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Rosewood or Maple fretboard sound difference?

Mr Fretbuzz

By Mr Fretbuzz,
in General Discussion

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discreet Grand Master

discreet

Posted
Posted

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1381195769' post='2235718']
Not quite as simple as that. There are guys out there who mod and customise harmonicas. See YouTube vids.
[/quote]

Er... no, thanks. I wasn't being entirely serious. I waste enough time as it is speculating about bass guitars. :)

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xgsjx Grand Master

xgsjx

Posted
Posted

Wasn't there a debate before whether what the body was made of affected the tone?
I could understand the fretboard affecting the tone on a fretless acoustic or double bass, but if the string's sitting on frets, it's between 2 pieces of metal (fret & bridge).

As for harmonicas, I prefer plastic as I once got a splinter in the tongue. :P

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Conan Mentor

Conan

Posted
Posted

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1381163138' post='2235204']
If people are going to be dogmatic then it would be better if they posted from the benefit of their experience and not how they imagine things to be.
[/quote]

On the internet, everybody is an expert. :rolleyes:

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paul h Rising Star

paul h

Posted
Posted (edited)

In my experience I have found maple to be brighter but I have always put that down to the gloss finish more than the wood.

I know it's trendy at the moment to claim that woods have no real affect but I have seen so many luthiers and world class bass players state that there is a difference, I am not going to change my mind due to a minority of internet heroes :D

I am also a keen modder and many a time have rebuilt basses with different necks and bodies and they all always end up sounding different, even if that difference is very subtle.

EDIT: Putting a J neck on a P body makes a difference too. Put that in your pipe and slap it. :D

Edited by paul h
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BigRedX Grand Master

BigRedX

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I don't think that anyone is saying that woods in themselves have no real effect.

What I am saying is that there are simply too many variables involved to be able to say with 100% confidence that the change in sound is down to a single factor such as the kind of wood used for the fingerboard.

For a start every piece of wood is different - even two pieces cut from the same tree.

Then the traditional Fender style neck is made in an entirely different way depending on whether it has a maple or rosewood fingerboard. IMO construction has just as much impact on the sound as the wood used.

I get the impression that when most people are comparing the differences in sound between a bass with a rosewood fingerboard and a bass with a maple fingerboard they are talking about 2 completely different basses. If we are lucky they might both be from the same manufacturer (most likely Fender) and hopefully if that is the case they are the same model, but other than that they probably have nothing else in common. Maybe not even made in the same year, let alone from the same batch of timber.

If you believe that a certain wood gives the sound over and above any of the other variables in the construction, then that's your prerogative. I treat the bass has a whole thing and not a collection of its individual parts. It either works as a whole for me in terms of looks playability and sound or it doesn't. These days there are some many basses available that it makes little sense to get hung up in individual features. Look at the whole instrument. Either it suits you or it doesn't.

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The Dark Lord Collaborator

The Dark Lord

Posted
Posted

[quote name='Delberthot' timestamp='1381003381' post='2233354']
........ I don't think that there's enough between them that can't be sorted with a change of strings or an adjustment of your amp ......
[/quote]
I agree with this.

I have both. I prefer the look of maple, but I [i]think [/i]I prefer the sound of rosewood.

But the difference is more in mojo than actual sound I think.

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xgsjx Grand Master

xgsjx

Posted
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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1381225268' post='2235914']
I don't think that anyone is saying that woods in themselves have no real effect.

What I am saying is that there are simply too many variables involved to be able to say with 100% confidence that the change in sound is down to a single factor such as the kind of wood used for the fingerboard.

For a start every piece of wood is different - even two pieces cut from the same tree.

Then the traditional Fender style neck is made in an entirely different way depending on whether it has a maple or rosewood fingerboard. IMO construction has just as much impact on the sound as the wood used.

I get the impression that when most people are comparing the differences in sound between a bass with a rosewood fingerboard and a bass with a maple fingerboard they are talking about 2 completely different basses. If we are lucky they might both be from the same manufacturer (most likely Fender) and hopefully if that is the case they are the same model, but other than that they probably have nothing else in common. Maybe not even made in the same year, let alone from the same batch of timber.

