The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #76

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    This is going to sound kind of contrary to what most people write, so I'll apologize in advance.

    I think I have fairly sensitive ears when it comes to the sound of my guitars. This being said, I have owned quite a few different Telecasters, Stratocasters, and even a 57 Esquire. I have had a mix of maple and rosewood fretboards. When I listen with my eyes, my impressions are similar to the consensus, i.e., maple is brighter/rosewood is warmer. When, however, I listen with my ears, my impressions are that you can't really _hear_ the differences between rosewood or maple fingerboards. Instead, body material, setup, strings, and picks make a much greater difference in the sound.

    My rosewood board Fenders can sound bright, snappy, and funky, and my maple board Fenders can sound warm, round, and jazzy.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #77

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    Quote Originally Posted by wolfie

    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
    There is no best. It's all personal taste, and no good way to tell in advance what would sound best to you. I have an alder bodied partscaster with roasted maple neck, a spanish cedar body with RW fingerboard neck, and for a long time played a heavily chambered, swamp ash body tele with a spruce top, maple neck.

    For jazz sound, I'd probably go with that spanish cedar body. It's not far from light, old Honduran mahogany I think. Certainly lighter than most mahogany bodies I've seen. But note that I'm reacting as much to the 2 x P90s pickups in that guitar as I am to wood choice. I have no idea how that combination would sound with other single coil or HB pickups.
    MD

  4. #78

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    I have had guitars with a wide variety of fingerboards: olive, pau ferro, zircote, paduk, cocobolo, EIR, and ebony. I have never noticed a difference in sound that I can attribute to the fingerboard. If there is a difference, it must be so minute as to be overwhelmed by the other variables. To me it comes down to aesthetics and wear. There are beautiful woods that I just don't think would wear well enough. Perhaps I will try resin impregnating something like a quilted redwood or sapele some day for a fingerboard. For now I stick to only naturally tough woods. The ugliest was paduk, which starts off a dazzling red and ages into a dog poop brown. The olive actually smelled a bit like olive oil, so that was an unexpected bonus, and is a gorgeous light colored wood. Mostly I use EIR, as I got two dozen fingerboard blanks a few years back and am slowly working through them.

  5. #79

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    For tactile input I pay attention to radius and fret wire. Width too, and shape. The fret board material is the last of my preferences, but is almost inconsequencial to my feel.

    Someone mentioned cleaning their guitar and how they were irate that the Tech dared clean their fretboard. But if was a worn Fender maple board I certainly understand their consternation.

    Depending on the wood, some fretboards need to be oiled at least once a year with linseed oil, (which is what Gibson uses at the factory), or lemon oil as some people prescribe, or mineral oil (which is what string cleaners are usually made of). NEVER use silicone based products as silicon is a molecule that can never be removed successfully from your wood or deep down in the grains of your wood which is where it ends up. It's not healthy for the wood , some people believe it is and they use it
    I would rather have a product that actually lubricates rather than shields the wood from getting any lubrication whatsoever.

    Oiling is necessary but, before you oil your fretboard you should make sure that your finger dirt and residue is removed around the fret wire. Use wooden toothpicks and a light cleaner such as Simple Green, once the cleaning is accomplished remove all the simple green, let it dry natually and then oil.

    For general cleaning I use Naphtha, which is essentially lighter fluid. Some states do not allow naphtha sold however they do allow lighter fluid to be sold... Don't ask me why. Naptha is generally located in the paint section at home repair stores.

    Why do I use lighter fluid or naphtha to clean grease & grime and other residue off of my guitar, including the fretboard? Because naptha does not harm any finishes. I've seen demonstrations and you can find them on your own on YouTube. You can use naphtha on nitrocellulose, you can use naphtha on polyurethane, polyester, you can use naphtha on fine violin varnishes. Naphtha will not harm the finish, that is why luthiers and violin makers use naptha to clean instruments.

    If you have a polyurethane finished guitar you don't need to wax it... you're wasting money waxing polyurethane, but if you feel better about waxing your polyurethane finish guitar feel free. It has no protective value on top of the polyurethane.

    I do have a couple of maple fretboard guitars. However, if you need to refret the instrument Maple is very difficult to remove the frets without damaging the fretboard. Other woods such as Rosewood and other similar fretboard materials it is generally not the case but with Maple it is brittle and it will chip. Fixing the chips in maple requires wood fillers. With the cost of refretting a maple neck being what it is, and the real possibility of damage to the Maple and then the use of fillers to repair damage to a maple neck, it is almost worth it to just replace the neck all together. Which might be something to consider if you had a vintage instrument (i.e. Replace the neck with a new neck before the original neck is damaged saving the original neck for display or future sale of the original vintage instrument in its original condition).

    FYI, new maple necked Fenders usually have coated and sealed necks, the chemical used is polyurethane. Oiling a maple fretboards that is sealed with a poly does nothing for the wood. Only fretboards that are unfinished such as Rosewood (et al) benefit from a light coaster of rejuvenating and proper oils.

