Sound of Maple necks vs Ebony or Rosewood...

[Mr.Shreddy]

Do maple necks typically sound brighter than rosewood or ebony? I have an SG and even though my Charvel So-Cal is thicker, it sounds brighter. Could this possibly be because of the maple board? If so, does anybody have suggestions to "darken up" my tone? Thanks. (BTW...I still think the Charvel sounds amazing, just a little thin.)

[toejam]

Rosewood boards are a little warmer than maple and ebony. Though, your Charvel actually has a maple neck with its maple board, and an alder body, and your SG has a mahogany neck with its mahogany body (mahogany is inherently warmer sounding) so, of course, your Charvel is going to shound brighter. Also, the SG is a shorter scale, and that warms things up a litttle.

[Grandturk]

I was shocked how much brighter my Les Paul (78, maple neck, Rosewood board) was than my San Dimas 1. I would say my SD1 is about the same as my SG, but its hard to tell, EMGs and low tuning in the SG.

[DonP]

As Toejam said, there a lot more to it than the fretboard in your case.

If you really want to see the difference a fretboard makes, get two very similar guitars with only the fretboard being the difference. Like compare a DK2 to a DK2M. It would be best if you use the same body and swap necks.

To darken up the tone, get a dark pickup, like an Invader or a Super 3.

[Newc]

Ebony and maple have approximately the same density, so therefore both will have a brighter tone. As Toe said, the mahogany neck and body and shorter scale of the SG counteract the ebony board's brightness to give the guitar a darker tone.

[Evil Homer]

try pure nickel strings.

[Mr.Shreddy]

cool guys thanks for the advise. This stuff is pretty cool.