Stay tuned

[ilan]

Even a cheap Dano has a real wood fretboard.

And Brazilian rosewood, no less. Who knew?

[Alanko]

I don't care how it looks or sounds, I want a wood fretboard.

Why, though? You keep making the same point, but you never substantiate upon it. I want wood!

I have no issue with recycled material being reused in the construction of an instrument. I would rather that it was reused than allowed to go to waste. Beyond that the fretboard on this bass doesn't look like recycled paper.

[Dave W]

I don't need a reason. I don't need to justify what I prefer.

[Rob]

I don't need a reason. I don't need to justify what I prefer.

Now GET OFF MY LAWN ya' little brats!

[Dave W]

Now GET OFF MY LAWN ya' little brats!

[Chris P.]

Hagstrom uses non-wood fretboards for ages. Great basses and guitars. Even Foo Fighters play it. A famous Dutych bass player has a lot of expensive basses and mostly plays a Hagstrom Viking. I think some of those fretless Squiers have it too. And Höfner made some basses with non wood fretboars. No real change in sound and feel.

[Dave W]

Hagstrom uses non-wood fretboards for ages. Great basses and guitars. Even Foo Fighters play it. A famous Dutych bass player has a lot of expensive basses and mostly plays a Hagstrom Viking. I think some of those fretless Squiers have it too. And Höfner made some basses with non wood fretboars. No real change in sound and feel.

Aren't you forgetting Kramers with ebonol boards?

I don't care how many examples get posted, I won't be buying.

[Chris P.]

Why not? 'Just because'? is there a good reason not wanting them, without you've ever tried them? Short sighted.

[Daniel_J]

I don't need a reason. I don't need to justify what I prefer.

I respect Dave's opinion.

Like Dave with this non-wood issue,
I don't care if the Fender Jazz Bass is possibly the most versatile, best overall sounding and cost-benefit bass out there, I will never buy one for myself.
No matter what people say about how good it is.

[Chris P.]

I can imagine you don't like the looks of a bass or string spacing or whatever. But hating all non-wood fret boards 'just because'.... I don't get that. Especially cos you don't feel, hear, see any difference. Or hardly. I don't like the sound of some very active basses, but with a reason: the sound.

[Dave W]

I respect Dave's opinion.

Like Dave with this non-wood issue,
I don't care if the Fender Jazz Bass is possibly the most versatile, best overall sounding and cost-benefit bass out there, I will never buy one for myself.
No matter what people say about how good it is.

Thanks, Daniel.

As you said, it's not a matter of what anyone else thinks.

Why not? 'Just because'? is there a good reason not wanting them, without you've ever tried them? Short sighted.

I can imagine you don't like the looks of a bass or string spacing or whatever. But hating all non-wood fret boards 'just because'.... I don't get that. Especially cos you don't feel, hear, see any difference. Or hardly. I don't like the sound of some very active basses, but with a reason: the sound.

I didn't say "just because" or say I had never tried them. I've tried a Martin with Richlite, a Moses neck with some kind of synthetic, ebonol Kramer and probably more if I stopped to think about it.

If you don't feel hear or see any difference, that's fine. I do, and I agree with Ilan about the fretboard being the second most important sound factor after electronics.

Even so, I don't need a reason to justify my choices, any more than Chris Martin IV needs to justify his decision to save $5 in manufacturing cost on a $1500 Martin by substituting Richlite for wood. Good for him, but I won't be buying.

In any case, wood is a renewable resource and there's no shortage of suitable woods that are stiff enough and have enough surface hardness to use as fretboards.

[amptech]

Short sighted.

I believe that's OK in a place meant to embrace Gibson basses.

Call me old fashioned, but I want my instruments to be made out of wood, my car to be made of steel and my tools to be made of both.

[gearHed289]

I like my ebonol fingerboard. 

[Pilgrim]

I don't think there's anything unusual about anyone not wanting a feature on a bass because they simply don't like it.

I won't own a purple bass - or a purple anything, for that matter.

Fretboard material doesn't matter much to me. Neither does the wood a bass is made of, including laminated basses.  But there are plenty of people who don't want to own a bass with a laminated body.

As our Deutsches friends might say, machts nichts.  (US translation: mixed nuts.)

[Chris P.]

I think musical instruments are all about soul, love, your own preferences. I also didn't buy basses because of one stupid feature. My only point is disliking something if you've never tried it. I sometimes see (also here) people slag of bands they haven't heard, I hear friends slag of TV programs they've never seen, etc.