Best fretboard wood for partscasters (excluding maple)

[Toppalini]

Over the past year or so, I’ve wanted a strat with Brazilian rosewood or a similar wood. I finally got one and it’s killer. However I got lucky getting an used MK neck and I looked at alternative woods.

‘Best’ is obviously subjective but there are some criteria; cost, accessibility, and looks and feels.

I have an Indian rosewood board that feels great, with less or smaller and shallower pores than usual. And I have a very dark Indian board, but it’s too rough feeling as it’s riddled with pores.

I’m curious to hear from people who have experienced many fretboard woods.

It looks like African Blackwood might be the ultimate fretboard wood but I haven’t tried it. It’s relatively affordable too. Madagascar rosewood seeks to have similar pores to Brazilian, and can be nicely colored, but most blanks I see are light. The main problem with these woods is accessibility; they’re not offered by MK or warmoth or any others I’ve seen so you’d have to get the blank and mail it in. Here are some pics of folks who did that with Blackwood

Of course there is ebony too and other woods. Just curious what you folks might think and if anyone else shares my fretboard obsession!



These pics are from TGP replies to my many BRW fretboard threads

 

[Lateralu_s]

I love ebony fretboards just how they feel and look..

There is no best imo just what one prefers. I can make any fretboard material work for me. 10-15 mins into a jam the fretboard material is the least of my concerns.

 

[Toppalini]

I love ebony fretboards just how they feel and look..

There is no best imo just what one prefers. I can make any fretboard material work for me. 10-15 mins into a jam the fretboard material is the least of my concerns.

Yeah it’s not a playability issue but when I’m staring at it all day and feeling it all day, I like to have something I really feel good about

 

[Scott Baxendale]

I use maple, rosewood, and ebony for fretboards, but pretty much any hard wood will work. I honestly don’t think there is much difference between East Indian and Brazilian when it comes to the fingerboard. Ebony is not as good as rosewood or maple on a maple electric guitar neck, but ebony is nice on an acoustic guitar with a mahogany neck.

 

[Alex_C]

Ebony is my favorite. Rich lite is supposed to be a good alternative.

 

[CyFan4036]

I've fallen in love with the feel of ebony.

 

[Nick L Plate]

Much of the EIRW found on guitars today is both low quality (ugly coloration, light toned) and poorly prepped. Unless RW is really sanded smooth and, ideally polished and buffed, it retains that dry, grainy surface appearance that no one likes. But factories just won't do that handwork anymore. So "rosewood fretboard" sounds good, the actual products are not very good. Ebony is smoother-grained to begin with, so the inadequate prep work doesn't look as bad, but, gain, you rarely see the super-smoothed, buffed out ebony fretboards found on vintage guitars, not because the wood is too bad but because the production is mediocre. The other fretboard woods being offered as substitutes for these proven, traditional woods are so inconsistent in terms of the quality used and the treatment given to them in the factories that in my experience it's impossible to say much that's reliably true. For ex., I hear from experts that pau ferro should make a good fretboard, but the fretboards manufactured from PF that I have seen have been poor, to say the least. I usually use ebony myself because I like it, you can pretty much know what you'll be getting, and you can create a fantastic playing surface. Anything else... who knows?

 

[StratoMutt]

Ebony. Like streaky grain? Macassar Ebony.

Ebony is not as good as rosewood or maple on a maple electric guitar neck

Please elaborate

 

[tubedude]

Pale moon ebony
Ziricote

 

[lbpesq]

Wenge makes a really nice fretboard.

Bill, tgo

 

[Scott Baxendale]

Ebony. Like streaky grain? Macassar Ebony.

View attachment 624677


Please elaborate

I’ve never played a Fender style maple neck with an ebony board that I liked.
I’ve played plenty with rosewood boards that I like.


There is nothing wrong with it, but I prefer to use ebony on acoustic guitars with mahogany necks.

Also, rosewood is easier to refret.

 

[Scott Baxendale]

Much of the EIRW found on guitars today is both low quality (ugly coloration, light toned) and poorly prepped. Unless RW is really sanded smooth and, ideally polished and buffed, it retains that dry, grainy surface appearance that no one likes. But factories just won't do that handwork anymore

This is all misinformation. I buy east Indian rosewood all the time and the quality is decent. Factories sand their wood to the same fineness now as at anytime in the past. They also dye and stain wood. Martin dyes the streaks out of all the ebony on their high end guitars. Richlite is compressed paper.

 

[Toppalini]

This is all misinformation. I buy east Indian rosewood all the time and the quality is decent. Factories sand their wood to the same fineness now as at anytime in the past. They also dye and stain wood. Martin dyes the streaks out of all the ebony on their high end guitars. Richlite is compressed paper.

