fretboards

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mikeanniston

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how much of a difference in general is an ebony fretboard to rosewood? i was at the guitar store the other day and saw a les paul with an ebony fretboard, which was in my eyes kind of unusual, seeing how most lps have a rosewood fretboard. i know for instance maple fretboards are slightly brighter then rosewood, but dont know much about ebony, whats the dif? thanks :)
 
mikeanniston said:
i was at the guitar store the other day and saw a les paul with an ebony fretboard, which was in my eyes kind of unusual, seeing how most lps have a rosewood fretboard.
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You were looking at a Les Paul Custom. Not unusual at all. I like ebony boards. They are hard and responsive. Rosewood and maple are softer, more bluesy.


lou
 
no it was a studio with an ebony fretboard thanks tho :)
 
Ebony is brighter than rosewood. It is also much more durable. I've worked some pieces that feel like slate. Tough on tools. Some of the rosewoods are pretty hard, but I've seen some soft ones that seem to almost disintergrate with wear, almost like the player had sandpaper for fingertips. I've never seen ebony do that. Not yet anyway...
 
It was an early studio from the early 90s. These guitars are killer values IMHO. There really isnt much comparison to the new ones.
 
The following are GENERAL tonal characteristics of maple, rosewood, and ebony fingerboards: Maple--this is a bright, tight-sounding wood with a defined bottom end, a tighter midrange, and a crisp, detailed top end. maple requires a finish, so a lot of guys tend to think the fingerboard feels a bit "sticky." however, the use of satin finishes as of late has been a big step towards improving the feel of a maple board. maple is often favored by cats who want a bit more top end or definition in their tone or for brightening up a warmer-sounding guitar.

Rosewood--this is the most popular fingerboard wood and has a warm, rich tone with less top end than maple. rosewood doesn't require a finish, and lots of players like the feel of it because of its slightly oily nature. rosewood fingerboards are often favored by players who want to warm up a guitar further or for attenuating the highs on a particularly bright guitar.

Ebony--this is the hardest and densest of the three woods and has a tight, crisp tone which is even brighter than maple. ebony doesn't require a finish and has a very tight grain-because of this, people often refer to ebony as "fast playing" or "slick." it's easily distinguishable from dyed rosewood by its closed grain pattern as opposed to rosewood's open grain pattern. ebony fingerboards are often favored by players who want a very glassy and crystalline top end or a lot more definition and tightness in their low end. for this reason, it's often preferred by bass makers.


theres the theory ..... and i think it depends on the player some prefer the other over one i like both depends on what style im playing just thought id throw in my 2 cents
 
The key to answering this one is to have a grasp of some basic musical acoustics and an understanding of the nature of the materials used. In this case Rosewood, ebony, maple or any other fingerboard material for that matter.

A bit on acoustics first. The tone of any instrument, its sustain and volume (amplitude) is the sum of its parts. The quality of the note or timbre is governed by the nature of the overtones and higher harmonics of the vibrating string. The materials used dictate how those harmonics and overtones are manifest. A note here that there are BIG differences between how the sound of an electric is produced as opposed to an acoustic. An electric guitars tone is largely Dependant on the vibration characteristics of the string itself and the pickup. An acoustic relies on the string and then the nature of the materials of the bridge and belly to shape the sound.

As the string vibrates between two points, in our case the nut/fret and saddle several things happen. Energy is lost to the air in the form of sound, heat which in this case is not really an issue some is also lost to absorbtion at the body and neck. A little energy is also lost to material damping or impedance. A good deal of the energy is sent back into the string and it is this that gives the overtones and harmonic quality to the note as well as its sustain/decay and volume/amplitude . When looking at guitar woods it is this property that interests us most. In other words how does a timber colour the sound by filtering different frequencies of the vibrating string while reflecting others.

Materials used to produce stringed instruments all have specific properties that are essential. Mass and stiffness being the primary ones they are also chosen for structural reasons. A fingerboard for example must have a great deal of hardness above mass and stiffness. Spruce has a great mass to stiffness ratio but would clearly be useless for a fingerboard as it would wear in no time but perfect for a soundboard.

