Do you have a preference for fingerboard wood?

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

I've never been able to get used to a maple board. Must be the finish, but I've never tried any other finished wood fretboard (like on a Rickenbacker).

[amhabz]

I use "fast fret" works just fine and cleans the strings and fret board.

[coolvinny]

Usually I prefer ebony, but if the rosewood is ultra high end then I prefer rosewood. Unfortunately, I've only ever seen one guitar like this. Fortunately, I own it.

[hot ford coupe]

I suppose the closest thing to greasy hair would be lanolin. I found some non perfume soap with lanolin and just recently I've put some on me rosewood and it polishes up a treat. I've seen me use wax, linseed oil and even olive oil! But lanolin seems to work too.

Gleep!!! From what I've read, lanolin is the worst thing you can put on a guitar. I'm not sure if this is 100% true so I'll need some feedback from the luthiers here. First, they say you can never refinish a guitar if it has lanolin on it. The new finish gets messed up. The second thing I read is that if lanolin gets under a fingerboard, it can debond the fingerboard. To paraphrase what I read, your fingerboard can loosen or pop off at the worst possible time. Luthiers, any thoughts on that? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[kenbennett]

Gleep!!! From what I've read, lanolin is the worst thing you can put on a guitar. I'm not sure if this is 100% true so I'll need some feedback from the luthiers here. First, they say you can never refinish a guitar if it has lanolin on it. The new finish gets messed up. The second thing I read is that if lanolin gets under a fingerboard, it can debond the fingerboard. To paraphrase what I read, your fingerboard can loosen or pop off at the worst possible time. Luthiers, any thoughts on that? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Don't know about lanolin. Does it contain silicone? If so, it's a no no.

OK. It's a natural secretion of wool bearing animals. It's a type of wax. I wouldn't use it.

Stick to lemon oil.

Other oils are sometimes used. AVOID oils that harden like linseed and tung oil.

Stick to lemon oil. Orange oil works too, but costs more.

[hot ford coupe]

I think I've also heard that lemon oil is what you're supposed to use. I'm going to check the lanolin situation. I'll be back from Google to report.

[kambor]

I'm sure I'd have the same result. I've been thinking about this a bit more after reading the responses and one thought that came to me is that my rosewood fingerboards absorb more of my body oils and sweat. I think that changes the feel ever so slightly. The ebony fingerboard on my classical has never changed in the seven years I've played it. That's the reason ebony is used on orchestral stringed instruments for fingerboards.

Ebony indeed looks classier than rosewood, but doesn't make any difference in sound.

The difference comes in its hardness. I guess it holds frets better and thus maintains intonation a hair better than rosewood.

[hot ford coupe]

I haven't found the info on lanolin yet but I'm stil researching. I know I was advised not to use it on vintage instruments but for recently made instruments I don't know. I'm not trying to prove I'm right, I just want to prevent someone from irreparably damaging a prized instrument. If I can save someone that kind of grief, I'll be happy as a clam.
By the way, Ebony is my choice. It just feels good to me.

[Flatwound12]

^^^Agreed. More often than not, it's simply unecessary.

And I missed the idea of linseed. NEVER. EVER. Anybody who oil paints can tell you why. Shit never dries.

ALso never use a citrus oil that's actually derived from citrus fruit (most of what is marketed as "Lemon Oil" is actually a mild mineral oil with a mild lemon scent, it's okay)

Boiled Linseed Oil is perfectly ok to use. Just a few drops, let it set for a minute and wipe. Once or twice a year. I'd been using it for 20+ years on a strat fingerboard and the rosewood was as beautiful as the day I bought it

[LarryN]

i like the feel of ebony. Ebony yields a bright ping along with the notes that is great for benson/wes stuff but a little bright for metheny/hall/rogers tones. I like rosewood better for that. Maple sounds great on a strat for SRV tones (Lenny, etc).

Neck wood effects tone quite a bit too.

All of the above concurs with my experience.

[Keira Witherkay]

yep ebony is always classy looking....

and been seeing some boutique jazz guitars with different woods ....

****but with fenders tele's and strats i prefer maple ...and mostly cos i love the way they visibly age with with time........

and even played parker fly's and back in 90's owned a steinberger with carbon graphite fretboard

and enjoyed em all

****yet like mentioned above mostly i could not tell blindfolded what fretboard wood was on the neck i was playing????? nor hear it in any recording ....

[docbop]

****but with fenders tele's and strats i prefer maple ...and mostly cos i love the way they visibly age with with time........

The story I heard was Leo stopped using maple because I didn't like the worn out look it got with time, so Leo switched to rosewood because it didn't show wear.

funny story my old luthier did work for all the big names at one point or another. Clapton brought his famous Blakie strat to my luthier for a refret. My guy's standard mode of operation is to clean up the fretboard of guitars he refret's so he cleaned Blackie up. When Clapton comes to get Blackie he freaks no more dark spots on the neck. Clapton plays Blackie likes the fret job and hands him back the guitar.... Now get my black marks back on the neck, I worked hard for them. So my guy had to relic the dark spots back onto Blackie.

