Manufactured materials are rehashed here every other week. I'm not sure I see the value in dredging up a 4-year old thread to do it again, unless it's just to stir the pot.

my parker fly electric guitar, which isn't an inexpensive guitar, has a phenolic fretboard, and it feels great. super smooth. it also has glued on stainless steel frets. nice fretboard. for sure i would try one on an acoustic guitar.

This thread has actually been resurrected twice (see post 9) :). But, really, so what? I think it's an interesting discussion. I guess those who don't can move on to the hundreds of other threads and not worry about what others' supposed motives are for replying to an old thread (usually, it turns out they found it in a search, and didn't even realize it was old because they were concentrating on the information, not the dates...plus, I'd rather have one thread than two or more duplicates).

This thread has a red "Thumbs Down" icon on the General Acoustic Guitar Discussion page. How does that happen? Just curious....

when you post a thread you can choose an icon, just below your message. also when you post a message, like i did here (lightbulb).

My Richlite is beautiful.


http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...314_130240.jpg

You realize your 110 is fake wood too right?

Well put. I can't agree more. When are folks going to start complaining about all that steel and other metals that are part of their guitars? Tuning machines, truss rods, etc.

Richlite
 

I have had several Martins with a richlite finger board. I could not tell the difference.
I asked a very reputable Authorized Martin Luthier about the richlite and he was glowing about it. He stated that it is easier to work with, does not shrink/expand (as with ebony, rosewood or any other natural wood), and it was easier to do fret replacements. The guy has been a professional luthier for over 40 years!
I'm not an environmentalist by ANY means, but if we can recycle and not chop trees down unnecessarily, good for us.

no, it is not

HPL is formica, think plastic with a photo of wood grain
richlite is mainly resin and wood fibers, dyed black
stratabond is basically well-crafted plywood/wood layers

my 110 has a solid spruce top
laminated sapele back and sides
solid wood neck
real solid ebony fingerboard and bridge

this is not a knock on Martin, which some may think
this is just my opinion on those materials

I simply prefer real wood, or real laminated woods,
than artificial woods

My OM-1 features stratabond but a rosewood fretboard and bridge. If it was richlite I'd have still bought it. I like the sound. Aesthetics take a back seat to tone IMO.

The biggest disadvantage to richlite is that it isn't a traditional material. The real question is which is more important to you, tradition or practicality?

There is certainly nothing wrong with tradition, but certain traditionalists should recognize that traditional doesn't inherently mean better.

I think the part he was getting at was the rosewood isn't actually solid rosewood, but laminate. Some folks have the same aversion to that (laminate vs. solid) as they do Richlite vs ebony, so thus the comparison.

Uh huh hmmmm. You should play to frets not the board. Had to say it. Tall frets make the board some thING to look at and if course contribute to tone.

I own a Larrivee with an ebony fretboard and a Martin D-16GT with a richlite fretboard but I don't prefer the fretboard of one over the other. I'd go with the Larrivee for other reasons.