timber

Maccattack

which is the better timber for fretboards?

rosewood or maple?

any ideas?

Karl Hungus

Ebony is what I like best on my fretboards, especially is there's no inlays. Absolutely nothing looks more swish. That said, a nice birdseye maple fretboard can look very nice too. Never too mad on Rosewood myself though.

kika_j

It depends... Maple is beautiful but for reasons of incompatibility it shouldn't really be used with a mahogany neck. Maple's also a bitch to work with. I had bruised hands trying to figure it when I used it on the face of my guitar.

As for rosewood its quite good and there's some beautiful different types but if you can get ebony go for it. Ebonys georgeous.

It wasn't me!

Depends on the feel and tone you want. Rosewood and ebony are smoother, softer to the touch, and warmer sounding. Maple seems marder, brighter, and for some reason, faster to play on. Not quite sure why that is... Maybe it's just me.

feylya

That's not right dude. Ebony is similar to maple in sound but similar to rosewood in appearance.

It wasn't me!

Really? On the... one ebony fretboard I've played, it sounded richer than maple. Could have been just me though... And it was ages ago, so am probably mistaken. Thanks for correction fey.

Karl Hungus

Maple and ebony are similar in that they're both brighter sounding than Rosewood and have more 'bite' as it were. Ebony is a bit darker sounding though.

It wasn't me!

Aye, that sounds more like the point I was trying to get across. Ebony has a nice metal bite to it.

Karl Hungus

It wasn't me! wrote:

Aye, that sounds more like the point I was trying to get across. Ebony has a nice metal bite to it.

Well, both maple and ebony have nice bite. Technically there's really not that much difference between them, as they're both around the same density. The main difference is cosmetic really, other than that, it seems that you do have to finish a maple fretboard, as it can get very dirty and discoloured, whereas ebony is generally left unfinished, and it's just slightly darker in tone, but that wouldn't make much of an overall difference.

feylya

Technically, most ebony is not left unfinished. Most ebony is died to give a uniform black appearance as not all ebony is naturally completely black.

Karl Hungus

feylya wrote:

Technically, most ebony is not left unfinished. Most ebony is died to give a uniform black appearance as not all ebony is naturally completely black.

Yeah, I know that, but I mean finished as in lacquered or the like.

Rustar

Excellent description of different types of guitar woods HERE