What is Pau Ferro like to play?

[fretmeister]

I had it on a Fender Stu Hamm signature model. Was all good.

[Terry M.]

On 13/06/2025 at 21:23, Lfalex v1.1 said:

IIRC the Fender Roscoe Beck had a Pau Ferro board. And they're quite desirable. 

True. This is often described as the holy grail of Fender 5 string basses and I've never heard anything negative about the fingerboard in that context. They're so rare however that I've never seen one.

[Terry M.]

On 13/06/2025 at 09:21, admiralchew said:

I have pau ferro on a fretted Warwick Streamer and on the Fender Jaco fretless jazz and I like it a lot on both. In fact, I liked it so much on the Warwick that I was giving serious consideration to using it on a custom bass. I loved how warm the tone was, albeit it’s difficult to discern how much of that is down to the fretboard wood and how much is down to other factors.

Wow I had no idea Warwick used PF. Is this a German or import Streamer out of interest?

[JohnDaBass]

2 hours ago, fretmeister said:

I had it on a Fender Stu Hamm signature model. Was all good.

Me too, my early USA Fender Stu Hamm signature "Urge" 32ins scale bass had pau ferro fret board, great finish, very closed grain, absolutely fine.

[admiralchew]

2 hours ago, Terry M. said:

Wow I had no idea Warwick used PF. Is this a German or import Streamer out of interest?

It’s one of their Teambuilt (so German-made) annual limited models where they change things up a bit in terms of spec. It’s the bolt-on LX model and has a black korina body and Bartolini soapbars in it.

 

 

Here’s a demo (playing at 2:09 onwards):

 

 

[Mokl]

Before it came into use as a ' substitute' for rosewood, I'd always assumed pau ferro was a premium option, seeing it on Sadowskys and higher spec Fenders (such as SRV strat) etc.

 

I've never owned a bass with a pf board, but I from what I've heard suspect I would like it!

[cetera]

Good enough for my classic US Spectors, good enough for me.

[ghostwheel]

It's a blessing for fretless.

I actually thought it would be rosewood (like it's supposed to be according to the database of Ernie Ball) until I got another one of which I knew for sure that it's got a Pau Ferro fingerboard.

Plays nice, feels warm and looks good.

 

[Bagman]

yeah fretless 2EQ stingray with Pau F fingerboard is lovely 

[Geek99]

On 13/06/2025 at 09:13, neepheid said:

I don't even notice the fingerboard when I'm playing and I don't think I'm particularly delicate when I'm pushing down on strings.  Ignorance is bliss, I guess.  It's a purely aesthetic choice for me, and it sounds like I'm fortunate, because agonising over what a thin strip of wood is made of sure seems to torture and torment a few folk out there.

 

It changes the tone ….

 

🍿

[neepheid]

1 hour ago, Geek99 said:

It changes the tone ….

 

🍿

 

You lower the tone...

[ghostwheel]

5 hours ago, Geek99 said:

It changes the tone ….

 

🍿

Well, on fretless, it jolly well does. 

🍿🍿

[Geek99]

4 hours ago, neepheid said:

 

You lower the tone...

I only scoop out the lower mids, like a blessed piece of fairy wood (ie. ‘62 alder, touched by Saint Leo)

Edited 7 hours ago by Geek99

[Terry M.]

39 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

I only scoop out the lower mids, like a blessed piece of fairy wood (ie. ‘62 alder, touched by Saint Leo)

"Saint Leo" only used alder because it was cheap and available but fairy wood still made me laugh 😃 

[Geek99]

1 hour ago, Terry M. said:

"Saint Leo" only used alder because it was cheap and available but fairy wood still made me laugh 😃 

I know - in 100 years time people will be ascribing magical qualities to fender Japan 62 reissues made of bog standard poplar.
it makes me laugh 

[tauzero]

As ferro is iron, is it good for metal?

[Geek99]

2 hours ago, tauzero said:

As ferro is iron, is it good for metal?

As metals go, it’s fairly good