Is the dark rosewood fretboards best quality than others "no-darks" ?

Colour makes no difference to quality. Closeness of grain plays a fair bit in the way it feels though.

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No no and no

Everyone knows dark fretboards have the best tone.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

Thats why stewmac sells dyes for fretboards

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_supplies/Colors,_tints,_and_stains/Black_Fingerboard_Stain.html


Thats all anyone does, dye the board to give a darker appearance.

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No no and no

Color doesn't make a different. To me, to straightness of the grain and quality of the wood is a bigger difference than color. Wood that is cross cut with random strains in the grain isn't as strong as good cut, straight grain wood. And that, to many people, make a wood better in quality. Look at the neck grain (both neck and fingerboard) on a MIM, then look at a MIA or Custom Shop. Usually a big difference.

For color, I prefer a dark rosewood color mainly because it looks better to me. The darker the better, almost ebony like, are my favorites.

Personally I would not dye a rosewood fretboard. I would use fret doctor (bore oil) to oil it though, which will darken it a little. Sometimes you see this orange like tinge to rosewood, other times you get the darker purplish tones, but when it comes to a neck I look for the best quartersawn cut and grain consistancy. Feel, comfort, and resonance rules all. Sustain and tone are considered as well. If I were to think cosmetically about the fretboard I would look for an even consistancy in the color of the wood, but honestly it takes a back seat to these other more important factors.

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explorationx

Here is how I understand it ... the lighter rosewood fretboards are actually "pao ferro" which has long been used as a rosewood substitute.
Generally these lighter pao ferro fretboads are often deemed more desirable over standard rosewood due to favorable sonic characteristics
and feel of pao ferro.

This guitar is from a private collection -- note the description:
"The body is a perfectly bookmatched two-piece alder; the neck a one-piece tinted maple; the fretboard a slab-style Pao-Ferro. It is a
pretty faithful reproduction of Stevie's Number One, which has a '59 body with an oversize '62 neck, a gold-plated left-hand bridge and overwound '59 pickups.
This has vintage-style wiring; Texas Special pickups; gold-plated vintage hardware including a left-hand bridge; SRV's signature on the headstock."

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

I am not sure what you mean when you say "standard rosewood" but Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) has been the long time "premier" wood for fingerboards. And it is the most desirable in that sense. It is now a very rare wood because , well there isn't much left. So now we are seeing other woods coming into the mix such as Indian Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia). Warmoth's web site has some good information about wood if you get curious.

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explorationx

When I say "standard rosewood", I am referring to the real stuff from real rosewood trees that is most commonly used for Fender rosewood fretboards.
I have no clue whether that is "dalbergia nigra" (?!?) or not. As opposed to Pao Ferro which is definitely not rosewood.

I have an '04 Strat that I was told had Pau Ferro. This caused me to research this a bit a while back. I was just trying to pass on some of the info that was passed on to me.
I want to be clear that I am no arborist or expert on this subject, by any means.

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

I dont think the dark ones are any better in terms of quality, but for me I really like the looks better on the dark ones.

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"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives." Blazing Saddles...

I guess my 1964 (Pictured below in my signature) has a Brazilian Rosewood fretboard. It is very dark.

Does it deliver tonal nirvana? The guitar does sound very nice, but I've always attributed that to the fine original pickups.

The fact that it's endangered and now rare is what makes Brazilian Rosewood valuable and desireable.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Color is color, it doesn't have anything to do with quality. Its the type of wood. Brazillian, Indian, Madagascar, Honduran rosewood. They all have different properties, some more subtle then others. But color is nothing. Grain and hardness make the difference....