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Post by sonicbluepaisley on May 11, 2006 15:49:42 GMT -7
In the short time I have played electric guitar(3 years) I have had a Maple neck electric pretty much. I have never tried an electric with rosewood. I am just wondering if there is a huge difference between them and what maple and rosewood do for the tones of guitars?
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Post by prowler on May 11, 2006 15:51:39 GMT -7
Maple has a bit brighter tone & Rosewood seems a bit more mellow. At least thats how my ears hear it.
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Post by garyh on May 11, 2006 16:36:59 GMT -7
I second that but also I think maple is more punchy. I have had maple-necked strats and they have that punchy, quacky sound which I like, but I do prefer rosewood. They feel better to me. There's no gloss or any finish on them and you can grab hold better with your fingers when stretching strings. Also, for my style of playing, I prefer a smoother, more even sound. Ebony is also brighter sounding than rosewood but doesn't have the punchiness of maple. It all comes down to what you want or what works for you; no substitute for experience. Try similar guitars with the different boards at your local music store and listen for the differences.
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Post by billyguitar on May 11, 2006 17:48:02 GMT -7
I only have one maple fingerboard guitar. I've never put a rosewood neck on it so I don't know if it would sound different, thru the amp, or not. Personally I'd have to do some real a/b testing to convince that what I'm hearing is the fingerboard, the frets, or any other part of the guitar. I do know that I prefer the feel of rosewood, next ebony and third maple. I steelwool the maple fingerboard guitar I have to break the 'suction'. I did read once where some guru said a maple fingerboard without finish (worn off or on purpose) sounds about the same as rosewood, looks like hell though.
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Post by real oldster on May 11, 2006 23:23:25 GMT -7
How you feel about a guitar is one thing, but I expect a blindfold A/B test would show little sonic difference between the tones of maple and rosewood fingerboards. ;D
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Post by Hohn on May 12, 2006 5:53:19 GMT -7
My preference depends on how "played in" a guitar is.
A maple board seems to change a lot as it racks up the "miles"-- and the feel improves drastically. I suspect this has a lot to do with the maple needing a finish, and that the finish needs to wear off a bit to feel great.
RW doesn't seem to change as much over time.
I prefer the feel of the unfinished board.
I don't care for ebony or maple-- esp ebony. I love the waxy feel of pao ferro and other exotic woods like exotic rosewood species.
jh
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Post by guitarman1 on May 12, 2006 8:10:14 GMT -7
Thickly finished maple deffinately has more punch/snap/percussion, than a rosewood board. No question about it in my mind.
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robt
Full Member
Posts: 138
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Post by robt on May 12, 2006 17:54:55 GMT -7
I think that traditional maple necks (frets set into the neck, no maple fretboard) are more articulate than rosewood. Not saying one is better, because I have both.
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Post by bks on May 15, 2006 16:02:14 GMT -7
Corey makes a good point there -- I swapped out a maple one-piece for a maple-rosewood on one Tele, and pulled the 6-saddle American Standard bridge and replaced it with a Callaham and the net result, I think, is "punchier". Then I put a pau ferro fingerboard on the next Tele and the tone is both brighter AND darker (brighter tones from bridge pup, darker from the neck) than the Tele with the rosewood board, but, of course, they have totally different pups, so...
Based on these experiences, the Jazzmutant I'm building now will have a pau ferro board, primarily because it feels so nice. hohn's close to spot on with that "waxy" adjective, but it's also "silky", kinda...just a real tight, smooth surface...and purty, too...
Brian
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Post by tele1962 on May 16, 2006 18:24:18 GMT -7
You know guys, from the countless hundreds of Fenders that players have brought to me through the years for adjustments and repairs, there's probably something to a RW board being slightly warmer sounding perhaps, but gosh fellas...it's also correct to say that a lot of this type of lore is in the head!
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Post by rcrecelius on May 17, 2006 5:58:42 GMT -7
Out of all the Teles Ive owned, I always prefered the Maple necks for feel/playabilty over the Rosewood necks. Another thing for me is that I can see the side marker dots on a dim lit stage better on the Maple neck.
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Post by Curt on May 17, 2006 6:46:33 GMT -7
To me the Body wood is a MUCH larger tone factor, I prefer Ash over Alder and I have had killer necks in both Maple and Rosewood. I do agree that well worn in Maple necks are the shiznit and my Fav when stumbled opon.
