Ebony, Rosewood & Maple

[Beach Radio]

NEWBIE QUESTION
I have just started learning the guitar - my first instrument is the Mandolin (Celtic, Irish Reels).
The Mandolin I have is a high end model with an ebony fret board.
I love my Axis SS - so don't flame me, I'm not complaining here.
But I'm curious why ebony fret boards are a rarity on guitars in general.
Is it cost, sound, something else???

 

[andynpeters]

Not such a rarity on acoustic guitars...Martin & Fylde use them a lot. I think Gibson use them on LP Customs??? (Yes they do, just checked)

I have 2 Warmoths with ebony fretboards....I think they look nicer than rosewood. Also harder wearing and smoother.

Couldn't tell you what difference it makes to the sound....probably none to my ears.

 

[Spudmurphy]

I've always liked the feel of the ebony fretboard on my LP.

But I am loving the maple on my AL (as I practice )

 

[candid_x]

To my ears, ebony boards sound a bit sterile or brittle. Never cared for them, though they're slick to play on and pretty to look at.

 

[andynpeters]

To my ears, ebony boards sound a bit sterile or brittle. Never cared for them, though they're slick to play on and pretty to look at.

Hmmmm!! So can you tell the difference between a LP standard & a custom just by listening?

I've never really been able to "hear" different woods. Maybe spent too long with my ears in front of the drummer's cymbals. I hear there are some people who can tell what make of battery is in their effects pedal just by listening.

 

[greenwizard]

^^yup I can do that. Energizer's have horrible tone =). Right now I'm training myself to be able to figure out by ear whether someone is plugged into a 110 volt socket or a 220V.

 

[andynpeters]

^^yup I can do that. Energizer's have horrible tone =). Right now I'm training myself to be able to figure out by ear whether someone is plugged into a 110 volt socket or a 220V.

Kuwait has that too?? That was always fun in Saudi, lots of blown up equipment from people who guessed wrong.

I guess you'd have to A/B test two otherwise identical guitars to figure out what difference the fretboard wood made.

 

[greenwizard]

^^Same problem in Kuwait. I killed a laptop charger before I caught on. I carry a transformer with my music equipment all the time now.
Beach Radio, I think that even if you blindfolded yourself and tested you'd barely be able to tell the difference if at all. I figure that most of the tonal quality in a guitar, other than pickups/strings etc., comes from the body structure and wood type, rather than the neck. I think comfort is probably the most important thing here. To me, unfinished maple necks kick all so I'll stick with those.

 

[candid_x]

Hmmmm!! So can you tell the difference between a LP standard & a custom just by listening?

I've never really been able to "hear" different woods. Maybe spent too long with my ears in front of the drummer's cymbals. I hear there are some people who can tell what make of battery is in their effects pedal just by listening.

Don't know if could compare two LPs with different boards exactly, because each guitar has something unique, as you know . What I can say is that every ebony board guitar I've played has had a particular character. Hard to put in words, but they've not had the warm or organic tone of rosewood, or even of maple. But then with as much distortion as many players use, I don't know that it would even be noticeable. Played clean or a bit driven, it's noticeable.

Haven't listened to batteries much, but I do know that a little sag in the battery is sexy sounding .

 

[JMB27]

NEWBIE QUESTION
I have just started learning the guitar - my first instrument is the Mandolin (Celtic, Irish Reels).
The Mandolin I have is a high end model with an ebony fret board.
I love my Axis SS - so don't flame me, I'm not complaining here.
But I'm curious why ebony fret boards are a rarity on guitars in general.
Is it cost, sound, something else???

most guitars I've seen with the Ebony 'boards tend to be acoustic
personally, I got a Larrivee with the Ebony and just love it ... but am in no rush to try it for an electric, even though it might be a whole new tone-zone to test.

about the only electrics I am aware of w/Ebony fret boards are the G-bson LP Custom

play on

 

[D.K.]

Now c'mon guys!

There are quite a few different guitar manufacturers building electric G-tars with ebony fretboards - Ibanez (Jem 7 VWH until 2 years ago, J-Custom models a.s.o.) and ESP just come to my mind.

Having had a jem with an ebony fretboard (and having a pet now) I would say I much prefer rosewood. Ebony looks classy and is more expensive, but the natural feel, tone and beatufil grain on MM rosewood necks still beats it anytime.

 

[Spudmurphy]

Ebony looks classy and is more expensive, but the natural feel, tone and beatufil grain on MM rosewood necks still beats it anytime.

Ebony is unnatural ????

Ebony feels great - so does maple so does Rosewood (which always looks a bit grainy, like open pores, to me).

I have a new guitar on it's way to me that has a rosewood neck.

 

[D.K.]

To me ebony is slightly more unnatural than the natural rosewood

 

[Spudmurphy]

^
ha! only "yanking yer chain" (joking with ya!!)

Had a teacher once, who complained about the number of wooden chairs that had been broken. In school assembly he said "What, do you think these grow on trees?"

Bad analogy to use.

 

[Axilla]

Hi folks & back to biz

I have a Godin Artisan ST1 (sort of a Strat gone PRS) with an ebony fretboard and stainless steel frets. Excellent craftmanship there. Now to my poor ears, both in that combination really brighten up the sound a bit and do a good job combined with the 3 SC sized phat sounding hummies in that geetar.

...but apart from that I totally agree that nuthin' beats the feel of a natural maple EBMM neck - sorry, no comment yet on the rosewood as I'm still waiting for that guitar to arrive...

 

[candid_x]

Now c'mon guys!

There are quite a few different guitar manufacturers building electric G-tars with ebony fretboards - Ibanez (Jem 7 VWH until 2 years ago, J-Custom models a.s.o.) and ESP just come to my mind.

Also Guild electrics. A friend had a proto Guild LP-type with an ebony board. Wonderful craftsmanship, and easy as butter to play, but I never liked the bright or brittle quality of sound. Or, maybe not exactly brittle, but hard or "stoney" sound? It wouldn't matter what pups were in it, you could feel where that inert tone came from - the neck.

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

I played an Aria with an Ebody board for years and really loved the feel. When I got into EBMM I wondered why they didnt offer it as an option. Seems real classy to me.

 

[uvacom]

I've got a parts-o-tele with a warmoth maple/ebony neck, and I really like that a lot. Looks stellar, smooth/fast feel, and a nice bright, snappy tone.

 

[Astrofreq]

GREAT THREAD. I remember on the "dream guitar" thread, I put ebony fretboard. I think on some guitars, the color really compliments the rest of the guitar better. For instance, on the 2006 Special Editions, you had BLACK bodies, GOLD hardware and BROWN (?) fingerboards. It worked okay, but I think ebony fretboards would have better balanced the color scheme they were shooting for ... IMHO.

I think it's different for Axis models, because they have Zebra pickups and black backs standard. With the NON-ASS models, you can order a guitar and have no black in it whatsoever. Not the case with the ASS, so having a ebony fretboard choice sounds totally logical to me, not counting the logistics business wise (which I know nothing about and I'm sure BP considered it years ago.)

All things said and done, if the neck is unfinished and feels like a baseball bat cut in half, I'm a happy camper.