Rosewood or Maple 'board?

[Musicman20]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1354456074' post='1886093']
Fixed.
[/quote]

I've spoken to a lot of Stingray players, and most of them prefer the gunstock oil finish. I very much doubt its that much cheaper...not only that, their paintwork is much better than others so its swings and roundabouts.

[EssentialTension]

I've never been able to hear a difference between maple and rosewood fretboards but if there is any difference I can't believe it's not over-ridden by whether you play with a pick or with fingers, do you play by the neck or by the bridge, what kind of strings are you using, how is your eq set etc etc etc.

I've got a rosewood P and my son has a maple P. Whichever we play we sound like ouselves.

[Musicman20]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1354467085' post='1886286']
I've never been able to hear a difference between maple and rosewood fretboards but if there is any difference I can't believe it's not over-ridden by whether you play with a pick or with fingers, do you play by the neck or by the bridge, what kind of strings are you using, how is your eq set etc etc etc.

I've got a rosewood P and my son has a maple P. Whichever we play we sound like ouselves.
[/quote]

Agreed. I used to use a pick a lot more with bright stainless steel strings years ago, on a rosewood board P, and it was spot on for that very aggressive P bass tone...in fact sometimes it was too aggresssive.

I think its more for aesthetics. I'd like to get a maple P and J to go along with my rosewood P and J, but I know deep down I prefer the classic colours, and most the time a rosewood board looks better.

I used to have a 2008 ish sunburst/tort P bass, with a maple neck (very glossy). It was a nice bass, very light, but with tort, the maple looked 'weird'.

[Dingus]

A wenge board makes the biggest difference of any fingerboard wood I have ever heard , but that particular wood is unlikely to feature on a Fender anytime soon .

[redstriper]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1354468841' post='1886313']
A wenge board makes the biggest difference of any fingerboard wood I have ever heard
[/quote]

In what way?

[Dingus]

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1354468785' post='1886310']
Agreed. I used to use a pick a lot more with bright stainless steel strings years ago, on a rosewood board P, and it was spot on for that very aggressive P bass tone...in fact sometimes it was too aggresssive.

I think its more for aesthetics. I'd like to get a maple P and J to go along with my rosewood P and J, but I know deep down I prefer the classic colours, and most the time a rosewood board looks better.

I used to have a 2008 ish sunburst/tort P bass, with a maple neck (very glossy). It was a nice bass, very light, but with tort, the maple looked 'weird'.
[/quote]

Maybe it's just because we are all accustomed to seeing Sunburst Fenders with rosewood boards far more than ones with maple boards . The did make Sunburst/ maple P Basses in the 60s , but they were far less common . I really like that combo myself , probably because it is a bit different , but have got the Sunburst / rosewood combo myself . Why ? Can't remember to be honest with you , but it was Christmas and I think I wanted to pretend I was Pino Palladino to escape the misery of the Yuletide festivities in the Dingus household . Is it really that time of year again ? Unfortunately so .

Edited December 2, 2012 by Dingus

[Dingus]

[quote name='redstriper' timestamp='1354469257' post='1886321']
In what way?
[/quote]

Very bright sounding with crystaline highs and hint of compression in the bass . Almost sounds half way to being like graphite . It's such a hard and dense wood that it's far more reflective and tight- sounding than woods from the rosewood family of woods . Does the things that maple is supposed to do , but much more so .

[Marvin]

Buy the one you like the look of, that's it.

[Donnyboy]

Good post , good sir. I like a maple neck- I think all my current basses have one . Although I do like a sunburst/rosewood or dark/dark combo.However I think a Jazz suits rose wood for some reason- it's a visual thing

[thodrik]

I generally dislike binding and blocks outside of Gibson SGs and Les Pauls. I like a maple fingerboard on a Fender type bass, but I would agree that custom block colour finishes and anything with a tort pickguard generally look better with rosewood.

My P bass is cherry sunburst with maple board and apart from the lacquer starting to fall off it looks fine. It even got a 'that is a nice bass' shout from someone at the gig I did last night, which generally is more attention than any of my other basses ever receives.

[tom1946]

[b]I[/b] love maple boards.

I [b]love[/b] maple boards.

I love[b] maple[/b] boards.

I love maple [b]boards.[/b]

They are visually stunning to me, don't know why, they just are. Every bass I ever bought with a rosewood neck had a poor action, no problems with maple.

Did I mention that I like maple?

[Lozz196]

You may have mentioned it Tom, though not quite sure

I like maple, and find them much easier to see where the frets are when on stage, but I always seem to gravitate to rosewood. I`ve had a good few maple necked Precisions, but for me rosewood always wins. I can`t say why, cos as in my previous post, in the mix, or recorded I can`t tell any difference in the sound, only at home practice level, so I guess it must be the feel when playing.

[deepbass5]

Tone has been mentioned but what about sustain, Ebony was chosen for its wear and sustain and tone transfer, and I assume rose wood was originally a cheap imitation when guitars started to be mass produced.
My first P bass was maple and I couldn't see me playing a rose wood board, and then I got an ebony board on my next two basses now I prefer a rose wood P bass to a maple so think it’s what you get used to.
My favourite bass neck was my shuker with Padauk board

Edited January 26, 2013 by deepbass5

[Spike Vincent]

Aesthetics aside,I've always found it easier to see what I'm doing on a maple board.Plus,I've always found maple to be perceptibly brighter than rosewood,but there's probably more to it than just the wood or the laquer.Just don't look at the little picture on the left..

