My question is what kind of rosewood do fender strats use? Brazilian, Indian... How about on the vintage reissues?

Also, do all fenders with rosewood fretboards use regular maple for the wood in the back of the neck? What other types of woods go well with a rosewood fretboard?

I am considering making my own strat from Warmoth. I want to make a vintage white (olympic white i guess,,, Does anyone know what the exact color white Jimi Hendrix's guitar was in woodstock?) with white pickgaurd, a vintage glossed headstock, with a Compound neck 10-16 radius (I am a big on bluesy bends), comfort contoured body, and I want to throw in some 1969 vintage strat pickups. I love the look of maple fretboards but I cant get used to their sticky, gummy quality (slows my playing down).

In the '60's most strats had Brazilian rosewood. Newer strats have Indian rosewood. I'm not sure when they changed. Brazilian is more dense and seems to be slightly more oily. Brazilian roswood now however is a protected species and the wood is hard to come by and very expensive. Pau Ferro is a nice fingerboard wood too, and is what Fender used on the SRV strats, it's a little bit more dense than Indian rosewood but generally slightly lighter in color. Cocobolo is a very nice fingerboard wood, very dense and oily but doesn't really look like rosewood as it has more contrast of light and dark in the grain. It plays really nice though. I don't think Warmoth offers it any more though, but I'm not sure.

Strat necks are maple. Quartersawn maple will be slightly more stable if you're willing to spend a couple extra bucks on it. If you're going for a genuine look and feel then maple is the way to go. I also like walnut for necks, as it's got very similar properties to maple and keeps the "strat" tone while being a dark wood, as opposed to a solid rosewood or pau ferro neck, which slightly softer wood producing a more "mellow" or "warm" tone.

I love and I am a sucker for maple necks but I have a 52 RI telecaster and after 2 years I still find myself complaining about the maple necks, gummy, tacky feel and 7.25 radius that slows down my playing, bending, and vibrato compared to my les paul which has an ebony board. The difference is slight but when you own both and play often you can really notice the difference.

Are there any woods that have that maple look but without that tacky, gummy, gluey feel?

Hi hendrixstratman: I suspect it is the feel of the finish on the front of the 'board rather than the wood itself that your fingers don't like.

You can go at it very gently with some grade 0000 steel wool or some P2000 wet-and-dry paper: just enough to take the gloss off, then stop. You can do it on the back too, if you want.

Lotta people find that helps the feel of their neck.

Cheers - C

It's not the maple, but the finish that gets tacky and gummy. I've found its more noticeable with poly finishes than lacquer, but, try using some Scotchbrite on the back of the neck. Rub it up and down with some force. It will dull the finish down but will make if feel and play much better. Can't do too much about the fingerboard, and what you describe is why I can't stand playing guitars with maple fingerboards, but I have found that lacquer has a much better feel than poly.

If you get a neck to build your own guitar, you can use lacquer to finish it. If you don't have a spray setup use some Re-Ranch or even Deft spray can lacquer as a finish. Another excellent option as a finish to use on a neck is Tru-Oil gunstock finish. That's actually probably the best finish, but it takes some time as you have to wipe on several coats of it and let each coat dry. I know it's what lots of builders recommend, and what I would use if it weren't for the hype over lacquer. If you use a rosewood or other fingerboard wood than maple, you won't need to finish the fingerboard, just the back of the neck. No matter what finish you use though, the scotchbrite trick makes your necks fast and non-tacky.

Unless I go all the way down to the wood, wont there always be a coat of laquer there ot slow my fingers down? If I take sand paper and apply minimal pressure and rub it a few times, will that actually make a big difference?

Try it and see.

It's not the finish itself, but the slick glossy surface that your fingers are objecting to (I presume). Take that off and you should find things much better.

To politely differ a little from Mr kemmerycustomshop (above) I've seen people take the gloss off their fingerboards too, by rubbing gently between the frets with wet-and-dry paper or steel wool. You need to be very careful of the frets though. Both of those will start to decrown the tops of the frets if they come in contact too much. Not seriously - but better avoided.

Gently gently, is the key...

Cheers - C

I mentioned ScotchBrite, but sand paper works too. What makes the finish feel gummy is that it is smooth and oils and dirt from your hand build up on it and have no where to go, so just kind of congeal on the surface. Using a fine abrasive on the back of the neck will create a "rough" surface that will "absorb" some of the oils from your hand. Using a motion up and down on the neck from the headstock to the heel will create microsopic scratches in that direction and will reduce the "drag" your hand feels sliding along the neck. Unless you really bear down on it, you won't get through the finish. This is why I like scotchbrite because it has a less aggressive, softer grit than sandpaper. It would take quite a bit of work to wear it down to bare wood using sctochbrite.

No theres no need to go down to the wood, just key into the top layer of lacquer and smooth it over.
I dont wire wool anything. It will play-in on its own with use. The whole sticky neck thing is greatly exaggerrated in my opinion.

_________________
No no and no

This is true. I would cover the frets with a strip of pinstriping or very thin tape to protect the crown, and use a motion perpendicular to the length of the neck. Thanks, Ceri. Cheers!

Not in mine. I think a lot of it has to do with the player. People with natually oily skin will notice it much more than those with dryer skin. I have a hard time with it personally, to the point that if I am playing for more than like half an hour, I need to wipe the back of the neck with a cloth or somehting to take down the build-up.

Okay, i will most likely give it a shot with that scotch brite pad first. thanks for the advice?

One more question though.

How about on the actual fretboard itself? I know I can do this on the back of the neck to smoothen it out, but how about on the front of the neck where my fingers actually play? I dont want to create grooves and scratches where the strings get stuck in when passing over them while bending

Yeah, I would mask off the frets and rub perpendicular to the length of the neck, or rather, with the frets, lengthwise. (Hope this makes sense ...) None of the abrasions would be near big enough for the strings to get stuck in, but be sure not to touch the frets with whatever you use. That's why I suggested masking off the frets.

Hi kemmerycustomshop: it would be a tricky thing for you to post much about your own work here, because it might look like you'd come to a competitor's website to advertise your own product.

But no-one's going to accuse me of advertising, so I'm free to say I've inspected your website closely and there's fine stuff to be seen. The relicing thing is not my particular taste, but I must say you appear to be very good at it indeed! Some mighty impressive work there.

Folks might want to take a look...

Cheers - C

Thanks again, Ceri. I'm just here to enjoy the banter ...