building my dream bass

[bassicaddiction]

hello to all, this is my first post. i am currently ordering a warwick that is going to be a flamed maple neck through, and i was wondering if i should go with a rosewood fretboard or tigerstripe ebony fretboard (is tigerstripe another name for an east indian ebony fretboard??). the key is really...what does tigerstripe ebony sound like? i haven't found any at sam ash, gc, manny's ruddy's, ludlow's etc. so i have no basis to make my decision. basically, if it's going to lend warmth to the maple neck, awesome, as i prefer the feel of ebony as well as it's look. but if it is going to add brightness to make a chicken-picking twangy sound, then i'd prefer rosewood which i know for a fact is warm-sounding...

also, as an aside, i'm thinking of putting an EMG LJ pickup on the bridge and an EMG DC35 pickup on the neck with an EMG BQC System control (is this a preamp?) any thoughts on this as good/bad? thanx!

 

[Snooze]

sweet!
what model is it going to be? streamer? thumb? Infinity? Katana? other?

 

[bassicaddiction]

it's going to be a streamer stage I. thanx for the support i will def post pictures once i have it. in the meantime, any help on the fretboard and pickup decisions? thanx!

 

[Snooze]

hm.. unless it's going to be a fretless bass, i don't think the difference in sound between rosewood or ebony fretboard will be that distinct and noticeable. i'd go for tiger stripe ebony for aestethic reasons

 

[The Insane]

From what I remember Tigerstripe Ebony is tonewise identical to regular Ebony, just from a different region of the same tree.

 

[flipper_gv]

tigerstripe ebony sounds almost the same as ebony, it simply has white/ brown stripes in it. To answer your question, yes ebony is in fact the brightest wood that is used to build basses. So if you want a warm sounding wood on the fretboard to counter the brightness of your all maple bass, go with rosewood or wenge fingerboard (I personally think the wenge fingerboard is a better idea because it gives a dark growl to the general tone of the bass and that way your bass will sound more like a warwick than if you use rosewood). Also, don't forget that standard warwick frets are made from brass and it adds a lot of ''zing'' to the tone. That means that these frets gives a brighter sound to the frets. Maybe you should think about using a different material for the frets (but changing the frets will also make the bass sounding less like a warwick)

 

[Stroud]

id reconmend wenge too

 

[ThirdthumB]

tigerstripe ebony sounds almost the same as ebony, it simply has white/ brown stripes in it. To answer your question, yes ebony is in fact the brightest wood that is used to build basses. So if you want a warm sounding wood on the fretboard to counter the brightness of your all maple bass, go with rosewood or wenge fingerboard (I personally think the wenge fingerboard is a better idea because it gives a dark growl to the general tone of the bass and that way your bass will sound more like a warwick than if you use rosewood).

Absolutely agree:

there is a huge difference between an Ebony board and a Rosewood board. A Maple neck will give more brightness than an Ovangkol neck, and if you absolutely don't want "a chicken-picking twangy sound" as you've described, then DON'T use Ebony (I love it though). I cannot comment on electronics though..................

Cheers.

 

[bassicaddiction]

thank you all for your input. Snooze brought up an interesting point...being that the bass is not a fretless, will the fingerboard make a difference? (i really do like the look of ebony although i'm not down on wenge either)...

 

[Snooze]

here's a though i've been having for a while. not meaning to sound like an a**hole or trying to be degrading to anyone; when having a maple body and a maple neck - will the relatively small strip of wood making up the fretboard make that huge an impact soundwise on a fretted bass? if it just adds a small amount of high end snap, can't it be eq'd off to a more subtle level? these are alla serious questions. i haven't played bass that long and have plenty to learn about all aspects.


it'd be nice to blind test different wood configurations. i think myself and perhaps lots of other people are sometimes stuck with - and repeating - what other people say in forums and in magazines and what vendors say about wood tonality. sure there are clear differences. but in that above configuration... i dunno. maybe i'm just not that picky about tone.

 

[Grgzilla]

it'd be nice to blind test different wood configurations. i think myself and perhaps lots of other people are sometimes stuck with - and repeating - what other people say in forums and in magazines and what vendors say about wood tonality. sure there are clear differences. but in that above configuration... i dunno. maybe i'm just not that picky about tone.

I tend to agree with ya there Snooze.We talk about these differences in tone but how many of us can actually hear it.

