drzing Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 I have noticed that not only Gibson have been using different woods for classical applications, some people will not want a guitar without a rosewood or ebony fingerboard, no matter if it is cooked, baked, sweetened or if artist someone says it sounds even better. So I ask for personal opinions, what is happening, is the industry producing certain 'freaks' that will become undervalued or maybe would it be producing some 'freaks' that are going to be very sought after and that actually sound very well (I can understand how long it can take for certain values to be actually recognized). Like a baked maple fingerboard, how does it compares to a classic rosewood one? How about baked ebony? Also, after a few months still in love with my SG Special 60's Tribute, after playing it, adjusting, setting up the whole neck, relief, intonation, somehow I found me playing a very smooth neck, and despite the 'actual' fretless wonder was a LP, I think I kind of got what they mean, you just slide your fingers and the progressions become crazy fast. So I was also wondering what neck profile is preferred in your opinion and why, I know I like a fingerboard with room for my fingers so that chord won't turn out into a traffic jam, for an example. Z Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiamondJig Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 Look at my sig I have many SG's with alot of combinations, right now the one I seem to want to play is the 61RI Faded ebony with baked maple, just feels and sounds just right for me. That I think is the most important thing, finding the "ONE". I think the same can be said of finding a matching amp to enhance the sound/tone. It would be nice 30 years down the road all these limited guitars Gibson put out because of the wood problem become highly collectible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seizure Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 as far as I know. not much tonal differences between Rosewood and Maple. Or atleast from my untrained ears. I've A/B them side by side at local guitar stores and just can't hear a difference, especially with it going through a AMP and all it's sounds. I personlly like my maple fretboard better only because there's no divets or grooves or anything in it like rosewood where dirt and grime can get into. My Maple fretboard Just a nice flat and smooth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 . My personal favorite - ebony fingerboard. As far as the neck - I favor a three piece maple neck, like in the Raw Power SG. . I've got an SG with ebony fingerboard on a solid mahogany neck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JM2112 Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 You'll be hard pressed to hear any tonal difference in an electric guitar with either ebony, rosewood, or torrefied maple. Ebony and torrefied maple are going to feel very similar. Both are very dense and smooth, and they are just excellent for fast playing and ease for bending. Rosewood is not quite as dense, and it has a more open grain. All three woods are excellent, and none of them are inferior, IMHO. Torrefied maple has been used for a few decades by Rickenbacker and Ernie Ball, so it's not a new fret board wood, it's just new for Gibson. I have the torrefied maple on my Les Paul Classic Custom and rosewood on my SG Standard, and I love them both. I hope Gibson keeps using the torrefied maple. If I did not alreay have an SG Standard I would buy one of the SG Standard Limited models with the torrefied maple in a heartbeat. Richlite really freaks out some folks, but like the torrefied maple the real complaint is that it is just a new fret board material, not because it is inferior. Like ebony and torrefied maple, Richlite is very dense and smooth as glass, and just awesome to play on. I have richlite on one my Martin acoustics (my other two Martins have ebony), and I love it! I would not trade or change anyting about any of my guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigtim Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 You will be able to tell a difference in sound while playing different styles of music, between rosewood and maple. There is definately a preference on some players but all in all. I do not think the average player is going to turn away from a good sounding axe that has either fret board. It will be the vintaeg guru's who will be the ones that have something to say about a rosewood fret board compared to maple. My only complaint about gibsons choice for using ebony is that they limited the ebony and mother of pearl block inlays to the custom model LP's and SG's. Other than that, that itself would be my only complaint on gibson's fretboard descisions. I have saw some of those clasic custom LP's and I know they have the baked maple fret boards, and I am all in. Great looking axes all the way around. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sg50 Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 My favorites so far are: rosewood finger boards make you play slower and maple finger boards make the pickups brighter keep 'em coming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valtyr Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 My all time favorite boards are the glass/composite exoskeletons (and stainless steel frets) on my Parker guitars. Of the wood boards, I love the ebony board on my SG platinum. It is dense and very smooth so it feels similar to the Parker fretboards. It even looks similar since it is also black and my SG has no inlays on the board (just side dots). I have tried maple and rosewood boards too. I can't say that I dislike any of them. I'd like to check out a guitar with a baked maple board some time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JM2112 Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 You will be able to tell a difference in sound while playing different styles of music, between rosewood and maple. There is definately a preference on some players but all in all. I do not think the average player is going to turn away from a good sounding axe that has either fret board. It will be the vintaeg guru's who will be the ones that have something to say about a rosewood fret board compared to maple. My only complaint about gibsons choice for using ebony is that they limited the ebony and mother of pearl block inlays to the custom model LP's and SG's. Other than that, that itself would be my only complaint on gibson's fretboard descisions. I have saw some of those clasic custom LP's and I know they have the baked maple fret boards, and I am all in. Great looking axes all the way around. Tim Maple being more dense can produce a brighter tone, but there can be differences in tone between two guitars of the exact same model made with the same wood species. No two pieces of wood are the same. IMHO, I think it would be easier to hear tonal differences in an acoustic guitar than with an electric. The biggest difference is likely going to be how it feels to the player, most folks in an audience listening would likely never notice the difference between maple, ebony, richlite, rosewood, or any wood species. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzing Posted March 16, 2013 Author Share Posted March 16, 2013 Thanks for all the great inputs, I like the level of the discussion here. I am curious as for trying more different fingerboards now, I also have one more question that bugs the heck out of me - what is the difference between american and brazilian rosewood? Popular plant names only make it for confusion, as it probably is a plant of another species, genus or family. Something makes me think plants don't get new names depending on where they're grown. I'm glad do hear opinions from widely different players, cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JM2112 Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 Thanks for all the great inputs, I like the level of the discussion here. I am curious as for trying more different fingerboards now, I also have one more question that bugs the heck out of me - what is the difference between american and brazilian rosewood? Popular plant names only make it for confusion, as it probably is a plant of another species, genus or family. Something makes me think plants don't get new names depending on where they're grown. I'm glad do hear opinions from widely different players, cheers! Rosewood belongs to the Dalbergia genus, but not all woods in the Dalbergia genus are rosewoods. Another popluar wood for guitar making in the Dalbergia genus is Cocobolo, a.k.a. Mexican ebony, and is an excellent wood. As far as the world is concerned Brazilian rosewood is know mainly for its fragrance, for guitarists they swear by the tone (and probably love to sniff the sound hole if it's an acoustic guitar!). There are other woods that are sold under the rosewood name in the timber industry, but they are not true rosewoods. As far as American rosewood is concerned, I don't know. I've heard of it, but that's all. Considering the climate in places that rosewood is harvested and needs to grow, I can't see America having much of a rosewood supply, but who knows for sure... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallastx Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 On Gibson Guitars, I like Rosewood and Maple. On Fenders, Maple only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzing Posted March 18, 2013 Author Share Posted March 18, 2013 How about granadillo fingerboards? What is it good for? Any other woods we didn't cover here that are used by Gibsons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 ... Oh my God! How could I miss those Raw Power series. All-maple Les Pauls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowdyMoon Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Pay no attention to all this rose this and maple that junk......if it feels right and she's perdy, buy it....Have you ever noticed none of the big name , (or small name for that matter), guitar players never talk about fretboards. They may talk about a tele or an sg or les paul but never about whether it's maple or ebony or your ex wifes cat....just sayin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pin Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 . My personal favorite - ebony fingerboard. As far as the neck - I favor a three piece maple neck, That is also my favoured combination. Very hard, dense and very strong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JM2112 Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 That is also my favoured combination. Very hard, dense and very strong. Yeah, you can't go wrong with a maple neck for strength. The guitar will probably never need another truss rod adustment after it's set. It's also why it's the preferred neck for a 12 string. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GibSinCity Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 The ebony/maple combo is not uncommon for a custom shop models also Known for better neck stability and less truss rod adjustments when touring in various climates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzing Posted March 21, 2013 Author Share Posted March 21, 2013 I used to think a maple neck was an overkill, or a bestiality, best for bass and such, but, this post is about woods, and I'm learning, thanks. I want to thank the true guitarrists with scientific spirit that have contributed to the subject, if you don't care about it, just refrain from posting, with all due respect, mr RM, why bother if you, self entitled guitar player don't really care? Looks like you worry a lot about fitting into what you seem to think guitar players do, and this is not the subject here, thank you very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SG dude Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 I may not give the best answer here, but still, I like the Rosewood fingerboard with Mahogany neck just fine, but to be honest, my favourite fingerboard wood has to be Ebony. I'm getting a custom spec'd Jaydee SG and for that, I've asked (among other things) for a 3 piece (Mahogany/Strip of Maple/Mahogany) neck, which should help for overall strength, topped of with an Ebony fingerboard, because I really like the tonal qualities that it adds. It'll be the first guitar I've ever owned with the Mahogany/Maple neck combintation, so can't wait to hear how that sounds. Cheers! Ryan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sg50 Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 I used to think a maple neck was an overkill, or a bestiality, best for bass and such, but, this post is about woods, and I'm learning, thanks. I want to thank the true guitarrists with scientific spirit that have contributed to the subject, if you don't care about it, just refrain from posting, with all due respect, mr RM, why bother if you, self entitled guitar player don't really care? Looks like you worry a lot about fitting into what you seem to think guitar players do, and this is not the subject here, thank you very much. Yes, RM, let's not go out of our way to call out other people's behavior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowdyMoon Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 I used to think a maple neck was an overkill, or a bestiality, best for bass and such, but, this post is about woods, and I'm learning, thanks. I want to thank the true guitarrists with scientific spirit that have contributed to the subject, if you don't care about it, just refrain from posting, with all due respect, mr RM, why bother if you, self entitled guitar player don't really care? Looks like you worry a lot about fitting into what you seem to think guitar players do, and this is not the subject here, thank you very much. Wow, you ask an opinion about woods and I express my view on the nature of woods effect on tone and you get pissy with me..nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowdyMoon Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Yes, RM, let's not go out of our way to call out other people's behavior. Who's behavior did I call out....please explain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twiz Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 My SG Standard is mahogany and has a rosewood fretboard. So, that's probably what I'd say is my favorite since it's what I'm used to. I really do like the ebony fretboard on my Flying V though. I'd like to get an SG with one of those someday. -Maybe like a Goth SG (they came out in the early 00's I think). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sg50 Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 Who's behavior did I call out....please explain. You see, when drzing singled you out for not "participating properly" in his thread, it occurred to me that he wasn't "participating properly" in his own thread. I think if you re-read my post, it should be pretty clear to you that I was mocking him. For what it's worth, I think you're right regarding "tone woods." It's largely marketing hype. And I challenge drzing and his "guitarrist scientists" [sic] to present any sort of data that rosewood fretboards make you play slower or mahogany necks dull the sound or that an Ash body is any more resonant than Alder. The truth of it is, players who have maple necks like maple necks best because people love their own expensive stuff. It's a known cognitive bias. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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