The African ebony wood is predominantly all black, hence the metal guitarist connection, whereas the Asian ebony wood can have brown stripes running through the wood - again it comes down to personal preference, as both types have an almost identical tonal quality. In fact, a lot of guitarists may even say that Ebony and Rosewood fretboards look the same — I can hear fretboard boffins crying out in outrage already!
Ebony, as pictured here in the Ibanez ARBK, has similar qualities to that of rosewood owing to the fact it does not need finishing due to its high natural oil content. They benefit from the dark appearance and natural oils found in rosewood, so, therefore, will not need finishing or a lacquer placed over it for protection. Due to the density, however, it also shares the bright and zingier tonal qualities of a maple neck.
For those who want a darker neck with a brighter tone, ebony is for you. In addition, if you want a darker appearance, ebony will likely be the one you gravitate towards. Tone is mostly in the fingers — a guitar played by Eric Clapton would sound extremely different in the hands of Jim Root from Slipknot. My advice would always be to choose the guitar that feels great in your hands because how you connect with the instrument is the all-important factor.
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Registered in England. Before you even bother to decide which fretboard is better, are you willing to play guitar? First, decide what kind of sound you want to project. If you like a brighter sound, get a maple fretboard. Yet, for warm and sweet tones, you can find guitars with rosewood fretboards.
Simply play the guitars to be able to decide which one is better for you. Whether you like the guitar with maple fretboard or the rosewood, just keep playing.
I did managed album to Grammy Award in with 7 Nominations from and had the opportunities to work with : A. You can watch this step by step video to solve this issue:. Jeff DeLia. Hi music fan! I am Jeff. Hope that you enjoy some stuff I shared here in my personal blog. If I'm in a crowded room I can focus my hearing better by looking at someone directly.
There's many phenomena that fool our senses: colors look different depending on the light source, mirages that look like water on the road but isn't. It looks like the sun travels across the sky but it doesn't. Sound frequencies can add up or cancel out and this can be heard differently depending on where you are in a room.
Rooms sound very different. The sound and feel of a guitar depends much more on the material striking the string, how that string is vibrating perpendicular or parallel to the top , the gauge, length and tuning of the strings and whatever the string directly contacts the bridge and nut.
The sound is supremely influenced by pickups, amps, speakers, the room and volume. Think about it for a moment. Which sound is the true sound of an electric guitar- the neck pickup or the bridge or both? Out of phase or in phase? Does it bother you that the pickup is sensing a relatively small portion of the string length?
Single coil or humbucker? Which one is the true sound of that guitar? When I split the neck pickup to a single coil the sound gets thinner and snappier even through the tube amp. Does the rosewood fingerboard have anything to do with either?
I can get a warm fat sound or a thin snapping sound just by manipulating the string- but that was me, not the fingerboard. The only thing to be concerned about is caring for the wood and the way it looks when considering maple or rosewood. Guitarists also tend to think all maple sounds the same when it actually varies quite a bit in hardness. You'll never be able to identify a fingerboard wood just by listening.
I know this is an old thread, but I'd like to add something I think hasn't been mentioned much. In my younger days, I hated maple fingerboards purely out of looks. I just never was a fan of that bright looking fingerboard on guitars. I always have been a rock guy, blues and metal type music. So for me I always liked the looks of rosewood or ebony boards. I did own a few guitars with maple fingerboards, but I never played them much really to give them good break ins.
But, I did notice for myself, all the types of things I like to play, were like butter on a maple fingerboard. All the hammer ons and pull offs, slides, bends and taps.. When I'd go back to my rosewood fingerboard guitars, I found I was having to work just a lil extra to pull the same things off.
I never noticed before how much "work" I actually having to put into playing certain types of things. However I still wasn't wanting to switch to maple fingerboards yet. Fast forward 20 years later, I'm older now and have arthritis in my hands now.
So, the things I used to love to play were getting more painful and hard to play. A fellow guitar player Kenny Blue Ray gave me a maple neck with maple fingerboard to try out. He has some tendon problems in his hand and had surgery, since then he's been playing more maple boards and dropped down to a set of 9's when he plays now.
I tried the neck out and man was it back to like butter! Personally I don't get the playing problem even with sweating on my hands and on the fingerboard.
