Fingerboard material/Ebony

[LisaIs]

When I bought my SR, there was a white/rosewood and a black/maple. I wanted the black one for sure until I played them side by side. It was no contest. The rosewood had the sound I wanted.

The week before that I had tested the white/rosewood SR beside a Sterling with maple. The Sterling just wasn't the sound I wanted. I now realize it was only because it was maple. My rosewood Sterling is precisely the sound I love just like the rosewood SR.

 

[Dr Stankface]

Playing mine and Travis SR5s (his having rosewood) I didn't notice MUCH difference. My maple had a slight bit more bright sound but hardly noticable.

 

[Steve Dude Barr]

So Pau Ferro/Morado are the same wood huh??? Ya learn something new every day. It seems to me that higher end brands will call it morado.

 

[Aussie Mark]

In all politeness. I cant help but think either
A you guys are deaf
B you have no treble content coming out of your amp
C you just arent listening
I have always been able to hear a difference between the different fretboard woods. It manifests usually in the attackiness of each kind of wood as opposed to actual spectral content. I think ebony and maple are pretty close in sound, though maple is more boingy (?) sounding. Rosewood seems to soften the initial attack. Ebony sounds the truest to me. Funny I used to prefer rosewood for looks, but it's my least favorite for sound. Maple is my least favorite for looks, but my 2nd choice for sound. Ironically my current Ray 5 er has the Pau Ferro fingerboard. And isnt Pau Ferro just a fancy way of saying rosewood?

Regarding blindfold tests. I doubt very many of us could pick out which pickup setting a bass is on by playing it, but the pickup switch/knob makes a tonal change of course! These are just very subtle differences.

p.s. saying that the differences "are BS" is the surest way to elicit a response. It pretty much says that if you can hear a difference you are full of it.

In all politeness. Perhaps if I understood what "attackiness" and "boingy" were, I might be able to better understand your opinion.

 

[Steve Dude Barr]

I just got a boingy.

 

[82Daion]

I just got a boingy.

Boingy?

 

[Aussie Mark]

Oh, that boingy!

 

[82Daion]

Google Image Search strikes again!

 

[tiffles]

i want a boingy they are too much fun just to leave to babies.

rosewood vs maple vs a tonne of other nice wood out there. i have to confess im very very ignorant. ive only ever played rosewood.... and its bliss.

wouldnt say no if you chucked another bass at me of course

 

[phatduckk]

ok ...

first off. sterlings are awesome. i highly suggest you get one. youll love it!

second ... the FB wood. a while ago i posted a poll with 2 soundclips; 1 from a sterling w/ RW and the other with a sterling w/ maple (both w/ brand new, same brand strings, eq flat). the poll asked people to guess which was which and most people got it right.

now here's my opinion.
can i hear a difference? yes i can
do i think its a big deal? no

with string types & brands, action/setup, pup height, density of the body, the preamp from hell, your attack, where you pluck, your amp, your cabs etc IMHO there's way too many variables for the FB wood to matter to me.

i like bright tones ... if RW is smoother etc then maybe i could make it sound brighter etc if i toss on some stainless steal strings and lowered the action a bit.

either way i pick what looks better.

here's some clips if u wanna take a listen

RW: http://www.phatduckk.com/music/etc/maple_rosewood/2.mp3
Maple: http://www.phatduckk.com/music/etc/maple_rosewood/1.mp3

 

[strummer]

ok ...

now here's my opinion.
can i hear a difference? yes i can
do i think its a big deal? no

I totally agree with the above. Of course it really is a moot point, as Bongos only come with rosewood fret boards.
Maple looks good on some colours though, like blueburst.

 

[LisaIs]

Maybe with finger style the dif is hard to hear???? But when I did some slap, only the rosewood gave me the sweet bite I was looking for.

 

[Steve Dude Barr]

I can hear the difference in Phatty's clips.

 

[Calaveras]

Guys I have 3 Rays.

A 79 Pre-EB with Maple (2 band naturally). New Roundwounds fitted about 2 weeks ago.

An 89 with Maple (2 band). Roundwounds fitted about 3 years ago.

And a 94 with a 2006 Rose neck (2 band). The Roundwounds are about 5 months old.

wow if you dont think there is a difference in tone between 2 week old strings and 3 year old strings then I wouldnt expect you to hear the difference between different kinds of fretboard woods!
seriously, thats hardly a double blind test. In my experience the older Rays sound a bit different than the newer ones. And those sound different than the newest ones. I actully thought I'd like the old Rays the most, but in side by side comparisons I like the mid 90's ones.