The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #51

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    I like ebony on my fingerboard, but that's if I have the luxury to be choosy.

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  3. #52

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    Ebony for me

  4. #53

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    Not politically correct, but a Brazilian rosewood board is my favorite. Then ebony, and then rosewood. I don't like maple boards in general, but I've had great guitars with maple boards...

  5. #54

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    Not all rosewoods are equal, even among the same species. East Indian rosewood is very consistent and very porous. Honduran Rosewood is mechanically near perfect and not near as porous as Indian, but the lighter color bothers a lot of people. Same with Cocobolo (a true rosewood), except the color is orange. African Blackwood (also a true rosewood) is denser and has finer pores than most ebonies, very expensive and blunts tools in nothing flat. Madagascar rosewood is awesome, but the sources of it's trade are suspect, as this is what got Gibson at odds with over zealous government agents a few years back. SE Asian rosewood is as close to the old Brazilian as one can get, but governments in that region have restricted it's export. Modern day Brazilian rosewood is all over the place in terms of stability and cosmetics, I refuse to work with it anymore.

    On classicals I prefer ebony, but I have always hated ebony on solid bodies. I have not played enough archtops to properly form an opinion yet, but I could easily see African Blackwood being a premium choice on higher end archtops. It would be my first choice on my classicals if the ebony supplies dried up.

  6. #55

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    Ebony, at least on archtops

  7. #56

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    I don't have a preference, if the guitar sounds good I don't really care what the fretboard is but most of my guitars have Rosewood boards.

  8. #57

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    Bois de Rose, a rosewood which quickly turns almost black and looks like ebony. Daniel Slaman uses it occasionally. Closely followed by old dark brazilian rosewood. Generally I prefer the softer feel of dark rosewoods, though ebony looks consistently good. Ebony boards seem to feel and sound a little harder to me.

  9. #58

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    Ebony. For the aesthetics only. As far as playability, doesn't much matter although Parker's composit fret board with stainless frets is hard to beat. Tone wise, I will get the tone I want regardless so fret board material is not an issue.

  10. #59

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    my guitars are all too different in all the other variables for me to have an informed opinion, but i suppose i like rosewood and ebony; rosewood being the standard, but my ebony boarded guitar definitely have a certain something unique to them.

    i'm generally ok with having my guitars cleaned up because i certainly won't do it. and i don't have anything with maple so it isn't a huge loss. i was a little sad when my first guitar got all shined up without my knowledge, and all the relicing on the crapwood board was gone.

  11. #60

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    Ebony, mainly for it's appearance. I do like the slick feel of it too. I generally don't like rosewood very much, however some rosewood boards I've played on have been very nice. The maple board on my 2011 Gibson L6-S reissue is a joy to play on too.

  12. #61

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    Quote Originally Posted by DC Ron
    Not politically correct, but a Brazilian rosewood board is my favorite. Then ebony, and then rosewood. I don't like maple boards in general, but I've had great guitars with maple boards...
    I'm surprised at how many people greatly desire Brazilian rosewood fingerboards but would easily pass over other varieties of rosewood in favor of ebony. I own three vintage Epiphone Triumphs from the 40s with Brazilian rosewood fingerboards and several recent production Heritage guitars with current production rosewood boards, and the only reason I know there is a difference between them is that I've researched the materials used and confirmed their places or origin. Had I not known the origin of the Brazilian vs current production fingerboards, I would have thought they were the same wood from similar sources.

    How many of you would be willing to pay the massive premium demanded for Brazilian rosewood? Why?

  13. #62

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    Quote Originally Posted by jazzbow
    I like the slick feel of ebony. Rosewood is fine but can take ages to slicken up like ebony. A blues playing friend from 60's blues boom said the trick with rosewood finger boards was to wipe your hands through your greasy hair then rub onto the rosewood to slicken it up! He wasn't laughing when he told me that one. 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. What do you guys use?? Someone posted a while back saying he left mineral oil on rosewood overnight
    I wouldn't advocate that, it would be a case of small amount to wipe on, work in then wipe off excess.
    Sorry to hijack this thread but to extend this topic somewhat what wood and treatment do we use and has anyone heard of the greay hair/lanolin urban myth??
    Hey Jazzbow.....

    My current axe is rosewood. About every 3rd string change(about every 3 months), it gets a complete cleaning and a fresh rubbing in of linseed oil. It's a slow process but it's slicking/polishing up very nicely. In my youth, playing in a bar band, I used a slightly different version of the "greasy hair" routine. About every 3rd or 4 song(or if my finger tips started feeling 'dry') I'd rub them along the side of my nose and collect a little skin oil.........

    (edit to add).......wife just mentioned that when I'm playing now, I still do the rubbing the side of my nose after about 20 minutes..........
    Last edited by dragger201; 10-09-2014 at 04:38 PM.

  14. #63

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    Quote Originally Posted by Klatu
    I'm surprised at how many people greatly desire Brazilian rosewood fingerboards but would easily pass over other varieties of rosewood in favor of ebony. I own three vintage Epiphone Triumphs from the 40s with Brazilian rosewood fingerboards and several recent production Heritage guitars with current production rosewood boards, and the only reason I know there is a difference between them is that I've researched the materials used and confirmed their places or origin. Had I not known the origin of the Brazilian vs current production fingerboards, I would have thought they were the same wood from similar sources.

