Rosewood neck

[Alex W]

I was playing around with the fender mod shop site last night and they offer an all rosewood neck, which I am curious about. The main appeals to me are the feel of the neck and, hopefully, it would have a nice sound with some good overtones. Not necessarily a classic telecaster sound but I’m fine with that.

I wonder if my hopes about the rosewood neck having its own sound are even going to pan out, so I’d welcome any comments on that.

Additionally I wonder which body would pair best with a rosewood neck from a sonic point of view. They offer a mahogany body at the Mod Shop and it would be cool I think to mate a rosewood neck with a mahogany body. Probably not a classic tele sound but a good sound I would hope. I am imaging something with underwound pickups to get a woody, overtone rich sound.

if anybody has gone this route I’d love to read your remarks. Thanks.

 

[jfgesquire]

The all rosewood neck is a production feature, too, not just mod shop. Someone here must own one and can give opinions.

https://reverb.com/item/34033036-fender-limited-editiontelecaster-rosewood-neck-surf-green

Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk

 

[Steve Holt]

I have one Strat with an all rosewood neck.

It looks great, and I love the feel of the rosewood for the neck. When comparing it to my maple neck Strat (unplugged) the rosewood neck seems a lot brighter and snappier than the maple neck, which was the opposite of what I figured. I expected the rosewood to be darker. Keep in mind though I'm only comparing two guitars, and I'm comparing an unfinished rosewood neck to a thick finished maple neck. So this isn't exactly scientific. Plugged in... They sound about the same really. If there's a difference I haven't noticed it.

I'd recommend a rosewood neck to anyone thinking about it. The feel and look is great. Although I'm selling mine for a few reasons. This is the only guitar I've built that I didn't also build the neck. So I'm fixing thag and building a new neck for it. Also I want something with a 2 way truss rod, and this warmoth neck doesn't have that.

 

[FenderLover]

I have 6 Tele's and two of them with rosewood necks. The reasons to get a rosewood neck are cosmetics and feel.

It has been said rosewood is dark and mellow while maple is bright and snappy. That's all BS.

Don't go thinking you get some sonic mojo out of the type of wood you use on an electric solidbody guitar. 90% of what you hear is from your pickups.

 

[elelpe]

I have swapped maple and rosewood necks around on same body, pickups, parts and so on. While indeed wood contributes to tone (my find: rosewood is snappier while maple has deeper low end), electronics plays more dominant role, especially the pickups. It's an electric guitar anyway. Rosewood neck just feels really nice. A must have for me. I wouldn't worry about what body to go with as long as it's light enough and has finish that I want. A heavy guitar is a killjoy for me and I don't care if it's sounds so good.

 

[That Cal Webway]

I think there's a good amount of nostalgia in romancing the notion, as far as all rosewood body guitars and/or all rosewood necks.

That for we baby Boomers,
maybe derives from George Harrison's all rosewood Telecaster made by Phil Kabicki at Fender.

That's super super iconic!

 

[Alex W]

Well the remarks about the tone of rosewood vs maple being the opposite of what I expected are definitely educational! Thanks for the replies everyone

 

[superjam144]

I have 6 Tele's and two of them with rosewood necks. The reasons to get a rosewood neck are cosmetics and feel.

It has been said rosewood is dark and mellow while maple is bright and snappy. That's all BS.

Don't go thinking you get some sonic mojo out of the type of wood you use on an electric solidbody guitar. 90% of what you hear is from your pickups.

This.

I own a pro model with a rw neck, put OV pickups in it. Sounds great.

The neck is chunkier than an american standard, but I got used to it.

It's a beautiful look and feel, when I saw it, I had to get one. I would say try it!

The pickups though are the main source of tone I would agree here.

I miss my standard sometimes because the tone was so amazing and powerful, thin maple neck.

But this pro model is like butter, and a lot newer/nicer. One of those guitars that you forget you are playing and zone out... teles are the best.

 

[Telenator]

I have one Strat with an all rosewood neck.

It looks great, and I love the feel of the rosewood for the neck. When comparing it to my maple neck Strat (unplugged) the rosewood neck seems a lot brighter and snappier than the maple neck, which was the opposite of what I figured. I expected the rosewood to be darker. Keep in mind though I'm only comparing two guitars, and I'm comparing an unfinished rosewood neck to a thick finished maple neck. So this isn't exactly scientific. Plugged in... They sound about the same really. If there's a difference I haven't noticed it.

I'd recommend a rosewood neck to anyone thinking about it. The feel and look is great. Although I'm selling mine for a few reasons. This is the only guitar I've built that I didn't also build the neck. So I'm fixing thag and building a new neck for it. Also I want something with a 2 way truss rod, and this warmoth neck doesn't have that.

