ebony fingerboard

[koula901]

Does anyone know how an ebony fingerboard might affect the sound of an H 137? Is the feel different than rosewood?

[tulk1]

It's a harder, more dense wood. Opinions will vary on it's difference from Rosewood or Maple. But to me, it sides more on the maple side, without the brightness. Quicker note attack, fast bloom. Generally smoother to the touch than RW (which can get very open). And thought to be "faster" than RW for that reason. Seriously, unless you have one amazing ear, I doubt you'll hear a great deal of difference on your 137 between RW or Ebony. But it would look cool!

[barrymclark]

I would say Maple's evil twin. haha. Has a bit of a darker tone to me.

[Horace]

Wolfe has one for sale currently that has me Jonsing.

 

Tal

[Ray]

Other than the fact that ebony is more durable and perhaps warmer, I find it hard to hear the subtle difference in sound quality between the different options especially under playing/performance conditions.

[GuitArtMan]

Weird. Am I the only one who thinks ebony is the brightest of the three main fingerboard woods (ebony, rosewood, maple)?

If I had to rate them warmest to brightest it would be:

Rosewood

Maple

Ebony

But then to me maple isn't so much bright as it is focused. But the diference are sublte.

[barrymclark]

Other than the fact that ebony is more durable and perhaps warmer, I find it hard to hear the subtle difference in sound quality between the different options especially under playing/performance conditions.

Yep. I am with you there. In the end, they are all good sounding woods and, assembled by a good builder, there is a difference, but the audience won't care.

 

For my own personal liking, I am a fan of all maple solid bodies with an ebony fretboard. Not the lightest thing in the world but I love the sound. Very tight sounding.

[smurph1]

Now you guys have me wondering what type of fingerboard I have on my H-137..BRENT? I can't really tell..Anyone know? It's a 2006 model..

[Thundersteel]

Tonewood this; neck that--bah!

 

After the effects, bass, and drummer have kicked in, you won't be able to hear whatever subtle differences there are anyway.

[smurph1]

Tonewood this; neck that--bah!

 

After the effects, bass, and drummer have kicked in, you won't be able to hear whatever subtle differences there are anyway.

that's true..If it sounds good, who cares what wood it is? When I saw Page and Plant a few years back, some of the best tones Jimmy got was out of a $300 Danelectro!!

[barrymclark]

Now you guys have me wondering what type of fingerboard I have on my H-137..BRENT? I can't really tell..Anyone know? It's a 2006 model..

Can almost guarantee it is Rosewood.

[Kuz]

Rosewood is warmer than ebony. Ebony is snapier, brighter, and tighter sounding.

 

Ebony FEELS slicker & faster than rosewood.

 

I prefer the warmth & fuller tone of rosewood for solid bodies & semi-solid bodies.

 

I like ebony for acoustics & hollow body archtops.

 

Just my opinion.

[Guest mgoetting]

I'll go for shallow here. I like ebony for its looks. The others look good also. But there's something special about fully blackened ebony.

 

For the life of me I can't hear a difference.

[Spectrum13]

Rosewood is warmer than ebony. Ebony is snapier, brighter, and tighter sounding.

 

Exactly

 

Ebony FEELS slicker & faster than rosewood.

 

Yes it does!

 

I prefer the warmth & fuller tone of rosewood for solid bodies & semi-solid bodies.

 

Correct use of "prefer"... I like a semi "lucy" but a 150, 137 and 535 in Rosewood.

 

I like ebony for acoustics & hollow body archtops.

 

Plus 1

 

Just my opinion.

 

 

What he said.

[smurph1]

Can almost guarantee it is Rosewood.

Cool...

[koula901]

Thanks, everyone, that is helpful.

[Ray]

Other than the fact that ebony is more durable and perhaps warmer, I find it hard to hear the subtle difference in sound quality between the different options especially under playing/performance conditions.

 

Apologies…I meant to say ebony has a bright tone.

 

Anyway, rosewood is similar to mahogany in terms of having a warm resonant tone – many people like the sound of rosewood because it has a nice warmth to it.

