It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
Around 59 this changed to a maple neck + rosewood fingerboard
My the mid/late 60's we had options - however by now the maple neck + fingerboard were 2 pieces, so similar construction to a rosewood board
Since then we've had all options available
maple neck/fingerboard is often found on an ash body - Rosewood board option is generally found on an alder body - So the tonal difference is exaggerated by more than just the fingerboard wood
maple is a hard wood and will generally be more lively with clear highs and tight lows + more transparent mids
Rosewood is softer and produces a warmer voice with 'softer/rounded' highs
Difference is generally very noticeable - which you prefer is down to you
Mapel was the original material, indeed the neck and fingerboard was one piece and designed to be swapped for a new neck when worn out. Not much later neck and fingerboard were separate and then as the 60s dawned rosewood was the option on fingerboards. During the early 70s the maple boards were covered in thick clear poly and that made them either slick or slippery depending on your point of view.
So by now both are considerred valid. In terms of sound some say the pure mapel has more 'snap' to the tone and others can't tell the difference. Because the pickups changed slightly over the decades they are more likely to change to audible tone than the fingerboard material. All through the years the neck shape and also the fingerboard camber have changed too. Some say the thicker more stable necks have better tone!
In practical terms go play some guitars in your budget, don't forget the used market and see what suits you. There are some cobbled together guitars too which play and sound great, these can be had as very good value for money.
In my experiance, I tend to notice the difference that @guitars4you explains.
They do do feel different too.
What it does have is a ‘snappier’ attack - which can give the illusion its brighter. Combined with Ash bodies, one piece maple necks give my favourite Fender tones.
I reckon all these things play a part in how the guitar sounds.
Feel is the main difference. Maple can also feel different depending upon what is has been finished with.
I find maple boards can feel sticky or tacky. Rosewood I've never had a problem with.
I can't help about the shape I'm in, I can't sing I ain't pretty and my legs are thin
But don't ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to
On the other hand, I've a Les Paul Special with a roasted maple fingerboard and tbh it's only when I remind myself it's not rosewood that I notice any difference to the rosewood on other Les Pauls.
Is it really the case that, since the 60s, both have been just as available? I had always half assumed that they brought out rosewood Teles in the 60s for a brief period then went back to maple since they seem to make up the vast majority of Teles I see.
My personal preference for look and feel is maple; look by a small amount and feel by a large amount. There's just something I don't like the feeling off when I feel the string scraping against the unfinished wood.
It's not enough to put me off though, I still have RW guitars. Even if Gibsons came in the either/or option like Fender, I'd still go for RW as I like my LP to have things that make it different to a Strat so it's just another tone differential.
I don't know if there have been any scientific tests done to see if fingerboard material influences tone and by how much but for whatever reason I find it very easy to believe that it does have a significant effect. Having said that, if such a test proved there wasn't, I wouldn't exactly be shocked either.