Fretboard material

[piebaldpython***]

I see guitars specifying the type of wood the fretboard is made from. Usually maple, rosewood or ebony. In layman's terms please.......what are the differences in playability and tone (?) of these fretboards materials? Thanks.

[marnold***]

It my understanding that maple in general is brighter and rosewood is warmer. I've never tried side by side tests. I prefer maple from a purely aesthetic standpoint.

[Katastrophe]

The good Rev. Rawk has it right. I'll add that ebony can be as bright and snappy as maple, and is a great alternative for those who like a bright tone, with an unfinished fretboard. The differences in tone are relatively minor, IMO, compared to the tone shaping you can do with a good amph / EQ.

[Eric***]

I find that I prefer rosewood and ebony. I'm not sure if that's for playability or sound or what; probably the former. But as Kat mentions, the differences are pretty minimal.

[Zip]

The differences are cosmetic, and feel. Body woods affect sound/tone, fretboard wood doesn't. Even for corksniffers. Honest.

I've swapped out necks on my Telecasters, maple & rosewood, and there's absolutely no difference in sound. Try it yourself. Or just believe me, 'cause I'm right

[Bookkeeper's Son]

Alas, a somewhat highly-debated guitar subject. Personally, I don't think fingerboard material matters all that much, except for aesthetic reasons. The tone assertions are absurd, IMO. Playability is also subjective, and the wood surface is often not even involved unless you're heavy-handed. And even if you prefer a specific wood, the grain and finish vary, as all wood does. So, there you have it - absolutely nothing.

BTW, I have a Hagstrom with a composite fingerboard, and it "works" like my other guitars' fingerboards.

[Zip]

E. Clapton has said that he prefers maple boards on a Strat because he can feel the grain of rosewood. I've played Ebonol necks (bowling ball material) on old Kramers, and they're slick - like maple - but it didn't change tone at all.

[Sada Yairi]

Any difference in tone with different fretboard material is at most negligible (and in my own opinion, non-existent). More realistically, the different materials feel different to play. For example, I find a maple fretboard more 'slippery', so I prefer bending strings using a rosewood fretboard because I find I can control the bends better. And then of course there are the aesthetics. Play a few of each to see what differences you notice in the feel, and then form a preference on which to base your choice.

[Brian Krashpad]

Supposedly maple is "snappier," rosewood "warmer." Maple is definitely harder feeling, with a tighter grain. Ebony has the dark look, but is supposed to be more like maple than rosewood is. Between rosewood and maple, I prefer rosewood for HBs and P-90s, and maple for Fender-style singles, as much for aesthetics as anything else though, and I'm not religious about it-- my Peavey T-60 is a double humbucker guitar (though the HBs split to singles), and it has a maple board.

Then there's also "baked" or "torrified" maple. It plays like maple but looks like rosewood. Gibson put out a batch of guitars with this sort of fretboard recently, when the feds seized their rosewood stock, and frankly due to entrenched notions and corksniffery, they proved wildly unpopular, with the models being blown out at clearance as soon as Gibson could get back to rosewood production. I have two P-90 Gibson guitars with baked maple boards, and don't really see what the hubbub was about. Although I might prefer rosewood by a smidgen, these work just fine for me, especially when the baked maple meant I picked up the guitars for the proverbial song. Here are my two ubercheapo Gibbies w/baked maple fretboards:

[Tig***]

Dang, not a cork sniffer in the bunch!

[Brian Krashpad]

Dang, not a cork sniffer in the bunch!

Well played sir, well played.

[mrmudcat]

WOULD YOU HAPPEN TO HAVE SOME Dom Perignon OR Crystal PERHAPS SOME GREY POUPON FOR MY SAMMICH TIG!! I LIKE MAPLE ON MY STRATS,ROSE OR EBONY ON MY PAULAS,BOTH ON A TELE AND EVERTHING ELSE JUST SO LONG AS IT IS WOOD.I HATE THE BOWLING BALL CRAP OR ANYTHING ELSE NON WOOD!! TO STERILE!!............JMHO!

[Tig***]

But, of course!

[piebaldpython***]

Thanks to all who responded......it was enlightening to say the least and I proffered my question because I was clueless about fretboard materials and what, if any effect they had on sound or playability.

I love this Forum.......a great bunch of folks who love gits.

[jtees4]

I've had four guitars with graphite fingerboards too...I think they have a feel and sound all their own though most folks would say they sound closest to maple but I don't necessarily agree.

[deeaa*]

I'm gonna have to strongly disagree on the neck/sound issue vs. Body wood mattering.

I have a few really great necks, and it really matters very little what bodies I attach them to, the sound follows the neck. The sturdy v strat neck with rose board always sounds strong and big and seems to ask for big strings. Have had basswood, alder, mahogany bodies for it, no real difference how it sounds.

Another neck is similar but much thinner rock maple, and it lends itself well to acdc and such. Very even sound. Bodies have been ash and basswood, plywood, I'm not sure what the current one is. Plywood is distinguishable, others change little.

The third old neck I have is an old Yamaha rgx neck, and that's wide and stiff and works well with aggressive sounds, but can't get a warm thick sound outta it. Currently in semi-aluminum body.

Then I have a thicker-lacquer squire neck which is fine and one piece maple, but despite I gave it a nice hardtail strat body it still didn't ever sustain too well. Lax wood, thick lacquer I suppose.

Also have a birch neck that is entirely different...

I've had plastic bodies too, and have one made of stone even.

I think the body woods do give the sound the final polish and help to make the sound what it is, but still the neck is, imo, that really has the biggest factor in the nature of the sound. You have a bad, soft neck, and it'll never sustain and sing well, and if you have an extra hard, thin neck, it'll never sound warm even if you gave it a chambered mahogany body.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[Eric***]

I'm gonna have to strongly disagree on the neck/sound issue vs. Body wood mattering.

Funny. I was going to say that no one in here made any claim to body wood mattering, but then I read the responses and see that someone did.

I have no real opinion on the matter. My ear for tone has gone WAY down since I've gotten my feet under me guitar-wise. Just give me an LP and some sort of overdrive and I'll be pretty happy.

[Bookkeeper's Son]

I believe it's all nonsense; others believe what they want to.

[kidsmoke*]

Unlike Deeaa, I've never been able to interchange necks and bodies. I've heard the same propositions others here have offered relating to the property of different fretboard materials. To my mind it doesn't make much of a difference. When you factor in all the supposedly significant variables to tone...strings, tail piece type/integrity, pickups, caps, wire harnesses(cloth!), guitar cable, od pedals, and amps, the NOS vs JJ's.....oh, and then there's the speaker!!!

Get a comfortable guitar with good physics(neck is straight, set up well etc) then you can change variable's, and therefore the sound, until the cows come home.

Having said that, I do notice a difference in FEEL of different boards. Both ebony and maple seem more comfortable to me, under my fingertips, with less friction/resistance. Never had an electric with ebony, I think I'd love it.

You be hard pressed to convince me that if you took my rig, and left everything exaclty the same, and swapped the 3/16" (that's approx 4.5mm, friends) slab under the strings, glued to the neck from rosewood to maple, that you'd change the sound. Not nearly as much as an infinitesimal turn of the tone knob would.