Maple vs Ebony vs Rosewood Fretboards

[Holy Diver]

As the title says, which do you prefer and why?

[Dreamland_Rebel]

they each have there own sound and place. and in the end, its always personal preference vs. asthetics.

i prefer rosewood with a les paul. -tonal reasons
ebony with a flying V/explorer -tonal reasons

basswood body -still undecided tonaly, would most likely choose bassed on looks. probably maple.

alder body, i could go either way. right now i'm digging alder with a maple neck. but rosewood, ebony, and pao ferro boards all sound great on alder. -again i'd base it on looks and maybe what the other guitarist has in a 2 guitar band. you know, try and keep it a little different.

maple neck with a maple body

mohagany body w/no maple cap i'd want ebony. -tonal reasons
mohagany body with maple cap i'd want rosewood. -tonal reasons

but then again, it also depends on the finsih and body style. looks are important to me aswell so i could go against any of the above for the right look with a certain guitar.

bottom line is prefernce vs. looks.

[LastInLine]

Ebony is my favorite. I Just prefer the feel slightly over the others.

[Bengal65]

They are all the same. No difference

This topic seems to come up every other week. Sorry

[Shawn Lutz]

Maple and Ebony are my favorite two. It all depends on the wood of the guitar body for me, I try to complement the woods.

[Soap]

Not another maple, rosewood and ebony fretboard personal favorite thread.

[delt]

Rosewood or ebony for me... i don't really like maple fretboards. Then again i've never played one with jumbo frets, i'm pretty convinced there wouldn't be much difference in feel.

[jacksoncsplayer]

Maple and Ebony for me as well, I love the feel of ebony and the speed of maple. They both have different tonal qualities for me as well.

[themisfit138]

I like Ebony for asthetics, but for tone I like Rosewood

[Holy Diver]

Maple and Ebony for me as well, I love the feel of ebony and the speed of maple. They both have different tonal qualities for me as well.

Do you really feel that maple is faster?

[jacksoncsplayer]

I do think maple is a little faster. I'm not sure what it is about maple but I am able to play a little cleaner and faster especially doing hammer ons and pull offs which I do alot of. But that's me.

[j2379]

i really dont see how the fretboard wood effects playing. its all in your head. personally i like ebony for looks, tonally they each have there place.

[jacksoncsplayer]

I don't think it's all in my head :ROTF: but it very well may be. I prefer the tight grain on an oiled maple board over the rough wide spaced grain of rosewood. I press a little firm so it allows me to move cleaner and faster. I also think maple is a harder wood which I like as well. Again my perception only and it is my preferance.

[Newc]

It's actually more in the fret size than the board material. While a loose-grained wood like rosewood will absorb more of the acoustic tone and harder woods like maple and ebony will reflect it back more, in the end it doesn't really transfer to the amp, especially with distortion.

[Dreamland_Rebel]

in the end it doesn't really transfer to the amp, especially with distortion.

i disagree. i hear a distinct difference in the amped distorted tone. granted it is subtle, but defenately distinct.