Conference napalm::guitar

I cannot imagine playing a barre chord without touching the fret board.
I think I touch the fret board on most notes.  The thought of only ever 
touching the strings sounds strange.  I'll have to watch myself tonight.

Jim

    Well, I've played a Yngwie Strat with scalloped board and all I can
    say is you definitely notice the absence of wood under your fingers.
    So they must be touching it a lot on a normal board.
    
    Btw, my preference is for ebony.  Guitars with ebony boards just seem
    to play better for me as a rule.  It seems to be partially a tactile
    thing, partially a tone thing.
    

    Maple, Maple and Maple!
    
    This way when your fingers rub off all the clear coating, the fretboard
    gets really cool looking!
    
    ;^)
                                                                           
    
    Fred (who's old Strat fretboard is just starting to look good   ;^)   )

    
    I prefer ebony or rosewood boards to maple.  The three woods each
    have their own unique look, sound & feel.
    
    /Steve
    

and your fingers do touch the fret board, btw,,,

anyways I like em all, and for different reasons,

I do think my favorite is rosewood at least to me
it's the more common, although ebony is close to 
rose wood for me..  my Ibanez is ebony, paul and 
strat is rosewood,, had a tele with a maple, maple
does seem 'stiffer, and for what ever it's worth I
could neva figure why.....

but, anyway,,,,  I like em all..

    For me, ebony wins hands down.  Rosewood is next, and maple is a very
    distant third.  
    
    Over the years I've tried all three.   For me, finished maple is too
    slippery.  I'm sure I'd get used to it if I played a maple neck strat
    or tele all the time, but since I play more acoustic than electric,
    maple is not the best choice for me-- it makes the adjustment between 
    acoustics and electrics even harder.
    
    Rosewood and ebony are a bit closer.  I have 6 guitars with rosewood
    and three with ebony.  Ebony is finer grained, harder, and can be
    finished smoother (without becoming as slippery as finished maple). I
    wouldn't turn down a guitar with a rosewood fretboard, but if I had the
    option, I'd gladly spend a bit extra for the ebony (provided it was an
    option).   For example, the ebony fretboard was the primary factor that
    drove me to pick an OM-28 over an OM-21.   The $300 difference was
    worth it.  On the other hand, I wouldn't being willing to go to the
    Fender custom shop to get a strat with an ebony board. 
    
    Jim

    Ebony & Rosewood for me too.  Maple sounds too bright to me and gets
    that awful looking appearance from finger oils.

    I'd have to say I like rosewood the best (as in my Beck Strat and
    ES335). I have a cheap classical with ebony and I like that too.
    
    Maple - too slippery.  Have to concur.  I had a maple neck strat for 20
    years and I don't miss that neck at all - other than the look 8>)
    
    /paul

    All the neck/fingerboard types mentioned here definitely have a
    different feel. I actually like a number of different combinations for
    different reasons.  There are other factors too such as scale length, 
    fingerboard radius, fingerboard width and neck thickness and shape.
    Also, the neck can significantly contribute to the tone - eg. on my
    maple neck Clapton Strat I can HERE the resonance in the fairly big
    ("modified" V (boatneck) neck.) Also,  maple is brighter...I've played
    rosewood fingerboard strats and they DO sound "darker."
    
    Maybe it's all based on feel,  but on a Gibson type guitar,  rosewood 
    fingerboards feel softer than ebony and have a mellower tone.  Ebony 
    fingerboard Gibson electrics seem to be "colder" and the notes sound more
    distinct..not better or worse,  just different.  BTW,  I love the feel
    of my strat but also my ES335 with its rosewood board.
    
    Barry
              

    No real preferences; my Ovation's ebony board is real nice, the rest of
    my acoustics have varying quality of rosewood.  With electrics, I tend
    to lean toward the maple neck on my PV Reactor (Tele copy); I *really*
    like that slick feel for those pedal steel bends!
    
    About the only combination that didn't work for me was the rosewood
    board on my 1965 Telecaster.  Definitely the *worst* sounding Tele I
    ever heard, and one of the few instruments I *don't* regret selling.
    
    						--Eric--
    
    P.S. Does the plastic "fingerboard" on my Sho-Bud LDG count in this
    poll? No? Oh well ;^) ;^) ;^) ;^)

    Ever see a steel-string acoustic with a maple board?  At a guitar show
    there was a custom builder who specialized in acoustics and most of
    them had maple boards.  Something about that combination just seems
    unnatural.
    
