Rosewood vs Maple fretboard

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casemysta
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Rosewood vs Maple fretboard

Post by casemysta »

Which do you prefer and why?
personally i have always slightly favored maple (roasted) as i like the sleek feel over the board.
Especially when it comes to speed work. Any tonal difference i find i can compensate with my pedals and amp.Keen to hear your guys opinions :) Obviously its much an each to their own.

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Re: Rosewood vs Maple fretboard

Post by jaxman16 »

I haven't noticed any tonal difference between the two really. However I like the feel and look of a maple fretboard, very classy!

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Re: Rosewood vs Maple fretboard

Post by StrummersOfThunder »

Look and feel I prefer rosewood but once you add in a reverb tank, snarling death Vox, mic from amp to pa, drunk crowd yelling and someone rearing your face off with a bridge filtertron then I think the subtle tonal differences are lost on me ....

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Re: Rosewood vs Maple fretboard

Post by Zaulkin »

I guess maple has a slightly more firm feel and rosewood is a bit softer to the touch. Amazing how we notice a difference given how little we actually touch the board given that the strings are in the way. Out of those two I'd pick maple for feel and rosewood for sound. Pau Ferro is my favourite so far as it just feels so damn smooth and sounds great!

In terms of sound I believe the consensus that rosewood is warmer than maple, but saying that I've played extremely bright rosewood fretboard guitars and dull sounding maple ones. I suppose it's all the factors that come together! :)

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Re: Rosewood vs Maple fretboard

Post by casemysta »

Hey Nik. Agree on the smoothness of the Pau Ferro - so damn smooth!
In terms of tone - generally speaking there is nothing some EQ cant fix in most cases (in my experience)
I suppose there will be CITES issues bring in pau ferro boards as it may resemble rosewood in looks in their eyes?

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Re: Rosewood vs Maple fretboard

Post by Conway »

I think maple on single coils gives more snap and bite, which is a good thing. On humbuckers, ebony is nice.
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Re: Rosewood vs Maple fretboard

Post by Slowy »

Always preferred Rosewood just because. Being ham fisted, I tear great holes in maple boards which is great if you like the chewed look, tragic if you don't.
But for all my opinions on the differences and why, I've never been able to provide myself with any supporting evidence at all.
Maple board on a Les Paul looks plain wrong.
And that's all I have to say about that.
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Re: Rosewood vs Maple fretboard

Post by Dharmajester »

Agreed Maple appears to have more snap on singles however the luthier consensus seems to be that Maple cuts through due to an abundance of upper mids. Rosewood on the other hand has a more extended top and bottom so is in fact technically the brighter and simultaneously the warmer of the two. Looking forward to trying Pau Fero as its has pants'd the Rosewood in all the online comparisons I've seen ( could have been slanted though )
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Re: Rosewood vs Maple fretboard

Post by willow13 »

I think given that maple "generally" has a finish on it then it will feel very different for that reason. Personally I find my guitars with maple fretboards have a high end (as others have said ) "snap" than rosewood doesn't so I like that.....and tone wise my eyes tell me Maple is WAY better :rofl:

When it comes to "feel" I think for me Ebony is the best under finger feel, but I prefer the maple look
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Re: Rosewood vs Maple fretboard

Post by willow13 »

Dharmajester wrote:Agreed Maple appears to have more snap on singles however the luthier consensus seems to be that Maple cuts through due to an abundance of upper mids. Rosewood on the other hand has a more extended top and bottom so is in fact technically the brighter and simultaneously the warmer of the two.
this makes sense really....if you are trying to cut through in a mix you in general boost the mids. My solo boost has WAY more Mids than my standard rhythm tone for that reason
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Re: Rosewood vs Maple fretboard

Post by Molly »

And then there's round-laminate and flat-laminate to further confuse matters. In round-lam the frets in a rosewood board might actually be in contact with the maple. Guess it all makes some or other difference.

I can't say I'd tell the difference in a blind test. In sound or feel.

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Re: Rosewood vs Maple fretboard

Post by Slowy »

Emperor's new clothes ........
There are so many areas like this where we desperately look for things that don't actually exist in order to justify our preferences. Tele through-body or top load is another example. There's no damn difference that any mortal could detect in a blind test but regardless, you should absolutely choose the one you prefer.


Shit! Is this the onset of Grumpy Old Man syndrome?
Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who so survive.

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Re: Rosewood vs Maple fretboard

Post by Molly »

Slowy wrote:Emperor's new clothes ........
There are so many areas like this where we desperately look for things that don't actually exist in order to justify our preferences. Tele through-body or top load is another example. There's no damn difference that any mortal could detect in a blind test but regardless, you should absolutely choose the one you prefer.


Shit! Is this the onset of Grumpy Old Man syndrome?
Pah... You'll be telling me next that paying the extra for a long tennon Les Paul is a waste of money. Or that hand-wound pickups have the same mojo as machine-wound.

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Re: Rosewood vs Maple fretboard

Post by Slowy »

Molly wrote: Pah... You'll be telling me next that paying the extra for a long tennon Les Paul is a waste of money. Or that hand-wound pickups have the same mojo as machine-wound.
:lol: :lol: :lol:
The former is a question of sound engineering. ( :shifty: )
The latter, yep 'fraid so. (Says the guy who loves Lollar pickups)
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Re: Rosewood vs Maple fretboard

Post by JHorner »

Rosewood gives undertones of raisins and dark chocolate, while Maple hints at notes of gooseberry and wild rose hips.

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