 

[flipper_gv]

here's a though i've been having for a while. not meaning to sound like an a**hole or trying to be degrading to anyone; when having a maple body and a maple neck - will the relatively small strip of wood making up the fretboard make that huge an impact soundwise on a fretted bass? if it just adds a small amount of high end snap, can't it be eq'd off to a more subtle level? these are alla serious questions. i haven't played bass that long and have plenty to learn about all aspects.

To answer your question, I've tried out the same model (a jazz bass american deluxe 5 ash) with the maple fingerboard and the other with the pau ferro fingerboard. I can tell you that the difference wasn't that important but it was sure audible. And I say that if you can't appreciate a bass without touching the electronics, I think that the bass isn't for you. So, in that perspective, if the guys thinks that his bass with a ebony board sound just a bit too bright for him, use wenge. It won't turn the SS1 into a dark muddy bass ala gibson thunderbird, but it will help him with the excedent high frequencies. That way, he might appreciate his bass better just because of this slight difference in the tone. Plus, wenge is less expensive than ebony on the custom shop so...

 

[ThirdthumB]

thank you all for your input. Snooze brought up an interesting point...being that the bass is not a fretless, will the fingerboard make a difference? (i really do like the look of ebony although i'm not down on wenge either)...

Yes.

 

[Snooze]

here's a though i've been having for a while. not meaning to sound like an a**hole or trying to be degrading to anyone; when having a maple body and a maple neck - will the relatively small strip of wood making up the fretboard make that huge an impact soundwise on a fretted bass? if it just adds a small amount of high end snap, can't it be eq'd off to a more subtle level? these are alla serious questions. i haven't played bass that long and have plenty to learn about all aspects.

To answer your question, I've tried out the same model (a jazz bass american deluxe 5 ash) with the maple fingerboard and the other with the pau ferro fingerboard. I can tell you that the difference wasn't that important but it was sure audible. And I say that if you can't appreciate a bass without touching the electronics, I think that the bass isn't for you. So, in that perspective, if the guys thinks that his bass with a ebony board sound just a bit too bright for him, use wenge. It won't turn the SS1 into a dark muddy bass ala gibson thunderbird, but it will help him with the excedent high frequencies. That way, he might appreciate his bass better just because of this slight difference in the tone. Plus, wenge is less expensive than ebony on the custom shop so...

appreciate the answer. thanks!

 

[Drexil]

tigerstripe ebony sounds almost the same as ebony, it simply has white/ brown stripes in it. To answer your question, yes ebony is in fact the brightest wood that is used to build basses. So if you want a warm sounding wood on the fretboard to counter the brightness of your all maple bass, go with rosewood or wenge fingerboard (I personally think the wenge fingerboard is a better idea because it gives a dark growl to the general tone of the bass and that way your bass will sound more like a warwick than if you use rosewood).

Absolutely agree:

there is a huge difference between an Ebony board and a Rosewood board. A Maple neck will give more brightness than an Ovangkol neck, and if you absolutely don't want "a chicken-picking twangy sound" as you've described, then DON'T use Ebony (I love it though). I cannot comment on electronics though..................

Cheers.

Hehe....this is an all-new dilemma for me! I seem to spend most of my life finding ways to juice even MORE brightness out of my (all maple, wenge board) streamer!

 

[ThirdthumB]

tigerstripe ebony sounds almost the same as ebony, it simply has white/ brown stripes in it. To answer your question, yes ebony is in fact the brightest wood that is used to build basses. So if you want a warm sounding wood on the fretboard to counter the brightness of your all maple bass, go with rosewood or wenge fingerboard (I personally think the wenge fingerboard is a better idea because it gives a dark growl to the general tone of the bass and that way your bass will sound more like a warwick than if you use rosewood).

Absolutely agree:

there is a huge difference between an Ebony board and a Rosewood board. A Maple neck will give more brightness than an Ovangkol neck, and if you absolutely don't want "a chicken-picking twangy sound" as you've described, then DON'T use Ebony (I love it though). I cannot comment on electronics though..................

Cheers.

Hehe....this is an all-new dilemma for me! I seem to spend most of my life finding ways to juice even MORE brightness out of my (all maple, wenge board) streamer!

Really, try an Ebony fretted bass. I was friggin' amazed with the Thumb NT's bright sound. I checked out the 2004 limited Corvette (with the Koa top and Ebony board), and it had a similar brightness. I also checked the 2001 Thumb NT with Wenge board, and it was way not as bright as the newer Thumb NT with Ebony board................. 8)