What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

[DarkMatter]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

And yes, pickups and amps matter more, very true. And neck wood matters much more than body wood, but they can make a noticeable difference.

 

[Hellion]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

Ya know, I once got into an argument with a Quarter Horse show judge who told me that 90% of the foal was the result of the mare, at which time I responded with, "Well, then why bother to breed to a good stud?" Everything is connected. And you can almost hear opinions forming, can't ya? A Les Paul Standard with the maple cap sounds different than one without, and those strings never come within a quarter inch of the wood. Let's just hope that the idiot doesn't start to breed.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

I feel like I'm in a Twilight Zone episode where it's a battle between normal guitar players and the dumbest ones.

 

[Hellion]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

Thanks! Finally a sensible fellow. Wood matters only if the guitar is acoustic. Pickups and amps dominate more in electrics. As soon as the strings are plucked the sound will be picked up by the pickups and transferred to the amp before reverberating throughout the body and neck. And when you use considerable amount of effects, the impact of the wood factor declines even more considerably.

Paul Reed Smith said years ago that, "...an electric guitar is first and foremost, an acoustic guitar." And he's correct. A Telecaster unplugged sounds very much the same plugged in, same kind of spank, same kind of timbre, etc. Pickups are microphones. They vary in the same degree as in the difference between an SM58 and a KSM32. Everything is connected. ALL parts of the guitar matter.

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

Back in the '80s I bought a Cort headless guitar. It featured an 'Ebonol' fretboard .... basically it was plastic. Both acoustically and plugged in, the fretboard gave the instrument a sound i can only describe as 'bloopy'. It was horrible, and i got rid of it very quickly. If that guitar had had a wooden fretboard, I'm sure it would have stayed around for longer.

As some people are pointing out here, guitar construction is a recipe, and every ingedient shapes the final flavour, just as every ingredient affects the taste when preparing food. I've replaced necks on Stratocasters with other Strat necks featuring different fretboard woods and each time the differences are clearly noticeable.

 

[NewWave]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

There's different tone in different wood. Lot of gain kills the Tone. The easiest way to differentiate the tone wood is by trying a strat/similar with the same series but different fretboard because in a les paul/similar the maple cap make it harder to hear the different in tone

 

[shawn7oh]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

They matter, each fretboard wood has it's own characteristics, and will feel different playing. maple is harder, the tone is brighter, rosewood is softer, the tone is warmer, the playing faster. Ebony feels somewhat harder than rosewood, and adds excellent harmonics to the sound. Taylor acoustics have ebony on standard models, ebony is also on many heavy metal axes. I once played someone's artisan les paul, it had an ebony fingerboard, I've always felt ebony fretboards were the best since that time, early 80's. the harmonics are awesome.

 

[shawn7oh]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

there is something called an "ebonized" fretboard wood which i believe is rosewood that has been chemically or pressure treated, or both, to give it more of the hardness and harmonic characteristics of ebony. I think this is what schecter uses on their mass produced guitars, i'm not sure. I have had some schecters and really like the fretboards, but i think that ebony is the best for my personal taste. If anyone knows more about "ebonized" fretboard wood I'd like to know about it...

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

Ugh, these are tiring. If it doesn't make a difference then make a fretboard out of rubber. Then will it matter? What will happen if the fret is mounted into rubber? Guess what? You'll hear that difference through the amp, won't you? No sustain, dull highs, they'll all come through loud and clear.
As with everything, there is a difference. The net effect on your life is up to you.
1. Is the difference enough for you to hear and/or experience?
2. If so, do you care?
You can argue all day about whether you care, whether it makes a difference to your ears in your plugged-in tone, but of course it makes a difference. If you can't hear the difference between that fake "Ebonol" material (found in perfectly decent bowling balls) and Rosewood, just consider yourself lucky. Ignorance is bliss. You have the luxury of going through your playing career with less to worry about. Just get some good pickups and you're happy!

 

[shawn7oh]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

I think ebanol is when you pour alcohol on an ebony fretboard. i think u r right, ebanol being just black plastic, like nato (plastic which looks and feels alot like wood) as a wood type is a joke. I had a great charvel acoustic, with a nato neck. I didn't realize it was plastic for a long time. i played the guitar alot, and everything was fine, until at some point i noticed the nato was just starting to give way, and the neck felt spongey or rubbery. i'm pretty sure most ovation acoustics have nato necks, it's a trade off thing. no biggey, but i won't have one again. If wood type didn't matter, then why not plastic? you r so right!

 

[Zhaggy]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

All these saying that wood makes no difference in electric guitars played through an amp must be fans of Scott Grove. Everyone who isn't go listen to him on YouTube. He'll tell you more bs about guitars and playing and music in general that you have ever heard. And it's kind of fun to see how wrong people can be.

He also says (among countless other crazy things) that wood makes absolutely zero difference in the sound when ampilified. He even says that it could be made out of stone or solid steel and still no difference. The only argument they have right is the fact that guitar pickups are different in that they actually pick up just the string vibrations and not the acoustic sound of the strings. But the strings vibrate differently when they are on different woods and that equals to different sound. If you put a strat pup on a LesPaul does it sound like s strat? Not even close. Do strats with humbuckers sound like LesPauls? Not even close. Guitar is a whole and everything affects everything. Does the fretboard material make a huge difference? Probably not but the point is that it DOES make A difference. And yes I think the pickups make more difference than woods but that's not the point either. I know university researchers who have tested this and they say it does make a difference and I know who I'm going to believe.

