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  #61  
Old 10-23-2010, 04:28 AM
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wthurman wthurman is offline
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By the way, I like rosewood and ebony equally well... and my Goodall had pheasantwood, which I also liked just fine. Thought I should post on topic.
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  #62  
Old 10-23-2010, 05:21 AM
runamuck runamuck is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 310Taylor View Post
No offense, I did not realize till now that you are a luthier. In that case what do I know...
What did you know before you knew he was a luthier?
Same thing, I would suppose.

Jim McCarthy
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  #63  
Old 10-23-2010, 05:45 AM
Neil K Walk Neil K Walk is offline
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For me it's ebony for feel but rosewood for looks. I can't comment on the tonal properties of each. It's all aesthetics to me.
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  #64  
Old 10-23-2010, 07:05 AM
Howard Emerson Howard Emerson is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by IainDearg View Post
Eh.. well, I had to go and look at my OM-28V fingerboard and I must say I scrutinized it from 2 feet, 5 feet, 10 feet. Fluorescent light, candlelight and moonlight (I will check it again tomorrow in daylight) but I'm skramoozled I haven't seen plastic like it. But what do I know. I'm from Glasgow. We're well known not to be having sophisticated eyes.

Actually, joking aside; I do see your point. I wish I could say - to balance the sway - that rosewood fingerboards felt like sandpaper, but that, too, would be an exaggeration.
David,
Glasgow gave the world one of the best designers ever, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, certainly one of my favorites along with Charles & Henry Greene!

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Your reasoning holds no Guinness!

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  #65  
Old 10-23-2010, 07:19 AM
Howard Emerson Howard Emerson is offline
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Originally Posted by kwakatak View Post
For me it's ebony for feel but rosewood for looks. I can't comment on the tonal properties of each. It's all aesthetics to me.
Hi Neil,
So............You think you could actually tell the difference in feel between rosewood and ebony if you were blindfolded and were handed different guitars to play, ONLY?

The strongest sensory stimulation will be the strings and frets. Couple that with the typical fingertip callus buildup that everyone normally espouses and I'd bet the house nobody could feel the difference while playing.

Perhaps if you ran a fingernail across the grain you could, but that's not what happens when you're normally playing a guitar.

In any case............I forgot to mention earlier that Ebony also chips out a lot more than rosewood when doing refretting.

The best reason for one or the other is because one likes the way it looks on a particular instrument.

Hope you're doing well.

Best,
Howard
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  #66  
Old 10-23-2010, 08:36 AM
Ed C. Ed C. is offline
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One thing I do know, when I purchase a guitar, the last thing I worry about or take into consideration is the fretboard wood. Although, this thread has been enjoyable.
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  #67  
Old 10-24-2010, 03:28 AM
IainDearg IainDearg is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Howard Emerson View Post
David,
Glasgow gave the world one of the best designers ever, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, certainly one of my favorites along with Charles & Henry Greene!

http://www.crmsociety.com/default.aspx

Your reasoning holds no Guinness!

HE
Heh, heh. My wife is a Mackintosh fan. We've imbibed tea in the very tearoom he designed in Glasgow.

Ach weel - my reasoning ebs and flows with the tide.
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  #68  
Old 10-24-2010, 08:21 AM
TJChapin TJChapin is offline
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Could not imagine my Gibson without rosewood and MOP parellagrams or my future Martin w/oEbony and diamonds and squares...
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  #69  
Old 10-31-2010, 03:25 PM
Dadmac Dadmac is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by woody b View Post
...I'm just starting this custom build with an Adi top, Honduras Mahogany back and side and Honduran Rosewood fingerboard and bridge...
I'm really smitten with Honduran Rosewood and as for years I think that Mahogany guitars sound better with Rosewood boards I'd really like to hear this one when it's finished.
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  #70  
Old 10-31-2010, 06:26 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is offline
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Most of my guitars have ebony fingerboards and bridges, but not all - my Gibson Advanced Jumbo and Gibson J-100 both have rosewood in those spots.

Almost all of my mountain dulcimers have rosewood fingerboards, and on a dulcimer the fingerboard wood does, in fact, have a crucial, audible effect on the tone. The fingerboard/neck of the dulcimer is actually an integral part of the soundboard design on most mountain dulcimers, so it plays a much more critical role than it does on flattop guitars.

