Ebony vs rosewood on electrics

N

notCardio

I walk the line
What are your opinions on the difference in sound?

I really would like some ebony board electrics based on the way they feel, but I don't know firsthand anything about the real difference in sound.

Is the difference minuscule or life-altering? Does it depend on the type of music or level of distortion?
 
Search "tonewood" on any of the major guitar forums: Mylespaul, Fender Discussion Page, TDPRI, etc. It's a polarizing subject. The ideologues in one camp claim that wood makes no difference at all. Everything is electronics and the physical layout of the guitar: scale length, pickup position, bridge construction, etc. In the other camp, you'll hear people saying that subtle things like the material used in the fretboard inlays affects tone...

I keep coming back to a fundamental truth: My natural ash Fender tele with one-piece maple neck is bright, bright, bright. Brighter than any alder tele I've played.

Honestly, I'd be surprised if you could hear any tone difference between a rosewood and ebony board. I'd base my choice on what looks and feels better to you.
 
Robus said:
Search "tonewood" on any of the major guitar forums: Mylespaul, Fender Discussion Page, TDPRI, etc. It's a polarizing subject. The ideologues in one camp claim that wood makes no difference at all. Everything is electronics and the physical layout of the guitar: scale length, pickup position, bridge construction, etc. In the other camp, you'll hear people saying that subtle things like the material used in the fretboard inlays affects tone...

I keep coming back to a fundamental truth: My natural ash Fender tele with one-piece maple neck is bright, bright, bright. Brighter than any alder tele I've played.

Honestly, I'd be surprised if you could hear any tone difference between a rosewood and ebony board. I'd base my choice on what looks and feels better to you.
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I would have written the same exact thing. But, just to reiterate:

Honestly, I'd be surprised if you could hear any tone difference between a rosewood and ebony board. I'd base my choice on what looks and feels better to you
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I'm in the camp where the pickups, strings and technique are 70% of the tone; body style, wood choice, and construction are 30%. For wood, it's a matter of volume times density or some kind of math. Both Ebony and Rosewood are hardwoods and they occupy the same volume, which is small in comparison to the neck and body, therefore, you won't notice a difference between the two.

only an opinion and not grounded in empirical data.
 
Greg_L said:
No difference
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That's actually kind of good. I want an ebony board for the feel, but I didn't want it to be too bright since I'm a blues guy.

Otoh, I hate to pay twice as much for something if there's not going to be any sort of sonic difference.
 
Chili said:
I would have written the same exact thing. But, just to reiterate:



I'm in the camp where the pickups, strings and technique are 70% of the tone; body style, wood choice, and construction are 30%. For wood, it's a matter of volume times density or some kind of math. Both Ebony and Rosewood are hardwoods and they occupy the same volume, which is small in comparison to the neck and body, therefore, you won't notice a difference between the two.

only an opinion and not grounded in empirical data.
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This ^^^^ is also my take on things.
 
Don't think it would make a difference you could hear. I think ebony feels nicer though so is worth the money.

I've seen demos of body wood making a fairly big difference on an electric guitar.
 
the difference is in the feel of the fretboard. There isn't going to be a noticeable difference in the sound.
 
Ebony does feel amazing on the fretboard and its worth the money for that.

Regarding "Tonewood" this the only completely direct comparison I've seen of two guitars, through the same amp that are otherwise identical aside from their body wood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLxE8iDWD_w

Now this guy is a knob, but he's fucking hilarious - its about the physics of strings and frequencies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7It2T1oF90
 
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notCardio said:
Yeah, like I said, the feel is why I want it. It just seems so much smoother and frictionless.
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Not all rosewood is the same, whereas all ebony is pretty much the same. I don't know if it's the rosewood itself or how it's prepared in the guitar's assembly, but some rosewood feels grainier than others. I've played several rosewood fretboard guitars where the grain is so tight and smooth it feels like ebony....but still looks like rosewood. And some feel like I'm playing an unfinished plank of wood. It just depends on the rosewood.
 
Does anyone know whether its possible to sustainably source Ebony? It takes fucking ages to grow so its not like a pine forrest or something is it.
 
Didn't Gibson get busted a few years ago for having loads of illegal Ebony?
 
JDOD said:
Greg, before I do the facepalm smiley. Are you just being facetious?
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No, it was stupid. Facepalm yourself silly. You can hug your fucking trees all you want, but that raid was a joke. Storming a guitar factory with armed federal agents like it was a drug cartel bust, not letting anyone see the actual warrant, confiscating....and then returning supposedly illegal wood, and letting the whole thing go away with some fines and fees? Yeah, sounds real fucking legit to me. It was a political money grab. Nice work, america.
 
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