Hi All

I have always had Strats with Maple Necks/Boards,and I wondered if anyone knew if having one with a Rosewood board made any noticeable difference to the tone?

Thanks

Alan

Rosewood will have a bit warmer of a tone with a bit more low end. Maple will be a bit brighter with more quack…..the difference will vary from guitar to guitar and is not really a huge difference at all but enough to be noticed … (or at least to my ear) hope this helped…

Cheers
Bill

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(80’s Hair Metal) = A snapshot in time before Grunge ruined Rock & Roll forever!!!!

Many times we did beat this topic out. Yes, the neck wood makes a difference a little (nothing to make much difference on its own). It is the whole guitar that really counts.

I guessed it might have been mentioned before but being new to the sote,I thought I would ask anyway.

My main guitar is an NOS56 Fiesta Red with Birdseye Maple neck,and I play mainly instrumentals.

I have never had a Rosewood board on a guitar,and I was looking at either a
Custom Shop '63 Relic Stratocaster ~ Ash Body ~ Aged Olympic White,

or an American Vintage 62 Strat in White,both have Rosewood boards.

Too far away to go try them,so I am still wondering.

Alan

I think the difference between maple and rosewood is mainly in FEEL, not so much sound. Some people like the feel of maple under their fretting hand, while others like rosewood. It's subjective too, some people like the look of one over the other.

I do think there is a slight difference in sound that you can hear acoustically, but not when your plugged in and turned your amp to "11".

But then again, all of the factors have to bo accounted for like body wood, pickups, strings, bridge material, etc. Every guitar is different. I've got a rosewood board Strat that when unplugeed can treble-twang and bite more than any maple fretboard Strats. Plug them in and there is no difference, to me at least.

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Obligatory gear list: Fender, Rickenbacker, Gibson, Gretsch, Vox, Martin, and more Fender.

I agree, they do feel different, more than they sound different. I've played rosewood til recently, and whenever I go back to my Strat with RW or any other Strat with RW it sorta feels softer to me. But yes, it does sound a bit warmer to me as well.

I really believe that the type of wood the fretboard is made out of is more about the feel rather than the sound. I prefer playing on a maple fretboard over a rosewood one - it just feels smoother and more comfortable to play on to me.

As far as sounding different goes, I can barely hear a difference - especially whwn it's plugged in.

The difference is mainly in feel and has little or nothing to do with tone I've played maple Strats that were quite mellow and conversely rosewoods that were extremely bright contrary to what's been said for years and completely discrediting what is an urban legend of the guitar world.There are so many dynamics involved in tone that it's practically impossible to find out if a 1/4 " thick slab of wood on the neck effects tone either bit.The very large chunk of wood that makes up the body can impact the tone as that makes up a large part of the guitar and the sustaining qualities-or lack thereof can be transfered to the pickups.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I don't notice a difference really. It's one of those things...

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I own a Strat with Maple and 2 with Rosewood. Honestly, the feel is different. Playing without an amp the Maple does sound brighter than the Rosewood. With an amp, I really cannot tell because the pickups in my guitars are all totally different.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

With Fender Maple fingerboards, you get a truely one piece neck, there is no lamination (glueing) of woods on the neck. To me, a one piece of wood anything is better quality.

I was/am a complete RW fingerboard guy for most guitars, but when it comes to Fender, there is only one choice for me....maple.

Most of my guitars are RW FB's with HB pickups. To me though, a fender sounds best with single coil pu's and maple FB's---bright and snappy

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Guitars:
1. mid 70's Ventura MIJ Gibson l6-s clone (Pre-lawsuit) in Black with Rosewood FB and EMG 81 BR/ 85 Neck
2. ESP KH2 Neck Thru
3. 2008 Am Std Strat in 3 tone sunburst

I notice it feels different, and they say your tone comes from your fingers, so the difference you hear is probably based on that.... I would think...

Not so fast there, Bubba. Not all Strats with maple/maple are completely one piece. '66 - '68 Strats, as well as most of their reissues, will have that combination as two separate pieces.

As said before, rosewood had a touch of warmth to it and maple has pop. I would have to say ebony is, in a way, the middle ground between the two.

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2006 Fender AVRI 70s Stratocaster: Natural Ash | Sovtek MIG 60 & A No Name Cabinet | Pedals & Junk

IMHO not enough of a difference to justify buying another strat. ^^
Unless of course you've got a bad case of gear acquisition syndrome.

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I traded my car in for a microphone.

Don't worry about any difference in tone due to the materials. It's mainly a feel thing, as others have said. I love rosewood boards. My '67 Tele came with a maple board neck, but I've been using a rosewood replacement neck on it for the last dozen or so years. It still sounds like it always did, to my ears.