Maple fretboard vs. rosewood?

  • Thread starter Thread starter elenore19
  • Start date Start date
elenore19

elenore19

Slowing becoming un-noob.
So I've always played on rosewood and am sort of scared to get a guitar with anything else because I think I might not like it.

Are there any major differences? In terms of playing, not really physical differences.


Thanks for the help guys. (and gals?)
 
I've always played Les Pauls (or copies) and always wanted a Maple Fretboard Strat. Bought a RONDO SX SST57 about a month or so ago and I LOVE THIS BABY. They come with High-Gloss Maple Necks (and Fretboards) and they are super fast. Nice Chucky necks and the SX SST57's are an amzing copy. I played a bunch of Squiers (was all set to buy an Artic White at Guitar Center) and also a bunch of MIM Strats - this SX is every bit as good as all the MIM's I tried and blows them Squiers outta the water! The finish is beautiful, the action came set just perfect (low as hell), the frets feel like they've been filed professionally, the sound is pure single-coil FENDER and everyone who see's it or plays on it is in love with it. I paid $99 for it! RONDO is out of stock on most of them right now until fall then they'll get more in - a lot of kewl Vintage Colors too!

BEST $99 Guitar I have ever seen. My Agile AL-2000 (Black w/Gold Hardware) was the best $199 Guitar I ever saw too. This RONDO stuff is amazing for the $$$$.

Played for about 2 hours last night and held tune the whole time - no mods for me - it's a KEEPER just like it is. They both hold tune for days on end!

SX4.jpg


SX1.jpg


SX2.jpg


SX3.jpg


Here's some pix (I took the Whammy off as I don't really use them).
 
I have a couple of maple fretboard electrics, a 74' Fender Strat and an Explorer shaped walnut bodied guitar I built about 27 years ago, but I am more comfortable with rosewood. I don't have any problems playing either though and the Strat was the guitar I learned the most of my best playing on.
It's like riding a bike Elliott, you just take off and ride it, it doesn't matter what the brand is-you'll find you can just grab any guitar and play it, maple, rosewood, ebony, whatever;)!
 
Always been a Rosewood man myself, just couldn't take to Maple. That said, my fretboards of choice are Ebony............smooth as silk, and fast.

:cool:
 
I'm not the great of a guitarist to begin with, mostly a drummer now, but I never noticed a huge difference in feel but I do like maple myself. I also think it's more aesthetically pleasing and when you play like I do, looks count. :D

-Wes
 
Maple boards are a little brighter, but the bigger issue, from my point of view, is that they are so expensive to refret that it is seldom worth the bother. It's usually cheaper to buy a new neck. Also, they do feel different, and some people don't like the feel (I don't).



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
I am NOT a maple fb person. I DO like them - both the look and sound. What i don't like is how they wear out - once the laquer wears out, they get all dirty and nasty looking. Not for me. But some people actually like that - so that's the variable.

I am also not a Strat person :) (but that due to instrument feel, neck shapes and scale length, not tone or appearance).
 
All my basses now have maple. I have had several others with rosewood or ebony, but they didn't do anything for me. I love the look of maple on a bass.

All my guitars have been rosewood or ebony.
 
wbcsound said:
+1 on the above SX reccomendation. I reviewed a similiar guitar with a fixed bridge for www.FrugalGuitarist.com and was equally impressed.
Click to expand...

great site. Glad to see you reviewed my choice (except for the bridge) of SX's. We're all waiting (the Agile Forums) for your Agile review too. These Rondo Guitars are an amazing value for us "poor" guys... heck - they're an amazing value for anyone!
 
i think it's impossible to tell anyone else, what they'll like as far as wood choices..

it's one of those things, you just have to do your homework on.

you gotta play em!

you may love the maple.
you may hate the maple.

how can anyone here tell you what you'll like?

try hitting a guitar store, and playing a bunch of them...
borrow them from your friends...
etc.
 
I'd concur with what light said. Maple is brighter in tone, rosewood is a little warmer and ebony a little bit darker still.

These are very small details when you compare it alongside the timbers of the neck and body however. The real deal is more likely to do with the fact that maple is always lacquered. That makes refrets more of a pain. Much in the same way as a bound fingerboard is more expensive to refret.

If it's a keeper and you are considering the maintenance costs then keep that in mind. You should easily adjust to any very slight differences in feel and tone that the two may have. My own preference after years of playing and making them all is for unbound rosewood. For years I was an ebony fan. Thats changed in the last few years. So even us old boys in the so called "know" can move from one to the other.

