Pros and cons of Rosewood/Ebony fretboards vs. finished maple?

[Sheepdog1969]

I recently acquired a late '90's G&L Legacy hb/hss with a finished maple fretboard. (not sure if this is the correct term, but it is glossy and obviously has some type of coating). Before this G&L, all my guitars have had Rosewood fretboards. I definitely can feel this difference, and bending strings on the G&L is a breeze compared to my Gibsons with Rosewood. I like both, but I have no idea of the real pros and cons of each, except I know the maintenance of Rosewood is a must. Can anyone give me some insight? 

[kidblast]

I think that's the correct term, I assume yours has a clear gloss finish.

There's also a satin finish, sealed but the material for the finish just isn't glossy

I like either.   but I don't like maple necks with a gloss finish with vintage frets.  That's a deal breaker for me.  Bending notes isn't really comfortable for me with that setup.

Rosewood "can" need hydrating, but I don't believe anything too bad comes of not hydrating the rosewood.   I've been playing since the early 70s, and we never even thought about fretboard conditioners.   I do think doing so helps though.   In very dry conditions the fretboard can shrink up a bit and that's not a great thing

Edited October 10, 2022 by kidblast

[Sheepdog1969]

4 minutes ago, kidblast said:

I think that's the correct term, I assume yours has a clear gloss finish.

There's also a satin finish, sealed but the material for the finish just isn't glossy

I like either.   but I don't like maple necks with a gloss finish with vintage frets.  That's a deal breaker for me.  Bending notes isn't really comfortable for me with that setup.

Rosewood "can" need hydrating, but I don't believe anything too bad comes of not hydrating the rosewood.   I've been playing since the early 70s, and we never even thought about fretboard conditioners.   I do think doing so helps though.   In very dry conditions the fretboard can shrink up a bit and that's not a great thing

Do you find and tonal/sustain differences between the two? (Obviously the frets, string type/gauge, bridge, etc., would seem to define this, not the board material, right?)  

[Dub-T-123]

The difference in bending that was described is not a pro or con of fretboard material/finish, it’s bad technique to dig your fingertips into the fretboard 

 

Any “tonal” differences are going to be subtle, it’s more of an aesthetic preference 

[Sheepdog1969]

1 minute ago, Dub-T-123 said:

The difference in bending that was described is not a pro or con of fretboard material/finish, it’s bad technique to dig your fingertips into the fretboard 

 

Any “tonal” differences are going to be subtle, it’s more of an aesthetic preference 

Yep, always keep your fingernails trimmed short! Thanks for the info.

[Big Bill]

It all boils down to personal preference. I prefer a nice and glossy maple finger board. But not on a Gibson, it would be like teets on a bull. 

Edited October 10, 2022 by Big Bill

[Rabs]

Id say the biggest difference is that with a finished board you are going to get wear on the finish which can look a bit ugly (or cool depending on if you like that look). Personally I just generally prefer the look of a dark board on a guitar. Never had or wanted a maple one. If I were to buy a Fender it would have to have Rosewood. Tone wise, its neither here nor there really.  Nothing that cant be compensated with a tweak of your amp EQ,,,

[kidblast]

58 minutes ago, Dub-T-123 said:

The difference in bending that was described is not a pro or con of fretboard material/finish, it’s bad technique to dig your fingertips into the fretboard 

 

Any “tonal” differences are going to be subtle, it’s more of an aesthetic preference 

technique?  LOL!  I don't think so..  

 

Edited October 10, 2022 by kidblast

[fortyearspickn]

I'm sort of partial to ebony.  Harder than rosewood, darker than maple.    

 Had guitar lessons for a year, back in the 60s.  Teacher was a pro - but never said anything about keeping fingernails short.  Never really gave any 'tips'.  Just dug into Mel Bay and never looked back.   I never thought about it until many decades later, getting the frets polished - the 'luthier mentioned the divots on my LG1 where the cowboy chords hung out.

Saw a sign hanging over the workbench of a luthier once  - something like  "For the love of ......  please wash your hands!  Thank You,  Your Fretboard. "  Being (usually) unfinished wood, I hate the think of the stuff absorbed by my old guitar's fretboard.  Probably a wooden petri dish. 

 

[kidblast]

57 minutes ago, Sheepdog1969 said:

Do you find and tonal/sustain differences between the two? (Obviously the frets, string type/gauge, bridge, etc., would seem to define this, not the board material, right?)  

comparing my two strats, one with maple the other with rosewood wrt sustain I'd say no, not really.  I use the same strings and the pickups are setup kind of the same distance to the strings.

The maple one "might" be just a slight bit brighter, but I'd probably have to say the pickups would make the most difference.