It still feels effortless to play on. On my rosewoods, its a struggle with arthritis now. So I've found with arthritis Maple is tops for playing! No fatigue in my hands or pains. However, I was still kind of turned off by the looks of these blond necks on my good lookin' gits. So I did the next best thing, I started finishing my rosewood fingerboards like maple boards. I know some are going to cringe and some going to say I've ruined a Fender or something, I don't give a Rat's Bass what you think Lol I got arthritis and just want to play, not worry what the wine cork sniffers think.
What I do to mine so they seal properly, most argue the porous grain on rosewood is too difficult to try and fill before sealing. But what I do is take the board and clean it, then wearing gloves, I mix a small amount of clear 5 minute set epoxy.
I take a finger of my glove and take a little dab of epoxy and wipe it into the grain of the fingerboard smooth. I work the whole length of the board until its just got a thin layer over it.
But the key is to work it into the grain to fill the majority of the grain. Once I feel its filled enough the way I want it, I let it cure.
After curing I then spray down some coats of lacquer sanding sealer. In between coats I use fine steel wool and smooth out each coat. Doing this gives me a level board with filled in grain. It ends up feeling just like a finished maple board. Now you can either shoot some gloss lacquer over it all if you want that shine on it. I just leave the sanding sealer as is, it leaves a natural sheen I think that looks more close to a new natural polished up rosewood fingerboard.
I am a huge fan of one-piece maple necks, as on a Fender Stratocaster. This is my preferred neck for classic rock, old-school metal, and blues.
But it is a bright, tight sound, and in my opinion not suited for everything I play. For heavier metal, shred, jazz, and anything else where I need a warmer, deeper tone, I go with one of my rosewood fretboard guitars. In this case, I want the rounder, fuller notes made possible by rosewood. As for ebony, I can take it or leave it. It feels fast and slick, and that I like.
However, I would prefer maple if I were looking for a guitar with a tight, precise attack. So what about you? Are you any closer to deciding which is right for your tone?
Hopefully, this article helped you straighten a few things out. Good luck! Hi Monty. Those sound like some great project guitars you have there! As for the value of you necks going up, I'd think somewhat they'd have to. I mean, places like Warmoth still sell Fender replacement necks with rosewood boards so it's not like people can't get them, but if I am understanding correctly you have Fender factory-made necks, so I'd think they'd be a little more sought after.
GIbson was experimenting with baked maple a few years ago. Thanks for adding your comment. If you do decide to sell those necks with rosewood fingerboards just be careful where you ship them and make sure you have all the paperwork in place. Good luck with your guitars! I purchased 3 Strat bodies about a month ago. The oldest one in my opinion has to be either a , 69 or , which was turned into a with the 3-bolt style Neck [I know they're actually Screws but I'm gonna go with Bolts okay people For that one, I say it's an earlier model because of the way the Pickup cavities are shaped.
Looks good but for this guitar, I want to go with a Maple Neck with a Rosewood Board on it, mainly because I say it looks way better with a Rosewood Fingerboard instead of a Maple.
I just happened to go into my 2-boxes where I have like Fender Neck's stored in each of them. I've already found the correct spot for the Disc, so drilling it to fit into the Neck will be okay. Now the Black Strat is done. So they were plugged as well. I'm crazy about fender's Red Finishes so it'll probably be how it originally was when it was still at the factory. But hey, I have a blank canvas so I have a chance to make it any finish color I want. Which I'll say whichever one is easy to do, if there is one.
Last is the With the changes Fender made, I knew it was a 79 before I ready the listing with it. I already found a Serial Numbered Maple Neck, so this one is also good to go. Now back to my 2 boxes of fender Necks, which I am now down to 15 Necks total since I just pulled out a Rosewood Neck from one of the boxes. Now with the replacement of Rosewood by Fender, with the new, ''Pau Ferro'' Fingerboard, will that cause the prices of Rosewood Necks to go up in value?
Or perhaps Gibson will push the replacement wood over to Epiphone so they can continue with their Models with Rosewood Fingerboards. God forbid I sell any of my Gibson's or Epiphone's, so I'll more than likely continue to add to my collection.
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