Last comment, they are all good and all work just fine so don't get too worked up over it.
 
What Light and Muttley say about the effect on tone is true on average, But you should never listen to the fretboard. Feel the fretboard, listen to the guitar. Guitars have a nasty habit of not listening to luthiers consistently. In a lineup of Strats there's always the chance the maple board will be on the darkest sounding one.

You will never know how you feel about maple fretboards until you live with one. If you're looking at $300 guitars the cost of a refret is irrelevant. You'll never justify the expense, even on rosewood.

I prefer rosewood or ebony, but you'll never know for yourself until you take the plunge. You'll probably find that it isn't as big a deal as you're making it out to be. Go find a guitar you're interested in and play it with your eye's closed for a little while.

Good luck to you
 
From a player's perspective, I find that laquered maple fretboards are more difficult to get around on than rosewood or ebony since the finish has more friction than the unfinished surface of the other two. This is particularly noticeable on new necks. Over time - well, more accurately, with lots of playing time - the maple fretboard will improve as the finish wears.
 
My experience has always been ebony is actually brighter than rosewood, approximately as bright as maple. :confused: I could very easily be full of it though, lol.

Anyway, I'm a huge maple fan. My experience with the three has been something like this:

Rosewood - fairly even overall, relatively warm.
Maple - brighter than rosewood, with a lot of overtones.
Ebony - balanced, but also brighter than rosewood. More of a "pure" sound than maple, without as pronounced overtones.

For me, it comes down to whether or not you like the way maple seems to accentuate the overtones on an attack. I personally do - there's this wonderful "clang" or "snap" to a note, especially if you roll the gain back a bit and really work your playing dynamics, that I haven't found on anything else. It's just magical.

The fact I love how maple boards look certainly doesn't hurt, either. :cool:
 
The sound of any guitar is always the sum of it's parts. Listen to the guitar, feel the fretboard. When you're playing a guitar with a rosewood fretboard you will never know how much the fretboard material is responsible for it's warm tone (or brightness). What posters are saying about the woods is true as a rule of thumb, but it only works as a rule of thumb. With the wide variety of species being sold as "rosewood" the rule of thumb is even less dependable.

If you play with a light touch and standard light strings you may not even notice the difference in feel. The finish on the frets will have a much greater impact on the feel than the fretboard material.
 
Milnoque said:
The sound of any guitar is always the sum of it's parts..................
Click to expand...

Covered that bit..;);)

muttley600 said:
I'd concur with what light said. Maple is brighter in tone, rosewood is a little warmer and ebony a little bit darker still.

These are very small details when you compare it alongside the timbers of the neck and body however. ................................................................................................

Last comment, they are all good and all work just fine so don't get too worked up over it.
Click to expand...
 
IMO the tone of the guitar is dominated by other construction features. The fretboard is a minor contributor, so I judge them by how they feel. I think a lot of this will depend upon how naturally oily or sweaty your hands are.

Maple boards (laquered) are as slippery as a greased pig when your hand is sweaty, but become tacky and sticky if your hand is dry. I don't like them at all. Except I removed the laquer from one once, and that made it better. But then, the surface very quickly absorbed a lot of dirt and grime. It looked ugly, but felt pretty good.

Rosewood has a slight natural oiliness, but is also very open-grained so it will absorb sweat. It seems like a very good compromise, but can become a bit sticky if your hands are dry. Because of the open grain, you can feel the slight roughness of the surface, even when it is pretty finely finished.

Ebony has a "waxy" feel that I like. It is not exactly slippery, and it never gets "sticky". It has a smooth consistency. Consistency leads to predictability, comfort, and confidence. It will feel the same under a pretty wide range of humidity/hand sweat conditions. I like ebony best, but my hands tend to be very dry and I have no problem with sweating. My fingers stay too dry. So I like the fact that the ebony retains a waxy feel even when bone-dry.
This comes into play mostly when bending strings and putting a lot of pressure directly between the very end of the fingertip and the fretboard.
 
My 1st guitar had maple, it was the squealiest one I ever played. I could pull off pinch harmonics like nobody's business, and I always attributed that fact to the maple fretboard. idk id thats true or not, but that was always my impression anyway.. I always thought that fretboard had a varnishy, almost sticky feel to it.

Since then Ive owned 2 Ibanez's and 2 Jacksons, all rosewood, I thought they had a drier smoother faster feel to em.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top