    /rick
    

Well, last night I did some experimenting.
                                                            
When I first started playing, I was surprized to find that there was a little
bit of contact once in a while.  It didn't take long to figure out that this
was happening when I got away from the hand position I ideally try to use (a
fairly high arch in the fingers and the tips coming down perpendicular
to the strings).  When I kept my fingers strictly in that position, I couldn't
make my fingers touch the fingerboard even when trying to (I was doing this
experimenting with my archtop - maybe more contact would happen with lighter
strings).  Of course, I can't keep my fingers strictly in that position when
I'm really playing something; some kinds of chord shapes and melodic reaches
make it necessary to flatten some fingers out.

So, I found out that my fingers do touch the fingerboard once in a while, but
not nearly enough to make me care what it's made out of.

I guess this explains why the Telecaster (maple fingerboard) I had for about 9
years didn't have a trace of discoloration or other wear on the fingerboard
although its frets were fairly worn by the time I sold it.

Paul

p.s.  Speaking of not touching the fingerboard, last night I picked up the new
      Charlie Haden/Pat Metheny duet CD.  On one cut, Pat plays an acoustic
      sitar-guitar; I want one!

    Re: steel-string acoustic with maple boards
    
    I seem to remember a Gibson steel string acoustic with a maple board
    as one of the guitars featured in Tone Poems by David Grisman & 
    Tony Rice.  
    
    Jim

    ...another vote for ebony!Its because of ebony fretboard that I bought
    my guitar that I have right now!(yamaha rgx1212s)
     an ebony fretboard is one of the citeria that I look for in guitars!
    
    
    
    
    						ian
    
    						

    To me, a rosewood board feels like sandpaper on string bends and wide
    vibrato.  My favorite: Whatever space age material Steinberger uses!
    Ebony is my other favorite.  I prefer maple to rosewood, too, but the
    clear finish on maple can sometimes feel sticky.
    
    Tom

    
    
    Actually, all the meterials described can work on the right guitar.
    Fingerboard material seems to me to have some synergy with the rest of
    the guitar design.
    
    Having said that, and looking at my guitar inventory, I find that I
    have ebony (Gibson, Ovation, Fender), Rosewood (Fender, Gibson, Ovation, 
    PRS), and phenolic (Steinberger) guitars, but no maple. They all sound
    great, but each has bias towards different music styles. The
    fingerboard material is part of this bias.
    
    I guess I never found that magic guitar with a maple fingerboard.

    
    Never thought I'd like a maple fretboard, but when I 
    played my Jerry Donahue Tele the notes just rang so
    well _acoustically_, and the feel was so great, that
    I fell in love with it.  I do admit, its a pretty 
    bright sounding axe, and most of the time I roll of
    the treble on the guitar.   
    
    There are some new woods being used by Anderson, Sadowsky. 
    Fender too I guess.  Morado?  Pao Ferro?  These look a little
    lighter in pictures than what I think of as Rosewood, so 
    they're taking a little getting used to for me.  This may have
    to do with scarcity of material?  Which makes me wonder - 
    are there environmental correctness issues here? Just askin', 
    
    Dave
        

    re .17:
    
    I think you nailed it! The notes on my maple neck Clapton strat
    "SPRING" out and as I said before the relatively thick neck REALLY
    resonates.
    
    I'm curious...what amp are you playing the Jerry Donahue thru and do
    you have the custom shop model or the Japanese-made JD?
    
    Regards,
    Barry

    Maple roolz the universe!

    Its the custom shop model, and I've got a 
    Boogie studio caliber.  The neck isn't
    particularly thick or wide, but I think
    the wood is quite hard.  The
    fingerboard finish isn't as slippery 
    as some.  
    
    Dave
    

    Ebony.
    Clarity of tone.
    
    However, as some others have noted, I just like guitars.    ...Never
    met a guitar I didn't like.
    Mike
    

    Re. .21
    
    >>However, as some others have noted, I just like guitars.    ...Never
    >>met a guitar I didn't like.
    
      I thought so too .... except for my rosewood neck Tele (see my
    previous note)....and then I remembered those infamous Applause and
    Matrix guitars with the *polyurethane* neck and the *molded aluminum*
    fingerboard and frets .... to me, these have all the warmth and clarity
    of fingernails on a blackboard.... :^)
    
    
      _    /|   
      \'o.O'    
      =(___)=   Aack!!!
         U      
    
    						--Eric--
    
    P.S. Hi Buck! Hope you don't mind my borrowing your Bill The Cat 'cos
    it expresses my opinion the best ....!