Rosewood versus mapple fingerboard (fretboard)

Hi,

I am in the process of buying myself a first electric guitar. Have been playing acoustic with rosewood fingerboard, but for the strat I have the choice between mapple and rosewood. I have read that rosewood has a warmer rounder sound, while mapply is punchier and sharper.

any recommendation on versatility, preferences, tone comparison videos.. ?

thanks a lot

It's all down to how you like the sound of the guitar, their are plenty of players that use both.

Originally Posted by: gilouch0

I am in the process of buying myself a first electric guitar.

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That's wonderful! :)

[quote=gilouch0] Have been playing acoustic with rosewood fingerboard, but for the strat I have the choice between mapple and rosewood. I have read that rosewood has a warmer rounder sound, while mapply is punchier and sharper.

any recommendation on versatility, preferences, tone comparison videos.

In the end, the best guitar for you is the one that feels the best in your hands, against your body. Try before you buy. Go play lots of different guitars to compare the physical feel of the instrument as well as the sound.

A guitar with all the "right features" but that doesn't work for you is the wrong guitar!

Hope this helps! Have fun gear shopping!

Hi gilouch0!

The fact is that for your first electric guitar, it really doesn't matter. Pick the material you fancy the look of. By the time you learn to play well enough that it will, if you're like most people today in our comparatively affluent societies, you'll want and have something additional anyway.

I have both Rosewood and Maple fingerboards. Feel wise it won't matter greatly. Overall I think I'd prefer Rosewood in a Strat -if I had to choose just one.

The singular most important consideration in my book for buying any, but especially that first electric guitar is buying one which best fits you, saliently your fretting hand.

Why?

Progress and enjoyment in learning to play is facilitated by more important design aspects you possibly (?) won't appreciate yet or have knowledge of, but which do matter. They are: comfort and playability relative to you. e.g. Nut width, fingerboard radius, neck section, string spacing, scale length & overall length, body weight & design (tummy tuck cutaways), etc. In these attributes, all electric guitars aren't equal.

Why is this important?

[br]People come in three acknowledged basic characteristic body types, and in different sizes within those, otherwise we wouldn't need different shoe sizes, lasts or fractional widths. Hands are no different. So regardless of the hackneyed "Hand size doesn't matter" cliche, it is a partial truth. So if you aren't a 6ft+ ectomorph with arms which reach to below your knees and a boney 'pinky' longer than the average index finger, it matters. IMV&E, guitars are anything but the 'one size fits all' item popular sentiment all to commonly mythologises.

So in the first electric category, other than choosing a guitar neck which fits your hand, pick the guitar with a pickup config orientated to your preferred music genre within your budget, and which appeals to you aesthetically. As you've identified this for you as a Strat. style, arguably the most versatile choice (I have two, a coil splitable HSS and a P90+H), the next considerations for tone and overall sound are PUP config including PUP type & quality (e.g. ceramic or alnico, II or V, their quality, etc), which of course affects price. Ultimately with any electric guitar, when it comes to budget as it does for most of us, the choice of amp will affect overall tone more than PUPs available today in guitars even at modest affordable prices. e.g. Yamaha Pacifica 112V with alnico Vs.

Hope there's something helpful in there to guide you in your decision. Cheers.

First, I agree with the previous advice of go with what looks and feels best to you. IMO, your pickups and amp will have a lot more influence on your sound then the fretboard.

Personally, I prefer rosewood and ebony fretboards. Mainly because I don't like the "feel" of a maple fretboard. I know that's really subjective but I think that's what finding the right guitar is all about - what feels right to the one playing it.

Good luck and have fun shopping for that perfect fit.

I just back into guitar a few months ago after a near 20 year hiatus and I would say go with the one that you are drawn to and will want to play more. All things being equal, the more you play and want to play the better you'll get.

Originally Posted by: joescott13I know that's really subjective but I think that's what finding the right guitar is all about - what feels right to the one playing it.

That's for sure.

Haven't tried ebony. I have rosewood and maple.

I think I prefer rosewood, but don't have the same hangup with the feel of maple that you do. It does feel marginally different, although I'm not sure if that's because of the combination of that particular Tele's neck section, string spacing for scale length and fingerboard radius or the maple material itself. I don't like that maple gets dirty and discoloured in normal use so quickly.

I have one acoustic with a "Techwood" fingerboard which I suspect is thermally treated something. It plays well, in fact stunningly so with impressive tone given its uber modest pricepoint. Its fingerboard feels OK, but not as nice as genuine rosewood. Again, though a concert body its conventional string spacing and scale length probably have more influence on my perception of how it feels than the material per se when my basis of comparison is a Yamaha APX600.

I'm about to try a thermally treated maple fingerboard aka "Roseacer" for the first time given the CITES related direct import ban on Rosewood.

I echo what ManXCat said.

Choose based on playability and what inspires you to practice. Tone chasing with your fretboard should be the 99,999th most important concern.

Many times maple fretboards have a gloss finish (that I like) while rosewood fretboards have a dry or satin finish. That affects playability.

There is a lot of marketing hype in the pursuit of tone. Guitar players are scared that they will be thought of as "less musical" if they cannot hear supposed differences.

More than likely, the tone difference between a maple fretboard and a rosewood fretboard is about the same as a gas mileage difference between a car with our without a bumper sticker on the back bumper.

Google "guitar tonewood myth" and decide for yourself.

Truth from seay.james.

It hadn't occurred to me to mention the different finishes of maple. My Tele neck and fingerboard is unfinished satin BTW, as are most of my necks. I prefer my necks that way.

That was one of the two predominent reasons I chose the Pacifica 311H with the satin neck over the 611H's traditional finished gloss neck and modified the bridge PUP to a TB-14. Interestingly, seay.james prefers a finished maple fingerboard, which of course usually also means a finished neck. Referred to by convention or tradition as varnished, in actuality it's likely these days to actually be a polyurethane clear coat, a finishing product which dries to be as tough as nails. All this shows is that there is no right or wrong. Feel is an individual preference.

[br]As for variation in tone attributable to the selection of specific woods.

Tonal differences have now even been objectively demonstrated to be a prejudicial myth. Here's the evidence, conducted about as objectively and scientifically as it ever will be. Note the blind test result when preconditioned notions are hobbled. The result is the same as it would be on chance guessing.