Got wood?

[HapiCmpur]

It seems as if the makers of high-end acoustic guitars usually boast about ebony fingerboards and sometimes rosewood, but the makers of high-end electric guitars only boast about rosewood fingerboards. (Except for Fender, of course, which favors maple.) Does anyone know why?

[metalhead28]

I favor guitars with ebony fingerboards. Plenty of high end electric builders offer ebony. There are some that don't but it's probably a decision based on the tone of the guitar. Ebony fingerboards affect the tone. You either like it or you don't.

[andycerrone]

My gibson Sg has an ebony neck, and i love it to death. My girlfriends jealous..

[Light]

In a word, tradition. The highest end acoustics (be it a D45, a classical, or an L-5) have always had ebony fingerboards. But Les Pauls had rosewood fingerboards, and when Fender started using dark fingerboards, they were also rosewood.


Guitar builders (and even more so, guitar buyers) are incredably hide bound. Once something becomes tradition, it is the "ONLY WAY IT SHOULD BE."



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

[famous beagle]

Originally Posted by andycerrone

My gibson Sg has an ebony neck, and i love it to death. My girlfriends jealous..

Do you mean the fretboard or the neck?

[edgarallanpoe]

It boils down to price performance ratio. Ebony is expensive, much more so than indian rosewood. Also, on electric guitars, the fretboard material, does not effect the tone as much as it does on an acoustic. Before everyone jumps down my throat, let me explain. An electric guitar has more than just wood effecting the tone. Pickups and amplifiers shape the tone more than the fingerboard wood. I have ebony fretboards on my electrics, but that is more for feel than tone.

Acoustics have nothing shaping the sound other than the wood, hence, the ebony makes more of a difference in the natural tone of the guitar.

Just my humble opinion of course.

[HapiCmpur]

Originally Posted by edgarallanpoe

Also, on electric guitars, the fretboard material, does not effect the tone as much as it does on an acoustic.

That's my suspicion as well. An electric guitar's tone is influenced by so many variables (many of which are not too subtle) that fingerboard material is not likely to make a difference that's noticable -- or at least that's noticable to the degree that it can be teased out from all the other factors affecting the instrument's tone. That would make fingerboard material a good place to cut costs on an electric.

So what other electric guitars besides andycerrone's SG come standard with ebony fingerboards? Is it more common than I think?

[edgarallanpoe]

So what other electric guitars besides andycerrone's SG come standard with ebony fingerboards? Is it more common than I think?

Almost all of the higher priced builders will do ebony. It is mostly on a custom order basis though. Like I said, it keeps cost down, *and* as has already been pointed out, most electric players prefer rosewood.

[ermghoti]

Jackson, Carvin, Gibson, Peavey, Ibanez, BC Rich, Parker, ESP, Gretsch yaddayadda.

Search engines are your friend.

[BlindMansColour]

ive got wood

[brandrum]

Originally Posted by metalhead28

I favor guitars with ebony fingerboards. Plenty of high end electric builders offer ebony. There are some that don't but it's probably a decision based on the tone of the guitar. Ebony fingerboards affect the tone. You either like it or you don't.

end thread.

[Light]

Originally Posted by edgarallanpoe

Also, on electric guitars, the fretboard material, does not effect the tone as much as it does on an acoustic. Before everyone jumps down my throat, let me explain. An electric guitar has more than just wood effecting the tone. Pickups and amplifiers shape the tone more than the fingerboard wood. I have ebony fretboards on my electrics, but that is more for feel than tone.

Acoustics have nothing shaping the sound other than the wood, hence, the ebony makes more of a difference in the natural tone of the guitar.

I completely disagree. The thing to remember about acoustic guitars is that almost all the sound comes from the top of the guitar. You'll hear a lot of guys saying numbers like 80% and such. I don't think you can get that anylitical about it, but there is no question that the top is the thing.

And then, also, you must take into consideration the neck joint question. On an acoustic, the neck joint makes next to no difference in the sound of the guitar. Even guys who are still using dovetails will usually be happy to concide that bolt on necks can sound just as good. But on an electric, the neck joint is CRUCIAL to the sound of the guitar. Why the difference? Well, my view on it is that on an acoustic guitar the top acts as an energy sink. So much of the energy from the string is taken up moving the top that there just isn't anything left when you get to the neck joint. On an electric, the body doesn't move so much, so the energy is transfered more effeciently. The effeciency of energy transfer in the neck joint makes a much bigger difference.

It's much the same with fingerboards. On an acoustic, I can say as that there is a significant difference between ebony and rosewood fingerboards. I've played a bunch of guitars which were other wise the same, but with different woods for the fingerboards, and the difference was no greater than on two absolutely identical guitars. But on electrics, there is a big difference. Look at the Strat. The maple board sounds significantly brighter than a rosewood board. I tend to think of ebony (soundwise) as being somewhere in the middle, but closer to the maple.



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

[andycerrone]

Originally Posted by famous beagle

Do you mean the fretboard or the neck?

Sorry, fretboard. I can't even remember what the neck is made of offhand! I haven't been able to play in so long cause of stupid college stuff and work. It's sad.

[apl]

Originally Posted by ermghoti

...Carvin...

One of the least expensive ebony 'board guitars.