[Trouble]

Weird. Am I the only one who thinks ebony is the brightest of the three main fingerboard woods (ebony, rosewood, maple)?

If I had to rate them warmest to brightest it would be:

Rosewood

Maple

Ebony

But then to me maple isn't so much bright as it is focused. But the diference are sublte.

You are not alone. I agree ebony is brighter, I actually dont care for ebony, I prefer rosewood and sometimes maple for a strat.

[tbonesullivan]

Ebony is slicker feeling, though in actual hardness it actually is around the same as rosewood, just more dense. Rosewood is very porous compared to ebony. Sound wise, ebony probably has a bit more brightness, but in all honesty the effects of fretboard wood on an electric and even a dreadnought acoustic are minimal, IMHO. When you get into classical guitars and especially stringed instruments, it is much more important, as it is with fretless guitars/basses.

[Guest mgoetting]

Ebony is slicker feeling, though in actual hardness it actually is around the same as rosewood, just more dense. Rosewood is very porous compared to ebony. Sound wise, ebony probably has a bit more brightness, but in all honesty the effects of fretboard wood on an electric and even a dreadnought acoustic are minimal, IMHO. When you get into classical guitars and especially stringed instruments, it is much more important, as it is with fretless guitars/basses.

 

That makes two of us who are less impressed with the effect of the fingerboard wood on an electric's tone.

 

Ebony looks different, less porous and black. It feels slicker to me, although I never pay attention to that in the middle of a tune. Of course finished maple is a slick as it gets.

[111518]

Three of us. This discussion always leaves me scratching my head a little. The string vibrates from the fret or nut to the saddle. Seems to me the density, porosity (is that a word?), etc. of the fingerboard wood would have little effect on tone, except for its contribution to the overall mass and rigidity of the instrument. So, for example, a rosewood fingerboard guitar with graphite reinforcement might be brighter than a maple necked guitar because the neck was more rigid. Top of the line archtops have maple necks and ebony boards, but are not usually described as bright, because the rest of the construction of the guitar tends to absorb selected frequencies. The tonal difference between ebony and rosewood on a LP or 335 type guitar would be minimal in the grand scheme of mass and rigidity, as would the difference between rosewood and all maple on a Fender.

 

I think there is some difference in feel, but the big difference to me is between finished maple and unfinished ebony and rosewood.

 

I, for one, am perfectly willing to admit I like ebony boards mainly because I think they look cool --the black sets off the rest of the instrument, to my eye. If you look at an old Gibson catalog, or that of just about any manufacturer (except Fender --did Fender ever use ebony for anything?) from the 40's-80's, ebony is the premium fingerboard wood --this was, I'd argue, more about long standing traditions in instrument building and appearance than a quest for brighter tone. Above all, this was a price point distinction, and, although it may have an indirect effect on tone, it's only slightly greater, and of the same origin, as the distinction between gold and chrome plated hardware, or five play and three ply and one ply binding, or an inlay or tag that says Jr., Deluxe, or Custom. Or chevy olds buick cadillac (back in the day.)

 

Deluxe's have become more iconic than customs (more about frets than fretboard), 335's than 355 (about that tone sucking stereo electronics) so the current celebration of rosewood is reverse customer-appeal engineering. Rosewood-necked fenders are about those of us who want a guitar that looks and feels more like a traditional guitar. The tone effect of fretboard wood takes place in-between the ears far more than outside. My admittedly cranky two cents.

[fxdx99]

hmmm... Given opinions expressed (by folks of which I greatly respect) I may have to re-think this a bit. Would like to read thru a DOE (design of experiment) that isoloates the variables in establishing a guitars voice and understand the resulting pareto chart that orders each element by it's impact on the output (voice).

 

I've thought, not known or proven, that necks are a KPIV (key performance input variable) on the voicing of a guitar, mostly because I read of an experiment where a person swapped bodies, necks, and pickups between telecaster-type guitars and concluded that the neck was the largest contributor to the voice of a guitar (of the elements he'd isolated). I don't have any first hand knowledge of this experiment so can't validate it's findings... but I can kind of rationalize the physics behind it. Which is that on a solid body guitar, my own experience with pickup swaps are that this variable doesn't really alter the overall voice of the guitar. Has an impact, sure, but not a dominating one. And I've heard various telecasters made out of a myriad of materials, wood and metal, and they all sure sound like telecasters. So maybe the body wood isn't as key/dominating as I once thought...