View attachment 735797 View attachment 735799

Rosewood is quite a bit more dense than maple and hence the sound is brighter. Ebony is even brighter still. Maple is the mellowest of the three.

 

[Telenator]

I have 6 Tele's and two of them with rosewood necks. The reasons to get a rosewood neck are cosmetics and feel.

It has been said rosewood is dark and mellow while maple is bright and snappy. That's all BS.

Don't go thinking you get some sonic mojo out of the type of wood you use on an electric solidbody guitar. 90% of what you hear is from your pickups.

I won't doubt that your personal experience has formed your beliefs. But as a rule, what you're saying just isn't true. I wish it were so simple. Pickups do contribute, but as a pickup manufacturer, who has done more testing than most people, a good set of pickups will not save a dud guitar. That would have made my job a hell of a lot easier!

 

[Telenator]

Well the remarks about the tone of rosewood vs maple being the opposite of what I expected are definitely educational! Thanks for the replies everyone

 

[kennl]

I have assembled parts casters with a variety of necks, including Modulus Graphite composite, maple and rosewood.
I have an ash body. Barden pickup T with a '59 fatback rosewood Warmoth neck and an alder body with EMG's and a USACG "soft V" rosewood neck.
Both guitars are slightly "scooped" in midrange compared to those I have with the same body woods and pickups, but maple necks.
I originally built them because I was doing a ton of outdoor summer gigs where nitro or poly finished necks would get "sticky" on humid days. The bare rosewood is much better in that respect.

 

[FenderLover]

... a good set of pickups will not save a dud guitar...

I might agree with that, but a dud guitar is not a good place to start.

Swapping a maple neck with a rosewood neck will not rock anyone's world because the tone has changed so much, but you'll probably get a big smile on your face holding a solid rosewood neck. For tone, it's the tail wagging the dog. Much more like changing strings (in fact, if you have swapped necks you have probably also changed strings). The pickups are where it's at for the character of the tone. (on a guitar that isn't a dud)

edit:
I did have a dud guitar, an asian Tele that had nothing to do with a Tele except for its shape. I swapped the electronics with all Fender and it suddenly sounded every bit like my '68 Tele. Dud to stud with a pickup change.

 

[vanr]

Well I definitely thought the all rosewood neck on my EBMM Albert Lee model was darker than a Maple/Rosewood neck. Not snappy at all. Enough for me to avoid them in the future. Although I did love the feel of the neck.

 

[Alex W]

FWIW here are some of the rosewood neck creations I was scheming on, plus one with maple neck.

 

[AAT65]

Here’s my Shergold Masquerader for reference:

Mahogany body, all rosewood neck, Tele-style bridge with Seymour Duncan Tele bridge pickup and two SD Strat pickups.
Sounds great, close to a Tele on the bridge and to a Strat on the other positions, and the neck is very comfortable. It has a ‘hand burnished’ finish, which I guess is some sort of wax finish. It’s glossing a bit with use but not sticky at all. And it looks great. However I think the profile is much more important to fretting-hand comfort than type of wood.

FWIW I am 100% sure that the woods used contribute to the guitar’s tone: but I’m 90% confident that they contribute less than 50% and the pickups are more important.

 

[kLyon]

Where is lignum vitae in there?)

 

[Anacharsis]

I've got three Strats with rosewood necks. I got two through GC, and one from the Mod Shop. The feel really appealed to me after owning a Thorn (Ron Thorn, now of the Custom Shop) (link removed) about a decade and a half, and then getting an EBMM St. Vincent with a rosewood neck. I agree that if anything, the tone has a little extra snap and upper mid bite.

Strats and Thorns pictured below.

I have been tempted to get a Tele with a rosewood neck, but I really prefer my Teles be Thinlines.

 

[Alex W]

Fender describes it as a "deep C". That sounds more appealing to me than the very thin (IMO) necks on the American Standard guitars. Is it indeed slightly on the thick side compared to American Standard?

 

[boris bubbanov]

My sense is, the thicker a neck is, the more it may contribute something "beyond" what the pickups are getting you.

I have an East Indian Rosewood neck, from Warmoth, with the headstock access, mild truss rod and it dates from 2007. On a Tele.

It was weirdly, unpleasantly bright at first. I tried it on a half dozen loaded bodies. Eventually after 2 years, and with the 4+ pound mahogany 1 piece body and the reversed bridge pickup orientation, it finally came to me and it is a great, if bright sounding guitar now. This was a Fatback, 1 + 11/16ths at the nut, and I pared some section out of the neck and sealed it with Bartley's and applied a couple very light coats of Minwax Tung Oil finish. It is a really nice piece now, but I still wouldn't say it is in the top 20 of the guitars I have.

Some may speculate that, Warmoth put a piece of wood into the made to order production pipe line, long before it had seasoned enough. I wouldn't dispute that.