Rosewood vs Maple fretboard question-

[Controller]

You can't just tease us like that. Pictures, man!

Neck moved to a new body but I still like it!

 

[Tricone]

Maple is a closed grain, hard wood light in color. Often finished to prevent wear and discoloration. The sound is bright, more pronounced low and high range. Very clear notes. Fast playing feel.

Rosewood is a pourous,oily hard wood. Can vary from reddish hues to dark chocolate in color. The sound has more midrange, the tone is rounder, adds slight overtones to the end of a note, like a ride cymbal on a drum set. Slower playing feel, digs into the note more.

Ebony is an oily, closed pore, hard wood. Varies in color from black to tan, sometimes streaked together. The sound is warmer than maple, more balanced in the highs,mids,and lows. Clear notes and chords with a slight rounding off of the tone. Fastest playing feel of the three and my personal favorite.

 

[fjblair]

I don't ever notice much difference once I start playing.

 

[lammie200]

Yes, Rosewood has oils, as does ebony. Maple too, but not enough. IF rosewood appears dry, it may not actually be dry....the oils are there but your finger oils (if you have oily skin) will actually be enough to add to the wood and do the job.
I can't naturally relic nickel hardware, and am hard-pressed to oil a rosewood fretboard...it's just my chemical skin acidity or lack there-of, or whatever.
I'm saying if a rosewood board appears dry (like...it's pretty white-ish) adding some oil isn't a bad idea. Ebony is a hard wood...if it appears dry and without moisture, that could be a real concern. Ebony, in my experience, never looks dry.

Sure. Oiling an unfinished rosewood or ebony fretboard is always possible. However, it shouldn't be necessary except for aesthetic reasons.

 

[Skydog1010]

I'm all in with rosewood.

 

[MarkieMark]

No one mentioned... Poplar!
Yes I am serious.

Danish oil finish as I recall. Feel is good. Tad soft, but it holds frets if you glue the slots.
Sounds like- cigar box guitar. It was supposed to sound primitive. Truth be told, this build might sound too good.

 

[Boreas]

i trash nickel hardware in no time (year or two), but i have never worn through a nitro finish in 20 years on any guitar in regular use. people mention "acidic sweat" a lot but i wonder what’s going on specifically/what reacts with what.

In a nutshell, wood doesn't corrode. It will absorb oils and acids, but it is pretty immune to weak acids because there is minimal ionic activity. This is why it is a decent electrical insulator. Same with most finishes - fairly happy electrons that keep to themselves. With many metals, acids are basically a catalyst for corrosion because of ion exchange and such.

 

[Boreas]

Strictly as a "material", I like Richlite. But I have no real preference in woods - other than they need to LOOK good. I strive for a light touch on strings, so the "feel" of the wood beneath my fingertips I am always trying to minimize. But I am not a very good guitarist, and if I played a great deal more, I would likely develop more of a preference. Great guitarists can play anything in spite of, not because of, fretboard wood. I wouldn't get hung up on it.

 

[TheCheapGuitarist]

Rosewood is open-pore, so you feel all of it. I've never seen a maple fretboard without a clear coat, which will feel smooth.

 

[notmyusualuserid]

It's all bloody wood. It stops the frets falling on the floor and gives the cork sniffers something else to expound about.

In 55 years of playing I've never noticed any difference between maple, rosewood, ebony and that synthetic stuff Hagstrom use. If you're playing your damn guitar properly the strings aren't touching the fretboard anyway, or at least not enough to matter.

Happy New Year

 

[Tricone]

It's all bloody wood. It stops the frets falling on the floor and gives the cork sniffers something else to expound about.

In 55 years of playing I've never noticed any difference between maple, rosewood, ebony and that synthetic stuff Hagstrom use. If you're playing your damn guitar properly the strings aren't touching the fretboard anyway, or at least not enough to matter.

Happy New Year

Bloody wood? Does it have a more flowing tone? I have never sniffed a cork, but I love the sound of steel. You could aquire some of that bloody wood you write of and combine it with a steel body. Instant classic "Blood and Steel." Could start a side career on that.

You don't need wood to keep the frets from hitting the floor anymore. Or to hold anything else on an electric guitar apparently.

Happy New Year.

 

[NWinther]

Hmm got ebony rosewood and maple, love all three!
My maple neck guitar is not laquered though, it has a finish of wax and oil mixed up.
I give them oil with two years interval, and not much as I play them all regulary.

