Richlite/Baked Maple Fretboards

[Robert1950]

Does anyone here own a guitar with a baked maple or richlite fretboard. Or have you given a guitar a good workout that has one of these fingerboards? How have you found it? I'm of the school of thought that, as long as works very well, I couldn't care less if it was made out of __________ (fill in the blank)

[TresGatos]

I've been putting all the 2012 Gibson SGs through their paces at my local dealer.
The SG '61 Satin, SG Jr. and some basic model were all baked maple. The SG '61 Gloss and Historic VOS were rosewood.

Rosewood looks WAY better.
Maple is very tight grained, on some there was no "striping" of the wood and it looked very odd (fakey-fake rosewood color).
Maple seems dense like ebony and the strings slide on it like ebony.
The maple is not clearcoated like a Fender, it's raw wood which is good.

I decided on an SG Jr. that has a maple neck. Plugged in there's absolutely no way to tell what the neck is made of. It plays more slippy than rosewood which I like and some are a nice dark color.

Did I mention that rosewood looks WAY better.

At least in my case if it bugs me I can change the fretboard with one of the nice pieces of rosewood I have stockpiled, but on a $800 guitar I doubt I'd waste that much time and effort on a purely cosmetic quirk.

[samdjr74]

I have a firebird with a baked maple fretboard. It plays and feels fine. Some people compare it to ebony but I compare it to maple lol. If you've played a guitar with a maple board it feels the same as a baked maple. As far as color goes, hit it with lemon oil and it darkens up if you can't live with it. For me, I don't mind the color, it's not bad and besides, I really don't look at the fretboard that much.

[slogger]

I have a similar mindset to the OP in that I'm not so much concerned about the materials as I am concerned with how it plays and sounds.
That said I am really enjoying my LP with the baked maple fretboard! More so than my 2 LP's with rosewood fretboards. I like the way it feels and I think it adds a snap to the guitars tone.

[RedTiger]

I think I've played the newer Gibsons that have richlite fretboards. I say that because I'm pretty sure whatever the fretboard was, it wasn't maple, ebony, or rosewood. It was fine, kinda like really dark rosewood but harder.

[JunkGear]

A lot of the Martin acoustics use Richlite on the fretboards. I have one and don't notice any downsides. Actually, it is smoother than a lot of the wood fretboards since it is not porous.

[Redrum]

I've got a Black Richlite fingerboard on my Martin 000C-16RGTE and have zero issues with it. It's smooth, hard and seems to have bomber durability. It hasn't dried out, absorbed any moisture, warped, cracked or split. Feels good when you play it, kind of looks like ebony too. Other than it not being Rosewood... not much of a downside imo.

[budglo58]

I have a Midtown Custom with a richlite board and love it .It feels and plays great.No issues here.

[doublescale1]

have a Martin w/Richlite and a Gibson Advanced Jumbo - can't tell a difference when playing either of them, both necks have the same percussive character to what ever I'm playing so from a sound/tone stand point I see no difference - OTOH this winter the Richlite fretboard was never a concern for humidity - I did to an Oasis in the case for the guitar body, on both guitars, but it's nice not to have to worry about fret sprout on the Martin. To me that material is a complete non-issue - it works very well. If you just close your eyes and listen, you'll not notice anything but great guitar tone. Welcome to the 21st century.

[EADGBE]

Did I mention that rosewood looks WAY better.


It won't look better when it's extinct. Thanks to Gibson and other selfish companies.

[MKB]

It still blows my mind that if you want an SG with a solid rosewood fingerboard, you have to pass by most of the Gibsons and buy a $400 Epiphone. That just ain't right.

[stratsnboogies]

If your talking MusicMan baked maple I'm all for it. But Formica? No!

[Duffy]

I'm good with baked maple or just plain maple. It is a very fast growing renewable resource and has obviously served well as fretboard material on electric guitars. It has a great feel and decent look to it.

I am not impressed with the richlite I've seen on so many Martins. I don't like the feel of it. If you ever look at it closely you will see that it is totally mono colored, with no grain whatsoever - totally plastic looking. It looks like something that belongs on a toy. It may, in fact, be a decent fretboard on its own merit, but I just can't bring myself to even consider buying a guitar with a richlite fretboard. And the Martins I looked at are not cheap guitars.

I will go for wood fretboards.

But, as with anything, it's personal preference. People like different things. If you like richlite, great. That is what is important; however, my preference is real wood, of good fretboard quality.

On the same note, I have seen some new woods being used as fretboard material that are very low on the hardness scale when compared to ebony, rosewood, or maple. I want a fretboard that is made of a dense, hard wood.

Although not addressed by, and possibly not a concern of the OP, over exploiting endangered fretboard wood makes no sense. Long sighted investors should plant sustainable commercially managed forests of top quality fretboard woods, in areas likely to produce optimal growth rates.

[Goldburst]

I know most of the obvious comparisons are baked maple vs rosewood...

But comparing baked maple vs regular maple, are they both pretty much the same in sound and feel?

[SPROING!]

I know most of the obvious comparisons are baked maple vs rosewood...

But comparing baked maple vs regular maple, are they both pretty much the same in sound and feel?

Not at all.
First, it is a different species of maple. Fender, etc use hard maple or rock maple. The baked stuff Gibson uses is broadleaf, or silver maple. The big reason for that is the hardening it undergoes during the torrefaction process. The stuff gets so hard that rock maple would be virtually unworkable after torrefaction.
Further, the torrefaction alters the wood's structure internally by baking it at very high temps in a low oxygen environment.
The end result is a wood product that's much harder than rock maple, waterproof, bugproof, bombproof.
My LP is a little over a year old now and the baked maple board doesn't even have so much as a fingernail dent in it. The stuff is like iron.

[pcauchi]

A little off topic but all the guitars I've played with roasted maple necks have been awesome (Music Man, Suhr); a matter of fact my next guitar is going to have a roasted maple neck. Can't speak for the 'boards though...

[TresGatos]

Not at all.
First, it is a different species of maple. Fender, etc use hard maple or rock maple. The baked stuff Gibson uses is broadleaf, or silver maple. The big reason for that is the hardening it undergoes during the torrefaction process. The stuff gets so hard that rock maple would be virtually unworkable after torrefaction.
Further, the torrefaction alters the wood's structure internally by baking it at very high temps in a low oxygen environment.
The end result is a wood product that's much harder than rock maple, waterproof, bugproof, bombproof.
My LP is a little over a year old now and the baked maple board doesn't even have so much as a fingernail dent in it. The stuff is like iron.

It's also important to re-point out that with a maple fretboard or neck a-la-Fender, you are in contact with the nitro/poly/whatever that it is coated with, with the torrefied maple Gibson board you are in contact with the wood itself.

Oddly enough the last guitar I built had a torrefied flame maple neck with a beautiful rosewood fretboard. I coulda made 20+ fretboards out of that piece of wood.

[Mikey2201]

I have a new SG with the baked maple and it is fine, the guitar sounds great, I think the guitar sounds alittle brighter then older SG's I have owned. I put Gibson fret board conditioner a very light coat and the fret board got very dark. A couple or more coats and it would be extremely dark . Please note the photo shows part of the fretboard in direct sunlight

I have not seen the richlite stuff yet

http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/4510/006xll.jpg

[SPROING!]

In fact, I'm looking for a source for baked maple to make a fretboard from. I want to put one on my tele.

If anyone knows a source, I'd appreciate a heads up.