On my mandolins I've got both ebony and rosewood fingerboards. Interestingly, the use of rosewood bridges on both mandolins and archtop guitars has even more influence on the tone than you might guess. What rosewood does on these archtopped instruments is dial down the treble response just enough to let some warmer low end come through.

So if you've got a mandolin with too brash a high end or an archtop guitar that seems to be lacking in bass response, experiment with rosewood bridges on them. I've done it on several instruments, and it's always mellowed things out to a noticeable degree.

I can't say that I've heard anything like the same correlation between rosewood bridges and tonal response on flattop, pinbridge guitars, though. They don't work in the same mechanical way as archtop instruments, so it makes sense that wood choice for the bridges is less influential on them.

Short version: wood choices for fingerboards and bridges do have an influence on the sound, but it's more noticeable on some instruments (archtop guitars, mandolins & banjos) than on others (flattop acoustic guitars.)

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller
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  #71  
Old 10-31-2010, 10:01 PM
royd royd is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fitzy View Post
ebony is about 20 times the price of rosewood and guitarmakers use it to keep down the cost of their guitars.
that part, Fitzy, is a bit of an exaggeration... at both LMII and Stewart- McDonald, ebony is about double the price of Indian rosewood for a fingerboard. Their prices differ a bit but we're looking at a difference of $10-20 from one wood species to the other per fingerboard. I would expect most suppliers have a similar price ratio. Some other species such as African Blackwood, Brazilian rosewood, and snakewood cost significantly more than either.

Certainly if you're cranking out 400 guitars a day like Martin or Taylor, $20 each adds up pretty fast, but for an individual builder making 20 or so guitars a year, it becomes a less significant number. Plus it is an insignificant percentage of the cost of a good guitar. Then the questions of feel, aesthetics, and wear become much more important for both the buyer and the builder than saving $20 on a $4K and up guitar.
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  #72  
Old 12-16-2010, 05:24 AM
GibbyPrague GibbyPrague is offline
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Im considering 'replacing' the neck on my Furch OM from a 43mm to 45mm nut width, which also gives me the option of staying with the standard rosewood or change to ebony fingerboard.

(Furch is able to replace necks, at a price)

I was wondering given its a sitka / mahogany OM sized guitar, would you go for the rosewood or ebony fingerboard ?

I must say generally I do prefer the feel of ebony fretboards (SWD has one) than rosewood, but if ebony will have a negative impact on tone (if any at all) then I would reconsider going to ebony.

cheers.
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  #73  
Old 12-16-2010, 09:22 AM
abelville abelville is offline
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Well, you can see there are a lot of opinions between rosewood and ebony. It matters for this and that reason, or not.
It's a good question.
What I ask myself is:
(1) Can I play my guitar as good as it can be played, regardless of the fretboard and bridge woods used.
Answer - NO!
(2) Could someone like James Taylor pickup an OM-21, and pull off "Fire and Rain" even though the bridge and fretboard is made of rosewood.
Answer - I think Yes!
I do want to say though that this link has been very educational for me and I appreciate it.

Al
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  #74  
Old 12-16-2010, 12:18 PM
mmapags mmapags is offline
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I likes 'em both. Although I do tend to like Ebony better. I'm making a 12 fret dread right now that will have a beautiful light and highly colored and highly figured Rosewood fingerboard and bridge on a burst top. It's gonna look awesome!! I'm also just finishing a 12 frett 000 with an Ebony fingerboard and bridge with a Sitka/ EIR body and slothead with an Ebony overlay that looks awesome. To ask me to choose is like asking which of my children I like better!
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  #75  
Old 12-16-2010, 12:51 PM
Wepeel Wepeel is offline
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How does striped ebony compare to the ebony that, say, Larrivee uses? I always thought my D-16GT fretboard/bridge was rosewood but it's actually striped ebony.

Also, do most manufacturers die ebony black? The ebony on my Larrivee is black, but has some lighter variation within it. The Taylor and Martin ebony I see looks more of a uniform, deeper black.
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