2311A1B said:
Just like there are "super tasters". Or people who can taste every single ingredient and nuance. There's psychopaths like me who can hear and blatantly hear the difference between woods, cables, etc. It almost never translates or matters on stage in a mix so I like them all.
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Have you done blind test with witnesses ?
With the only thing changing was to take the neck off and switch to the same model/year neck by the same company with a different fretboard wood?
That way, the same bass with the same strings and components and the same player uses all the same stuff to produce noise.
If you did that and can hear it reliably in a blind test then you are a special guy.
I've not seen videos where that was done and the test subject was successful at telling the difference.
 
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#152
I like maple with a white body, rosewood on a black body with regard to Fenders-

However I love the unique pattern of the light rosewood fingerboard on my 80's Gibson Explorer bass which is being restored to its original Alpine White.

I like ebony on an unlined fretless bass, and I like the black phenolic material on my unlined fretless Steinberger XL-25-
 
#154
I do believe in tone woods, cancel me if you want! Fingerboards is more of a feel thing to me than any other. Aestetics second and sound qualities third. On my uprights there have to be ebony (I have both rosewood on my slb 100 and some artificial stuff on my alter ego that lack a bit of feel to it). Owning way too many basses I experience that I get my clear opinions regarding whats "right" : On a p with flats rosewood, p with rounds maple, jazz basses rosewood, fretless ebony and stingray maple. There have to be a good tonal match with the body wood I think, so its kind of hard to say what I would have custom ordered.
 
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#155
My introduction to electric basses was to maple FBs (Fender P, Gibson Grabber). They're still my fave. I have never found anything to not like about them. I definitely do not hate rosewood or ebony FBs; I simply do not prefer them. The tonewoods debate is a non-starter with me; either a bass works for me or it doesn't.
 
#159
I like darker fretboards with some visible grain. Rosewood varieties, Pao Ferro, and love love love the wenge board on my Elrick. Mostly it's looks but also feel. I don't really care for the coated feel of a maple board, though it can look great on some basses.
I think the Wenge board offers something sonically but I have no proof of that :D:thumbsup:
 
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