[gsgbass]

I 've had a few Precisions with both Maple, and Rosewood. I think they are very close in sound. I believe the strings make more of a difference in sound, than the board's wood.

[drTStingray]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1354454367' post='1886070']
EBMM stands for Ernie Ball Music Man . In reality it stands for this guy

because , trust me , when it comes to EBMM , what he says goes .


[/quote]

You'd expect a CEO to have some control over his company, but it is said that the Classic series of basses were not the brainchild of Sterling Ball, but his son Scott Ball (in fact it was Sterling Ball who said it). He's much misunderstood - who else runs threads on each new bass model they develop from ground up, taking feedback on the way? Quite a lot of what came out with the Classics seemed to result from forum interraction (eg figured necks; chrome battery cover and more) - along with the Reflex and other instruments.

Who's the CEO of Fender? Hmmm a bunch of venture capitalists own it and I've never heard of anyone involved with it (other than the names of one or two people in its Custom Shop). Sterling Ball is a bass player and enthusiast (but has also banned one or two people who were (arguably) behaving like .......... aherm............twats on his company's forum - they appear in other places these days!) - I know who I'd trust more to produce musical instruments, however.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1354456074' post='1886093']
Fixed.
[/quote]

Rhys you really should go and try some more basses out - I have four variants of neck material on my Musicman basses - rosewood with gunstock oil finished neck; pau ferro with lacquered neck; maple with gunstock oil finished neck; maple with fully laquered neck and board. They do sound different, but especially the slap tone. The gun stock oil finish produces the fastest and easiest playing neck IMO - you get used to the lacquered necks but the gunstock ones just feel silky smooth to play. The lack of varnish produces a player's bass. The necks are all hand finished anyway (as are Fender Custom Shop).

Back to the OP - I'm not sure what difference you'll get between a P with a maple or a P with a rosewood board, other than the obvious aesthetic differences - I would just say that of all the people playing 70s R and B on these basses I have seen, most have used maple boards - I preume they may have a little more focus and treble. However, a passive P bass being what it is, I'm not sure how much audible difference this will really make - possibly marginal.

[RhysP]

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1354494685' post='1886752']
Rhys you really should go and try some more basses out.
[/quote]

I've played more than enough EBMM basses to know I don't like them thanks, and I know that I'm not going to get on with any bass that has an oil finished neck - I can't stand them.

[Doddy]

I can't hear a difference between fingerboard woods (or body wood,for that matter). I've got basses with
rosewood,maple (with and without lacquer),wenge and 'ebanol',and as far as I'm concerned the sound
is more about the pickups/electronics and (more importantly) my hands,than the wood.
Visually I've always liked maple with block inlays but out of my instruments,my favourites have rosewood or
wenge 'boards with no front makings. The best looking one,my Roscoe LG3500, has a spalted Bolivian rosewood
board with a single 12th fret inlay. It looks awesome.

[risingson]

Must admit my new Ray 5 took a bit of getting used to, the neck feels little 'unfinished' having just come straight from playing my Lakland. But I like it and I can get on with it. As for Sterling Ball, to be quite honest from what I've heard and read of him he sounds like he's on some kind of mad power trip.

[stingrayPete1977]

Im not arsed what the neck finish is as I always run 1200 grit paper over it end to end anyway, you can easily bring back even a gloss painted neck with t cut if you were to sell it on, my '79 Ray I did with wire wool as the finish has been mostly worn off anyway, its lovely now!

[mcnach]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1354468841' post='1886313']
A wenge board makes the biggest difference of any fingerboard wood I have ever heard , but that particular wood is unlikely to feature on a Fender anytime soon .
[/quote]

How do you know it was the wenge board, and not something else in that bass?

honest question, I'm interested how you reached the conclusion that it was the material of the fingerboard.

[shizznit]

In my experience I find that there is marginal difference between rosewood and maple boards. Maple might be a tad brighter, but I wouldn't say that there is a significant difference. I like either. Cosmetically, maple looks great...especially birds eye pieces.

The only thing I don't like about rosewood boards is that the side dots on the neck can be a bit difficult to see in low light. I prefer using a maple board in a performance situation so that I can see the dots a bit more clearly and I don't have to resort to installing LED's. Great, but there is a draw back with maple boards....they are a pain in the arse to keep clean and age quite quickly.

For me the choice is down to feel...not tone. There are many other elements to a bass that contribute to the tone. Some say that some materials bring out the fret tone and string resonance a lot more than others and that could possibly be true, but I don't lose sleep at night about it. The choice of timber for the body, the quality of the electronics, hardware, string type, fret material and build quality is the money maker.

[LiamPodmore]

Got to be maple every time for me. It just looks better. There's something that doesn't look right about Rosewood on a lot of basses. If there's a maple option, i'll usually go for that every time.

Liam

[chardbass]

This is a great video. Listen to the opening and skip to 1.50 if you want direct comparison as opposed to a full demo of the 55-02 (pick-up panning and coil tap shenanigans etc)
Its a great demo of the bass tho but the difference in woods is audible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dcEbiMaN-A

[chardbass]

Just