Ebony fretboards ??

[chrisanthony1211]

Having recently sold my precision I've had a great big wad of cash burning a whole in my pocket just itching to be spent. I really liked fleabays rather splendid aged sandberg TT advertised here on basschat so visited the sandberg website and found their excellent build your bass configurator, anyway, I ended up ordering myself a new soft aged california TT in tobacco sunburst, and ordered it with an ebony fretboard, purely because it was within my budget, (I was very impressed with how much bass I could get for my money although a four month waiting time)
My point being, I've never played a bass with an ebony fretboard, what's the deal? It obviously looks pretty cool, but does it feel/play/sound any different?.,

[White Cloud]

Certainly sounds different - not as mellow as Rosewood, snappier than Maple. Love Ebony boards!

[RhysP]

I've had ebony, rosewood, maple & synthetic fingerboards over the years but I honestly can't say I've noticed much difference between any of them to be honest.

[jazzyvee]

I personally love ebony fingerboards, you have to oil them maybe once or twice per year with pure lemon oil to keep them in good condition and prevent them from drying out. Whatever they are alleged to do for your sound I can't comment on with any authority but all my basses have them and they all sound great.

[neepheid]

Ebony boards look great, clean and sharp, like a fitted suit in deep, deep black. I don't really pay any attention to how they feel - maple, rosewood, ebony or whatever are all suitably hard woods with which to make a fingerboard. I've got nothing to say about tonal differences, partly because I've never noticed, I've never studied it in any depth, and frankly, I don't care. It's purely an aesthetic choice as far as I'm concerned.

[SingleMalt]

I never really notice much difference with different fingerboard materials feel wise. And as far as sound I don't think it makes any difference, I've swapped between maple and rosewood necks on my precision and couldn't tell any difference at all.

[Shaggy]

Main benefit in terms of tone / wear is for fretless boards I'd say, definitely my choice of board there.
Not so much difference with fretted board as already said above; they do stand up to harder wear, but can be a bit brittle if/when re-fretting

[moonbass]

I've got a block ebony board on my Sandberg Panther. As above, this was primarily an aesthetic choice, as ebony is a darker and more even colour than rosewood. I also had ebony on my old Alembic Epic. Tonally I would say there is a subtle difference from rosewood, with slightly brighter tone, but not enough for the average punter to notice. But it certainly feels different under the fingers; harder like maple, but feels more substantial.

I think Sandberg are doing a great job on their fingerboards; nothing fancy, but very playable. I'm sure the OP won't be disappointed.

[Paulhauser]

Roger Sadowsky's opinion on fingerboards, including ebony:
http://www.sadowsky.com/pop/roger_talks.html