So Rosewood, Ebony and Maple all fit the bill. There are many types of Rosewood and several species of ebony and maple commonly used so these are guidelines only. Ebony has the greatest mass per unit length and has a high degree of stiffness. being dense and stiff it reflects a lot of the lower frequencies well and also the higher frequencies. For that reason it has a good high end with low end sustain. Rosewood has slightly less mass per unit length as a general rule quite high stiffness. It handles the midrange frequencies better than ebony but loses more energy to damping and absorbtion. The result is a balanced overall tone with a faster decay. Maple has high stiffness but less mass than ebony and most rosewood despite its close grain. This results in a good high end with less sustain. One reason that it's not popular with acoustic builders.

Now ALL this must be qualified by accepting the following. All guitars are acoustically the sum of all their parts. The choice of fingerboard material being just one. Just as important is the quality of the neck timber, what timber it is, what sort of truss rod or reinforcement is used, the neck joint, all these things have an equally important role in dictating the sound and we haven't even started on body timbers or hardware and pickups.

In short whilst fingerboard material is a factor of the sound it is only one of many things that goes into the mix when discussing tone.
 
+1 for what Muttley said.

I'd like to add a couple of things.

Wood is a natural material. There can be great differences in the physical properties of two pieces of the same species of wood.

Because it represents a greater percentage of the mass of the neck, the neck stock has a greater effect on the tone of the instrument than does the fingerboard. The quality of the glue joint can also have a surprisingly large effect.

I would choose a guitar on tone and feel alone without regard to any idea of how the materials are supposed to affect the sound. I've had my hands on very dark sounding guitars with maple boards and insanely brights ones with rosewood.

All three (and many others) obviously hold up well over time.
 
I have a LP studio with the ebony fret board. From every thing I've read it is suppose to be brighter. But you have to take a lot more into account with what your total sound is going to be like. My LP is not anywhere as bright as my maple fretboard tele. I would imagine the humbucking picks on the LP and the bright sounding BL pickups pickup plate contribute to most of the difference.
I like ebony fretboards they feel great and look very nice as well.
Another material I like for fretboards is Micarta I have it on 2 of my Martins.
It may not be as bright sounding as ebony but I don't need it to on 000 sized guitars.
 
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RandyW said:
I have a LP studio with the ebony fret board. Form every thing I've read it is suppose to be brighter. But you have to take a lot more into account with what your total sound is going to be like. My LP is not anywhere as bright as my maple fretboard tele. I would imagine the humbucking picks on the LP and the bright sounding BL pickups pickup plate contribute to most of the difference.
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Right, bottom line is you need to pick up guitars and play them to know what they'll sound like.

To me, ebony fretboards just look better than rosewood on black and white guitars. A light brown neck sometimes just doesn't look right on a black guitar. This is superficial stuff, of course.

I also have a black LP Studio ('93) with ebony fretboard. How much more black could it get? The answer is none. None more black.
 
Just to throw a bit more shit into the fan here... IF a fretboard is not bound, I have always heard that temperature and humidity changes affect the fretwork, especially on ebony. Anyone have any info related to that, while we're on the subject?
 
Ebony likes to chip out when you refret it, if your not careful (and even if you are sometimes), and you have to get the fret slots a little bigger than with rosewood. Not that any of that matters if you aren't building with it.

I still use it for most of my fingerboards, even if I prefer working with rosewood. I like the look, I like the tone, and I like the feel.

Beyond that, mostly just look at what Muttley said.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
Ebony likes to chip out when you refret it, if your not careful (and even if you are sometimes), and you have to get the fret slots a little bigger than with rosewood. Not that any of that matters if you aren't building with it.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
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You got that right. Plus the ebony dust gets EVERYWHERE. Rosewood only marginally better. It is easier to repair ebony breakout though...

I have used both a lot and no longer have a preference. If I had to come down one way or the other Ebony would just shade it for me but thats because I'm a traditionalist maybe. Hate doing Maple boards tho mostly because I hate finishing them and they sound shit on acoustic or archtops.

Other interesting timbers I've tried. Zebrano:confused: Padauk:( Wenge:( Bloodwood:D and some others.
 
In response to the post by pikingrin,

Ebony is a very stable wood. It is less likely to warp from humidity than most. It is, however, prone to cracking if it gets too dry. In my opinion, binding has little effect on fretboards with regards to humidity.

The following is not just for pikingrin:

If you have not done so, please go back and read all the stuff Light wrote on humidity in this forum. It contains some of the most important advice a guitar owner can get.
 
Milnoque said:
If you have not done so, please go back and read all the stuff Light wrote on humidity in this forum. It contains some of the most important advice a guitar owner can get.
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That info ought to be a sticky...Yo' Dave!


lou
 
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