When I compared a Squier to a Fender standard/custom shop/original '63 loads of people didn't hear a difference either, which is totally understandable. They all sound very much like a guitar. This is basically the same, but even more extreme I guess. There are differences, but they are marginal. But if you've been playing guitar for so many years and for so many hours a day, these subtleties are easier to spot. I don't even know if it's the wood, or just the fact that it's different necks/nuts/tuning pegs. For what it's worth: camp Rosewood.
Wholeheartedly agree on the point of the other parts. Though I am impressed by Rhett's ability to play very consistently, I would really appreciate another player of the same caliber testing necks that have the exact specifications and construction methods. (ex. 2 piece neck without a skunk stripe with a bone nut and Fender Vintage Nickel Tuners and String tree with the same radius.) The perfect comparison point would've been to take another Vintage II strat with a maple neck, considering they are off the same production line with the same hardware.
I feel like differences are so small they could be explained by *tactile* details. Different finish and texture of each neck affect the player on subconscious level and influence how he operates with both the left and right hand. It still results in different performance, of course - just like someone more used to C profile will play more confidently on C shaped neck than deep U or V. But I suspect that if those necks were given to some perfect and inhumanly precise robot it could be programmed to make those small differences disappear and maybe even prove that difference between maple and rosewood can be just as "huge" as between 2 maple necks from different wood suppliers. TLDR - yep, fretboard matters but more in how it affects player's comfort than due to its specific sonic properties.
Paul and Rhett, the difference is much too subtle to tell over a laptop computer speaker with headphones or without. Only a "in person experience" could express the nature of these changes. Reminds of when I wanted to buy a Klon clone and the youtube videos weren't helpful, the subtleties just couldn't be expressed properly through this medium.
It's not like there are multiple accounts on his preferences or very much detailed descriptions of everything he got done to the guitars, the setup and whether or not he had preferences for maple or rosewood by Roger Mayer. I'm not a tone wood believer (more like a sceptic) but looking for subtleties and differences in your gear can definitely push you forward and make whatever talent you got really shine.
11:14 In my humble opinion that is true for so much more than just fretboards. Even switching from a Peavey Wolfgang to a 1971 Les Paul Custom during a live concert doesn't change that much of what's being experienced by the audience in the room, but obviously it makes an immense difference for me. For me, whatever inspires you in any given moment is the right thing to use!
@@stormyweather2837 That's awesome, stromyweather. Another benefit of being one of few people who are inspired usually is the price tag on such an instrument. :)
I always thought that but then people argue how they need to "connect" with the instrument. But as a hobbyist musician I play 2 full gigs monthly and one of the thing that keeps things things interesting with me is switching gear often. Some times I use Tube Amps, sometimes Boss Katana... Sometime Helix AND I always own 7 guitars and I WALWAYS have 1 or 2 listed for sale or trade. Once a guitar sells I replace it so I have diferent guitar sets at any point in time and let me tell you: I can "connect" with ANY combination of guitar and amp or amp simulator. The time spent figuring out how to play something you did originally with a Telecaster, on a Schecter Shedder is fun and it grown your performing skill quite a bit (no new music, but interpreting what you know in different styles)
The simple truth that many guitar players tend to forget or not realize is the vast majority of the audience doesn't give a single damn about what guitar is being played and would not be able to tell the difference. They just hear "a guitar". They don't hear "a genuine Fender American Strat with a vintage 50's single coil pickups and a maple fretboard". The only people in the audience who give a damn about any of that are guitar geeks and (guitar snobs) and the person playing the guitar.
@@unodeldim3610 That's exactly what I mean. If it makes grow as a musician, you can't be wrong with your approach. I wouldn't go as far as the Katana, but I acknowledge that it works for some! :))
@11:32 The sound and feel of a guitar ABSOLUTELY affects the way I play. This is th reason why I choose certain guitars for certain gigs. I hear in my head when I think I may want a Les Paul, or my blackguard Tele, or one of my Strats, or my 335. They all sound and feel differently, and it's reflected in my playing.
This is so true. I have a Les Paul and a strat, and yeah, a I feel that have some songs that I tend to use one or other. It affects some much the way I play. This is the beauty of guitars. Each type of guitar have their own unique way to play. I don’t think it’s about the tone of the guitar at all. Cause for regular people, they don’t even notice it
Very cool of you to use your influence w/ StewMac to make this possible. Definitely a service to the UA-cam guitar building community, and possibly of use for players as well.
Brilliant work. We have always known Maple = Bright. I find the same thing in classical/flamenco guitars. Maple has a loud, narrow-range resonance, while rosewood has a darker, fuller tone.
The picking position, cut of the nut, height from the strings, and the fit of the pocket will affect your tone more than the fretboard material, -playability and stability of the frets is actually quite different with different woods though!
