Maple or Rosewood?

Re: Maple or Rosewood?

STRATDELUXER97 said:
Are you comparing apples to apples though brother and are both necks the same fret wire,same tuners,etc....If a guitar seems snappier,it's not just the neck,but the sum of all parts....I've played both for many years and it's everything else including the neck that matters,not just 1 component...
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Aside from swapping necks, comparing a bunch of Strats off the wall at Sam Ash (all the same model, aside from the maple or rosewood) about as "apples to apples" as it gets.

I probably played about 5 or so of each, and ALL the maples sounded "snappier" than ALL the rosewoods. Some played better than others, some were heavier, etc... yet that characteristic was consistent across the board.
 
Re: Maple or Rosewood?

JB_From_Hell said:
Aside from swapping necks, comparing a bunch of Strats off the wall at Sam Ash (all the same model, aside from the maple or rosewood) about as "apples to apples" as it gets.

I probably played about 5 or so of each, and ALL the maples sounded "snappier" than ALL the rosewoods. Some played better than others, some were heavier, etc... yet that characteristic was consistent across the board.
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Yes but again....You're hearing the sum of "all" parts on each guitar and not just the neck...People see rosewood and relate darker to warmer....It's true..

But if you say so,I'm cool with it....LOL
 
Re: Maple or Rosewood?

STRATDELUXER97 said:
Yes but again....You're hearing the sum of "all" parts on each guitar and not just the neck...
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I know there's more to the tone than the fretboard material, but do you really think that, considering they were identical, it was a coincidence?

People see rosewood and relate darker to warmer....It's true..
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Yeah, and I'd say this was the case here, but it was before I knew rosewood was supposed to sound warmer.

Regardless, I find maple strats to be brighter and snappier than rosewood.
 
Re: Maple or Rosewood?

Hey man i would have to say its a matter of taste, for example all my axes are rosewood fretboard and i love them i love the tone comming from it, but i have played maple fretboard and for my taste its a bit sparkly... a little bright but with a good set of choosen pups the axe may warm up for your taste...
my advice is try both of them...
JJ
 
Re: Maple or Rosewood?

Ironjose said:
Hey man i would have to say its a matter of taste, for example all my axes are rosewood fretboard and i love them i love the tone comming from it, but i have played maple fretboard and for my taste its a bit sparkly... a little bright but with a good set of choosen pups the axe may warm up for your taste...
my advice is try both of them...
JJ
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We started off talking specifically about the tone and looks of rosewood cap vs maple and got off base a bit.....YMMV

This could get interesting? LOL
 
Re: Maple or Rosewood?

Iv'e swapped necks around on the same bodies, and it's my opinion that RW finger board maple necks, produce a meater sound than one peice maple necks. It's not so much that maple is brighter, and the rosewood FB less bright, but that the maple produces a more pure, bell like, sound up top, and in the harmonics. It's like comparing a clarinet to a saprano sax playing the same fundemental note. The rosewood is less pure up top, with more complexity in the mids.

A seperate maple board glued to a maple neck is slightly less "pure" than a one peice maple neck.

Someone mentioned that the RW veneer necks don't sound much different from the slab wood board versions. I have one neck with a 5mm thick RW board, and another one with a 3mm thick RW board. There's not much of noticable difference in tone. The slight difference may just be up to differences in wood stocks in the two different necks. The thicker board neck does seem to give more sustain though. This is noticable.

An all rosewood neck is noticably darker and thicker than an all maple neck in sound. The diffrence is so stark in such a case, that it can't be mistaken or imagined.
 
Re: Maple or Rosewood?

Lake Placid Blues said:
An all rosewood neck is noticably darker and thicker than an all maple neck in sound. The diffrence is so stark in such a case, that it can't be mistaken or imagined.
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Careful, people are gonna tell you that you're wrong.
 
Re: Maple or Rosewood?

Lake Placid Blues said:
An all rosewood neck is noticably darker and thicker than an all maple neck in sound. The diffrence is so stark in such a case, that it can't be mistaken or imagined.
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Word. I played the rosewood EBMM axis and my axis (same body wood, just a rosewood neck on one and maple neck on the other) I would blame the definetly difference in tone largely on the neck materials...

but JBFH and SD98 were talking about maple necks with either rosewood or maple fretboards, in that "discussion" I would usually tend to say that maple is brighter sounding, but maybe that's just cuz I'm crazy:eek13:
 
Re: Maple or Rosewood?