 

 

[NighthawkChris]

5 hours ago, Dub-T-123 said:

The difference in bending that was described is not a pro or con of fretboard material/finish, it’s bad technique to dig your fingertips into the fretboard 

 

Any “tonal” differences are going to be subtle, it’s more of an aesthetic preference 

I was going to say… you shouldn’t be touching the fretboard really at all when bending notes… meaning the string shouldn’t actually ever touch the fretboard or the frets are too low. So I agree with @Dub-T-123

Edited October 10, 2022 by NighthawkChris

[kidblast]

30 minutes ago, NighthawkChris said:

I was going to say… you shouldn’t be touching the fretboard really at all when bending notes… meaning the string shouldn’t actually ever touch the fretboard or the frets are too low. So I agree with @Dub-T-123

So, have you ever played a strat or tele with a 7.25 radius neck, high gloss finished fretboard and true vintage frets?   

I did, and I was not at all liking it.  Too bad too cuz it was a really nice 57 custom shop strat.   could never bond with it.  had to sell it.

 

Edited October 10, 2022 by kidblast

[NighthawkChris]

@kidblast that 7.25” radius sounds awful. I heard they fret out with big bends but do bends take the string to the fretboard? And no haven’t tried a vintage-spec’d Strat. I like baseball bat Gibson 50s necks, but I’ll pass on some of those Fenders. 

[kidblast]

2 hours ago, NighthawkChris said:

@kidblast that 7.25” radius sounds awful. I heard they fret out with big bends but do bends take the string to the fretboard? And no haven’t tried a vintage-spec’d Strat. I like baseball bat Gibson 50s necks, but I’ll pass on some of those Fenders. 

 

They are 100% unforgiving.   add a glossy maple  fretboard, with vintage frets that have pretty much no real rise at all??  especially in the warm humid months..     It has nothing to do with technique.  trust me.    Some guys may dig it, that's cool.   just not for me.   opinions on maple necks were asked,  and that's mine.  that's all I'm saying

 

Edited October 11, 2022 by kidblast

[Larsongs]

I like Maple, Rosewood & Ebony.. They’re all great! I do use lemon oil occasionally on Rosewood & Ebony fretboards as the dry Desert climate does dry them out.. Every couple years or so..  I also adjust, tighten & occasionally add a drop of oil to the Tuners. I do detail my Guitars & do try to keep them beautiful.. I’m not a fan of the Relic look.. 

[sparquelito]

22 hours ago, Dub-T-123 said:

Any “tonal” differences are going to be subtle, it’s more of an aesthetic preference 

Agreed. 

Some guitars just look better with a maple board (Tele, for instance), and others require a dark fingerboard (Les Paul, obviously). 
By my eye anyway. 

I have no preference for one over the other as far as 'tone'. 
Can't tell a difference sonically.

🤔 
 

[NighthawkChris]

Aside from pushing a string down to the fretboard business, I’m one to believe that in the case of an electric guitar, whatever material makes up the fretboard will have no impact on the tone of the instrument. The main driver of one’s sound will be the pickups and amp on a properly setup guitar. Just saying… guitars aren’t really rocket science. The industry has put this notion into our heads that insignificant BS makes up your “tone mojo” that is demonstrably false. So many people online have had experiments to prove this to where even the electrical signals were compared after replacing only the neck. And what do you know, the signals look identical. It is what it is.  I could say the same about the body, but we are talking fretboards haha!

As far as aesthetics go, different story. Maple just looks right on certain guitars and wrong on others. Oddly enough to my eyes, RW doesn’t look that bad in more situations…

The OP talked about fretboard material and perhaps implied how bends are easier? - threw that in for god knows why. What does maple or RW have to do with this? Radius makes a difference for sure with bends. If you had a RW or maple board with same radius, don’t believe anyone could tell the tonal difference given all other factors are the same - pickups, setup, radius, etc. 

Yeah maintain your RW. When it shrinks and expands, fret ends can show their ugly faces. It’s worse when you have binding on the neck and this happens. Don’t know what can be done other than don’t expose your guitar to dry environments. Lube it up all you want haha!

So not getting my panties in a bunch here just that I feel I did enough exploration into this realm to look past the BS. I won’t pay extra for BS that is ineffectual. 

Edited October 11, 2022 by NighthawkChris

[Murph]

Roy Buchanan wore the clear off of "Nancy". She was pretty relic'ed.

I don't think he had bad technique.

If you use anything for hours and hours and hours and hours, it'll show wear.

Heck, I've got a 91 Tele with worn thru clear on the fretboard, and that's not nitro. It's simply had many, many hours on it in many, many bars. Not to mention practice.

