Roasted Maple neck/fingerboard brittle?

ZenOvertone

Seriously contemplating another Suhr S style now (the others are rosewood boards), does anyone know if a roasted maple fingerboard is more prone to chip out if a refret is required in future?  I know there's a lot of stories around about the timber potentially being brittle?  I know it would be a way off as they have SS frets fitted though!

rossi

I have a roasted maple Fender  Strat neck and the corner of the  headstock flourish has chipped slightly .No idea how it happened as I had only fitted it a few weeks earlier and hadnt gigged, dropped it  or even knocked as far as I know so baffled .It obviously took a bash but no idea when .I was a bit surprised though.Despite years of misused and abuse none of my other Fenders ever had a mark on it .So who knows .Lovely neck though so who cares .

WezV

Im not sure roasted maple has been around enough for many to have experienced enough refrets to say for sure... But I would approach it the same way I do ebony, as that can also be very brittle.

Might need a little more care, but I don't expect it to be a show stopper

DrBob

If you’ve not read it already this thread has some views on the roasted maple thing ..,

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/184845/upgrading-a-mexican-fender-worth-it

ZenOvertone

Thanks, I've had an Ebony neck refretted before and know that the guy took a lot more time to be careful to avoid chip out.

ICBM

As you will already know I detest roasted maple, but stainless steel frets make the question irrelevant since they won't need replacing within the lifetime of the neck, so don't worry about it.