A raw wood or oil finised Maple neck is pretty dern special IMO.
+1 Ronnie on the marker visibility factor .
Then there is the nostolgic thang for me, Tele's LOOK best with Maple and a Strat LOOKS best with Rosewood IMO.
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Post by Telemanic on May 20, 2006 16:53:53 GMT -7
I totaly agree with just about everything here, and would only add that, what makes it a little tougher yet, is the fact that any guitars used in this casual discussion of brite vs mellow (generalization) maple vs RW, are also subject to the pedals and amp that the "reviewer" happend to be using at the moment he took notice of the tone, As well as the players style and technique!! Thereby making essentialy all of the comments valid. A RW neck could sound REAL brite, and snappy thru a given rig, + some nashville snap'n, while sounding warm, soft and mellow thru another and visa versa. So it really WOULD require a strict blind fold test thru the same rig, same body wood, same player etc. My personal take is that all things equal, the maple would be a bit brighter and snappier. Especially a thick finish. I DO feel the neck, in general has a profound affect on the overall tone of any guitar, due to the specific density, grain, etc. Ive replaced what i considered a terrible, thinish rw neck on my Tele, with a nice after market one, and the improvement in tone and sustain was VERY noticable.
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Post by oldgoat on May 20, 2006 23:02:09 GMT -7
Ah, I sweat a lot. Seems that the rosewood soaks it up faster. And more seriously, I remember reading that SRV preferred rosewood necks because they were "cooler", that he played so aggressively, maple necks tended to hurt and blister his fingers.
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Post by Hohn on May 22, 2006 5:45:31 GMT -7
Ha! The way SRV played, he had to worry about catching fire, too!
Telemanic is right on with the fact that most comparisons are not true A/B comparos. I'd venture to say almost any RW fender would sound bright through a Twin.
Conversely, My maple-neck "Strat" sound somewhat dark, but that's due to the crappy Classic 100 it runs through. When I played it through a RI AC30TB, the tone was MUCH brighter, and the cut was more than halfway up. (IIRC, the AC30s, get BRIGHTER as you turn that control down, correct?)
Justin
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Post by tele1962 on May 28, 2006 21:52:47 GMT -7
Stevie Ray with blisters?? Good Lord...the guy had meat hooks for hands and the strength of Goliath in them, plus he played action that was ungodly for mortals to master! Besides that, he played steel baler twine for strings. I can't believe he even mentioned blisters!
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Post by janinedoubly on May 28, 2006 22:32:03 GMT -7
Ah!! The classic Rosewood versus Maple discussion. I find that one often overlooked point is the style and type of finish on the board. Raw maple, poly finished maple and laquer maple all have different sounds to my ears. Raw maple is softer on the top end, poly the snappiest and lacquer somewhere in between. To me maple seems to "solidify" the basic tone of the guitar, rendering all frequencies with the most clarity, without extra overtones. So, on an ash bodied Tele, yes, this would be bright, because its a bright bodied guitar. Rosewood (and different types vary this even more) seem to add and bring out extra top end overtones giving more of a "sheen" to the guitar. Personally, I think that the neck wood (and its size) and especially fingerboard materials (including the finish material) have a HUGE determining factor to the over all tone of a guitar and how it responds.
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Post by RC on May 28, 2006 22:51:37 GMT -7
Ah!! The classic Rosewood versus Maple discussion. I find that one often overlooked point is the style and type of finish on the board. Raw maple, poly finished maple and laquer maple all have different sounds to my ears. Raw maple is softer on the top end, poly the snappiest and lacquer somewhere in between. To me maple seems to "solidify" the basic tone of the guitar, rendering all frequencies with the most clarity, without extra overtones. So, on an ash bodied Tele, yes, this would be bright, because its a bright bodied guitar. Rosewood (and different types vary this even more) seem to add and bring out extra top end overtones giving more of a "sheen" to the guitar. Personally, I think that the neck wood (and its size) and especially fingerboard materials (including the finish material) have a HUGE determining factor to the over all tone of a guitar and how it responds. This sounds like a really good wine. ;D
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Post by zipity on Jun 3, 2006 12:47:05 GMT -7
To me it is feel. Maple feels more solid. Rosewood is too soft. Ebony is my favorite.
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Post by Telemanic on Jun 3, 2006 15:30:48 GMT -7
I think the GAS gods did this on purpose, so we all have to have mutiple guitars, woods, fretboards, etc., on and on..........!!
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