I really love the ebony board on my J-45 rosewood/ebony, however I'm also quite found of my J-15.

Nobody has mentioned walnut.

I like it, too.

 

[Dub-T-123]

The comment that technique isn’t important was silly

[Pinch]

I find the wood makes a huge difference in tone overall (not talking about the fretboard in particular now). 

I think maple fretboards sound a tad brighter, btw. Maybe not much though. 

[Larsongs]

3 hours ago, NighthawkChris said:

Aside from pushing a string down to the fretboard business, I’m one to believe that in the case of an electric guitar, whatever material makes up the fretboard will have no impact on the tone of the instrument. The main driver of one’s sound will be the pickups and amp on a properly setup guitar. Just saying… guitars aren’t really rocket science. The industry has put this notion into our heads that insignificant BS makes up your “tone mojo” that is demonstrably false. So many people online have had experiments to prove this to where even the electrical signals were compared after replacing only the neck. And what do you know, the signals look identical. It is what it is.  I could say the same about the body, but we are talking fretboards haha!

As far as aesthetics go, different story. Maple just looks right on certain guitars and wrong on others. Oddly enough to my eyes, RW doesn’t look that bad in more situations…

The OP talked about fretboard material and perhaps implied how bends are easier? - threw that in for god knows why. What does maple or RW have to do with this? Radius makes a difference for sure with bends. If you had a RW or maple board with same radius, don’t believe anyone could tell the tonal difference given all other factors are the same - pickups, setup, radius, etc. 

Yeah maintain your RW. When it shrinks and expands, fret ends can show their ugly faces. It’s worse when you have binding on the neck and this happens. Don’t know what can be done other than don’t expose your guitar to dry environments. Lube it up all you want haha!

So not getting my panties in a bunch here just that I feel I did enough exploration into this realm to look past the BS. I won’t pay extra for BS that is ineffectual. 

I own Guitars with all 3 different kinds of Fretboards.. The Maple feels slicker & faster to me… But, I like all 3.. I think Ebony will have a longer life than the other 2.. The rest of the Guitar might have withered to nothing but the Ebony will still be good. LOL! 

Edited October 11, 2022 by Larsongs

[merciful-evans]

I cant help rutting rosewood with fingernails. Bad technique? Yep I admit it, but I cannot cut my nails any closer without bloodshed. 

The problem is with bending the strings 'down'. If I had had lessons I would have been shown the better method of pushing them up. There were no guitar teachers when I started. Everybody figured out everything for themselves. I even knew a leftie player who played right handed guitars upside down. I cant change 50+ years of technique at my age. 

Ebony can take my abuse. So can Maple. 

I prefer the torrified maple boards slightly more than the lacquered ones (even though they are a funny colour). 

[Pinch]

1 hour ago, merciful-evans said:

I cant help rutting rosewood with fingernails. Bad technique? Yep I admit it, but I cannot cut my nails any closer without bloodshed. 

A little at a time. 

Yeah, same here. No wonder kids get good at an early age when they have Youtube. 

[jdgm]

This thread needs guitar pics.

I have only one maple fingerboard guitar, my old Tele which was my main teaching guitar for over a decade.

The fretboard varnish wore off and I got it redone.  I did not like the feel of it unvarnished and it was getting dirty too.

I read once that maple has the brightness and 'ping',  rosewood has a slightly darker/warmer tone and less sustain, and ebony (harder and closer-grained than rosewood) has the best of both.   Violins, violas etc are overwhelmingly fitted with ebony boards - though even makers of those are having to source alternatives now.

Remember the LPs with maple boards?   Looked a bit strange IMO but must have sounded fine.   I never played one.

And how about this?  Not mine a Fender Master build....the staining colour and gold knobs are a bit OTT for me but I bet it's a wonderful instrument.

 

Fretboard woods are many and varied now of course; Indian laurel is used on many cheapies but it's still a good, hard fretboard wood. 

https://mynewmicrophone.com/is-laurel-a-good-guitar-tonewood-electric-acoustic-bass/

But how do all of these things compare with....Richlite?

 

BTW I'd have a lot to say in a thread about the tone of trapeze-tailpiece gtrs versus stud-mounted. 

Best wishes to all!

Edited October 15, 2022 by jdgm

[saturn]

Maybe it's in my head, but it seems to me a RW fretboard gives a slight bit of resistance or friction when bending notes. I actually prefer this. Also, maybe someone will tell me I'm pressing too hard if I can feel the difference. That my well be true. At this point, I play the way I play. Having said that, the difference is minute and a maple board is certainly not a deal breaker for me.