Fretboard material - sustain difference ?

[jazzalicious]

Just wondering if any of you have noticed increased sustain with rosewood versus ebony or vice versa?

Assuming it's the exact same model guitar we're comparing (body/neck woods).....

[mars_hall]

Sustain is going to be increased with rigidity at the endpoints of the string. The less they move, the more energy is retained in the vibration of the string. That said, in theory an ebony board being denser should contribute more to the stiffness of the neck and therefore more sustain. In practice, the material density and thickness of the neck should have a greater significance in the damping/non-damping of the energy of the string. The mass of the neck and rigidity of the neck joint should have a greater impact on the sustain, than the fretboard material alone.

[pcovers]

Sustain is going to be increased with rigidity at the endpoints of the string. The less they move, the more energy is retained in the vibration of the string. That said, in theory an ebony board being denser should contribute more to the stiffness of the neck and therefore more sustain. In practice, the material density and thickness of the neck should have a greater significance in the damping/non-damping of the energy of the string. The mass of the neck and rigidity of the neck joint should have a greater impact on the sustain, than the fretboard material alone.

I would go one step further on the "in practice" vs "in theory". I had a very slim necked PRS Mira that was mahogany with a rosewood fret board and it was almost on autopilot with sustain. I had a US made Reverend Slingshot made of hollow core resin body and a bolt on neck that rang as long as any LP I have had and like that Mira did. In practice is what is. In theory is what is speculated about. Speculation is what makes guitars so fun........unless we take the speculation too seriously.

[pcovers]

I just wanted to add that to me each guitar is the sum of its parts and you just have to play it to know what that sum is. Regardless of differences from one H150 to another, I have not been unsatisfied with the sum of the parts of any one I owned.

[jazzalicious]

That's why I'm asking for experience from my fellow heritage lovers....

In theory isn't always the end result...

Anyone else ??

[AP515]

Anyone else ??

Everybody knows that tonewoods make no difference. Just ask those truthful, knowledgeable and friendly guys on YouTube!

[TalismanRich]

I have two Heritage with ebony boards and three with rosewood boards. For me, its more the look and feel of ebony over the rosewood. Then again, I like maple necks on strats and teles. Maybe its that rosewood seems to have more grain on most necks. I don't know. Maybe its all in my head.

 

I don't really feel there is a sustain advantage because of the fretboard. Setup probably had 20x more effect on the sustain compared to the fretboard.

[High Flying Bird]

I don't really feel there is a sustain advantage because of the fretboard.

Ah... but the fretboard is what our finger tips come into contact with. I feel that fretboards are like the lens and the rest of the guitar is like the camera body. The finger tips are the photographer's eye in this case - the painter's brush, or a real guitarist finger tips.

 

My first Heritage was a black H-150 that must have weighed over 10 lbs and had a rosewood board and the finest thin neck I have ever played. (4.6 kg for our brothers who hail from other areas) It would sutain longer, unamplified, than any guitar I have ever played. You didn't have to frog the string but just gently pick it. It seems that if you hit strings too hard they won't sustain as long. A buddy beats strings and you can hear them hitting the frets. That will kill your sustain.

 

I prefere ebony fretboards. I like the crisp sound of the attack and with my amp set right I can fill up the semi-hollow and get sustain for days. ;^)

[jazzalicious]

Which semi you have ??

[ironmike]

the ebony contribute more than rosewood to brightness,less blooming than rosewood, however, sustain is more from the neck material,maple contributing more than mahogany,and also from the mass of the bridge,tailpiece arrangement..that being said, sustain is not a tone,so. what are you looking for?

[jazzalicious]

Nothing in particular

Just wAs wondering if anyone noticed a difference .

I only have guitars with rosewood boards...

So was curious

[yuominae]

It's a question that gets debated quite a lot on forums and YouTube... If I convince myself that ebony gives a snappier sound I can just about hear it

And if I play without thinking about it then all fretboards sound the same.

 

I think it's all down to the way it looks and feels. The effect on sound is minimal compared to things like your picking technique, pickups, setup and body wood.

[212Mavguy]

Personally am not convinced that in a well made guitar much difference exists between Ebony and Rosewood as a fretboard material affecting sustain significantly, all other things equal…They are both hard, dense woods. Now if you took something softer and significantly less dense, like spruce, pine, or cedar and compared to Ebony, there would be more difference in the results between the two, but am not convinced that the difference would be all that huge.

[JeffB]

What spins me out is most guitars have a lot of sustain regardless of tuners, construction, timbers or bridge assembly.

My H150 seems to have a longer sustain over my strats but if I try and measure the sustain using a recording device and watching the sound level fade over time there isnt much in it really. The warmth and fatness of the H150 hangs in there longer but it should, it is a fatter and warmer sounding guitar.

If I put humbuckers in my strat the measured/recorded sustain is pretty close to the H150 but still the mids of the H150 carry through longer creating the impression of greater sustain.

The guitar I have with the longest sustain is a strat with an steel LSR nut.

The guitar Ive owned with the most sustain was a PRS with a bolt on neck, maple neck and board, swamp ash body and a trem.

I dont think Ive ever been in a situation where Ive ever needed to use the full natural un amplified sustain of an electric guitar, or an acoustic guitar for that matter.

Not saying I dont appreciate a guitar with good full sustain, the taper is important to me, but Ive never needed to find the end of it anywhere outside of a technical exercise.

Electronic sustain/feed back is a thing Ive needed to find the tail end of.

[mars_hall]

Each string is a single system with its own resonance.

[212Mavguy]

…and each tone wood type has its resonance signature as well. It's how the woods are blended and chosen for placement within the design and build for tone color and sustain that is some fine art.

 

I have a few guitars with nice, multi piece necks. They all sustain particularly well. One that particularly surprised me for the amount of sustain exhibited was my H-550. When I hear Jazz recordings of a 550 I hear a very percussive, strongly accented fundamentals with little sustain. When my 550 arrived I found out that it had tons of sustain played naked acoustic, was a wailing blues monster when put through a Frank-en-Champ combo amp that had a monster small 8" speaker, that small of a cone area did a lot to allow more gain with better control of instrument feedback. A close friend of mine saw me play this rig out at a blues jam and muttered something about an "Abonination." That made my night.