fretboard preference - why?

angry_young_poet · Post by **angry_young_poet** » Fri May 28, 2004 11:47 pm

ebony... rosewood always seems dry.. if only i can find a cheap LP with a maple neck.. kinda like ZW's new camo guitar.

TMG 03 · Post by **TMG 03** » Sat May 29, 2004 4:01 pm

Fret boards to me don't really matter. I like both. I think the fret size is more important that the fretboard. And to be honest I don't think I could tell you the difference between a Brazilian fret board , Indian rosewod, or Ebony, A bone nut is more important for tone.

Stevo · Post by **Stevo** » Sat May 29, 2004 6:21 pm

Given a choice (like building my own gats) I love the look of Maple!
And I really don't like Rosewood when I see them badly worn. However an ebony or Rosewood neck with a top class inlay job, something interesting and unique I could go for!

The Tele I have coming was bought with a Rosewood neck, but I have a Maple neck coming for it too!..guess I get to choose!
And Like TMG says..the size of fret is more important.

ash · Post by **ash** » Sat May 29, 2004 8:48 pm

Fret size doesn't really bother me that much. I prefer larger ones, but small is fine.... just like boobies

I don't mind the neck profile either. I played a PRS today with a big fat baseball bat sized neck and it was no more a problem than a skinny Ibanez Wizard neck.

Red Fred · Post by **Red Fred** » Sat May 29, 2004 10:05 pm

Yeah I'm a Rosewood man, I havn't tried Ebony though. I like the feel of it, maple feels way too much like plastic. Plus Roisewood looks nicer.

Yeah the only issue I had with going from Jackson neck size to '59 LP neck was like hitting a bend on the high e at the 22nd fret while standing but it's not too bad.

Gelato · Post by **Gelato** » Sun May 30, 2004 2:52 pm

Tsuken wrote:I've never played anything with a scalloped neck. What's it like?

Can be a bit hard to get used to if you have a heavy touch on the freting hand (as you can end up pressing down hard enough that the notes go sharp). Once i got used to it, I found playing a normal fretboard to be quite strange... Vibrato and bends seem to be easier on a scalloped fretboard.

TMG 03 · Post by **TMG 03** » Sun May 30, 2004 7:55 pm

Red Fred wrote: Yeah the only issue I had with going from Jackson neck size to '59 LP neck was like hitting a bend on the high e at the 22nd fret while standing but it's not too bad.

Les Pauls are not great for that upper neck access compared to a Jackson My 57LP is huge around the cut away and I really struggle to get up there sometimes. I think the binding has something to do with it also.

Richy11 · Post by **Richy11** » Sun May 30, 2004 8:36 pm

TMG 03 wrote:
Red Fred wrote: Yeah the only issue I had with going from Jackson neck size to '59 LP neck was like hitting a bend on the high e at the 22nd fret while standing but it's not too bad.
Les Pauls are not great for that upper neck access compared to a Jackson My 57LP is huge around the cut away and I really struggle to get up there sometimes. I think the binding has something to do with it also.

Yeah, I've found my PRS to be the same, hard to get those upper notes.

angry_young_poet · Post by **angry_young_poet** » Mon May 31, 2004 12:18 am

Richy11 wrote:Yeah, I've found my PRS to be the same, hard to get those upper notes.

harder while standing up..

but otherwise, not that big a problem for me..

Stevo · Post by **Stevo** » Mon May 31, 2004 7:05 am

Ok. I gave an opinion on the basis of only having maple necks on my gats. Not quite fair, or objective anyway. But I have now acquired a Rosewood necked gat to do a comparison. This is an almost new gat, and has a very flat radius, not too sure about that yet! But I guess I can do a proper comparison of Maple/Rosewood now. gimme some time. So far there seems to be a difference between the older and the new which I do not attribute to fretboard wood....yet.

Rog · Post by **Rog** » Mon May 31, 2004 7:42 am

As we've all said - there is no right answer generically. It is all right for each of us when it feels right for us as individuals.

I had two Strats, one maple, one rosewood. I sold the rosewood. For my playing, the rosewood just didn't feel as nice as the maple, therefore I hardly ever played the rosewood one. For my style, maple is also faster and lends itself better to hammer-ons and bending etc. Others obviously find the opposite.

Sometimes, the sound doesn't matter as much as the feel to me, especially since I play over 80% of the time unplugged (that is - I tend to practice at home without being amplified).

Post by **GrantB** » Mon May 31, 2004 11:19 am

Actually, a good point derived from that DrRog - possibly subconciously we are relating our preference to the actual feel of the neck and setup. That is, if I played a very well set-up and radiused Maple f/board neck vs. a poorly set-up super thin Rosewood f/board neck maybe I'd think Maple was a better fingerboard? Just a thought...

Richy11 · Post by **Richy11** » Mon May 31, 2004 11:27 am

*UNIQUE* wrote:Actually, a good point derived from that DrRog - possibly subconciously we are relating our preference to the actual feel of the neck and setup. That is, if I played a very well set-up and radiused Maple f/board neck vs. a poorly set-up super thin Rosewood f/board neck maybe I'd think Maple was a better fingerboard? Just a thought...

Your probably right.

Bluesbird · Post by **Bluesbird** » Mon May 31, 2004 11:53 am

I like maple on a strat, good rosewood on just about everything else. Just a feel thing I guess.

philipnz · Post by **philipnz** » Mon May 31, 2004 12:06 pm

I feel so inadequate. I can spot the difference between a Strat and Les Paul and thats about it.
I bought some EL34 valves to run in my Mk iv. (it can run 6L6's 6V6's EL34's in various combinations. Didnt sound any different to me, slight volume difference.
To me the major difference is pickups and weight (ignoring trem)

As I said, I feel so inadequate.