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Post subject: Maple or Rosewood
Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 12:49 pm
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I'm looking to buy a new American Tele (probably a Standard but maybe a Deluxe). Does anyone have an opinion on the pros and cons of rosewood versus maple for the fingerboard.


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Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 2:02 pm
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I have both and to be honest, I can't tell the difference from a playing perspective. :?

I think the decision is better made based on what appeals to you visually. :wink:


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Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 3:08 pm
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Heres a test i did some weeks back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emNlebBMdUw
Its basicaly a custom classic with scn's and s1 then a deluxe through the most basic transparent amp i've ever heard. I recorded it in realtime with the most basic of setup. zoomh2 acting as a mic into youcam video recording software. The difference is there but hard to hear. Its nothing that cant be balanced with a amps eq section.

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Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 4:21 pm
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I have to say that personally, I am a maple guy all the way. One of the nicest things I have ever had my fingers on is a birdseye maple neck.


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Post subject: Playability Question
Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 4:08 am
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Any thoughts on the 'playability' of maple vs rosewood ?


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Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 4:19 am
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Various necks and fretboard materials. Ebony, Rosewood, something odd on the Ric. They're all lovely feeling and playing. But I figured my first Strat had to have a maple board. ('07/'08 American Deluxe). It's the finest feeling and playing guitar in this room.

But for most, it may come down to simple asthetics and feel. I love it.

The last time I saw this topic, I think the # of folks who preferred maple to rosewood was 4 or 5 to 1.

To me, most body colors look more pleasing with the maple, but a couple (foam green and the powder blue) look best w/rosewood.

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Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 8:55 am
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Personally I'm a maple guy, at least where Fender guitars are concerned. I think rosewood is more porous and softer, although I don't think it really affects playability. About the only factor other than aesthetics that can really influence this choice is your own body chemistry. I have really acidic sweat, and it tends to deposit a lot of grunge on my rosewood guitars. It really just means I have to clean it more often. Really though, pick what you like!


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Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 3:49 pm
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Maple is bright, snappy, and really brings out the true tele sound to me.

The rosewood played side by side with maple sounds muffled to my ears. you can't hear any part of the tonal range better. It's...not even "soft" to me, it's just muffled.

I like rosewood with mahogany, the two compliment each other quite well like the alder and maple do. The rosewood can translate the mahogany tone clearly like the maple can translate the alder clearly.

Yeah, it's a different sound on the tele, and you can brighten it up with pickups and such, but to me, a Fender ain't a fender unless it's alder on maple.

I am creamin' over my 2008 MIM Standard alder/maple, it just opitimizes the Fender sound.

My second choice is ebony. I've got an ESP maple neck thru with alder wings with an ebony finger board. OMF'nG!

I'm not familiar with the entire Fender line. Outside of the custom shop, any Fenders with an ebony finger board?


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Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 5:45 am
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If there is a difference I can't hear it. I believe its all how you see your Telecaster. Some models must be maple, while others should be rosewood. It's all about how it looks best to you.

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Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 10:32 am
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vcartier wrote:
If there is a difference I can't hear it. I believe its all how you see your Telecaster. Some models must be maple, while others should be rosewood. It's all about how it looks best to you.

Believe what you want. You can actually analyze the sound waves from rosewood and maple on a scope and see the difference in the shape, size, and duration of the sound waves.

...I guess it takes an experienced ear to hear the difference.

It's definitely not a "looks" issue, it's a sound issue. ..."look at me, I sound muffled with rosewood, but...I LOOK COOL!!!" :lol:

It ain't a Fender Telecaster unless it's alder on maple!


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Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 3:21 pm
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RCBGotTeleToo wrote:
vcartier wrote:
If there is a difference I can't hear it. I believe its all how you see your Telecaster. Some models must be maple, while others should be rosewood. It's all about how it looks best to you.

Believe what you want. You can actually analyze the sound waves from rosewood and maple on a scope and see the difference in the shape, size, and duration of the sound waves.

...I guess it takes an experienced ear to hear the difference.

It's definitely not a "looks" issue, it's a sound issue. ..."look at me, I sound muffled with rosewood, but...I LOOK COOL!!!" :lol:

It ain't a Fender Telecaster unless it's alder on maple!




Let's see this sound wave analysis.


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Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 5:07 pm
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SlapChop wrote:
RCBGotTeleToo wrote:
vcartier wrote:
If there is a difference I can't hear it. I believe its all how you see your Telecaster. Some models must be maple, while others should be rosewood. It's all about how it looks best to you.

Believe what you want. You can actually analyze the sound waves from rosewood and maple on a scope and see the difference in the shape, size, and duration of the sound waves.

...I guess it takes an experienced ear to hear the difference.

It's definitely not a "looks" issue, it's a sound issue. ..."look at me, I sound muffled with rosewood, but...I LOOK COOL!!!" :lol:

It ain't a Fender Telecaster unless it's alder on maple!




Let's see this sound wave analysis.


Sure. Bring over two teles from the same year and line, one with a rosewood neck, the other with a maple neck. We'll head over to the local college and use their scopes in the electronics department to look at the signals coming out of both guitars, and then we'll head over to their media facility and do various recordings for comparison! What you'll see on the scope is shorter waves with lesser frequency and duration of waves on the rosewood as compared to the maple if the bodies and electronics are identical.

Oh, and another thing I don't like about rosewood on a tele is the rosewood interjects subtle stumbles in bends that produces a scraping noise as your finger tip ridges and string(s) catch the grain of the rosewood whereas you don't get that stumbling problem on the smooth maple necks -- you can see that on a scope too. On some rosewood necks, it's god awful loud due to wide grain patterns. Some people like that effect, it works on mahagony bodies if you ask me, just not with alder.


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Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 8:02 am
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I've owned several guitars through the years and generally speaking, I think that each has it's own good points, as well as not-so-good points, but as niki said, nothing that can't be tweaked with EQ settings.

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Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 1:56 pm
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Miami Mike wrote:
I've owned several guitars through the years and generally speaking, I think that each has it's own good points, as well as not-so-good points, but as niki said, nothing that can't be tweaked with EQ settings.


I agree. You can find a use for each type of sound. But, I disagree about eq'ing. You can't really eq in true tone if it is not there to begin with. If that were true, everybody would buy a cheap guitar and get an expensive eq and get great tone from eq'ing, and our discussions would be about eq'ing, not getting guitar tone via various woods and electronics!

While I was creamin' all over my maple tele last night, not even so much as a inkling of wanting for better tone, I visualized all the rosewood hounds discovering the flaws in the rosewood sound and just cringing, wishing for a maple neck, stuck with that rosewood. :shock:

Ya live an ya learn!


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Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 3:08 pm
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Laboratory scopes may be an interesting thing to use to critique guitars, but frankly, I am not interested in going to that level. :roll:

I have two 2008 MIA Teles, one with a maple neck and the other with a rosewood neck. Both play beautifully and sound exactly the same (to me)in a live playing situation. My bandmates can't tell the difference either.

I recently lent the rosewood one to our lead guitarist and even though he was used to maple boards, he made very positive comments on how nice the rosewood one was to play. :shock:

I still think it just comes down to which one looks better. :wink:


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