Maple, Rosewood and frets?

robgilmo · February 2018

Do frets on a Rosewood board seem higher than those on a Maple board? Weird question I know but I was just wondering?

meltedbuzzbox · February 2018

No

rico · February 2018

How many alcohols have you ingested?

robgilmo · February 2018

A few, Its just that I was in a shop today trying some guitars and all the Roasewood guitars seemed to have slightly taller frets, its not due to the finish on the Maple boards is it?

strat1990 · February 2018

I think it's just the finish on the maple boards, I've got 2 identical strats, except for the fretboards and the frets seem more pronounced, but it's just a slight difference

rico · February 2018

robgilmo said:

A few, Its just that I was in a shop today trying some guitars and all the Roasewood guitars seemed to have slightly taller frets, its not due to the finish on the Maple boards is it?

What guitars were they?

robgilmo · February 2018

Fenders and Squiers, Teles and Strats. All of them had medium Jumbo frets but the Roswewood boards had frets that felt bigger, one standard mex Tele I played had a maple board and the frets felt like they just weren't there at all, it felt really lovely.

NeilMcG · February 2018

I had a Squier CV tele with maple neck until recently and the frets seemed low due to the very thick poly finish on the fretboard.

They were just normal Fender medium jumbos (~46thou high), but felt completely different on the laquered neck compared to a rosewood neck. I really didn't like it at all as my fingers seemed to drag on the fingerboard when bending strings.

richardhomer · February 2018

Only when they’re higher....

stephen.wood125 · February 2018

Yeah as above I think it's the super thick poly finish on the maple boards. Is it done after they are fretted? I know when you see refrets of a maple board they advise cutting along the frets. I'm building a stratishcaster with a maple board and I'm planning on just colouring it with nitro and then oiling, I'm OK with it wearing but hate the way the gloss finish catches your fingers when you're trying to bend a string.

thermionic · February 2018

It would make sense - they're hammered in to the same height, but maple necks get a couple of coats of lacquer or poly over the whole neck but it gets scraped off the frets.

rico · February 2018

Are you sure they all have the same fret sizes? The American Specials have jumbo and the Pro has narrow-tall. No idea what the Mexican and Squiers are meant to have though...