I wonder if rosewood is dyed on strats? I shaved some off my MIJ to see if it’s stained because it’s SO dark. But it looks like it’s just a dark piece

Also which species of ebony is Martin using? I’m assuming African ebony

On those high end guitars I’d think that the ebony shouldn’t be dyed, but I don’t want ebony going to waste.

I hate the idea of an artificially darkened board

 

[uncle daddy]

I wonder if rosewood is dyed on strats? I shaved some off my MIJ to see if it’s stained because it’s SO dark. But it looks like it’s just a dark piece

I've used quite a few aftermarket necks with rosewood boards, and they often look grey-purple, and only really turn blackish when they're hit with a thin smear of linseed oil.

 

[wooders]

Wenge makes a really nice fretboard.

Bill, tgo

Makes a really nice neck!

 

[Scott Baxendale]

I wonder if rosewood is dyed on strats? I shaved some off my MIJ to see if it’s stained because it’s SO dark. But it looks like it’s just a dark piece

Also which species of ebony is Martin using? I’m assuming African ebony

On those high end guitars I’d think that the ebony shouldn’t be dyed, but I don’t want ebony going to waste.

I hate the idea of an artificially darkened board

Martin has been dying there ebony since at least the 1970’s. They traditionally used Gaboon Ebony but they may have gone to something else recently, I don’t know? You can dye any wood. On many of the harmony guitars we rebuild they have a dyed pear wood fingerboard which we call Kansas Pisswood because it tends to disintegrate when we pull the frets.

 

[henderman]

i prefer the look of dark rosewood and ebony but the only board i have rejected is maple with finish that my fingers stick to.

 

[Toppalini]

Martin has been dying there ebony since at least the 1970’s. They traditionally used Gaboon Ebony but they may have gone to something else recently, I don’t know? You can dye any wood. On many of the harmony guitars we rebuild they have a dyed pear wood fingerboard which we call Kansas Pisswood because it tends to disintegrate when we pull the frets.

Are those recent harmony guitars??

 

[Toppalini]

i prefer the look of dark rosewood and ebony but the only board i have rejected is maple with finish that my fingers stick to.

Yeah my first nice strat was a g&l tribute. It had a thick gloss maple board and neck. I didn’t like it, felt like playing a cheap desk

I have another g&l tribute with maple board but has some oil or satin finish on neck and board. It’s a limited edition white. And my GC exclusive tribute is really nice with rosewood board and it has that same finish on the maple.

Neither of these finishes feel as good as the amateur oil finish someone did on my MK neck. Now that’s a smooth finish. But they feel better to me than gloss

I actually thought my g&l necks had smooth necks until I got the proper oil finished neck… now they feel super sticky by comparison

But the oil or satin finished maple board feels a lot better. However I still don’t play the maple board guitar, but not really because of the fretboard. However I still definitely prefer rosewood even if it’s not a premium chunk.

I was worried I’d get Brazilian rosewood and think it’s not worth it or any better. Well I think it was worth it and it adds a layer of luxury to the guitar, just looks and feels amazing. Totally worth it, but I didn’t pay full custom order price. Having way less pores and a darker look, with antique looking woods, really gives it a classic instrument feel.

Costs about the same as a new production avri fender to get all the parts for a BRW partscaster. Brand new anyhow… but I’m definitely interested in other woods too as BRW is really expensive and not all the pieces are dark and uniform like mine. You can pay that big premium and get an ugly board for sure.

 

[henderman]

Yeah my first nice strat was a g&l tribute. It had a thick gloss maple board and neck. I didn’t like it, felt like playing a cheap desk

I was worried I’d get Brazilian rosewood and think it’s not worth it or any better. Well I think it was worth it and it adds a layer of luxury to the guitar, just looks and feels amazing. Totally worth it, but I didn’t pay full custom order price. Having way less pores and a darker look, with antique looking woods, really gives it a classic instrument feel.

Costs about the same as a new production avri fender to get all the parts for a BRW partscaster. Brand new anyhow… but I’m definitely interested in other woods too as BRW is really expensive and not all the pieces are dark and uniform like mine. You can pay that big premium and get an ugly board for sure.

i used to buy flamed maple, ebony and e. indian rosewood regularly and i had to hand pick it.

my '91 prs ce has a not the nicest one they had on the shelf brazillian board, but it was their cheapest model back when all their guitars got brazillian boards. i have re-fretted it twice and it now has stainless frets and i could not be happier.

but having owned it for about 25 years now the brazillian rosewood has no special value to me or mojo to the guitar imo, so unless you can get a pretty brazillian board for cheap i would not go out of my way to spend the extra $.