Rosewood and maple fretboards durability...

brooom

This is not really a "vs" kind of thread. But I'm genuinely curious what most people's experience is regarding how rosewood wears when compared to maple, in specific when it comes to pitting.

I've seen/played/owned many rosewood fretboard guitars which had some form of pitting on the rosewood at several positions on the board. I've very rarely seen this in maple fretboard. Sure the wear might be more noticeable, because the lacquer wears off which really accentuates the wear, but I've very rarely seen pitting on maple boards.

Has anyone else noticed this?

rossi

I found my Harmony Sovereign flat top wore out  its fret board and frets after about 5 years of heavy bluegrass folky stuff and very heavy  wire wound strings .I assume its a rosewood board .It was bit extreme as i was playing about 3 nights a week in the 60's

Roland

Personal experience: rosewood wears away faster than maple, but maple shows the marks because it’s a lighter colour. I see two causes of wear: nails and strings. One comes from poor nail care. How on earth can you play properly with nails that are long enough to catch on the board? The other is pressing too hard, and down to poor technique.

Philly_Q

Roland said:

 How on earth can you play properly with nails that are long enough to catch on the board?

Jez6345789

Not sure it poor nail care
my mate who has played 1000’s of gigs on his 89 Custom 24 has serious finger shape wear in its Brazilian rosewood board. But as I point out he has been playing the same classic covers on the thing for 30 odd years lol

Sassafras

Does anyone on here keep a guitar long enough to wear it out?

MrBump

Philly_Q said:

Roland said:

 How on earth can you play properly with nails that are long enough to catch on the board?

From what I've seen of Dolly, she plays open tunings, hence just barring.  

crunchman

MrBump said:

Philly_Q said:

Roland said:

 How on earth can you play properly with nails that are long enough to catch on the board?

From what I've seen of Dolly, no part of her face above her mouth is capable of movement any more.

FTFY

guitars4you

Sassafras said:

Does anyone on here keep a guitar long enough to wear it out?

I like that question - Made me smile

guitars4you

I have seen wear on a rosewood board that has required attention - There is a trick a good tech can do with a touch of white glue and rosewood fillings - Mix, fill then smooth accordingly - Will leave minimal tell tale signs, but beats  'sanding' down a fingerboard and refret - Or a new board - Generally such touch up work is around the first 5 frets or so - Generally more common on an older guitar - But this is just par for the course if such an instrument has been played a lot 

Maple is harder so generally far less of an issue - However you do find that lacquer wear and chipping is common in which case IMO just cut it back accordingly - Again I much prefer the satin feel on maple as against a lacquer - On something like a Musicman with a blend of wax and gun stock oil, the finish will go 'dish cloth' dirty, but just ignore it as it is not an issue, just looks 'dirty'

Sassafras

crunchman said:

MrBump said:

Philly_Q said:

Roland said:

 How on earth can you play properly with nails that are long enough to catch on the board?

From what I've seen of Dolly, no part of her face above her mouth is capable of movement any more.

FTFY

As Dolly herself has said "It costs a lot of money to look this cheap".

earwighoney

brooom said:

This is not really a "vs" kind of thread. But I'm genuinely curious what most people's experience is regarding how rosewood wears when compared to maple, in specific when it comes to pitting.

I've seen/played/owned many rosewood fretboard guitars which had some form of pitting on the rosewood at several positions on the board. I've very rarely seen this in maple fretboard. Sure the wear might be more noticeable, because the lacquer wears off which really accentuates the wear, but I've very rarely seen pitting on maple boards.

Has anyone else noticed this?

IMO, Ebony in the long run can have more problems than either maple or rosewood as it can shrink, which can be a right royal PITA for nylon strings in particular.  It reacts to low humidity really badly as well.

IvisonGuitars

guitars4you said:

I have seen wear on a rosewood board that has required attention - There is a trick a good tech can do with a touch of white glue and rosewood fillings - Mix, fill then smooth accordingly - Will leave minimal tell tale signs, but beats  'sanding' down a fingerboard and refret - Or a new board - Generally such touch up work is around the first 5 frets or so - Generally more common on an older guitar - But this is just par for the course if such an instrument has been played a lot 

You're spot on there @guitars4you, ;Here's a 1962 Strat that I had in recently that had been 'well played' by the guy from Wayne Fantana and the Mindbenders, he'd even worn away 4 of the 'clay dots'. The board had been levelled and refretted before and the tangs were touching the maple. It wouldn't have taken another level and the owner wanted to keep the original board so the only way forward was to fill the divots. I used rosewood dust from the board, made some new 'clay dots' and the repair is almost invisible. 

Before:





After...

JayGee

Sassafras said:

crunchman said:

MrBump said:

Philly_Q said:

Roland said:

 How on earth can you play properly with nails that are long enough to catch on the board?

From what I've seen of Dolly, no part of her face above her mouth is capable of movement any more.

FTFY

As Dolly herself has said "It costs a lot of money to look this cheap".

Not a huge fan of her music but I’ve got a lot of time for Dolly. Clever, funny, shrewd business lady, and written more than a few big selling songs. And if the only thing she’d ever done was the imagination library project she’d have my everlasting respect for that alone...

Funkfingers

brooom said:

I've very rarely seen pitting on maple boards.

You need to meet my 1978/79 Fender factory fretless Precision Bass. The fingerboard had scuffs in the varnish under all four strings plus a bald spot where a previous owner had thumb slapped the E and A strings. Add thirty years of roundwound use from me and you could probably plant spuds in the ruts under the strings.

guitars4you

IvisonGuitars said:

guitars4you said:

I have seen wear on a rosewood board that has required attention - There is a trick a good tech can do with a touch of white glue and rosewood fillings - Mix, fill then smooth accordingly - Will leave minimal tell tale signs, but beats  'sanding' down a fingerboard and refret - Or a new board - Generally such touch up work is around the first 5 frets or so - Generally more common on an older guitar - But this is just par for the course if such an instrument has been played a lot 

You're spot on there @guitars4you, ;Here's a 1962 Strat that I had in recently that had been 'well played' by the guy from Wayne Fantana and the Mindbenders, he'd even worn away 4 of the 'clay dots'. The board had been levelled and refretted before and the tangs were touching the maple. It wouldn't have taken another level and the owner wanted to keep the original board so the only way forward was to fill the divots. I used rosewood dust from the board, made some new 'clay dots' and the repair is almost invisible. 

Before:





After...

Total credit to you Neil - I've seen many repairs that are far to obvious - That is 'Groovy'

brooom

Really cool Neil, that was really nice to see.

victorludorum

@IvisonGuitars My hat is off to you, Sir! That really is impressive :-)

IvisonGuitars

@guitars4you @broom @victorludorum Thanks chaps! I get some interesting repairs through the shop I have to say and it's always a joy to get them back into commission  

meltedbuzzbox

Funkfingers said:

brooom said:

I've very rarely seen pitting on maple boards.

You need to meet my 1978/79 Fender factory fretless Precision Bass. The fingerboard had scuffs in the varnish under all four strings plus a bald spot where a previous owner had thumb slapped the E and A strings. Add thirty years of roundwound use from me and you could probably plant spuds in the ruts under the strings.

70s fender... probably made from pine and cheese :-p