    How many of you would be willing to pay the massive premium demanded for Brazilian rosewood? Why?
    Don't think I'd go out of my way or pay much of a premium for it, I just like it when I find it. (See my posts on the L-7 I had.) I like the density, the smoothness and the looks. (I especially like the ones that are reddish brown with dark brown/black stripes.) I agree that some other rosewoods are similar, but haven't seen much that would fool me into thinking it's a 70 year old slab of Brazilian.

  15. #64

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    Quote Originally Posted by DC Ron
    Don't think I'd go out of my way or pay much of a premium for it, I just like it when I find it. (See my posts on the L-7 I had.) I like the density, the smoothness and the looks. (I especially like the ones that are reddish brown with dark brown/black stripes.) I agree that some other rosewoods are similar, but haven't seen much that would fool me into thinking it's a 70 year old slab of Brazilian.
    Yeah Ron . . I gotta agree. Some BRW is just beautiful. Here my BRW '61 strat;




  16. #65

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    Quote Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
    If you blindfolded me, I'm not too sure I could tell the difference.
    This.

    Quite frankly this sort of stuff IMHO falls into princess and the pea fairy tales. How could you tell- swap fretboards out and see if it sounds different? Even then heating, ungluing and regluing in a new fretboard may change other things. Comparing between two guitars with different fingerboard materials brings in too many uncontrolled variables.

    I remember listening to a Jim Soloway comparison in which the maple fretboard-ed neck sounded warmer than the neck with a rosewood fretboard, contrary to guitar myth and lore.

    When I read these sorts of discussion I think that if I put this time and energy into learning to play the damn guitar I'd come out ahead. ;-)

  17. #66

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    FWIW I have two Gibson L6-Ss , one with an Ebony fingerboard, and one with a maple fingerboard. THe ebony fingerboard guitar is brighter sounding instrument. The maple fingerboard guitar is quite mellow.
    They have different pickups etc. so it's not a direct comparison, but it is contrary to what one would assume.

  18. #67

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    Maple on Fenders - ebony on anything else. I refuse to own a guitar with a rosewood fingerboard.

  19. #68

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    Maple on my Fenders. Rosewood on my archtops. I've also owned guitars with composite fretboards. I know that the construction of the neck and the materials it's made from are major tone drivers, but don't ask me to tell you what drives what. I do know from neck swapping on various bolt-on guitars that different necks sound different.

    Mainly the fretboard material is of aesthetic/psychological concern to me.

    My conducting professor talked about the wood that the bulb on a conducting baton is made of -- the part that fits in the palm of the hand that NO ONE ever sees -- and how they have different tones, one wood being "warmer" and the other being "cooler" etc. Now that's some serious woo

  20. #69

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    Quote Originally Posted by jim soloway
    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.
    yuk!!!!!!!!!

  21. #70

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    My preference on arch tops is ebony. The exception would be the iconic 175. I just would ever change anything about that guitar.

    My preference on strats and semis is rosewood. I once made the mistake of buying a Heritage H555 . . . only because of how beautiful it was. Within the first 5 minutes of playing it, I hated it .. due to its tone. Not sure whether it was the ebony board or the HRW Schaller pup . . or a combination of the two. But, I sold it almost immediately after buying it. My current ES335 and H535 have beautiful RW boards. Couldn't be happier with either of them.

  22. #71

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    I am building a Telecaster ® specifically to play Jazz. So far I have an Ash body that I would like to couple with a flamed maple neck with a possibly Pau Ferro fingerboard.

    My questions:

    1. What is the best wood for a solid body guitar intended for Jazz
    My thoughts: Mahogany Back with Black Korina on the front

    2. What is the best combination of wood for a neck that would go on a solid body for a guitar intended for Jazz?
    My thoughts: Flamed or Birds Eye Maple with a fingerboard made out of Pau Ferro or Rosewood

    Please advice.

    Thanks :-)

  23. #72

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    Quote Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
    ^^^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)
    Joe Pass had a bad time with linseed oil, his favorite 175 had to be abandoned because he let somebody oil the fingerboard.

    As for me, I always preferred ebony, but find Richlite to be perfectly acceptable.

  24. #73

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    Jim Hall wore out the rosewood board on his 175, had Jimmy D'Aquisto replace it with ebony, and loved it.

  25. #74

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    I prefer rosewood. I just like the feel of it and I dig the patina it gets from the oils in my fingers after playing it a while.

  26. #75

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    Quote Originally Posted by wolfie
    I am building a Telecaster ® specifically to play Jazz. So far I have an Ash body that I would like to couple with a flamed maple neck with a possibly Pau Ferro fingerboard.

    My questions:

    1. What is the best wood for a solid body guitar intended for Jazz
    My thoughts: Mahogany Back with Black Korina on the front

    2. What is the best combination of wood for a neck that would go on a solid body for a guitar intended for Jazz?
    My thoughts: Flamed or Birds Eye Maple with a fingerboard made out of Pau Ferro or Rosewood

    Please advice.

    Thanks :-)
    I'm not a luthier, or expert, so take the following with a grain of salt.

    For a solid body Telecaster, alder might give you rounder highs than swamp ash, which seems to mute the higher frequencies a little bit. For jazz, you might even consider koa, which seems to give a little more vibrant mids, tighter lows, and mellow highs.

    For the neck I'd use roasted maple. Nice and hard and straight and stable, since all of the moisture is already gone.

    For the fretboard, maple is fine with me. Some people like the extra hardness and smoothness of ebony. Whatever looks good. I'd care more about the frets than the fretboard wood.

    In all cases, mahogany seems to give a little warmer sound if that's what you like. I wouldn't bother putting a top on a Telecaster body.