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Post subject: Rosewood or Maple?
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 1:59 pm
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Hey,
A quick question for all you strat dudes and dudettes..... Which do you prefer; Rosewood or Maple finger board on your guitar?

All my guitars have had Rosewood until I just recently bought a used Kaman(Fender owns these dudes) GTX20 strat copy w/ maple. I fell in love with the maple neck on this guitar and can't seem to put it down. Seems like my hands glide over the neck more easily leading to hours of playing with minimal fatique. My MIM strat has Rosewood, plays just as nice or better and has sweeter p'ups.

Yep, I just bought a used MIM one piece maple neck to switch it out.....

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Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 2:02 pm
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In my opinion, maple necks are the best. However, many Strat lovers disagree. I've had maple on both of my two Strats, a MIM and a MIA, and I think maple just plays and feels great. Plus, maple necks have always typified the "Strat look" to me. YMMV. :)


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Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 2:18 pm
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There's literally hundreds of responses to that question all over this forum. There's no firm answer one way or the other. It's just personal preference. Me, I'm a maple man. It's for purely esthetic reasons.

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Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 2:19 pm
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cryingstrat wrote:
There's literally hundreds of responses to that question all over this forum. There's no firm answer one way or the other. It's just personal preference. Me, I'm a maple man. It's for purely esthetic reasons.


+1.

- C


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Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 2:34 pm
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I prefer the playability of maple, the way it gets slippy when your sweating.
I prefer the look of rosewood.
All my serious guitars are maple, I'd play a shoebox with a elastic band around it, if it felt and sounded right.

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Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 4:45 pm
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I have one of each but I do find myself favoring the maple. hmmmmm


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Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 5:31 pm
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I WANTED maple, but my retailer only had rosewood. it has really grown on me, im glad i have the rosewood board. i think rosewood looks better on dark bodied guitars, and maple looks better on sunburst,and light colors.


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Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 7:26 pm
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I've had both...I'm a Rosewood fan myself. :)

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Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 8:22 pm
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You can get a lot of differnt answers to this. Me I think the feel of a neck is as much determined by the type and quility of the fiinish applied to the back of the neck not just the type fingerboard. Also the quility of the fret work very important. I also think that the same model guitar sounds different with the the different necks. Ease of play can also be effected by what radius curve of the fingerboard and what type music you play on it. If you bend alot you might want a larger radius or even spend the money and get a compound were the fingerboard flatens out at the heel. I have changed necks and the guitar sounds like a completly different guitar with out doing anything else to it because the condition and quility of a neck can efect the sound so much.I like them both and can't decide on one over the other :oops:

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Last edited by cvilleira on Tue Sep 30, 2008 9:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 9:03 pm
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Hello Darkstroke,

Maple is great but my preferance is Rosewood.
If I had a wish I'd like an ebony fretboard. :wink:

Cheers.


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Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 9:31 pm
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I'm a master woodworker but very new to guitars. I have found that the maple necks put out a much crisper sound where the rosewood is more of a softer tone.

Maple is a very hard and reflective wood. that translates into it's unique tone. I prefer the softer tone of the rosewood.

Plus I work on cars for a hobby and would get a maple neck dirty. Hahaha!


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Post subject: Re: Rosewood or Maple?
Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 6:11 am
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Maple is generally used to make guitar necks. It is a very dense, hard wood that is not rare and often displays brilliant figuring when milled. It's figuring, its white/blonde color, and its tonal characteristics make it a favorite wood for a veneer or top laminate on more expensive solidbody guitars. It is also found as a top wood in some archtop guitars, where it is usually laminated. Its hardness brings out the trebles in a guitar's sound. It is sometimes used as a fretboard wood where it adds definition to the sound.



Rosewood is the most common wood found on electric guitar fretboards. It is very dense and hard and can be quite beautiful, ranging in color from almost black to variegated brown and blond.

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Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 6:36 am
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I have both and love them both. I learned how to play on maples and - as long as they're not too shiny which makes my hand hang up - I can play pretty fast on them.

I tend to prefer rosewood just a little more because I like that feel of unfinished wood, the slightly warmer tone, and the look. More of a personal preference than anything else though.

My #1 - 98 MIA with rosewood
My #2 - 94 MIM with maple

Besides that fact that they have very different pickups, they also feel different to play, but both great. I noticed different feels tend to make me play differently too. I "can" play the same thing on both, but I get inspired differently and come up with very different ideas on each one, which is why I love them both.


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Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 7:40 am
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Maple is my preferred choice. I have 3 maple MIAs and a Gretsch rosewood. Guitars setup for different types of music. The new finish on the 08 Strat maple neck is awsome. hand just glides over the back of the neck. Fingers don't hang up on the front when moist. Kudos to Fender for the changes

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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 7:53 am
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Preferences are so funny :)

See, that's exactly what I didn't like about the 08 was the neck finish. For me, it's too glossy and I get too much friction when I play it. I tend to like the feel of satin or unfinished neck, which I can play more freely on.

But, that's why there is never any one "best" way to do things :)


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