[Greentone]

I don't know about other guitars, lacking comparisons, but I could always hear the difference between my maple and rosewood Fenders. IMO, the rosewood Stratocasters and Telecasters sound better. The maple looks great, though.

on my archtops I enjoy ebony.

[Jim Soloway]

I think ebony makes a big difference in tone and I don't care for it. I much prefer rosewood.

[tonedeaf]

Do you have any preferences for fingerboard wood: Ebony, rosewood, maple? I seem to always come back to rosewood fingerboards for left hand feel and tone.

Ed S.

Ditto. I can not stand maple. I have a very nice new guitar with ebony and I am going to make a real effort to become more happier with it.

[Keira Witherkay]

i think if you A/B two guitars with same amp setting and with identical pickups but one with maple neck and one with rosewood you would hear a difference..... But if you hear just one in the mix i doubt anyone could tell the tonal difference.. or them apart

[Keira Witherkay]

The story I heard was Leo stopped using maple because I didn't like the worn out look it got with time, so Leo switched to rosewood because it didn't show wear.

funny story my old luthier did work for all the big names at one point or another. Clapton brought his famous Blakie strat to my luthier for a refret. My guy's standard mode of operation is to clean up the fretboard of guitars he refret's so he cleaned Blackie up. When Clapton comes to get Blackie he freaks no more dark spots on the neck. Clapton plays Blackie likes the fret job and hands him back the guitar.... Now get my black marks back on the neck, I worked hard for them. So my guy had to relic the dark spots back onto Blackie.

thats so funny cos a while back i had a 80's strat with a maple board that was looking gorgeously worn with ingrained dirt n the worn sections ....and just as the story above took it in for just a minor repair not even a fret job and the repair guy thought he was doing me a favour by cleaning it up to almost new ....let me add without me asking him to and he sounded all excited and returned the guitar saying "now it looks like new" and i swear i hit the roof....and came just short of smacking him....... i was furious...... and have never given him more business ...and soon after sold the strat which lost it's appeal to me ..............so yes some of us love the mojo of old played in feeling and looking instruments and the fretboard is the main area of wear ........ and i guess others like my ex repair guy likes them all looking brand new.... these days when i send a guitar in i stipulate just do the work and don't even clean it.... i will do that

[Broyale]

You wanted to smack dude for cleaning your guitar, really?

[cosmic gumbo]

James Jamerson - "the dirt keeps the funk"

[AlainJazz]

Who would've thought. There is obviously a serious market for grime.

[Wes Fan]

Who would've thought. There is obviously a serious market for grime.

Are you kidding? In the world of new "reproduction" furniture, you pay extra for a "distressed" finish.

[Jim Soloway]

You wanted to smack dude for cleaning your guitar, really?

I'm like that as well. I don't ever wipe off my fingerboard and I don't want anyone else doing it either. In fact I rarely clean anything on my guitars.

[Hjalmiz]

thats so funny cos a while back i had a 80's strat with a maple board that was looking gorgeously worn with ingrained dirt n the worn sections ....and just as the story above took it in for just a minor repair not even a fret job and the repair guy thought he was doing me a favour by cleaning it up to almost new ....let me add without me asking him to and he sounded all excited and returned the guitar saying "now it looks like new" and i swear i hit the roof....and came just short of smacking him....... i was furious...... and have never given him more business ...and soon after sold the strat which lost it's appeal to me ..............so yes some of us love the mojo of old played in feeling and looking instruments and the fretboard is the main area of wear ........ and i guess others like my ex repair guy likes them all looking brand new.... these days when i send a guitar in i stipulate just do the work and don't even clean it.... i will do that

Yes !! . Dont trust a guitar player that play a guitar without scars.

[Keira Witherkay]

You wanted to smack dude for cleaning your guitar, really?

don't misunderstand me...i don't mind the tech wiping the instrument down ...but never any polish cos i hate the feel of any substance on the guitar or in this case i mentioned they actually found a way to clean the ingrained stains in the maple fretboard...not sure if they used some kind of chemical or just sanded it lightly ....but these were the stains which took 20 yrs of actual playing to build up...which i really liked the look of....

so it wasn't just a clean as i a wipe down for dust a big difference between grime and long time build up of finger stains on a maple board... i love a true "road worn " instrument ...would never fake it tho but love true age on an instrument ..especially maple fingerboards

[GNAPPI]

No preference on wood. If I play maple, rosewood, ebony and I like it, it goes home with me.

I just wish the style for HUGE markers would go away... then maybe I would have a preference :-0

Actually, I have two guitars without markers... a Cort Triggs which has rosewood, and a Pat Martino with Ebony and I find myself playing these a lot, so maybe I'll never have a preference?