    I cannot stress enough to NOT use silicon based products to treat fretboards. Read the labels. Many "waxes" contain silicon.
    Last edited by geogio; 06-25-2019 at 08:12 AM. Reason: Syntax

  6. #80

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    Quote Originally Posted by docbop
    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.
    The man to go for if you want black marks (scroll Down the page)

    Kelton Swade Guitars - Replica Guitars, Relic Guitars | Kelton Swade Guitars

  7. #81

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    Ebony for sure. It’s both the feel and the sound. The difference isn’t so notable that I would turn my nose up at rosewood but I definitely prefer ebony. I’ve never liked maple as much though, partly because I don’t like finish on the fretboard. I do like the sound of maple necks on bass guitar though and right now my only fretted electric is maple so I can deal with it.


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  8. #82

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    My guitars include ebony, rosewood, maple and richlite fingerboards. I cannot identify any differences in sound that I can attribute exclusively to the fingerboard material. Aesthetically I prefer the dense grain of ebony on my 1978 Ibanez MC400N, and it feels more like a continuous piece that more loosely grained rosewood - although the dark, tight grained rosewood on my 1961 ES175 comes close to this feel, as does the richlite on my Martins.

  9. #83

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    The most comfortable necks I own are on my two Parker Niteflies. I am not sure what exactly they are made of but they are fast and easy to play on. Best of all, they don't need adjusting, which is miraculous living in New England. My Tele's neck needs lots of tweaking. The Niteflies necks stay perfect.

  10. #84

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    I favored maple for a very long time, but some periods I preferred rosewood, now I just play There is no difference between the woods, from a tonal point of view.

  11. #85

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    Still no preferences nowadays

  12. #86

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    Maple on Fender - ebony on everything else. Rosewood is a deal breaker for me - I think it looks cheap.

  13. #87

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    I bought the guitar new over 30 years ago and don't know the particular kind of rosewood on mine, but it is way darker than any other rosewood I've ever seen. During string changes I rub plain ChapStick on the fingerboard and then wipe it off.

    I've tried lots of things and have determined that oil based stuff is "too thin" - it tends to linger even after having been wiped off and it penetrates the finger tips and makes them soft (so the strings feel tighter and thinner, not good). ChapStick is more a type of inert wax that is "thicker", wipes virtually completely off, and what little lingers is so similar to the waxy oils in one's hands that it feels perfectly natural, does not penetrate the finger tips, and so does not make the strings feel tight or thin... it makes them feel good.

  14. #88

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    ebony. any thoughts on the addition w/gibson using richlite?

  15. #89

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    Over the long run, Rosewood has won me over. There's a softness that I like.

  16. #90

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    Do we really touch the fretboard with our fingertips? No.
    Does the sound of the note come from the fretboard? No.
    I have played maple, rosewood and ebony.
    I don’t hear any difference through the amp.
    I do prefer maple and ebony to rosewood.

  17. #91

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rdg178
    Do we really touch the fretboard with our fingertips? No.
    Of course we do! The rosewood fingerboard of mine when sighted from the bridge reveals slight fingerboard scalloping between the frets up to and fading out about the 15th.

    Have you never seen a maple fingerboard rubbed to bare wood blackened from playing?
    Do you have a preference for fingerboard wood?-worn-jpg

    Quote Originally Posted by Rdg178
    Does the sound of the note come from the fretboard? No.
    Part of the sound of the note is its pitch, which is determined by string tension and sounding string length of the scale length, determined by the bridge and fingered fret.

    The shape of the fret surface determines how precise is the sounding string length and so pitch precision around it's center frequency. Worn, wider, flatter topped frets will have a more imprecise termination of string length at the fret surface and the resulting sound of the note will have a quality of slight pitch diffusion about its center frequency, which is a more complex warm tone quality, superior for Jazz.

    Another part of the sound comes from how quickly the various frequencies are damped from the string; part of this comes from finger proximity to the crown of the fret, part from the conduction damping of the fret, finger board, and neck.

    If you listen with a stethoscope and strum your guitar unplugged you will find that one of the loudest parts of the guitar is the head, the loudest part of the head being the tuning machines, the loudest parts of those being the keys themselves (would you have guessed that?), while the quietest in that area is the nut. People that invented clip-on tuners knew this... those that keep clip-on tuners clipped on while playing may not realize they are damping contribution to the string's attack, decay, sustain, release profile.

  18. #92

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    Archtops: Ebony
    Semi/Solid body: Rosewood or Ebony
    Another favorite of mine for solid body guitars is Pau Ferro

  19. #93

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    If I check out the Guitar first ...then less important if it sounds and plays excellently.

    BUT - when ordering a Guitar - it seems like Ebony fingerboards are more even sounding all over the neck ...not a hint of dead spot.

    You guys ever notice this ?

    I always have liked Pau Ferro on any Guitar I have played (never owned a Pau Ferro fingerboard Guitar )with it - a little less friction than Rosewood.

