Does fretboard wood change tone?

[wcraven]

I've always been picky about fretboard wood, ebony or nothing. But does it change the tone, sustain, etc. if technically the strings aren't touching the wood itself?

[Johnnytone]

EVERYTHING has an effect on everything else. To what degree is up to the listener.

You MAY rethink your "ebony or nothing" view.

[7String Thing]

yes most definitely.

[Marty s Horne]

To me, ebony and maple fingerboards seem to add brightness while rosewood adds warmth.

[devinb]

I'm not one to go into a guitar store and play everything on the wall, so I have to admit I don't hear it so much in tone...hard to compare two different guitars...

I do think that maple boards tend to have a more pure attack, where as rosewood blooms a little.

[Betos]

Ebony has a much sharper attack - IHMO, rosewood much softer. Maple, somewhere in between.



Betos

[VH5150]

Originally Posted by Marty s Horne

To me, ebony and maple fingerboards seem to add brightness while rosewood adds warmth.

mmm i always thought maple on a strat is warmer then rosewood....crazy

[ARch]

Originally Posted by Betos

Ebony has a much sharper attack - IHMO, rosewood much softer. Maple, somewhere in between.



Betos

This is what I've always heard. I spent a lot of time researching when I was putting together my G&L for order, and found the differences were usually subtle.

[s2khawk]

you would think after 22 years of playing rosewood and maple and even a few ebony boards I'd have a definitive 'chime in' on this but it is true, Im not totally positive that maple is lots brighter than rosewood. I look at a fender style guitar and you see most of the scale length of the strings are over the fretboard not the body, yet maple doesn't always seem substantially 'bright' compared to a same body guitar with rosewood. Most players probably base their opinions on how the board looks and feels. Body type seems to make a bigger effect on tone overall than board type, but I am sure there are differences. Its so cold this weekend, besides watching playoffs I may try A/B tests on maple vs rosewood boards to compare....

[Pearly Gator]

Originally Posted by Betos

Ebony has a much sharper attack - IHMO, rosewood much softer. Maple, somewhere in between.

Betos

I agree. This has been my experience as well. I'd describe Ebony as giving more "snap" to the notes.

Gary

[townsend]

Why hasn't (or doesn't) someone conduct a "blinded" study of this topic?

It seems that you could get two Fender strats (or another brand), identical in all respects (same body wood, same pickups, etc. . . . of course, I know that two pieces of swamp ash or alder may differ in tonal qualities, but I assume the differences are minimal when apples are compared to apples), the only difference being a rosewood fingerboard vs. a maple figureboard.

Have the same guitarist play the same passage, and then say to the "blinded" listeners (who are not allowed to consult with one another): "one has a rosewood fingerboard, the other maple, please record your impressions as to which passage was played on a rosewood fingerboard vs. which was played on a maple fingerboard.

Correlate the information and see if a pattern emerges. We guitarists are very anal and analytical about sound, but I can't understand why somebody hasn't conducted these listening tests. I know if I mention this about audio cables I'd be hissed at! These questions should be approached with "some sort of" scientific methodology. This test might yield useful information in helping us decide what type of fingerboard we prefer. YMMV.

[soldano16]

Originally Posted by BleedingEdge

Maple doesn't add brightness, I agree. It just adds a bit of attack vs. rosewood. Ebony seems to add a bit of brightness as well as attack. In my opinion.

EXCELLENT point. It's the note attack that is different. Brighter is the quick and easy description and the one I always have used. But it's the attack that is different - thanks for the enlightenment.

I love the look of customs but really dislike the attack of the ebony board.

[Number8]

With solid body guitars, hardware seems to have a bigger difference than wood. JMHO.

[VaughnC]

While a fretboards feel is personal preference (they definitely feel different), a guitars tone will vary from guitar to guitar...so each one needs to be judged on its own merits. I've played rosewood fretboard Strats that were much brighter than maple fretboard Strats...so the fretboard is only one part of the tonal picture.

[NatDeroxL7]

It does, but not a drastic amount I think.

I recall some article where PRSh was talking about braz. as a fretboard wood, and he said something like "if you take a piece of wood and put 22 slabs of metal through it are its resonance properties really going to make that much of a difference?"

Not sure if I agree 100% but its pretty logical. I can how a fretboard wood would influence quite a bit how the vibration gets from the point where the string touches the fret, into the neck, and then down into the guitar. If the fretboard was fretless, then the board itself could vibrate along its length and then really add its own flavor into the mix in a very significant way, but I think that the frets reduce, but do not eliminate the effect of the fretboard as a tone factor.

Feel is probably the biggest difference. I used to think that it was bogus because the fingers don't really "rub" against the board that much, but after trying out more variety of wood, I could really tell the difference....between SS and nickel frets as well.

I think that some people are more prone to play with their ears, and some play with their fingers...does that make sense lol? What I'm saying is that while everyone both feels themselves playing, and hear themselves, some people have the tone effect their perception of feel, and other have the feel effect their perception of tone. I am more of the latter, so I definitely notice differences in tone but sometimes I wonder if it is because my brain "feels" the sound too much.