Fretboard woods: can anyone genuinely FEEL the difference?

johnonguitar

I always hear people saying "oh such and such wood feels better under my fingers" and I'm like uhhh yeah...

When really I'm thinking how the hell do you touch the fretboard? Don't your strings go out of tune if your pressing that hard?

I have maple, rosewood and ebony fretboards. I've also had richlite. Never noticed the difference in feel when playing. Although I do prefer to see maple under my fingers when I'm playing. I prefer to see rosewood when a guitar is on a stand though

Not talking about tone difference at all mind!

Whitecat

Ebony and rosewood feel similar to me and I wouldn't be able to tell blind.

Maple is VERY different though! Absolutely makes for a different experience.

stickyfiddle

It depends partly how pudgy your fingertips are, I would assume. 

I can definitely feel the difference between gloss-finished maple and unfinished rosewood, and to a lesser extent, ebony.

HAL9000

Haven't done a blind test, but reckon I could probably tell maple from rosewood.

ICBM

It depends how big the frets are too. With small frets, your fingertips will definitely be rubbing against the fingerboard when you bend strings even if you're not pushing the string down any further.

I can feel the difference, although it generally doesn't matter to me.

sweepy

I tend to hear the difference rather than feel it, unless it's a lacquered maple board with low-ish frets

EricTheWeary

I have occasionally wondered this. I would say I can feel the difference but at the same time I feel I'm not really touching the fingerboard (although the accumulation of finger end shaped grime on fingerboards suggests that I actually do).

Fairly sure that there's at least some element of psychological suggestion to it (and as to how different fingerboards sound as well - not saying there isn't a difference but the more you associate, let's say, maple boards with telecasters and bright country guitar sounds the more you might look at a maple board guitar and hear bright in your head long before you play it).

There are certain stereotypes about guitars that get repeated over and over. Nor that there isn't an element of truth but I'm sure sometimes we believe the stereotype or cliché more than we believe the evidence of our own ears and fingers.

sweepy

Ebony and Carbon fretboards are definitely "harder" in tone compared to Rosewood imho, having had electric guitars in pretty much every conceivable combination, fret wire does also have a bearing with S/S being a bit "zingier" for want of a better word

Sporky

EricTheWeary said:

I'm sure sometimes we believe the stereotype or cliché more than we believe the evidence of our own ears and fingers.

Expectation definitely affects perception - you don't hear with just your ears, or feel with just your fingers. Your brain does a lot of work to convert the nerve impulses into your perception. Hence optical illusions and so on working.

Deijavoo

I reckon it's very easy to tell the difference. Never tried blindfolded though so maybe presuming.

fretfinder

Lacquered maple and rosewood feel very different to me, and ebony somewhat in between i.e. 'harder' feeling than rosewood but not as shiny and slippery feeling as maple. I'm convinced I feel more resistance from rosewood when string bending, which I like. The fingertips contact the board in between the strings rather than directly underneath the string - which is obviously where the fingerboard wear is on maple board Fender Relics.

http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/j359/Fretfinder/1f871bad5b5ef61eb5f9aca155e267b1.jpg

richardhomer

I once owned a '71 Tele which had had its frets levelled many times - so they had very little height left. It had a typically 70s heavily finished maple neck and felt really hard to play - it took a lot more pressure than I normally apply to fret a note and bending (even with 9s) was harder than usual.

I've no doubt a refret would have sorted it out.

Although I don't own any maple board guitars at present, I don't think the material makes much different to the feel - and only a very slight one to the sound.

My 4 electrics have rosewood boards (Brazillian in the case of my vintage '335) and my 3 acoustics are all ebony. The oldest (a 25 year old D28) has shiny patches where playing has polished the board over the years - it feels really smooth. A new ebony board can feel slightly 'scratchy' compared to a played-in one. This is probably true of rosewood as well but it is a softer material which seems to 'play-in' more quickly.

Above all else - it's the cosmetics and prejudices which probably dictate my preferences the most (Teles 'must' have maple necks, LPCs 'must' have ebony boards, etc)

Mkjackary

I don't push the string to the point that it touches the board, but my fingers touch the board, particularly when bending strings.

I can hear a difference, particularly on chords lower down the neck (Em, Amaj) in how the notes end (which frequency's die out first).

I prefer the sound of a rosewood strat, but the feel of a maple fretboard is so good that I would almost always go for maple board.

Don't like ebony atall. And rosewood is a pain in the arse to clean and keep gunk off of, maple just use some lighter fluid, or just a cloth.

Also an old nitro maple fretboard aged naturally looks kick ass imo

impmann

I can occasionally feel a difference but it matters nothing to me.

I do have a problem with very tall frets. It's probably my poor left hand technique but I find if the frets are really tall, I have issues with some notes sounding sharp where the action of pushing down on the string bends the note due to the height. Likewise I find similar with scalloped boards. But like I say, probably my poor technique.

earwighoney

Mkjackary said:

Don't like ebony atall. And rosewood is a pain in the arse to clean and keep gunk off of, maple just use some lighter fluid, or just a cloth.

Maple fretboards do have the advantage of not really requiring as much cleaning as rosewood/ebony fretboards, but IMO the refret gripe can be a bit of PITA.  Which doesn't matter too much for a brand new guitars or custom guitars with SS or Gold EVO frets but for second hand guitars, a maple refret can be a good chunk more expensive than a rosewood/ebony refret. 

Ebony can be a right PITA, more so than any other fretboard material as it can be erratic to humidity issues.  Ebony fretboards cracking/shrinking happens now and again, and for classical guitars it's an absolute nightmare.  I had such a guitar and it frustrated the life out of me.  

Personally, I think there is no one choice which is the best, they all have their advantages and disadvantages to the application. 

Sporky

Ziricote is pretty.

thomasross20

It's weird but I definitely feel the difference, every time.

For me:

Ebony is like a polished, slick thing - love it. 

Rosewood feels grainy and has a warm sound - not entirely my thing. 

Maple is slidey and bright - I like it, mostly for neck.

Those are the main three, anyway. 

Hope I never have major issues with my ebony fretboards........!

johnonguitar

thomasross20;1032671" said:

It's weird but I definitely feel the difference, every time.

For me:

Ebony is like a polished, slick thing - love it. Rosewood feels grainy and has a warm sound - not entirely my thing. Maple is slidey and bright - I like it, mostly for neck.

Those are the main three, anyway. 

Hope I never have major issues with my ebony fretboards........!

Don't your customs have rosewood boards?

thomasross20

Ebony with maple necks

Sassafras

If you're playing low frets you can definitely feel the difference between a lacquered maple board and a rosewood one but only when you're bending strings.

Lescaster

I love the feel of ebony boards.

I can't imagine not touching the board when playing. It must take the lightest of touches and a true constant perpendicular contact to not touch and feel the board when fretting certain chords or doing bends etc.