Maple is a hard, heavy wood and gives bright, trebly tones good for clean. Rosewood is soft and lighter and gives warm, fuzzy tones good for distorted guitar.

Sorry if somebody already said this it's just the simplest way i can put it.

_________________
Black Fender Jaguar HH Special
3x Black Squier Affinity Strat
Black Partscaster
Sunburst Jim Deacon JDST57
Tobacco Burst Westfield E4000
Redburst Hondo H180A
White Ibanez JEM 555
Brown Ibanez SX60
Black Encore Superstrat

TGplayer1,The statement you made has been argued by many others-myself included- over this whole thread.My brightest sounding Strat is a rosewood and I have played many bright rosewoods over the years and many mellow maple neck Strats so that can't possibly be claimed as a hard and fast rule.This has just become another urban legend that's been perpetuated by people who haven't heard as many Strats as others have.

_________________
'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.

Umm yeah, highly doubtful grasshopper, but thanks for confirming my previous question.
Didn't mean to rattle your green feathers.

Ok so it's been proven wrong already, but in terms of the wood maple is much harder and heavier, one of the reasons it was used in the first place, so with two identical guitars the tonal difference would be as said.

_________________
Black Fender Jaguar HH Special
3x Black Squier Affinity Strat
Black Partscaster
Sunburst Jim Deacon JDST57
Tobacco Burst Westfield E4000
Redburst Hondo H180A
White Ibanez JEM 555
Brown Ibanez SX60
Black Encore Superstrat

The density of the wood has something to do with it's resonance, at least partly. I'm not sure that we have had extremely consistent wood over the years, so it is kind of tough to say definitively which particular type of wood has which sonic qualities. Brazillian Rosewood for example, isn't used as much as it used to be. I'm sure that various types of Rosewood are different in their densities, so the newer types being used might not be as dense, etc. I remember that Fender switched to Alder from Ash, one reason that was given was the inconsistency of the Ash. And I can surmise that the Alder of today is different than the Alder of the 60s, so it could be more, or less, dense. You can still get Ash, but you pay extra.

But, many of these differences are subtle and apparently not detectable by many, so it really matters little in the grand scheme of things, and is really only apparent when all of the subtle differences are put together in the right combination. Changing any one small thing about a guitar only makes a slight, sometimes imperceptible difference.

And as far as the whole "snake oil" thing, I think that the price of some of the woods used for instruments is high not because of some alleged legendary sonic qualities, but because of it's other qualities, such as that certain woods make good looking instruments, some wood is more durable, consistency (not so much any more), and that these woods are easier for the wood worker to use. Ash for example, is used on some Strats merely because of it's beautiful grain, not for any sonic qualities. It is typically only used on the finishes where the grain shows through. Alder is used on the '62 reissue, probably because it is a reissue, and that's what type of wood was used originally, not because using Ash would greatly change the tone.

Blame it on whoever started using the term "tone-woods" to describe the woods desired by instrument makers, don't blame it on those who can hear subtle differences and nuances of different materials, they aren't the ones selling anything. I think that there are way too many inferences drawn because of that term.

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

I have unequivocal proof that maple is brighter than rosewood. This is an experiment virtually anyone can do and the results are consistently the same, time after time. Shine a light on both maple and rosewood fretboards, take a picture of each board and blow the pics up until all you can see is the board and see which pic is brighter.

Argument over. Maple is brighter. Nuf Sed. Next topic please.

_________________

Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

God job BMW-KTM! Finally!

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

The Beemerman takes a bow.
Thank yuh, thank yuh vurry much.

_________________

Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

You beatifully summed up this entire argument. The players who hear differences aren't selling other people guitars. We are players, not dealers. We are not just making this up to seem a better player than others who don't hear anything. It's like color, IT HAS BEEN SCIENTIFCALLY PROVEN THAT EVERYONE PERCIEVES COLOR A DIFFERENT WAY. Why can't we agree that maybe everyone perceives tone in a different way also?

_________________
1965 Fender Precision Bass, 1994 Fender '54 Reissue Precision Bass, 2007 Applause Celebrity, 2011 Fender American Special Jazz Bass, 2012 Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster, 2013 Fender American Special Stratocaster, 2013 Gibson LPJ

I think the issue here is the importance placed by some of those who can hear a difference between the two.

Comparatively, there are plenty of other contributing factors which make an audible difference that the vast majority of people will hear. The difference in tonal quality between a rosewood and maple fretboards should be so far down the list I'm surprised it even gets a mention.

If there is a difference its nothing that the smallest tweak of an amp or EQ or player technique/style wouldn't solve or replicate. So probably not worth considering for too long IMO.

Just plug in and Rock out!

Andy

_________________
Pending Greatness

You hit a nice point Andybighair. Some sonic differences between two guitars may indeed be wrongly attributed to one part or another, rather than to the whole.

It wasn't that long ago that it was accepted "fact" that meat turned into flies. For proof of this phenomenon, one could simply put out some meat and wait a few days while it rots, and eventually you will clearly see the maggots emerging from the rotting meat......voila, meat turns into flies.

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

Or, more recently people spent $16 or more per FOOT of speaker wire believing it made a difference in the sound, not realizing that the studios rig THEIR speakers with zip cord! I defy anyone to hear a difference between $.35/foot #14 stranded wire and $16/foot Monster Cable in a blind A/B test.

People spend $100 on a 6' Monster Cable HDMI cable at retail stores and $30 10' cables off the 'net work just as well.

At some point, it's just hype and not statistically significant. Go with the look you like and find the pickups that give you the sound you like.

Eric Johnson could tell the difference-according to him.

_________________
'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.

Not sure I see the point.

Many musicians are by nature idiosyncratic. Vladamir Horowitz would only play one Steinway in concert and it had to be shipped all over the world.
He only performed at 4pm on Sunday and always ate Dover Sole before (or after) performing .

Stevie Ray Vaughan's Strat looked like it had been soaked in sulfuric acid but he didn't get another and didn't get it refinished. How crazy is that?

That might be acurate if it were true, but actually rosewood is heavier, denser and harder then maple. So which is brighter and why???






Note maple and mahogany - seems as far as tonewoods go, based on popular understanding/theories - softer woods would seem to make for brighter responses. Or more likely - there is really no exact coorelation between hardness and perceived tone, as ebony is very hard and supposedly has similiar response to mahogany.


from Taylor