STRATDELUXER97 said:
:laugh2: :fing25:
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Seriously, man.... over the course of 2 or 3 posts, you basically told me I didn't know what I was talking about.

I'm honestly shocked that in 30 years of playing strats, you've never heard a difference.
 
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Re: Maple or Rosewood?

JB_From_Hell said:
Ok... at what point did I become offensive?

At no point did I tell you that you were wrong (which you did to me in a roundabout way at least twice).

You were the one who used the middle finger smiley thing.

And then you were the one who got offended.

I don't quite follow.
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Pm sent and I'm not offended.....Truce forum brother! :beerchug:
 
Re: Maple or Rosewood?

Lewguitar said:
I agree 100%! I like maple fingerboards but I also like rosewood. I notice a little more texture and thickness to the mids with rosewood.
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Maybe not a lot of different, but the general consensus from my searches is that the members of this forum feel maple is a little "snappier"...
 
Re: Maple or Rosewood?

From my limited experience with Start and Tele, I prefered the feeling of maple fretboards than rosewood one. But tonally, I didn't hear much difference... For what it's worth.
 
Re: Maple or Rosewood?

For a strat, (and I'm not sure why) I prefer a maple fret board. Maple fret boards seem smoother and 'faster' in a way. But for a black M-II I'd go with the rosewood. I think the rose wood would match the black color better. I'm also gonna jump in and say that, IMO, maple does sound brighter, although many other factors about the guitar come into play. While I've never swapped necks on the same guitar to compare, I have compared several strats with maple necks vs. rosewood necks of the same model and the maple does sound brighter to my ears, but that could be based on my perception or bias as others have said.

Futhermore, I would actually prefer to have the EMG's, but thats just me... Pups are up to you and what you intend to do... :smokin:
 
Re: Maple or Rosewood?

Aesthetically: With a black guitar, my preference is ebony, then maple, then rosewood. Rosewood just looks out of place or dull against all that black.

I'm not big on rosewood fingerboards because of the feel, so I won't try to influence you with my bias.
 
Re: Maple or Rosewood?

All other things being equal, rosewood is a warmer sounding wood than maple. Maple sounds “snappier” because it transfers energy better than rosewood. It is also naturally brighter.

But given the amount of components in the tone chain, this plays such a small part that I tend to put more thought into looks than tone. I think the difference between a one piece neck and a laminated board is great than a maple board vs. rosewood, but that’s just my opinion. I can’t say that I’ve ever A/B’ed the two boards.

FWIW, on strats (and variations) and teles, I prefer all maple, regardless of color. A lot of it has to do with feel, and the one rosewood boarded strat I own feels odd at times.
 
Re: Maple or Rosewood?

I actually bought the same guitar about six months ago! Mine came with EMGs but I'm changing them out now, I think.

I really went for maple, I didn't think twice about it. I don't know about sound differences as I haven't tested enough, but I think that I feel a positive difference for maple. Maybe it's just psychological, but it is!
 
Re: Maple or Rosewood?

Let's remember also that we're still talking about a maple neck...The other equation is veneer rosewood over the maple neck...People say "rosewood" neck,but it's just the veneer that is rosewood etc...
 
Re: Maple or Rosewood?

It's not really a veneer, though. The energy transfer goes from frets to board to neck. When I hear veneer I think of something barely thicker than heavy paper stock.

Fact is, you need to play it before you buy it. The tones will be subtly different. The difference could be different cuts of the same type of wood or it could be due to different types of fretboard wood. It could also be a combination of many other factors.
 
Re: Maple or Rosewood?

The Rosewood board on modern Fenders is rather thin. The maple shaft is also radiused so that the thickness of the finger board is consistant through the cross section. After market necks such as Warmoth and USACG, ...ect usually have thicker finger boards than stock Fenders. Warmoth in particular, follows the old slab board construction method. The diffrences may be more noticable in the case of an aftermarket neck, compared to stock fender necks.

Someone mentioned using an ebony fretboard to match the black. While the tonal diffrences from RW and maple are subtle, ebony will make a rather noticable impact sonicaly. Ebony gives a noticable bright, clean, articulate pick attack in comparison.
 
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