Maple or Rosewood?

[STRATDELUXER97]

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.

In the Fender 50th Anniversary Book by Tom Wheeler I've seen it called veneer after thet got away from the "slab" top over maple...:banana:

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Maple or Rosewood?

Here's something no one has mentioned so far:

On most guitars with a maple board, a clear coat is applied over the whole neck - including the fretboard. Rosewood boards go unfinished.

To me this makes a HUGE difference in terms of feel, especially when bending. This is why I tend to prefer rosewood.

You could always sand the finish off the maple, but even if you get down to the bare wood it will still feel different. Maple is a much smoother, tighter grained wood than rosewood.

 

[JacksonMIA]

Re: Maple or Rosewood?

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.

No doubt. You've gotta factor that in. I just meant strictly from looks.


Sonically, as well as for feel, I prefer ebony over both in most cases.

 

[sac]

Re: Maple or Rosewood?

In the case of the M-2 both necks are unfortunatley clear coated. I would much prefer an oiled finish and it may come to some 0000 steel wool and elbow grease, I will have to see how it feels. I would loveto A/B both fret board materials against each other, but order time to get just 1 is 8 weeks!