What´s the difference between maple, rosewood, and ebo

[BluesJr]

The following are GENERAL tonal characteristics of maple, rosewood, and ebony fingerboards: Maple--this is a bright, tight-sounding wood with a defined bottom end, a tighter midrange, and a crisp, detailed top end. maple requires a finish, so a lot of guys tend to think the fingerboard feels a bit "sticky." however, the use of satin finishes as of late has been a big step towards improving the feel of a maple board. maple is often favored by cats who want a bit more top end or definition in their tone or for brightening up a warmer-sounding guitar.



Rosewood--this is the most popular fingerboard wood and has a warm, rich tone with less top end than maple. rosewood doesn´t require a finish, and lots of players like the feel of it because of its slightly oily nature. rosewood fingerboards are often favored by players who want to warm up a guitar further or for attenuating the highs on a particularly bright guitar.



Ebony--this is the hardest and densest of the three woods and has a tight, crisp tone which is even brighter than maple. ebony doesn´t require a finish and has a very tight grain-because of this, people often refer to ebony as "fast playing" or "slick." it´s easily distinguishable from dyed rosewood by its closed grain pattern as opposed to rosewood´s open grain pattern. ebony fingerboards are often favored by players who want a very glassy and crystalline top end or a lot more definition and tightness in their low end. for this reason, it´s often preferred by bass makers.

 

[Hendrix]

Hi BlueJr , It is so nice of you for the stuff that you give! It is really helpful.

 

[fretless6]

Honestly, the fingerboard wood doesn´t make as significant a difference in tone on a fretted instrument than on a fretless instrument. As the actual playing surface is the fret wire itself and the tension mostly falls on the back end of the neck and not the fingerboard.

 

[parablue74]

This from personal experience. I´m holding an Ibanez RG550 with maple white fretboard. My point of view is maple fretboards are best for sliding techniques, if you´ll into those sweeping techniques as well. Really good for shredding. I guess it´s because of it´s finishing that makes it smooth. Maybe that´s why Eric Clapton´s loves to use maple white fretboard Fender guitars. The other point is that rosewood brown fretboards are more solid and highly recommended for rhythm. Power chordal playing and low riff rhythm. That´s the reason why all metal guitarist, which emphasise on fast heavy low end rhythm uses rosewood brown fretboards. Like Kirt Hammer (Metallica) and Dimebag Darrel (Pantera) who uses Kramer rosewood brown fretboard guitars.

 

[Dawn]

3 Cheers for u BluesJr! =) cool write up =)



Keep it up

wahoo

would like more articles on maybe...erm guitar care? and i seem to have a problem with my electric guitar... there´s owas a constant hummin/buzzin wheneva i don´t make contact wif the guitar... meanin when i touch any metallic parts of da guitar (e.g da tunning pegs or even da tremolo) the hummin stops. It´s like electricity is flowing through all parts of my guitar!

i doubt it´s my cables nor amp.



I´m using an Ibanez GSA60, Ibanez TB15R amp.



Thx alot for your help, greatly appreciated

 

[subversion]

it´s rather marginal, but maple does contribute to playability. however, i find all my guitar shredable, maple fretboard or otherwise...

 

[parablue74]

To Dawn,

watch your gauge. Hold your guitar horizontal in parallel to the floor and focus your eyes along the strings, see if your fretboard is not twisted upwards or downwards. the strings might be too near the metal frets. If so, go the a guitar shop for repair. Best of luck with your playing!

 

[subversion]

Dawn, sounds like your guitar is having an earthing problem (not quite a warped neck)...



PS: do you like your Ibanez? i have one GSA60 for sale, maybe you can give a little comment on this one for others´ reference

 

[Dawn]

i´ve changed a new set of strings D´Addario 0.009 n da buzzin stoped

but there´s sumtin i´m darn frustrated bout...



i´ve tuned it up wif an electronic tuner but the strings seem to sound "wierd" it´s like da last few strings (da high E) are all much much softer. when i strum...da strings don´t seem to "blend" well

i head it´s bout tuning da funny bolts near da bridge? Help needed pls as i do not know how to tune it...

Thx alot for your time,

Cheers

 

[subversion]

if your guitar sound softer- it´s an output problem. it may be that during your string changing, you accidentally raised the string higher. lower that & see what happens...