 

But yet, 2 guitars of similar design DO have different voicings as we all know. The neck covers a long range of the strings distance - the vibration must have some interaction with the density of the neck, doesn't it? And if this is true, then wouldn't different materials of the fingerboard influence this? Hence maple bright (it's dense/hard), ebony also of a bright nature for the same reason, and rosewood then a bit mellower?... And are the KPIVs the same between designs - are a tele-style KPIVs the same as a 150/set neck and do these map to a semi, etc?

 

Maybe a questsion for Ren - if you take a 150 and swap the fingerboard from rosewood to ebony, does it have much impact to the resulting voice? I doubt I could hear any of the subtleties on a recording, although playing a guitar think that a player can discern differences in the voicing between guitars.

[tbonesullivan]

well, you also have to remember there is a nice big barrier between the string and the wood: the fret. and secondly, the magnetic pickups are what generate sound. If the difference can't be detected by the pickups, it's a moot point.

 

another thing to consider is that ebony seems to require more frequent oiling and is more prone to shrinkage than rosewood. Another issue is that ebony is more brittle, and can chip more easily during refrets.

 

Of my current stable, I have three ebony fretboard guitars. I used to have 5. Ebony is the standard fretboard wood for Carvin guitars and basses. It really does have a nice slick/solid feel. Right now, the majority of my guitars have rosewood finger boards (5), and then I have 2 ebony and two maple (one matte one gloss). In the end, for the most part with proper playing technique, you shouldn't be touching the fingerboard very much.

[Steiner]

hmmm... Given opinions expressed (by folks of which I greatly respect) I may have to re-think this a bit. Would like to read thru a DOE (design of experiment) that isoloates the variables in establishing a guitars voice and understand the resulting pareto chart that orders each element by it's impact on the output (voice).

 

I've thought, not known or proven, that necks are a KPIV (key performance input variable) on the voicing of a guitar, mostly because I read of an experiment where a person swapped bodies, necks, and pickups between telecaster-type guitars and concluded that the neck was the largest contributor to the voice of a guitar (of the elements he'd isolated). I don't have any first hand knowledge of this experiment so can't validate it's findings... but I can kind of rationalize the physics behind it. Which is that on a solid body guitar, my own experience with pickup swaps are that this variable doesn't really alter the overall voice of the guitar. Has an impact, sure, but not a dominating one. And I've heard various telecasters made out of a myriad of materials, wood and metal, and they all sure sound like telecasters. So maybe the body wood isn't as key/dominating as I once thought...

 

But yet, 2 guitars of similar design DO have different voicings as we all know. The neck covers a long range of the strings distance - the vibration must have some interaction with the density of the neck, doesn't it? And if this is true, then wouldn't different materials of the fingerboard influence this? Hence maple bright (it's dense/hard), ebony also of a bright nature for the same reason, and rosewood then a bit mellower?... And are the KPIVs the same between designs - are a tele-style KPIVs the same as a 150/set neck and do these map to a semi, etc?

 

Maybe a questsion for Ren - if you take a 150 and swap the fingerboard from rosewood to ebony, does it have much impact to the resulting voice? I doubt I could hear any of the subtleties on a recording, although playing a guitar think that a player can discern differences in the voicing between guitars.

 

Now take two guitars. Same model, make, woods, finish, pickups, etc. They too sound different; KPIV?

 

Was it YoSlate or Tulk1 that said: "Just play the damn thing..."

[fxdx99]

Now take two guitars. Same model, make, woods, finish, pickups, etc. They too sound different; KPIV?

 

Was it YoSlate or Tulk1 that said: "Just play the damn thing..."

 

 

Those who can play, play. Those who can't... debate tone. (clearly I'm in the later camp).

 

It's the 2 same guitars that sound different... just curious is all. If specific properties can be measured/spec'd to reproduce a voice that's indistinguishable between those same 2 guitars.