maple vs rosewood what's your choice?

[hagguy]

thought i'd see what the general opinion is on fretboard choice
i'm a big fan of maple and if i've got a choice i'll go for it but ive
recently ive ended up with more rosewood basses and guitars than i'd
like. dont really know the differences tone wise they seem to play quite
similar to me but just on looks the maple is the winner imho bit more info would be
great thanks in advance

[Dubs]

Maple

Love the way it looks, feels, and sounds.

[acidbass]

Maple generally has a bit more top end than rosewood, but depending on the bass you might not notice a huge difference as there are loads of factors which contribute to overall tone.

My personal preference is rosewood - although my bass of choice has a maple fretboard, it's the only one out of the six I have!

[Hamster]

I prefer the look of a maple board/neck but I prefer the sound of a dark wood neck/board & body.

[Low End Bee]

Maple for looks. Rosewood for playing.

Rosewood it is then.

[RussFM]

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='757159' date='Feb 25 2010, 03:18 PM']Maple for looks. Rosewood for playing.

Rosewood it is then.[/quote]

+1

[XB26354]

I read in a bass player review years ago that a more dense fingerboard wood helps to contribute to a better B-string response on 5-strings. I don't know if it is true but I've never liked maple boards, either the look or extra "clank" you seem to get, especially Fenders with the glossed boards. Rosewood is a good balance but visually it's wenge every time. My latest acquisition has a macassar ebony board, which seems to be somewhere between ebony and rosewood and sounds nice!

[niceguyhomer]

I like the look of Pau Ferro but to answer the question it's maple for me

[thodrik]

All my basses have maple fingerboards, but its not so much a preference as so much they just happened to have maple necks. They all sound and feel completely different as well, which makes it difficult for me to say 'maple fingerboards sound like X' as there is a lot of variation within the types of maple, like how old it is, where it is from etc.

I do think that the general consensus is more right than wrong though, that maple fingerboards tend to be a bit more bright and more 'attacky', for lack of a better word. But with eq, playing technique etc the difference will often be minimal really. Though for many bassists this 'minimal' bit is often of utmost importance. So just pick the one you think looks the best and would be most comfortable playing.

However, I think the notion that you 'need' an ash body with a maple neck for slap and an alder body with rosewood fingerboard for fingerstyle or rock is a load of rubbish. Although I think it is possible to work out the difference between say a jazz and a precision in the mix, but to claim you can tell the difference between certain types of fingerboard just by listening without looking? I really have my doubts!

I would love to try an ebony fingerboard though, they just look stunning, especially on a bass without any blocks or dots on the board. I should just stop looking on the bloody Sadowsky site!

[hagguy]

never even thought to bring ebony and wenge into the
mix i had a warwick with wenge very similar to rosewood to me
but the ebony on the esp i had was absolutley amazing if it wasnt a 5
id have kept it that was the perfect feel of a fretboard smooth and solid as a rock
if i could get that feel maple colour on my sandberg i'd be a happy man btw anyone ever had
a fretboard refinished with different wood?

[originalfunkbrother]

M-A-P-L-E! All the way.

[Bay Splayer]

maple

[LeftyJ]

I prefer maple for its looks, but in terms of tone and playability, I really don't care. When the instrument speaks to me and I like what it's saying, that's all that matters to me. I have basses with maple fingerboards, rosewood fingerboards and ebony fingerboards and they're all great and have voices of their own.

[martthebass]

For looks, Maple.

For playing, Rosewood

For Stability, Graphite

For Fretless, Ebony

On that basis there's room for all if you can own a few basses....

[Marvin]

Rather embarrassingly I've only ever played a Maple neck on a guitar.
So for looks mainly a maple, but from my limited experience I prefer the feel of rosewood when playing

[EssentialTension]

Rosewood but I'd settle for maple on a '51P.

[Shambo]

Maple...
no rosewood...
no maple...
no rosewood...
no... whichever way they come.

[geoffbyrne]

Rosewood.

G.

[BluRay]

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='757159' date='Feb 25 2010, 03:18 PM']Maple for looks. Rosewood for playing.

Rosewood it is then.[/quote]


+1
Suppose its just what I'm used to but rosewood always seems so much better. Dunno why.

[JTUK]

I have both and if they didn't work for me, I wouldn't have bought the bass

Cosmetically, IMV

Maple with a pattern and no markers
Rosewood with MOP blocks, otherwiser dark woods shouldn't have front markers.

[ezbass]

Love the look of maple, especially with block inlays, but I've found that all maple necks feel a bit clubby whilst rosewood seem to have a slimmer profile.

So as already stated by other BCers above;

Looks - Maple
Feel - Rosewood

[Krysbass]

Well; it's neither of the above - I really prefer ebony

but rosewood is a close second

[NickH]

[url="http://www.status-graphite.com/status/frames/index_home.html"]http://www.status-graphite.com/status/frames/index_home.html[/url]

Graphite!

[thisnameistaken]

I don't like maple fingerboards, they seem to feel sticky to me, look dirty often, and I don't think they look right on most basses (too bright).

I've only ever owned one bass with a maple board - an old Yamaha I had. Everything else has been rosewood or ebony.

[discreet]

I like maple, but I like rosewood as well.

Which is best?

There's only one way to find out: FIGHT!