Rosewood or Maple fretboards,is there a sound difference?

Which one is tone? :)

Which one is tone? :)

Dude, if you can read that can only mean one thing...you have no tone! Bummer. :wink:

hate to get too serious in all the fun ...

so now consider it from the "tone starts at the fingers" PoV: does having a different material under finger, or neck contour in hand change the way you interact with your axe enough to be heard?

examples:

I'm positive the mass of a guitar changes the nature of my bending, vibrato and tremolo picking. low mass guitars don't "hold still" quite as well, so I sometimes find the need attack the strings differently and/or support the guitar body more. that changes how I play => changes timbre.

my glisses are smoother on ebony 'boards

okay, now back to our program: here's a knob reference (scroll down about a 3 or the way to A Beech Knob):

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2007/11/10-awesome-gadg/

the link in that section goes to an "audiophile" volume control for which the Beech Knobs used to be available.

Of course, when people say that tone starts with the fingers, they mean you use your fingers to turn the tone knob.

Beech knobs are good, but they'd mask the properties of my swamp ash bodied strat, so I'm on the hunt for some swamp ash tone knobs. Anyone?

On your serious note...I sometimes find my fretting changes when playing guitars with different shaped necks, and that no doubt has an effect on my tone. I've also been working hard on my right hand technique (not that right hand technique guys, eww...), especially on acoustic playing. With a steel string I'm playing quite similar to classical hand position (it's a little off, since I'm not holding the guitar in the classical position, but it's hands off the body, if that makes sense) and the result is a lot louder with a fuller tone. Definitely preferable, imho. I'm less accurate, hence the practicing. I imagine that different L.H. grips (e.g. baseball bat vs. proper grip) would have some effect on tone, but I don't really hear it. Though I have wondered if a person's body mass affects tone on a small level, since the body is generally touching the guitar while it's being played. Could explain why I never have the same tone as B.B. King...

Though I have wondered if a person's body mass affects tone on a small level, since the body is generally touching the guitar while it's being played. Could explain why I never have the same tone as B.B. King...

AH! That explains why I could never keep abreast of Dolly Parton's technique and tone, even if I donned the required blonde wig and outlandish false finger-nails. :(

It's also been suggested that my general physical presence tends to lower the tone wherever I go, so there may be a connection there too... So much to learn about music, so little time... :?

Cheers,

Chris

I really meant the different material textures, and neck shapes may cause a player to press harder, fret in a different region between frets, lift off sooner or later, be more or less conducive to vibrato and such -- causing more of a dynamic (ADSR) change due to player action, not guitar physics/mechanics. and the strumming/picking/banging/brushing hand is part of this too. I usually come off sounding as myself on most axes. but I've noticed that on some guitars, I naturally play as if I'm squeezing out notes -- on others, I feel the notes launch themselves -- and on yet others, I fight with the guitar to gimme a note. maybe this has a less audible effect to the listener, but to me, it feels as if it should sound different. not all Strats want me to play them the same way.

influence on user interaction is sort of thing that often gets overlooked in many of these discussions of material esoterica.

Well, I was simplistic with the laquered maple board being stickier but yes! All of the above. Give a Les Paul to a Strat player or vice versa ....... they won't be comfortable, at least not right off. I believe even the temperature and humidity affect the way the guitar sounds and feels to you. Oh well ....... :?

Ah, I think I get you now. I've found that with my Tele, I play softer, dunno if it's the maple neck, it being a tele, or a combination of both, but there's something about the attack that's so sharp, I like the notes to sound smoother in their attack/decay, so I try to coax that out and play much softer as a result. And the fat sound of my Epi LP encourages me to do double-stops and other things to bring out the fatness. Definitely happiest on a rosewood strat though, that's my comfort ground and where I think I play my best, and it has (imho) the widest tonal playing field. Maybe if/when I get a P90 pup guitar I'll feel differently about that, there's only one way to find out...

Gas, Gas, Gas, Gas, Gas... :evil: