john Posted April 23, 2003 Report Share Posted April 23, 2003 Just a quick Q, why are rosewood ebony and maple the most common fretboard woods? the guitar im workin on at the moment has an Iroko neck(neckthrough) and i was thinking of using a mahogany fretboard. what do you think? Seeing as the wood is so thin , its tonal properties could`nt be THAT important could they? or is it just aesthetics? John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Posted April 23, 2003 Report Share Posted April 23, 2003 Mainly, maple and rosewood are quite cheap. They arent hard to work with ( theyre easy enough to cut and shape ). If im not wrong ( which i usually am ), working with mahogany would be difficult as it is a quite hard wood. Although, i don't think that tonality will be affected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vh-guitarstore.com Posted April 23, 2003 Report Share Posted April 23, 2003 the problem is that mahogany is an open grain wood....it has to be sealed or you will be subject to swelling and cracking.....thats why you use rosewood, ebony and maple for fingerboards, they all have closed grains....maple is about at the bottom of the spectrum.....i dont think mahogany is any harder than rosewood or ebony for sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted April 23, 2003 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2003 i realise that it is an open-grained wood , so would it be ok if i lacquered it? I just think it would look great , the neck is a dark brown and the fretboard would be pinkish. john. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vh-guitarstore.com Posted April 23, 2003 Report Share Posted April 23, 2003 you can do whatever you want really....there arent too many hardfast rules...try it and see how it works for you....plenty of exotics make great fingerboards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted April 24, 2003 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2003 ok thanks ,i`ll give it a go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_ed Posted April 24, 2003 Report Share Posted April 24, 2003 One other thing to think about. You want a fairly hard (physically) wood for the fretboard, because it will take a lot of abuse, unless you play slide. Condider how hard Ebony is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_FR0D0 Posted April 25, 2003 Report Share Posted April 25, 2003 I agree with guitar_ed, the freatboard is better in a very hard wood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryeisnotcool Posted April 25, 2003 Report Share Posted April 25, 2003 as far as tonal qualities i find maple has a warmer sound compared to ebony wich is brighter. the mahogany would definetly look pretty cool but i'd be afraid that it would wear pretty quickly its considered a hard wood but you can dig into it with a finger nail quite easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted April 25, 2003 Report Share Posted April 25, 2003 i don't touch the fretboard wood when i'm playing.my fingers stay on the strings.what am i missing here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryeisnotcool Posted April 25, 2003 Report Share Posted April 25, 2003 dude youve never seen an old fret board thats been played alot? ive seen many that have divits in between the frets from the string rubbing from doing bends and what not . even on the second fret ive seen some nasty divits, and that is with rosewood! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted April 26, 2003 Report Share Posted April 26, 2003 i have a guitar that i have played so much i have dents over 1 mm deep in my frets,no fretboard wear.rosewood fretboard.all my guitars have jumbo frets,maybe that's it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted April 27, 2003 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2003 well i was gonna fit jumbo frets so that should be ok yeah? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted April 27, 2003 Report Share Posted April 27, 2003 time for me to correct myself yet again. i have been paying more attention to my playing and my fingers do lightly rub the fretboard on the thinner strings,but not at all on the thicker ones.that is probably why i have not noticed any fingerboard wear on my oldest guitar(which i bought used over 10 years ago),because i only played it for rythm since the frets were in such bad shape.(it is retired now,i may put a new neck on it).my new guitars see much more use on all parts of the neck but since they ARE new they don't have any wear on the fretboard. but on the original thread,rosewood and ebony are very oily woods so that may have something to do with there use on fretboards,as your fingers would tend to slide better,and maple is always clearcoated,maybe for the same reason.just a theory but there you go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted April 28, 2003 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2003 well i will be finishing the fretboard with SEVERAL coats of Acryllic 2-part Lacquer which should make it hard as nails , plus use of the jumbo frets should put me in the clear? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_FR0D0 Posted April 28, 2003 Report Share Posted April 28, 2003 john: go for it!!, I dont know if that will work or not, but you are walking in to the unknown (al least form me), and thats is cool. That is the way new things get done (discovered, invented, etc). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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