strummer
Enormous Member
Simply awesome, what a find!
- Thread starter MattOfSweden
- Start date
MattOfSweden
Well-known member
Sorry to bump my own thread, but I'd love to have the forum's input on what is the likely fretboard wood? A friend of mine asked, and I said I would guess Pau Ferro from the non-porous looks of the board plus I had it in my mind that EBMM have been using Pau Ferro for their fretless basses since Ernie Ball took over.
Anyway, emailed international Customer Service and they replied back (within hours) that the fretboard would be either maple or rosewood. (Obviously not maple.) Even though I did mention my bass is a fretless, could it be I got a reply relating to fretted StingRays? Or didn't EBMM start with Pau Ferro on their fretless basses until late 90's?
Don't want to bother the fine folks at CS just yet, so thought I'd ask here.
Btw, DOB is Aug 6 1993 - it's an amazing fretless!
Anyway, emailed international Customer Service and they replied back (within hours) that the fretboard would be either maple or rosewood. (Obviously not maple.) Even though I did mention my bass is a fretless, could it be I got a reply relating to fretted StingRays? Or didn't EBMM start with Pau Ferro on their fretless basses until late 90's?
Don't want to bother the fine folks at CS just yet, so thought I'd ask here.
Btw, DOB is Aug 6 1993 - it's an amazing fretless!
MrMusashi
Well-known member
that looks like pau to me.. i have never touched a rosewood fretless board but i do have 2 basses with pau fretboard. 1 eb fretless and an old tobias with frets. they dont feel anything like the rosewood fretboard basses i have.
i am a bit lost for words to describe how they feel, but where rosewood feels warm (reflecting the heat from your fingers) the pau ferro feels more like polished granite. a bit cold to touch and surface is much smoother.
but that is just how i experience it. it might be my brain playing tricks on me, placebo or it might actually be true
MrM
i am a bit lost for words to describe how they feel, but where rosewood feels warm (reflecting the heat from your fingers) the pau ferro feels more like polished granite. a bit cold to touch and surface is much smoother.
but that is just how i experience it. it might be my brain playing tricks on me, placebo or it might actually be true
MrM
`
My 93 FL looks like rosewood colorwise, but
had the nonporous effect that you mention.
It doesn't have the more orange-ish brown
that you usually see with pau ferro. OTOH
it has the reddish brown color we associate
with rosewood but has very little varigation
or streaking from grain. It doesn't drink up
polishing oil like rosewood usually does, but
has a "sealed surface" effect, like pau ferro,
such that oils pretty much just run off of it.
`
My 93 FL looks like rosewood colorwise, but
had the nonporous effect that you mention.
It doesn't have the more orange-ish brown
that you usually see with pau ferro. OTOH
it has the reddish brown color we associate
with rosewood but has very little varigation
or streaking from grain. It doesn't drink up
polishing oil like rosewood usually does, but
has a "sealed surface" effect, like pau ferro,
such that oils pretty much just run off of it.
`
MattOfSweden
Well-known member
Thank you for your input gentlemen, I'm quite leaning towards pau ferro myself, or maybe but less likely ebony - like your observations MrMusashi, the board feels nothing at all like the rosewood on my fretted basses. And like yours Golem, it doesn't seem to be wanting to 'drink' at all. I've sent a reply back to CS, we'll see what they say but I'm guessing their first 'maple or rosewood' reply missed the minor detail about mine being sans frets.
muggsy
Well-known member
Looks like pau ferro to me too. I have a '98 Sterling lined fretless and the color of the board is very similar to yours. Definitely lighter than rosewood or ebony. Nice bass!
drTStingray
Well-known member
My 93 fretless sunburst is also pau ferro (confirmed through customer services)
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MattOfSweden
Well-known member
Oh, that's a beauty drTStingray!
Heard back again from CS, when they first said the fretboard would be either maple or rosewood they had missed that mine was a fretless. Mine is Pau Ferro confirmed and all is as it should.
Heard back again from CS, when they first said the fretboard would be either maple or rosewood they had missed that mine was a fretless. Mine is Pau Ferro confirmed and all is as it should.
