Rosewood vs Maple fretboard: Does it make a difference?
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- čas přidán 3. 08. 2024
- I swapped the neck on the Nate Mendel Precision Bass which has a rosewood fretboard with a maple fretboard neck to see if there is any actual difference between the two woods. Let me know if you can tell the difference!
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Nate Mendel Fender Precision Bass: www.thomann.de/it/fender_nate...
Tech 21 VT Bass DI: www.thomann.de/it/tech_21_san...
Rotosound Strings: www.thomann.de/it/rotosound_r...
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I was a bit surprised. Not a lot of difference between them and sometimes the rosewood sounded brighter than the maple. The fact that you were using them on a P-Bass may have exacerbated the comparison though because the P-bass is known for its mids, not for its upper end and upper end is where the brightness comes from. Still it was an excellent comparison for how they sound on a P-bass.
I have had just two Jazz Basses in my life. The first was a 1965 Jazz Bass that I bought in 1966. It had a rosewood fretboard that was a lighter color of red than most rosewood fretboards. Loved that bass and toured with it in the early 70's. Then in '76 it was stolen. Couldn't find another Jazz Bass with that same neck profile, shape, and radius until 1985 when I bought my '82 MIA passive Jazz. It has a maple neck plus has the 70's pickup spacing - 4" center to center. My '65 of course had the 60's pickup spacing, which was 3.6" center to center.
My maple neck Jazz (one in my avatar) definitely has a brighter sound plus a LOT more sustain than my '65 did with its rosewood fretboard. Digging in over the bridge pickup made both of them growl, but my maple-neck beauty growls much more and more easily than my '65 did. Not sure really what makes my current bass sound so good, but it really does sound great. When I gig with it I typically run the EQ of my Eden amps flat except for a little boost in the low-mids ~250Hz, which gives my bass great definition and presence in the mix.
I think if you did that same test with Jazz basses with controls all the way up and amp EQ flat, you would find a much more noticeable difference than there was with the Precision basses. Really hard to tell the difference between them with the P-bass.
Well, I guess everybody hears differently. For me the rw board has a bit more hi end than the maple one, comparatively the maple has more high mids and mids, making it more present, but not brighter. Thanks for the video!
Hah I've never heard so many divergent opinions as in the comments for this video. I guess even with "objective" recordings everyone hears things differently as well, as you say. In this particular case yeah, I feel the rosewood has more higher and lower ends, and the maple has more midrange
Exactly that has been my conclusion after owning several rosewood and maple fretboards on both guitars and basses..rosewood actually has quite some more top end, whereas maple has more mids and high mids and the lows seem a little tighter. But yeah, I love them both for their looks and sound!
This is my experience as well. The maple is punchier while being duller and less bass. It seems that its tonal range is more limited than the rosewood.
Good job, nice comparison, exactly the difference you would expect, it's very clear expecially in the slap example.
On a side note 🎶 I would recommend keeping the original rosewood on that Nate Mendel. For that particular bass the rosewood works better coupled with the Seymour Duncan SPB-3/4 Pounder Pickups. IMHO once again.
Seemed to me you looked more comfortable with the rosewood. And your explanation of the difference in sound i totally agreed with. Nice comparison.
Good comparrison. Thanks, Slight differences. Both sound good.
Muy buen trabajo, muy buena comparasión. Gracias por tu vídeo...
I personally prefer maple fret-boards because to me anyways I feel like they cut better through the mix. I also play with flats on maple and for my tone it sounds bright and punchy while still maintaining a solid chunky low end.
I own bass guitars with both maple and rosewood fingerboards. I like both. I’m in the process of buying a Fender, as we speak. It has rosewood fingerboard. I like the looks of it better, than the maple. Thanks.
I have two precision basses (much more inexpensive than the Nate Mendel to completely honest) the stats on them are exactly the same besides the colors and one is maple 🍁 and the other has a rosewood fretboard. Both basses are strung with D'ADDARIO flatwounds. The rosewood sounds slightly darker as you said in the beginning. However they both enunciate perfectly with/to my ears. On that 🎵 excellent shoot out. Also you're correct in stating that there are tons of variables.
Besides the difference in tone (not much, probably you can match them with some eq) what i hear as a constant is that the maple sounds like more "compressed" and the attack of the note feels faster against rosewood.
Oh by the way and most important thanks for this and all your comparisons!! Your channel keeps getting better :)
Agree!
I got a fully finished bass that has nitro laquer even on the fretboard lol, it sounds very very bright but i like it
Ci sono alcuni passaggi in cui preferisco la maggiore "chiarezza" dell'acero, in altri la pastosità del palissandro, diciamo che sono finezze che però sono riscontrabili nel contesto di una "asettica" comparazione come quella che ci hai proposto. Che dire, gran bel video (e gran bei bassi) complimenti!
Ti ringrazio molto! Alla fine sì, per questo penso sia meglio una preferenza estetica più che altro. In altri contesti dubito che sarebbe così riscontrabile questa differenza
The diffs are so subtle that everything else in the signal chain probably means more. That is, you can overwhelm the fingerboard wood with a small change in EQ, for example.
Wow huge difference! I personally like the rosewood
in my opinion it makes sense to compare only:
1) taking the exact same body (same wood, electronics and pickups) and changing only the neck (same strings)
2) using in addition to the ear also a spectrum analyzer or similar softwares (see friture, free) that displays those differences that we do not perceive by ear ... if the ear does not perceive them but only the electronic instruments I leave to you the conclusion....