If you believe that a certain wood gives the sound over and above any of the other variables in the construction, then that's your prerogative. I treat the bass has a whole thing and not a collection of its individual parts. It either works as a whole for me in terms of looks playability and sound or it doesn't. These days there are some many basses available that it makes little sense to get hung up in individual features. Look at the whole instrument. Either it suits you or it doesn't.
[/quote]

I had DR Strings on my bass for a good while, always had a very bright zingy sound. Then I changed them for Tomastik Infeld strings & got a more mellow tone, hardly any zings in sight. Now I have D'Addario chromes & it's kinda inbetween the previous 2.
My fretboard is rosewood & before I put the TI strings on, I oiled the wood. Could that be what gave it a more mellow tone? Maybe it needs another oil?

:scratch_one-s_head:

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paul h Rising Star

paul h

Posted
Posted

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1381225268' post='2235914']
I don't think that anyone is saying that woods in themselves have no real effect.

What I am saying is that there are simply too many variables involved to be able to say with 100% confidence that the change in sound is down to a single factor such as the kind of wood used for the fingerboard.

For a start every piece of wood is different - even two pieces cut from the same tree.

Then the traditional Fender style neck is made in an entirely different way depending on whether it has a maple or rosewood fingerboard. IMO construction has just as much impact on the sound as the wood used.

I get the impression that when most people are comparing the differences in sound between a bass with a rosewood fingerboard and a bass with a maple fingerboard they are talking about 2 completely different basses. If we are lucky they might both be from the same manufacturer (most likely Fender) and hopefully if that is the case they are the same model, but other than that they probably have nothing else in common. Maybe not even made in the same year, let alone from the same batch of timber.

If you believe that a certain wood gives the sound over and above any of the other variables in the construction, then that's your prerogative. I treat the bass has a whole thing and not a collection of its individual parts. It either works as a whole for me in terms of looks playability and sound or it doesn't. These days there are some many basses available that it makes little sense to get hung up in individual features. Look at the whole instrument. Either it suits you or it doesn't.
[/quote]

I hope you don't think my comment was aimed at you...it wasn't at all. In fact I am in total agreement with you. I actually believe everything from the callouses on your fingers to the humidity in the room will affect tone.

However there are definitely a group of people now who totally disregard the tonal property of woods all together whereas I think every part of a bass goes into making that instrument unique. Thus fretboard wood is as equally important as any other variable.

Also I have, more than once, swapped rosewood and maple necks on the same instrument and heard a difference.

To further complicate matters I freely admit that in my opinion one of the biggest factors in amplified tone is down to Alnico or ceramic pick up magnets :D

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EliasMooseblaster Proficient

EliasMooseblaster

Posted
Posted

[b]The closest I will ever get to performing this experiment scientifically was the afternoon when I bought my Schecter.[/b]

The shop had two Model Ts, one with a maple board and one with rosewood. The only other difference that I was aware of was the colour of the finish - the maple-neck had a sunburst finish, the rosewood one was blonde. And, of course, I don't know how long the strings had been on either bass, nor how many people had previously tried each one. The strings were Elixirs, however, which as we all know last forever.

The first and most obvious difference was the feel, not the sound. Rosewood is often said to feel "faster," and in this case it certainly did. Both basses were a delight to play, but there was a definite difference in feel.

The difference in sound was more subtle, but I could definitely hear something. Soloing one pickup at trying the tone at '0' and '10' with both of them, to be absolutely sure, there was more 'twang' with the maple neck. Like a bass version of the tone one might associate with a Telecaster. The rosewood, like a lot of people have suggested, certainly sounded 'darker.' I would guess the maple emphasises certain treble frequencies that the rosewood doesn't.

All that said, with a turn of the tone control, I could quite easily have made one sound like the other. I don't know if I could have got the same twang out of the rosewood board, and I don't know if I could have got quite as sultry a growl out of the maple, but the difference was not so big that they sounded like different instruments.

Both were lovely basses, and I would have been happy with either. I bought the rosewood one.

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