Maple VS Rosewood

[Steel and wood]

Both my Fenders (Stratocaster and Telecaster) have maple boards, but I don't really have a preference one way or the other. (Maple feels a bit harder under my fingers maybe but if there is a tonal difference, it's not overly discernible to my ears).

For me it's a visual thing. Some of the custom Fender colours (and their pickguards) look better with maple boards, some with rosewood and some look great either way.

[MIGAS79]

I like the playability of my two 24.75 scale rosewood board guitars but really like the feel of the maple board on my Baja Tele. It feels easier to play quickly. I haven’t compared two Teles really to tell a sound difference. And I agree certain colors look better with maple. Love it on my butterscotch Tele.

[GuitarLuva]

Originally Posted by GHS

My teacher prefers rosewood boards because they are not as sticky as maple. Thats a lifetime of experience talking here.

+1 to this and Rosewood looks so much nicer than maple IMO.

[MikeBmusic]

Originally Posted by Revy

The lack of sustain on a neck with a maple fret board with a slide is immediately apparent to me. Could just be the guitar, since I only have one guitar with a maple fret board but I have friends that agree. Go to a rosewood fret board on an Alder or Ash body it gets better. Go to a rosewood or ebony fret board on a mahogany guitar and there's no comparison to either of the other two.

Sustain is much more a result of the body wood and pickups, not the fretboard.