What's the diff. between rosewood and ebony fretboards??

[BrockSamson]

Re: What's the diff. between rosewood and ebony fretboards??

No no no, of course not Empty Pockets!

[John_L]

Re: What's the diff. between rosewood and ebony fretboards??

Not as much as you might think. An Ebony board will give you a bit more spank although not as much as a Maple board will. As for low and detuned (I drop a half step all the time and play in open D a lot) the board doesn't really come into the equation tone wise. But if you are drop tuning with heavy strings (.50+) then you can chew up some Rosewood boards while Ebony will be fine. Indian rosewood which is more expensive will be fine while the force grown streaky bacon type of rosewood will chew up more quickly but then this gets into the area of strings cheap loose wound strings will chew up a board quicker than better strings.
One other thing SRV detuned with heavy strings and always used a rosewood board. No.1 had a veneer board while his others had slab boards.

[lp_junkie]

Re: What's the diff. between rosewood and ebony fretboards??

Ebony feels harder and smoother playing to me, and it is definitely brighter than rosewood.

[tonefreak1527]

Re: What's the diff. between rosewood and ebony fretboards??

Ebony has more clairty, it's great for jazz

[Hoboman]

Re: What's the diff. between rosewood and ebony fretboards??

I prefer Ebony but I currently don't have any guitars with Ebony boards.
IMO Ebony requires a little more care. Oil it regularly. I've had two guitars with Ebony boards that developed cracks in them.
I've NEVER had that happen with rosewood.

I currently have a Parker Nitefly being sent to me. It has a Carbon/Glass fretboard. I'm curious as to how it compares to Ebony.

[Bass_Medic_05]

Re: What's the diff. between rosewood and ebony fretboards??

I don't really have a preference in either Rosewood, Ebony or Maple as far as tone in my basses. I don't think it's that noticable aleast to my deaf ears. I like Maple with black block inlay, because I can see the fret markers much easier.

[Binnerscot]

Re: What's the diff. between rosewood and ebony fretboards??

I don't really have a preference in either Rosewood, Ebony or Maple as far as tone in my basses. I don't think it's that noticable aleast to my deaf ears. I like Maple with black block inlay, because I can see the fret markers much easier.

I have noticed that I like maple better than rosewood for bass...I have a Cirrus that just makes me smile every time I plug it into the 400+

I have never tried a bass with ebony, but I do prefer ebony and maple for guitars.

[Jackson Distortion]

Re: What's the diff. between rosewood and ebony fretboards??

Generally speaking, Rosewood to me is warmer with really good harmonic overtones, and Ebony is smoother playing, and has a glassy kind of presence.