 

[Zhaggy]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

You can argue all day about whether you care, whether it makes a difference to your ears in your plugged-in tone, but of course it makes a difference. If you can't hear the difference between that fake "Ebonol" material (found in perfectly decent bowling balls) and Rosewood, just consider yourself lucky. Ignorance is bliss. You have the luxury of going through your playing career with less to worry about. Just get some good pickups and you're happy!

+1

 

[AniML]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

What if the bobbins are made of a different kind of plastic? :banghead::banghead:

 

[Kam]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

I think ebanol is when you pour alcohol on an ebony fretboard. i think u r right, ebanol being just black plastic, like nato (plastic which looks and feels alot like wood) as a wood type is a joke. I had a great charvel acoustic, with a nato neck. I didn't realize it was plastic for a long time. i played the guitar alot, and everything was fine, until at some point i noticed the nato was just starting to give way, and the neck felt spongey or rubbery. i'm pretty sure most ovation acoustics have nato necks, it's a trade off thing. no biggey, but i won't have one again. If wood type didn't matter, then why not plastic? you r so right!

What? Nato isn't plastic.

And, as far as I know, ebonising wood just means darkening the colour (with dye or a stain or whatever) so that it looks more like ebony. If pouring alcohol on the fretboard turned it to ebony, everyone who's ever played an energetic gig in a bar would have new ebony fretboards made for them every single night.

EDIT: Maybe you're confusing it with roasted maple, which has been used on a lot of Gibson fretboards since their illegal rosewood got confiscated.

EDIT 2: And, to get back on topic, it's a totally impossible thing to quantify, but I think it would be silly to argue that fretboard materials makes no difference whatsoever. I think they do, but I don't worry about it. Being totally honest, I stopped caring about the difference in tone years ago. When I'm thinking of buying a guitar, I only consider the fretboard for how it looks. Some look better with maple, some with rosewood. For what it's worth, the brightest guitar I've ever owned had a rosewood fretboard and one of my Teles with a maple board is actually surprisingly dark sounding.

I do really love the smooth feel of a nice maple board, though.

 

[Dr. Vegetable]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?


Imagine there's no difference
It's easy if you try
Mahogany can't help us
Might as well just build from ply
Imagine all the players playing for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
My Indonesian knock-off
Will shred your Gibson, too
Imagine all the people playing Fender Squiers

You may say "this axe is a screamer"
But you're not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
All the wood will sound as one

Imagine no flamed maple
I wonder if you can
No need for grain or nitro
A brotherhood of bland
Imagine all the players sounding just the same

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday your ears will open
And this thread can finally be done.

 

[uOpt]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

I think we have a couple trolls stirring up the pot here.

My Les Pauls are all made nominally the same way and they all sound different with the same pickups (I test all of them with reference setups).

The best part is that those wood-wouldnt-matter people still believe the guitar influences sustain (because it obviously does) but somehow think that sustain is even for all frequencies?

 

[Kam]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

^ God, I wish I could sig that.

EDIT: I'm referring to Dr Vegetable's post here.

Although uOpt's is cool too.

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

What if the bobbins are made of a different kind of plastic? :banghead::banghead:

It makes a difference. I know because I'm the one who conducted the tests. The tests were all performed on unpotted pickups, concluding that after wax potting the differences would be minimized, but they're still there.

 

[verbotenco]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

Ugh, these are tiring. If it doesn't make a difference then make a fretboard out of rubber. Then will it matter? What will happen if the fret is mounted into rubber? Guess what? You'll hear that difference through the amp, won't you? No sustain, dull highs, they'll all come through loud and clear.
As with everything, there is a difference. The net effect on your life is up to you.
1. Is the difference enough for you to hear and/or experience?
2. If so, do you care?
You can argue all day about whether you care, whether it makes a difference to your ears in your plugged-in tone, but of course it makes a difference. If you can't hear the difference between that fake "Ebonol" material (found in perfectly decent bowling balls) and Rosewood, just consider yourself lucky. Ignorance is bliss. You have the luxury of going through your playing career with less to worry about. Just get some good pickups and you're happy!

Actually when you inspect the strings when pressed, they don't actually touch the fretboard, unless you press 'em very very hard, which doesn't happen when you play. So I am not sure whether a rubber fretboard will impact the sound significantly. Rubber saddles certainly will, cause that's where the strings sit. No sustain at all, probably the string won't even ring out.

My conclusion is, wood matters but not as much as the popular belief, only about 20 percent of the overall sound.

Certainly a blind test is required to end this debate.

 

[verbotenco]

Re: What if fretboard wood doesn't matter?

I think ebanol is when you pour alcohol on an ebony fretboard. i think u r right, ebanol being just black plastic, like nato (plastic which looks and feels alot like wood) as a wood type is a joke. I had a great charvel acoustic, with a nato neck. I didn't realize it was plastic for a long time. i played the guitar alot, and everything was fine, until at some point i noticed the nato was just starting to give way, and the neck felt spongey or rubbery. i'm pretty sure most ovation acoustics have nato necks, it's a trade off thing. no biggey, but i won't have one again. If wood type didn't matter, then why not plastic? you r so right!

I think you are a joke as well. Nato is a type of wood and I can't recall a Charvel acoustic with a plastic neck.