Mahogany Charvel/ Fingerboard wood?

[Firebird V]

I have several mahogany guitars. A few with ebony, a few with rosewood and a 2 with pao ferro.

The Ebony is a tiny bit brighter.

The rosewood is warmer than the ebony.

The pao ferro- I cant really hear the difference between the rosewood. If I had the choice I would go with the pao ferro over rosewood because of its lighter color. Tonally I cant hear the difference between the two but it looks really nice with the mahogany.

Here is a nice example.

http://www.warmoth.com/showcase/sc_guitar_necks.cfm?type=guitar&start=1&menuItem=1&itemNumber=SN2136&subMenuItem=0&subMenuItem2=0

[slayer]

All 3 of my guitars have ebony boards and look great and they are also mahogany guitars. That been said, I go for the look of the fretboard over the tone. I love ebony, regular rosewood is blah, pau fero is awsome as well as brazillian rosewood, I like maple, but prefer a medium to heavy spotted birdseye maple board. Go for the look man, what looks good to you per say Jack.

[Chrisb]

Pau Ferro. One of the other rosewoods would work. Indian, Cocobolo or Kingwood all are nice feeling with very warm tones. If you want brightness Ebony is your wood but, if you are looking for something a little more striking than plain old ebony consider Macassar Ebony or Ziricote. I payed only a little more for Ziricote on my custom and it looks insane. Its also not as hard to the fingers as ebony but to me has nearly identical tonal qualities.

[Hossman]

Some luthiers say, Brazilian rosewood is the ultimate wood for fretboards. My custom shop Charvel has a Brazilian rosewood fretboard, and it's fantastic in sound and feel. The mid 1990s reissues with mahagony body also had pao ferro fretboards, it's also a great wood for fretboards.

Amen Toby -- BRW the Ultimate for the neck also - like marble smooth and a nice clean smooth tone -

[eddie_van_earache]

get what looks better. The mahog body will swamp the tone influence of the fret board. Get you tone fromm the pickups. You can find the right hum to give you what you want.

[zEr0]

I have spec'd out a CS Charvel with a Mahogany body but I can't decide on a fingerboard wood. I have a MZ Mah Natural with a maple board and it sounds good with alot of pop I belive comes form the Mah body. Which wood would add some smoothness to the top end. Rosewood or Ebony?

I think you are getting it wrong in the first place man. If your MZ has a lot of "pop" it's definetly not the Mahogany that's delivering it, it's the maple board. Mahogany is a very dark sounding wood while maple is very punchy. So if you are already settled on a mahogany body for your Charvel I'd really recommend getting a bright wood for the fingerboard (either ebony or maple, NOT rosewood). Always try to avoid mixing dark bodies with dark boards (mahogany and rosewood) or bright bodies with bright boards (alder and maple) since you'll end up with an unbalanced instrument NO MATTER WHAT PUPS YOU PUT IN. All these nuances are quite irrelevant when playing with distortion but they really come up when using clean sounds. That's why I don't ever play rosewood boarded instruments: the bottom wounded strings sound like rubber even through the brightest single-coil...

[toejam]

I think you are getting it wrong in the first place man. If your MZ has a lot of "pop" it's definetly not the Mahogany that's delivering it, it's the maple board. Mahogany is a very dark sounding wood while maple is very punchy. So if you are already settled on a mahogany body for your Charvel I'd really recommend getting a bright wood for the fingerboard (either ebony or maple, NOT rosewood). Always try to avoid mixing dark bodies with dark boards (mahogany and rosewood) or bright bodies with bright boards (alder and maple) since you'll end up with an unbalanced instrument NO MATTER WHAT PUPS YOU PUT IN. All these nuances are quite irrelevant when playing with distortion but they really come up when using clean sounds. That's why I don't ever play rosewood boarded instruments: the bottom wounded strings sound like rubber even through the brightest single-coil...

It's a bolt-on neck... the neck and fingerboard wood don't play as much of a role in the sound as the body does, so I think you're getting it wrong in the first place.

[zEr0]

It's a bolt-on neck... the neck and fingerboard wood don't play as much of a role in the sound as the body does, so I think you're getting it wrong in the first place.

Sorry about that man. Didn't mean to sound like a smartass or anything there. I honestly don't have that much experience with bolt-ons as a matter of fact. Anyway hope I helped in some way.