rosewood or ebony

[PPPMAT]

I know that this subject has probably come up many times before but is there any rreal discernable difference between these 2 types of fretboard?

Some say the ebony is brighter some say rosewood? I really want a darker sounding les paul and like the custom classic look but its ebony and I'm just hoping that this won't brighten the tone

Any ideas?

[Scotty477]

Ebony fingerboards do make the guitar marginally brighter but you have to take into account what the rest of the guitar is made of, type of pickups etc.

A Les Paul Custom Classic  - even with an ebony fingerboard - isn't going to be over bright, I wouldn't think.

If you've ever played a Yamaha SG 1000, 2000 or 3000 you'll get a good idea of what kind of tone a mahogany body - maple capped - ebony fingerboard is going to sound like, and I certainly wouldn't call them too bright sounding.

I believe that as a rule of thumb Alinco II magnet pickups are meant to be best for ebony fingerboards. Maybe someone can confirm this?

Will you have a chance to play the LP CC first?

[WezV]

ebony has a stronger and faster attack than rosewood...so it certainly adds some clarity.  Rosewood can be described as warmer

I use ebony when i want to add a little extra clarity to the attack of the note.  rosewoods more of a good allrounder

[PPPMAT]

Trying to find one of these is pretty difficult at the moment. I can find a classic antique which is the same overall guitar but rosewood.

It sounds like we are talking degrees of difference which to me is fine

[Scotty477]

For what it's worth I've played a Classic Custom and it was a very nice match with the ebony board and the '57 pickups. The only thing that put me off a little was the binding. It's less of an antique white and more ... orange. It could have done with a little less shading there.

The guitar was in Merchant City Music, Glasgow and I believe it's still there.

http://www.guitar.co.uk/gibson/1234-gibson_les_paul_classic_custom_electric_guitar?page=5

In general, I find ebony boards far more pleasant to play than rosewood.

I have rosewood on my LP and ebony on my Eggle. The Eggle creams the LP in this department. It's just so smooth and effortless to play.

[gwEm]

In general, I find ebony boards far more pleasant to play than rosewood.

+1

[PPPMAT]

Thanks machinehead - I might ring them up. Thats the one - it looks amazing (to me) lets see.........

[dave_mc]

i'd say ebony edges rosewood in terms of playability, but good rosewood feels pretty nice too. it's just that cheap and/or dry rosewood is horrible.

as for tone, i'd agree with what wez is saying. not that i'd ever disagree with a luthier anyway.  :lol:

[WezV]

yeah, cant really beat ebony in terms of feel, but its worth remembering that it can shrink like crazy if taken into a drier environment than its used to

everyone should just use ziracote.  Looks like braz mahogany in brown/greyscale, feels almost like ebony and sounds between rosewood and ebony

just keep off my damn pieces!!!

[HTH AMPS]

ebony has a stronger and faster attack than rosewood...so it certainly adds some clarity.  Rosewood can be described as warmer

I use ebony when i want to add a little extra clarity to the attack of the note.  rosewoods more of a good allrounder

thats exactly how I'd describe it too, just a crisper attack on the note which sounds great for heavier styles.

a Black LP custom is defo on the GAS list to match my long-suffering '91 LP std.

[Bob Johnson]

Really good ebony will tend to be brighter than some rosewoods. It has a huge amount of compressive strength that carries high frequencies well. Unfortunately there aren't too many guitars around with really high quality ebony finger boards, most of it goes into violins and cellos, so it's hard to make comparisons from actual examples.
Most manufacturers (definitely not me) use intermediate grades that have light brown and even white stripes in them before the are "ebonized" with a viscous black stain. these lower grades will sound very similar to rosewood. I was recently emailed by a supplier of an "ebonizing" product who's selling point was "how do you think Gibson, Fender and PRS get those pure black fingerboards? They use this stuff"

Get my drift?

[Alex]

Having 3 rosewood and one ebony guitar I do feel that ebony is a bit of a hype. It looks great, but it is just a minor part in the sound chain IMO. A pickup will have a much greater impact. The wood of the body or neck can easily offset the tonal properties of the fretboard just by being of different quality.

As for the playability: when I fret notes I do not touch the fretboard but the strings, so I wouldnt say it affects the playability.

[dave_mc]

yeah, cant really beat ebony in terms of feel, but its worth remembering that it can shrink like crazy if taken into a drier environment than its used to

i don't think northern ireland is drier than anywhere...  :lol:












(kidding of course)

[WezV]

Most manufacturers (definitely not me) use intermediate grades that have light brown and even white stripes in them before the are "ebonized" with a viscous black stain. these lower grades will sound very similar to rosewood. I was recently emailed by a supplier of an "ebonizing" product who's selling point was "how do you think Gibson, Fender and PRS get those pure black fingerboards? They use this stuff"

Get my drift?

I have the bottle of leather dye thats aparantly used by gibson and prs but so far i havnt had to use it... but then i havnt done many ebony fretboards for a while .. i did have some good stuff that was solid black and made a few nice guitars with it but i would prefer to go with brown/grey ziracote - nice ebony makes inlay easier and certainly has a good feel but so many other woods can do the same thing and still sound good it kinda makes ebony obsolete.  If we could still get huge enony planks it would be different, but if we could still get huge ebony planks they would make temples out of them before they made guitars.

i am in the unfortunate position of really liking macasser ebony.  Its a streaky ebony with the same feel of the pure black stuff.  Looks loads better though.... also makes me itch like a bar-steward so i cant reallly use it

ziracote is good though, some advertise it as  as a Bras RW  substititute and its certainly  very close

[the_bleeding]

i have guitars with both.

As for feel, i like the ebony better because its alot smoother and my nails dont get caught in it when i do big sloppy bends. It feels alot more solid if you know what i mean. The rosewood is a bit more spongey. As for tone, i cannot compare accurately because one guitar feels like a brick and the other is fairly lightweight (despite the manufacturers both claiming theyre mahog body/neck with maple cap). BUT, the ebony boarded guitar is brighter. I quite like it with the little touch of brightness, it adds clarity more than brighten the tone; both my guitars still sound heavy as hell.  :twisted: