Maple Fretboard vs Pau Ferro

[Rayman]

Basically tight grained wood (Maple, Ebony) is harder and brighter sounding. Open grained wood (Rosewood) sounds woodier and darker. A generalisation, but near enough.

 

I remember when Pau Ferro was touted as a premium option, on SRV Strats for example. Now it’s considered a poor man’s Rosewood. 
 

 

[bubinga5]

22 hours ago, ezbass said:

Ahem… Rickenbacker. 

Can you enlighten me.?

[BigRedX]

On 05/05/2023 at 16:40, BassAdder60 said:

I have two Player Series PBass one has the Pau Ferro fingerboard the other is maple. 
 

Both strung with same strings the Pau Ferro is a darker sounding bass. 
 

Does the fingerboard really make this difference or is something else the cause ? 
 

Pickups all set the same, as is action etc 

 

The only thing you can say for sure is that in the case of these two bases (and only these two bases) the one with the Pau Ferro board is darker sounding (whatever that means). Nothing else. You cannot ascribe this property to just the fingerboard, as you have means of telling exactly how identical (or not) the other components of the two basses are.

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, bubinga5 said:

Can you enlighten me.?

They lacquer their rosewood boards. 

[bubinga5]

2 minutes ago, ezbass said:

They lacquer their rosewood boards. 

Who.?

[ezbass]

Just now, bubinga5 said:

Who.?

Rickenbacker.

[bubinga5]

4 minutes ago, ezbass said:

Rickenbacker.

oh I thought you meant someone who builds proper basses. sorry ez. 😆

Edited May 6, 2023 by bubinga5

[ezbass]

6 minutes ago, bubinga5 said:

oh I thought you meant someone who builds proper basses. sorry ez. 😆

Before owning my 4003s, I’d have probably agreed with you, as previous examples at shows had been disgracefully set up - see not at all. However, when I picked one up many years later (just to check my previous experiences) I was blown away and I had to have it. TBH, if it hadn’t been so heavy and my ageing frame so sore, I’d still have it (same goes for my EBMM Stingrays). 

[bubinga5]

13 minutes ago, ezbass said:

Before owning my 4003s, I’d have probably agreed with you, as previous examples at shows had been disgracefully set up - see not at all. However, when I picked one up many years later (just to check my previous experiences) I was blown away and I had to have it. TBH, if it hadn’t been so heavy and my ageing frame so sore, I’d still have it (same goes for my EBMM Stingrays). 

Ive played a couple, didn't like them. For me personally there were a bummer to set up. Very uncomfortable. Didnt like the sound of them. And I dont like the look of them. But who am I. Doesn't mean anything to what I think.. The music that was played on them is unforgettable!.  

[neepheid]

All this talk of a thin strip of wood having such a dramatic effect on the sound of an electric instrument is utter hogwash as far as I'm concerned.  It's filed in the same bin as religion - not telling anyone what to believe but it's not for me.

[bubinga5]

13 minutes ago, neepheid said:

All this talk of a thin strip of wood having such a dramatic effect on the sound of an electric instrument is utter hogwash as far as I'm concerned.  It's filed in the same bin as religion - not telling anyone what to believe but it's not for me.

a thin strip of wood is a stretch. its the longest part of the body of an electric bass the strings have contact with. I will go with what Roger Sadowsky thinks. 

[ezbass]

25 minutes ago, bubinga5 said:

Very uncomfortable. Didnt like the sound of them. And I dont like the look of them.

Every one a good reason to give them a wide berth. You’re not wrong about the set up either. Fortunately, once done, they don’t need revisiting that often, if at all.

[neepheid]

1 hour ago, bubinga5 said:

a thin strip of wood is a stretch. its the longest part of the body of an electric bass the strings have contact with. I will go with what Roger Sadowsky thinks. 

 

You're going to argue with me that the fingerboard isn't a thin strip of wood? Come on! It's < 10mm thick, even at the fattest part of the radius, if it has a radius. That's thin as far as I'm concerned. I've stood on chunkier door thresholds. It's the thinnest bit of wood on the entire bass (not counting any fancy tops or veneers).

 

You believe what you like, you don't need my blessing for that, but you've got nothing with which to discredit what I'm saying just as much as I've got nothing to discredit you with.

 

"Thinks" being the operative word.  Sadowsky should show his working or GTFO. There's nothing measurable here (apart from the relative thinness of the fingerboard versus, I don't know, the rest of the neck, the body?)

 

You do you, but don't try and tell me that green is red. Don't go off on one either. I fundamentally disagree with you, that's all.

 

Hug it out?

[Beedster]

To a bass player no two basses sound the same, to an audience all basses sound the same. Anyone who gets into the tone wood argument needs to accept that it’s equivalent to the ‘eskimos have 13 different types of snow’ argument. Possibly true, but either way, it’s all snow. 

[Woodinblack]

Unless you are an eskimo. But then in you are, what else is there to talk about?

[Dan Dare]

2 hours ago, bubinga5 said:

a thin strip of wood is a stretch. its the longest part of the body of an electric bass the strings have contact with. I will go with what Roger Sadowsky thinks. 

 

Maybe on a fretless. On a fretted, the fret is one end (the other being the bridge) of the part of the instrument that the vibrating length of the string contacts. The 5-10mm or so of string between the fret and the point at which your finger presses the string against the board doesn't vibrate (or if it does, it's negligible).

[bubinga5]

44 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

You're going to argue with me that the fingerboard isn't a thin strip of wood? Come on! It's < 10mm thick, even at the fattest part of the radius, if it has a radius. That's thin as far as I'm concerned. I've stood on chunkier door thresholds. It's the thinnest bit of wood on the entire bass (not counting any fancy tops or veneers).

 

You believe what you like, you don't need my blessing for that, but you've got nothing with which to discredit what I'm saying just as much as I've got nothing to discredit you with.

 

"Thinks" being the operative word.  Sadowsky should show his working or GTFO. There's nothing measurable here (apart from the relative thinness of the fingerboard versus, I don't know, the rest of the neck, the body?)

 

You do you, but don't try and tell me that green is red. Don't go off on one either. I fundamentally disagree with you, that's all.

 

Hug it out?

 I dont need your blessing for anything mate. Im not arguing, im just saying that the whole neck has a factor in the sound that comes from the strings.  "Sadowsky should show his working or get the fxxk out"? really?????  no idea what your talking about.. You wanna go and ask the greatest ever builder of electric bass what he thinks.. Roger Sadowsky is easy to contact on FB. Fill your boots pal.. 

[Beedster]

8 hours ago, bubinga5 said:

 I dont need your blessing for anything mate. Im not arguing, im just saying that the whole neck has a factor in the sound that comes from the strings.  "Sadowsky should show his working or get the fxxk out"? really?????  no idea what your talking about.. You wanna go and ask the greatest ever builder of electric bass what he thinks.. Roger Sadowsky is easy to contact on FB. Fill your boots pal.. 

 

Mmm, you don’t think that Sadowsky, as someone who charges premium prices for his products in part on the basis of building using certain woods, might have a horse in this particular race? 

[xgsjx]

From doing a bit of research into this a few years ago, I found out that wood type or shape had no bearing on sound of an electric guitar/bass whatsoever. You can replace the wood with whatever you like & as long as the hardware is in the exact same position, it sounds exactly the same.

Pickups, electrics, strings & playing style are what create the sound. Adjusting these affect your tone.

 

Edited to add, what wood does give the player is tactile feedback & visual appeal, which are both very important. 

Edited May 7, 2023 by xgsjx

[police squad]

I must add this.

I can tell the difference between woods. I can hear a difference between fingerboards and body woods. I play guitar a lot and it is very noticable, especially a maple board strat versus rosewood board.

 

Similarly bolt on neck versus through neck (let's not go there😅)

I do not prefer either, if they sound good, they sound good. My favourite '73 P bass is alder and rosewood but I have 2 maple boarded P basses too.

 

I have a guitar playing friend who simply can't hear the difference, that's ok too. It's a rabbit hole he won't go down.

 

At a gig, different story really. Can't really hear very much when the drummer starts and all hell breaks loose

[xgsjx]

Get you good headphones out. 

 

[Ralf1e]

A multitude of fret board timbers fitted to a multitude of neck timbers all fitted to bodies made of different timbers.

When they tell you your parts are made if this or that they dont tell you what part of the tree it comes from.

Heart wood is darker in colour, more dense and harder than sap wood it will give you a different sound but what you get in your guitar is a lottery unless it is built by a prestigious and honest builder who knows his business.

Hence why no two guitars sound exactly the same.

It's why you play 10 in a shop and find one of them that is a must have.

[xgsjx]

3 minutes ago, Ralf1e said:

A multitude of fret board timbers fitted to a multitude of neck timbers all fitted to bodies made of different timbers.

When they tell you your parts are made if this or that they dont tell you what part of the tree it comes from.

Heart wood is darker in colour, more dense and harder than sap wood it will give you a different sound but what you get in your guitar is a lottery unless it is built by a prestigious and honest builder who knows his business.

Hence why no two guitars sound exactly the same.

It's why you play 10 in a shop and find one of them that is a must have.

Really more to do with how it’s set up. If you find that one in the shop that has the pickup in the sweet spot, that’s the one you’re gonna want. 😀

[ped]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

 

Mmm, you don’t think that Sadowsky, as someone who charges premium prices for his products in part on the basis of building using certain woods, might have a horse in this particular race? 

ah god, tone woods at this time in the morning!! 😆
 

I don’t think it would make any difference to him if people believe it or not, tbh. 
 

People that say you can’t compare bass A and bass B because the body woods are different are fundamentally saying that the wood does make a difference. I think it does, and if someone who has hand made thousands of basses says it does then he’s probably the best person to judge as I’m sure he’s swapped necks on basses many times and heard the result. 
 

Even if nothing else then they certainly look different!

[Geek99]

Actually I think it depends what day of the week it was made, and if it rained on the preceding Tuesday. And older wood is better, as long as it was blessed by fairies just before it was felled and better yet if they then made a tearful nighttime procession to visit the tree in the wood yard to bid it farewell and safe laquering. Then the tone will be magical