Blackmores first Strats were all with maple necks, until 1976 when he turned to use only RW necks. The main reason for this was that it was easier to scallop the RW necks.
I read this entire thread. Man , i learnt something special. You can get stuff made with Kansas Pisswood. Funniest thing I've read in a long time. Kansas Pisswood ? $~€£ that's funny !!
Mr. Graf knows wood. Ziricote. Eventually I will take it off the backing board I have it on and get it on my first build that has been in limbo a couple years.
No he didn’t. Stevie’s number 1 had a 62 Brazilian Round Lam RW board. The first 50-100 SRV sig Strats also had Brazilian RW but then switched to PF after that. So yes the SRV sig Strat (except some CS models) currently have PF but Stevie’s actual guitar had Brazilian RW.
In fairness, OP joined in January and CITES restrictions on most rosewood for musical instruments were lifted a year ago. Brazilian is still restricted.
But the fretboard is less than 10% of the mass of the neck, which is either maple or mahogany depending on the manufacturer and model.
I don’t notice any difference in the feel between Rosewood and Pau Ferro, but I like the way rosewood looks better, depending on the rest of the guitar. I do notice the difference in feel between ebony and the other two though.
‘yeah I have had 2 guitars with Pau Ferro. One was an Epi LP that I wound up selling. And the other is the Vintera 70’s Strat which I still have. The color goes well with the finish of the guitar. Here is what the guitar’s FB looks like before and after some oil ‘it’s finish is Sienna Sunburst. Here’s a pic of the LP that had the Pau Ferro board. The Strat on the right has Pau ferro
I just checked the AMS catalog. The Les Paul (Gibson custom shop) customs they sell say they have Bolivian rosewood. Isn’t that the Pau Ferro that we have been talking about. It looks ugly on an otherwise black guitar, or a stark white one. Music Zoo sells a Gibson LP custom with ebony FB for $4700. I got this for $679 with real ebony.
Yeah, I almost got one of those. I didn’t like the idea of the specialty tuners. It would be just my luck, as has happened before, that I would break one and not be able to get a replacement. Everything on mine is easily replaceable. In fact I should be getting a new speed knob in the mail soon. As one of mine is really loose. But my main criteria were the pups and the ebony board.
Yes, Bolivian Rosewood is one of the names used for PF. Here is from Wiki: Its wood is often used for making fingerboards for electric basses and guitars. It has a similar feel and similar tonal attributes to rosewood, but is harder and has a slightly lighter colour.[4] The wood may also be used for flooring, fancy furniture, and handgun grips. It is also known by the names morado, palo santo, caviuna, Brazilian ironwood, and Bolivian rosewood, though it is not actually rosewood. In guitar making, pau ferro is mainly used for fingerboards and bridges. Some luthiers also use it for the back and sides of acoustic guitars. The Brazilian guitar company Giannini uses laminated pau ferro in many of their classical guitars.[5] Although similar in many ways to rosewood, pau ferro has slightly different qualities: Its colouration ranges from coffee brown to yellow brown and purple. The tonal characteristics are said to be between rosewood and ebony, with a slightly "snappier" sound, being "slightly brighter than rosewood but with the same depth and warmth". Fender has utilized pau ferro on many of their instruments in recent years due to the increasing cost of rosewood due to CITES laws.[6] The Stevie Ray Vaughan Signature Fender Stratocaster was one of the company's first instruments to feature a pau ferro fingerboard.
I had an SRV with Pau Ferro.me it was dark. They must have dyed it. But it’s that way with ebony as well. And good luck finding an axe with a Gaboon Ebony board. Most are Macassar ebony and it gets dyed. My handmade classical has a Macassar board that has a couple of purplish red streaks, but only if you catch is in the right light. It may have been dyed, but the maker didn’t dye the crap out of it. And he made the rosette for the guyot at out of pieces of black ebony and the lighter colored sap wood.
Not sure I'd like Pao Ferro. Thankfully the guitar I just got has an Indian? Rosewood fretboard on it. That's another reason I chose the Goldtop in my av. I couldn't be happier with it.
Wow, it's beautiful and frankly the "striped" Pau Ferro board goes so well with the Sienna I'd think it should be the preferred wood for this color scheme!
It's funny how threads about fretboard material or finish 1) become epic NO MATTER WHAT 2) elicit the exact same answers from the crew I will ALWAYS answer the same: "fretboard material matters for looks, perhaps feel, not sound" @jvin248 will exhort us all to go with maple to save the forests (which I think is great BTW) And, and and…… I should have a cache of standard answers on a text file so I can just copy/paste But the pics are cool!
