Maple or Rosewood

  • Thread starter Thread starter greenascanbe
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NL5 said:
Light -

What about ebony - I don't believe it's available on a strat, but in general, what is your opinion?
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There are aftermarket non-fender strat necks with ebony boards available.
 
greenascanbe said:
Light -

So what do I need to do to properly protect the neck and get it to last longer before I need to get the neck replaced?
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Maintience on rosewood and ebony fingerboards is easy. A few times a year (every three to six months), the fingerboard should be cleaned with a good quality, oil-free OOOO steel wool, and then you wipe on some lemon oil, let it sit for a minute or two, and wipe off the excess. If there is no excess, wipe on again, and repeat until there is excess, which you then wipe off. That's it.

As for maple fingerboards, wipe them down with a clean, lint free, dry cloth when you are done playing, and polish them with some guitar polish (I like Bioterra Industries Power Chord, but most companies make fine guitar polishes). As for the frets, which are the problem, if you want them to last, don't play. Which of cousre would suck. If you could get the guitar with stainless steel frets, that would change things, but of course Fender doesn't put them on their guitars (yet, it is just a matter of time I am sure). And of course, putting them on would be a full refret, only worse because every shop I know doing stainless frets (including mine) charges an extra $150 or more for them, because they are a fricking nightmare to work with.


To me, the sound of a Strat has a rosewood fingerboard, but I do use ebony fingerboards on many of my guitars, and I do like them.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
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Maple all the way, I like ebony too but if your buying a fender. Maple and strats go hand in hand. I'd feel kinda cheesy if I came home with my first strat and it had a rosewood fingerboard. :(
 
bileshake said:
Maple all the way, I like ebony too but if your buying a fender. Maple and strats go hand in hand. I'd feel kinda cheesy if I came home with my first strat and it had a rosewood fingerboard. :(
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To each his own. I agree with Richie Blackmore; the only thing a maple neck on a Strat is good for is breaking it off on stage and shoving the stump through a speaker grille. ;^)
 
I think rosewood works better with the strat's quack, and maple goes better with the telecaster twang.
 
The harder the heavier the better for me...in electrics anyways. Man a nice solid LP or a Peavey EVH Wolfie with that rock hard maple neck. If I had the skills, I would build a solid body ebony body with maybe a nice swirly maple lam top and a rock hard carbon reinforced maple neck with an ebony finger board. The neck would be set of course. I'd get me a 4 inch wide guitar strap with a built in back brace...maybe some casters.

I would like to get the guitar ringing like there's no tomorrow! Let me tell it when to stop.
 
I heard that while Yamaha was developing the marvelous SGB-2000 they made a prototype of solid brass. That would have been a sustain monster!
 
Hook me up with that!

Except it gets pretty cold in my parts in the winter time...not so sure how that would work out...I guess I would want to shorten up my guitar strap a little. :eek:
 
Interesting discussion,

Brings me to the question: Why do we not see Les Pauls[ or SG's] with Maple fretboards? Is this because they would make the instrument too bright? Is it for esstatic reasons? Does anyone have an opinion about this question?
 
timmerman said:
Interesting discussion,

Brings me to the question: Why do we not see Les Pauls[ or SG's] with Maple fretboards? Is this because they would make the instrument too bright? Is it for esstatic reasons? Does anyone have an opinion about this question?
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Gods no. That much mahogany, no.

First of all, they are out there. Not a lot of them, but a few. There is at least one Zakk Wylde Signature Model which has a maple fingerboard.

No, the reason you don't see more LP's with maple fingerboards is they look really fucking ugly with maple fingerboards.

Really.


Fucking.


Ugly.



I mean Ghastly.


They're even worse than the Moderne's.




Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
punkin said:
Yea...wouldn't black frets be cool too?
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Ooooo, maybe I should get out the Sharpie! I'd still need the little dots on the side. Maybe I look at the ends of the frets. I'm too fat to see the front of the guitar while I'm playing anyway.
 
I think the black inlays just look cheap and plasticy. Maybe if they had black pearloid inlays it would look good.
 
This is sort off topic, but for $900 is an AM Strat really that good of a deal. I bought one, and I really liked it at first, but now I find that I play my Variax more, and it should be the much crapier guitar. I am starting to question that Strats are really all that nice. Could it be that there are some companies that make strat copies that might play nicer?

My Variax has a rosewood.
My Strat is Mapel, (and b-e-a-utiful at that).
 
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