Favorite fretboard wood

[bombtek]

I have three different types
Rosewood
Ebony
Maple
For me I think that a nice THICK slab of dark Rosewood is the classiest looking material on a guitar. I love the grain pattern, I love the way it feels when played, and it is just WARM looking to me..like a favorite old leather recliner. I do admit to darkening up all of my rosewood boarded guits with KIWI leather dye, as to my eye, the darker it is the better. But compared to my ebony boarded, it is still lighter in shade.
2nd would be the mahogany. Again it is the grain pattern in this one that does it for me over the ebony.
3rd ..ebony. Yeah I know that it is probably the favorite by an overwhelming majority of you. It IS glassy smooth. It IS super dark. But for me, it just lacks character.
4th...and honestly in reality, I don't like it at all. I don't like how it feels, I don't like how it looks (player wear on it or not). And I don't care for how bright it makes a guitar sound. That being said though, I would never buy a telecaster without a maple boarded neck as I think they only look right with one . I know that as soon as I got it, I'd be spending COUNTLESS hours going over that board with super fine sandpaper to at least make it as smooth and glassy as ebony . I have a couple maple boarded guitars and they aren't exactly show pieces at all. An Xaviere tele copy and a Squier strat. I got the Xaviere 1st and whoever does the finishing on those guitars uses a TON of clearcoat on the necks, fretboard and all. I REALLY don't like that and because of that, it hardly ever gets played. The Squier on the other hand has what feels to be a raw maple board (sure dirties up like is raw ) and I thought I'd like it. But for reasons already mentioned, I just don't.
Looking at my preferences, I guess I'm just a prejudice person against light colored boards.

[atomic charvel guy]

maple with dried up maple syrup like drug and smoke resin gunk makes for the most cozy and comfortable playing guitars for me in the past. nothing can touch that feel for me.

[leftykingv2]

It's too hard for me to choose. I've never really minded rosewood Maple or ebony. I think each one has it's own special characteristics. I prefer ebony when I am playing heavy fast metal type thrash riffs but I love rosewood for it's warmth. Maple is great for it's snappy clean sounds. I guess I like all three but for different reasons.

[bombtek]

maple with dried up maple syrup like drug and smoke resin gunk makes for the most cozy and comfortable playing guitars for me in the past. nothing can touch that feel for me.

HA!

[rjohnstone]

Maple.
I have Rosewood and Ebony boards on some of my guitars, but I've always loved the feel of a Maple board. The more worn or broken in it is, the better.

[Matt_B]

#1 Maple (56% of my guitars)
#2 Ebony (25%)
#3 Rosewood (19%)

[Vass]

#1 Maple (56% of my guitars)
#2 Ebony (25%)
#3 Rosewood (19%)

Same order, with the caveat that #1 should be raw or at least satiny. I hate heavy glossy finishes. Atomic's description is the ultimate. If it looks that bad it's going to feel great.

I have a Fusion Pro with most of the finish worn off the way it should be.... Killer neck. Raw with ebony and sharks. Look and feel, a great playing neck.

[Chad]

Going on looks, I prefer ebony on most guitars.

As far as feel, I like ebony the best, but most of my guitars have big enough frets that the fretboard wood isn't a huge factor in feel.

As far as tone, there are generalizations out there as to how different woods sound, but there is too much variance between different samples of wood for those generalizations to hold much validity. Couple in all of the other variables that go into a guitar, and it's hard to really say what direct effect a fingerboard has on the tone.

[shreddermon]

I have three different types
Rosewood
Mahogany
Ebony
Maple

Mahogany? I can't say I've ever seen a mahogany fretboard?

Anyhow, my all time favorite is pau ferro. It has the warmth and tone of rosewood, but with the tighter grain like ebony. Is the secret love child of both. And looks just killer with a nice piece, with chocolate brown and rust red hues in the color.

Next would be rosewood itself, obviously.

Then maple. The tone isn't as shrill as ebony - it has more mids to my ears - and some guitars' appearances just scream for it. It's classic super-strat material. Looks especially good aged, but not dirty. So I'm very curious to try a new "baked" or "carbonized" maple neck, for both feel and look.

I guess last would be ebony. I get why people love the feel and look, but it's just not "all that" to me. The tone is sometimes to biting and shrill to my ears. And I just can't stand how it shrinks for us northeasters, leaving sharp fret ends.

Overall though, it depends on the guitar's specs. Certain fretboards just match the rest of the guitar.

[bombtek]

Mahogany? I can't say I've ever seen a mahogany fretboard

I had a LP jr type guitar a long while back that had a mahogany neck/fretboard. Can't remember the name of the manufacturer but it was a real POS guitar ...but damn that neck looked good!

[P I K A]

Maple for me

[walshula]

Every guitar I own has ebony and blank ebony boards are my absolute favorite

[markD]

dark rosewood would be #1, followed by maple, followed by ebony.

[Hellbat]

I prefer my fingerboards be made of tree wood.

They should be relatively smooth and slippery and resist getting 'grabby' when moist due to sweat, beer, or other fluids.

I like all of the kinds I've tried, but prefer the feel of ebony or maple. Rosewood tends to be more porous, but that can sometimes be to it's advantage. My favorite guitar has an ebony fingerboard. My band members favorite guitar of mine has rosewood. I think they prefer the warmer, softer attack since we tend to play more mellow pop songs. Or maybe it's just the look? Who's to say?

Anyways, I definitely endorse tree wood.

[roodyrocker]

I have guitars with Ebony, Rosewood, as well as Maple boards. I can play all them just fine but my preference is definetly Ebony.