    I also really liked the Fingerboard on a Joe Bonamassa Studio Les Paul - it was a little slicker than Rosewood- later learned it was Granadillo - really nice (now that Rosewood will be limited) substitute .

    I always felt too much friction from lacquered Maple 'Boards - roasted Maple should be nice if unlacquered- have not tried it yet.

    So I always preferred the Rosewood to lacquered Maple...

    With higher frets I can tolerate a lot of different fingerboards but generally Ebony , then the slightly slicker than Rosewood substitutes , then Rosewood etc.

    I use vibrato though less bending than before so I like a little slicker woods - with frets about .047 to .050 tall all woods can probably work for me ...
    Last edited by Robertkoa; 07-05-2019 at 09:51 AM.

  20. #94

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    Growing up, my aesthetic ideal for fretboard choice was created by the fact that the premium gibsons (Customs Les Pauls vs Standards) were always ebony.
    This poster was on my wall when I was 14 years old:
    Do you have a preference for fingerboard wood?-gibson-bb-king-1981-lucille-ad-jpg
    How could B.B. be wrong? - Also the older guys I knew who had the Les Paul Customs were quite convinced of their superiority.
    In the 1980s, I think the Kubiki ad transferred that same desire over to fenders. A ebony fretboard strat with violin like striping in a thick poly finish. Surely this must, like the ad said, "Feel so good"!:
    Do you have a preference for fingerboard wood?-kubicki-ad-jpg
    But actually I have never had an ebony board on any guitar, be it Gibson or Fender or PRS. Played plenty though ... and liked them. I also liked that they were so black with very little grain in evidence.

    I got a tele partscaster which had original Fender 50s maple neck and an original bridge pickup and everything else far from original. But that neck felt great. I kept it about 20 years.

    I don't remember it as being any brighter sounding than my rosewood board Fenders.

    I built a Telecaster in a course from scratch, shaving down the neck from a square piece of wood.

    While working on the frets I made a small error and scratched the maple fret board slightly. I cleaned it up so you couldn't feel it but you could see it ...forever. Conversely, the fellow working on the Precision bass with a rosewood board next to me did the same, wiped it with some lemon oil and it disappeared.

    It seemed that rosewood was a much more forgiving material to work with.

    It also didn't sound any brighter than my guitars with rosewood.

    I had that maple necked tele also for 20 odd years but although I didn't play it any more than the vintage tele I had, it didn't age as well and started to resemble PaulN's photo.
    Do you have a preference for fingerboard wood?-worn-jpg
    It not only looked awful (to my eye) but I could feel the coarseness of the worn maple.

    From then on I swore off maple boards and moved toward rosewood board strats as I assumed they sounded darker, fatter and I was happy.

    Then two years ago, I bought these cheap but solid CV Squiers for a Charlie Christian pickup project.
    Do you have a preference for fingerboard wood?-img_20180602_184034-jpg
    Holy smoke! The immediacy of the attack on this thing was disconcerting. I did not actually like it. I felt in the first few days I had to adjust my playing a bit to not inadvertently be getting side of the pick harmonics and what not.

    Then I put in the darker sounding pickups and I would say it is my best sounding instrument. Hyper responsive to stuff I am doing with my hands and notes just jump off it. I don't know if it is the maple board, though.

    Sometimes I think it might be the thick poly finish enclosing the neck. Sometimes I think it might be the brass barrel saddles or the pine body.

    Whatever it is, I have gotten used to having it and feel, once again that maple really has something going for it!

  21. #95

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    For those who don't really know, Ebony is often stained to look uniformly black. In fact you can buy the stain at online luthier supply sites. Ebony can even slightly resemble Rosewood with the unevenness of coloration.

    And some lower-cost Gibson models sport Maple fretboards stained black.

  22. #96

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    Rosewood is my favorite.
    Ebony is second.
    Maple, referring to the Fender design, is dead last.

    All that said, I'm not at all sure that I could tell them apart in a blindfold test. Maybe rosewood would seem more comfortable.

  23. #97

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    Clapton on why he preferred maple necked strats

  24. #98

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    So what do people think?

    For me the difference between the rosewood and the maple is sometimes more about the immediacy of the attack rather than actually having a more 'treblely' sound.

    My earlier maple-necked instruments did not really have this in any big way but the newer CV with the think poly finish has it in spades. My two earlier teles did not have a lot of finish on the necks.

    Could it be because the thick poly finish encloses it like a plastic sheath, including the fretboard, altering the attack?

    Something is at work there.

  25. #99

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    Quote Originally Posted by Robertkoa
    If I check out the Guitar first ...then less important if it sounds and plays excellently.

    BUT - when ordering a Guitar - it seems like Ebony fingerboards are more even sounding all over the neck ...not a hint of dead spot.

    You guys ever notice this ?
    I have noticed that but I think it was attributed a good fret job. The way they feel has to do with frets and how fine of a job the frets have been laid in and evened out, and finished.