 

[Tarkus60]

All I have to say, and I reiterate, is that rosewood is for heathens.

Woot I am a full blown heathen.....lol

 

[telleutelleme]

Friction. Open grain yields more friction. Past that it is opinion.

 

[schmee]

I've noticed that overall in most guitars I've played or tried at stores, maple fretboard seems to be a little smoother in terms of being able to glide my fingers up and down the neck with ease where as rosewood tends to have more drier/dehydrated feel. Seems that the rosewood might need more recurring treatment to keep it smooth.

Maybe a silly question but is this generally the case, and if so why?

Related note, how does ebony board fit into this ? Is it more similar to one or the other?

Thanks

Just the opposite for me. Something about dampness and a finished maple surface make a small resistance in the feel. I dont feel a rosewood board at all. I have two Strats and the maple board one I can "feel" every time I pull it out.

I suppose it's the reason some people sand the back of their neck vs leave it glossy.

 

[Boreas]

Friction. Open grain yields more friction. Past that it is opinion.

Not necessarily true. Less contact area typically produces less friction - but this can get down to the microscopic realm between individuals' skin qualities, fingerprint ridges vs. smooth/hard callus, and the substrate being tested. Friction depends on the qualities of both surfaces tested given a certain pressure.

Depends on the fingertips as well. Hard callus vs. soft and flabby. A few neck makers actually "checker" their necks to make them faster by reducing surface area. Many people remove the gloss from their necks to make them "slipperier". Slide your finger on a window and again on a piece of wood. Gloss is often the enemy, not porosity. With guitars, it mostly comes down to hand/fingertip anatomy and fingering/grip pressure. This is why there are so many opinions.

 

[Telenator]

Maple gets stickier with humidity and can be hard to slide and bend.

Only if it has a lacquer finish. Poly doesn't get sticky...

 

[Cosmic Cowboy]

In terms of "smoothness" the frets themselves have more to do with smoothness for me than the fretboard. The biggest thing about fretboards to me is the more pourous woods need to be oiled and moisturized at least a couple of times a year.

Maple seems to only need periodic cleaning.

 

[Lou Tencodpees]

Based on vintage and well used instruments I'm thinking a fair amount of successful and extremely talented guitarists don't play their instruments properly. I mean, the likes of SRV would have to be incredible illusionists to be that animated yet never have their fingers actually touch the fretboard.

Personally, I haven't met a fretboard that I didn't like, material-wise. The other attributes (fret size, radius, profile) are my determining factors.

 

[arlum]

IMO .... a dry, (not damp as has been already noted multiple times), varnished maple board will make bends and vibrato far easier to do when compared to porous fret board wood like rosewood, pau ferro, ziricote,, etc. That said ... maple fret boards also require a higher skill level of player to keep techniques under control. The super ease of maple fret board bends makes over or under shooting a constant cause for concern. Vibratos meant to be mild can become wider than expected. The big plus of the porous type fret boards is control. It won't be as easy to bend but your bends will be more accurate. Vibratos will require more effort but again will be more accurate. I think it boils down to the ability of the guitarist playing the instrument. A guitarist with the highest of skill levels, (David Gilmour for example), with appreciate and utilize the pluses of a maple fret board and create unbelievable music through their mastery of it. Guitarists with less time to practice and perfect these particular techniques or who are focused more on working on their "speed", "tapping", etc. techniques would probably prefer and do better on porous fret board woods. It's all about your goals. What you're into. I own multiple examples of both because I'm stupid and can't make up my mind. If you're stuck in the middle and can't afford multiple guitars your only choice is ebony. Almost as slick / smooth as maple but falling pretty much in the middle of all other fret board wood types. The current market offers multiple choices of coloration. You don't have to go jet black. In the past ebony was ranked by how perfectly black it was. Today's builders, based on the price and rarity of jet black ebony and trying to offer alternatives of equal sound quality, and today's players, based on the cool streaking found in multiple types of ebony now being utilized, have opened up ebony as the line running down the middle of the highway. Not quite as much ease as maple. Not quite as much control as porous fret board woods. Slightly limited from the others potential but darn fine at walking the tight rope. If you can't make up your mind go ebony. Down the road, having gauged your preferences you may chose to go to one or the other types in discussion.