My Strat sounds greasier when I eat bar-b-q than when I eat salad.

It sounds saltier when I eat pepperoni pizza than when I eat plain cheese pizza.

My Tele sounds heavier when I eat Italian food, and when I eat Chinese food, I have to play my guitar again within two hours.

Beware the Hippo!

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Life is good my friends!!

For outdoor gigs in hot and humid weather use rosewood.

For all other applications, use maple.

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

With pickups, different strings, modelling amps that can add distortion, reverb, etc, it's a wonder anyone can hear a difference between necks, especially when one is all maple, and the other is maple with a thick veneer of rosewood.
But while maple is a hard wood, rosewood is denser and harder, meaning it should carry sound more effectively at all frequencies. Ebony is denser and harder still And nobody uses teak which is harder still.

So the wood SHOULD affect the sound. But how much? And, in the face of zillions of modifying electronics, does it make a difference?

Really I didn't know that. Why is that? Id figure since the rosewood is a extra piece it would be bad for it to expand since its connected more so than the 1 piece of single maple :O If so Im sad to say all I have is maple

Ok WFerguson. I've deleted all of my posts that were derogatory towards you. I'm sorry that I offended you.
I don't have any qualifications. I have built a few things, all of which are documented on these boards. Also a metal superstrat documented on my facebook page. I gave up posting builds on here primarily because of this reason. Also my accurate maple/rosewood test on this thread.

All of that means little. Once again I'm sorry for being insulting.

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No no and no

Just lessons learned from experience. If you have a choice between Rosewood and Maple, go with Rosewood.
Maple can get sticky and tacky, you'll come up 3 frets short.

Also...DO NOT USE BUG SPRAY anywhere near the guitar.
That stuff can destroy a finish.

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Nikininja,I'm offended that the little penguin gets slapped in the back of the head and falls into the ice....I laugh at him and it makes me feel insensitive to animals ...so it's your fault.

I'm new to the forum, but not to Strats. I had a California series Strat with a maple fretboard for 10 years before it was stolen. Now I have an American Deluxe with rosewood. The main difference that I noticed is the feel. I have been playing for 25 years, and have played several brands of guitars. I do like the feel of maple over rosewood. But that is it. There is a big difference between my two Strats that make them uncomparable. The AD sounds brighter, probably because of the VN pickups. I just close my eyes and play. It didn't matter what guitar SRV had in his hands, it still sounded like SRV!

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2000 American Deluxe Stratocaster
2011 Gibson Les Paul Trad Pro 50's
2007 Epi Les Paul Custom
90's ESP Eclipse
JH-1B Jimi Hendrix Crybaby
Analogman KOT
Korg Pitchblack
Boss NS-2 PH-2
Blues Deluxe Reissue
1999 & 2007 Marshall TSL 100 w/1960BV cab

I am no luthier and not too experienced a player. But I am interested in how things work...so can you elaborate on WHY the vibrations of the strings traveling through the neck/finger board affect the tone (not sustain) produced by the PUPs and heard through an amp? And what is it about maple that would make it produce brighter tone on an electric?



Can you clarify this? I thought PUPs were designed to work off the vibrating strings passing through a magnetic field to produce current - which is the source of any sound we hear through an amp...why would ANYONE with even basic knowlege of guitars say that the strings have to touch the pups??...that's just goofy!

Thanks!

Thank you for the inf but like I said I only have maple and I figured any kind of chemical spray would be bad for the guitar lol Im defensive of what does on around my guitar xD

Then ya work with what ya have!

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Very true. Im one of those "keep it clean and in good shape" kinda guys not the "Chips,nicks and scratches give it character kinda people" I like it being in the best shape possible.

Bingo! we have a winner.

Clearly, there's only one mechanism that gets the "sound" of the guitar's body and neck to the pickups, and that's via the 4 points of contact with the string: Tuner, nut, bridge and tailpiece. So..the body's sympathetic vibrations from the string have to create a mechanical "feedback" to the string itself, modifying the string's vibration, which, via the magnetic field, transfers it to the pickup as an "altered" sound. So...when people say the finish of the solid body affects the sound I am dubious that via all this it can have a noticeable affect...but I've been wrong before and expect I'll be wrong again!