The Cure - Play For Today ! Love that bass line, I cover it with my band :)
There are subtle differences, but in the slap section they are more noticeable
The maple cuts through, thanx for testing.
Meraviglioso!
Opinione ignorante: estetica
Ps. Tanta roba questo stile di video
Since we obviously can't agree on a common conclusion under these "lab-conditions" with a bass alone - how would anyone here the difference in a band-mix on stage?
I belive the differences from different strings, playing-style, amp etc. outweigh the fingerboard material by far. So I would choose between them simply by the looks. I find the maple fingerboard prettier.
Nice test by the way, thanks for it!
Thanks! Yeah I believe these slight differences can be easily buried under eq, strings, amp, style etc. So, ultimately just go for looks!
Do I hear Seemann at the end?! :O amazing tone on both necks there.
Haha yes, you do! :D Thanks!
Man for play rock? Who's better? Maple or Rosewood? Thx !
Rosewood sounds more tight and thumpy, maple have softer/rounder attack with additional low end (not that much) and 'sweetness' in the mid range comparing to rosewood. I can't hear differences in high frequencies. Both sounds great tho.
I own a 78 P Bass Maple neck, and I Iove its rounded sound. However, I rather an ebony fretboard if I have to slapping. The Maple wood can sound well balanced, but also too sharp or "spiky".
Looks like I'll need to do another version of this video with an ebony fretboard at some point, hah!
One thing is sure: I hate you for having these 2 perfect Precision Basses! haha - Personnally, I can feel the difference, but it's MINIMAL, less than 5% of the overall tone: the maple necks with GLOSS finish makes the real difference I think, because the vibrations bounce more on it, the lacquer acts like a mirror, and some vibrations goes back to the string, giving more vibration... to the string itself! While a rosewood fingerboard, being poreous, it absorbs some frequencies, thus, the tone being slightly less bright/darker; but I LOVE BOTH!! Last thing: do you sell your Harris bass? I'm craving for it!
Haha yeah, during these last hours I've understood that so much is purely subjective, so everyone has their own opinion on how certain things sound. Anyway, sorry the Harris bass comes to the grave with me :P
@@OliverTobyn And I don't understand, is it purple?!
@@bapt_andthebasses yes, candy purple. You can see it in some other videos, like the Di Marzio P Bass Pickup videos
@@OliverTobyn will check it out! Cheers
They are both bright and warm in a different way
I trust you as much as to know that the "EQ" I hear is actually the fretboard itself. Besides, as I expected I like maple more.
Yeah I ended up leaving the VT Bass off and using it just as a buffer for the signal
My two cents:
Il Palissandro è più cafone e fa risuonare di più tutto.
L'Acero è più scavato sulle medie e e dunque più controllato e secco.
Come feeling il preferisco l'acero al tatto, ma paradossalmente mi piace più suonare il palissandro, perchè per il mio tocco in realtà l'acero è come se fermasse troppo il suono, essendo secco.
Per il resto, la differenza di suono io la sento e la sento anche abbastanza se posso dire la verità, ma è una differenza di "gusto" e "feeling" e non c' è una soluzione migliore dell'altra, a mio avviso
Wow, best description I've read that agrees with what I perceive also. And I had to use Google translate to read it.. Maple too dry indeed in my experience, and hollow and may I add a bit compressed, which also leads me to prefer to play on rosewood, but which also tends to not satisfy me because of it's harmonic roughness and not very clear attack that tends to make things not work especially well for faster stuff where low end clarity is needed. That's why I prefer ebony!
mapple have a nicer low mid I must say. That confirm what I was hearing with my 2 P bass
ciao e bel taglio di capelli 😁 e anche una maglietta molto carinaa
I prefer rosewood bécasse i prefer dark wood on the fretboard but on guitar i préfer the opposite
Haha grazie! During the lockdown I finally managed to get my haircut, which was why I was avoiding showing myself in the last videos 🤣. I really like the aesthetics of rosewood, but prefer the feel of maple
This old maple fanboy might prefer rosewood this time:)
Ultimamente l'opnione comune è che sia tutta impressione. Beh, ora posso dire che no, la differenza c'è... certo, è pur sempre un test in cui i due materiali sono uno dopo l'altro, sulle stesse note, con un set up che enfatizza le differenze.
Mi sembra che il palissandro è più "brillante" rispetto all’acero che è un po’ più "cupo"
Esattamente le mie impressioni. Infatti ero un po' stupito perché mi aspettavo risultati diversi
Bisogna dire che oltre alla differenza di legni sono proprio due serie di manici diversi, non so se abbia senso come confronto. Parere mio...
Idem, pure io sono sorpreso da questo test, buono a sapersi.. comunque a livello estetico preferisco l’acero, invece a livello sonoro mi piace più il palissandro. Poi dipende anche da come si abbinano/ manici/colori vari
@@alessandrozulian5591 diciamo che sono quanto più vicini possibile. Warmoth ad esempio ha fatto dei video simili per chitarra realizzando manici identici usando persino lo stesso pezzo di legno.
Diciamo che sono entrambi MIM, ed entrambi repliche di un Precision '71. Qualche piccola differenza c'è oltre alla tastiera, ma meglio di così non credo di poter dare attualmente, haha
@@alessandrozulian5591 dovrebbero avere lo stesso shape. Solo la tastiera cambia anche perché sono riproduzioni di bassi dello stesso periodo nonostante siano "signature".
1:08 Meet me in the bathroom - the Strokes?
A very generic bass line 😂 but the main idea was Can't help myself by The Four Tops
nothing
Madonna quanta gente triggererai nel corso di questi video