Which would you prefer for your fretboard: Maple, Ebony, or Rosewood?

  • Thread starter Thread starter monkie
  • Start date Start date

Which would you prefer for your fretboard: Maple, Ebony or Rosewood?

  • Maple

    Votes: 21 29.6%

  • Rosewood

    Votes: 16 22.5%

  • Ebony

    Votes: 21 29.6%

  • I don't care, I just want to play

    Votes: 9 12.7%

  • I prefer Guitar Hero

    Votes: 4 5.6%
  • Total voters
    71
Bubinga.

On my homemade guitar, i used Waterfall Bubinga on the frettboard and headstock, Maple for the Neck, and Honduran mahogany on the Back of the body with maple on the Front of the Body. I don't know which it sounds like, other than it kicks ass. :-)

JasonBird
 
I'm at the point where it don't really matter, to me, what wood the fingerboard is made of. I can still hear the subtle differences between maple, rosewood and ebony, but I don't let that distract me from paying attention to the overall tones of the guitar.

Matt
 
I thought I loved the warm rich tone of rosewood (all my guitars had rosewood boards) for years. Then I played some maple necked guitars and...darn it...they sounded pretty good too. So did ebony and every other fretboard wood I've tried.

Just play the guitar, if it sounds good it is good...
 
I think the neck makes much more of a difference than the fingerboard no?:)
In any case, I like the rosewood on my SG and the maple on my bass.


Mike
 
I have ebony boards on my two best acoustics, and about evenly split rosewood/maple on my electrics, so I guess I have no real preference playing wise. Rosewood is much easier to work on, though.

My main concern now is that the frets be at least mediums--I just sold off a ProTone Strat that had something close to mandolin frets. I didn't refret it because aggravating my arthritis wouldn't have been worth it. I also got a different neck with a rosewood 22 fret board that ended up working better on one of my other strats.
 
none of these choices.

i have all of them, but have found Pau Ferro to be superior.

put that one in the list, and i'll vote.
 
I've been playing on a 73 Precision w/ maple neck and loved it - I just got a Jazz bass MIM - with a rosewood neck it sounds pretty sweet tp...but i still like maple
 
Really? Superior how?
Click to expand...

hm.

the feel. it has a tight grain, it feels like ebony, which i love.

the sound. it sounds like a cross between ebony and rosewood, both of which i love.
it gives a good 'chunk' with high gain. it sounds fuller in the low end, and has some chime to it as well. just sounds really strong to me.

the look. granted, it's a crap shoot, but i asked for and received from USACG, a neck that was perfect for my project.


stratoncab.jpg




gnckwds_pauferro.jpg


The Fender SRV model has a pau ferro fingerboard, that's what initially put me on it.
Fender® Products
 
GONZO-X said:
hm.

the feel. it has a tight grain, it feels like ebony, which i love.

the sound. it sounds like a cross between ebony and rosewood, both of which i love.
it gives a good 'chunk' with high gain. it sounds fuller in the low end, and has some chime to it as well. just sounds really strong to me.

the look. granted, it's a crap shoot, but i asked for and received from USACG, a neck that was perfect for my project.






gnckwds_pauferro.jpg


The Fender SRV model has a pau ferro fingerboard, that's what initially put me on it.
Fender® Products
Click to expand...

Ah right so it's a preference rather than actually being superior. Many timbers will work for fretboards and I'm all for using stuff other than ebony or rosewood simply for the change and also because I'm sick of explaining why my hands are purple half the time.:o
 
well, i think the pau ferro is superior to ebony.

why?


because, in dry climates like where i live (utah, we're the 2nd driest state in the nation), the ebony will crack.

the pau ferro, on the other hand, has oils in it similar to rosewood. it's less susceptable to the drying out that HAS happened with my other ebony boards.
 
and i guess you missed the part where i explained the sound differences...
i consider those superior issues as well!!!


but hey, some guys love the sound of epoxy.
 
There isn't any reason why ebony should split in dry climates if the thing is put together properly. I don't see more ebony fb's than say rosewood. Ebony can take quite a bit of humidity change because it is so dense and doesn't cleave all that easily. I'm surprised you have problems with them What happened, did they split, pop the frets, some other problem?

As far as the tone is concerned I always view that as subjective. I prefer Indian Rosewood to all others but thats just me I wouldn't say it's superior because other timbers can give an equally good if slightly different tone and feel. That's why I called it a preference..
 
yeah, you and i have a difference of opinion.
that's ok.

the ebony simply cracked, along certain areas.
no fret popping, good lord, i've never seen that on a quality instrument.
unless it had been in a fire!!
LOL

everything is subjective...

except for the science behind why certain woods dry out faster than others.
 
the OP simply asked which i preferred, and that was my answer.

in truth, i like ALL fingerboard choices, with certain bodies and electronics.
they ALL sound different, which is a good thing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top