But they were all identical he explained in the beginning? Agreed though - I think I would be more concerned with which one helps me play the best in regards to how my hand fits the back of it
@@danbjornson6799 Being prepared to be close to the same and being the same are two different things which is why I brought it up, if he got two of the same neck there would still be minor differences because of wood variation and machining tolerances. The whole thing fell apart when he played with his hands and didn't use a controlled mechanical setup anyway, - the idiomotor effect is much larger than people think.
@@666dreamboatAlso, you can't unlearn the fact that maple is known to be "snappier" so that's a cognitive bias that you can't get around by "trying to play the same way".
I've got a 3 year college degree in lutherie. Altho I've not made a career out of it yet for obvious financial reason I can tell you this. Even if you pick wood from the same exact tree it can end up souding totally different from each other. We tuned our soundboards not by thickness but by putting weights on it and measuring how it flex and also various test with a frequency generator. A case could be made for neck thickness/ rigidity and sound.
Had my eyes closed during the A/B comparisons of the rosewood vs maple and other than the first playing where i had yet to shut my eyes, i could only tell when the neck had changed maybe 2 times out of 10
With videos like this, there should *always* be a blind comparison, with the reveal at least a few days later. Because people hear with their eyes and convince themselves there is a difference, whether they actually hear one or not.
Thought I could hear a difference until I tried it again with my eyes close to blind see if I could hear the change. Short answer was nope, only heard the change like 2 or 3 of the changes.
At 10:50, you encapsulated a great answer to your query about neck woods. "Nobody in the audience is going to be thinking..." As in most solitary pursuits such as guitar playing, snowboarding or canoeing, a lofty issue is how it feels while participating and how the activity creates enjoyment for the doer of it. If an onlooker is uplifted in the process, bonus. It's why one needn't always keep score when playing golf. Winning equates to being out there - perhaps even noticing one's own improvement - whether grinding an axe, hitting a straight drive, sinking a chip from the rough, surfing a frozen white wave or listening to the sound of a paddle being drawn through water. The Strat at my house has a rosewood fretboard because the color combo pleases the eye. When I tell life to stop so I can take a half-hour escape while concentrating on perfecting a new (or admired) riff, the guitar needs to look like a vacation when its case lid is raised. Great video content resulted from your desire to research this neck wood idea. Thanks for posting it.
I owned strats with different fingerboards, and now I have two that I cannot decide between. I believe that the rosewood sounds nicer to the ear, it's warmer and more round. It is also kinda softer to the touch. The maple neck strat that I own now is snappier, brighter and in my opinion cuts through the mix better than the rosewood. So, I think there are just different uses for the two fingerboard types. I would use the rosewood strat in solo playing, bluesy stuff, and the maple in a funky rhythm band situations. It's best to have two! :)
You should give a few raps up and down the back of each neck , whilst unplugged, and listen to hear if there is any movement of the truss rod inside. In over 40+ years of doing guitar repairs I've found you might find a spot along the neck where the sound of the rap is noticeably different, indicating a slight space between the trussrod and the channel on the back of neck or under the fretboard. I do this before fitting any after market necks as well [Cheap necks off Ebay/Amazon have about a 5-10% failure rate of this test], and advise the owner to get a replacement that doesn't show this trait, as it's not really viable to repair.
Fantastic video Rhett, this comparison is most welcome and demonstrates so much. Yes, it's subtle but it's definitely a thing. I've been building guitars and basses for almost 25yrs now, and I can say without a doubt that a good-sounding neck is more important than the body wood in many ways. I can even add that the type of truss rod makes a difference also, but in a different way. What you're hearing here is the attack of the strings and whether the materials in the neck are affecting how they vibrate. The pickups only really see the movement of the strings within their magnetic field (let's ignore microphonics for a moment) and the strings are stretched over an assembly of wood and metal that alters their vibrations. Taken to the logical extreme, if this were a concrete guitar or a rubber one, there would be even greater differences in the final output. Wood matters. One thing I look for in a guitar's characteristics is how the notes develop over time in the room with amplification, and how they "bloom" and evolve. Some necks and material choices are winners in this category, some less so. Genuine Mahogany is a very "slow" sounding wood, contrary to the immediate snappiness of Maple. It seems to be a wood that responds better to in-the-room amplification, especially when the neck is laminated with something stiff and toneful like Wengé, Bubinga. Walnut is relatively similar, but quite dark. It attenuates the upper end of the spectrum somewhat. My go-to combination is a Rosewood board, a combination of Maple or Mahogany with those Bubinga or Wengé laminates and a single-acting vintage style compression truss rod. The lamination dials out the wolf tones and dead spots whilst keeping the low end tight. The way compression rods work make the neck far more responsive and "musical". As sensitive as those rods are, they can make a neck sing. I know that this doesn't apply to off-the-shelf factory Fender necks, however everything you found here extends itself way out there.
I'm with Leo...I prefer the looks of the Rosewood (or Darker) fretboards. The slight sound difference is irrelevant to me, a pickup change, EQ in the mix can make up the slight difference. If it means the world to you.
I think I preferred living on a planet with rainforests, but at least you and Leo were able to experience some fleeting superficial happiness with the appearance of your guitar necks.
@@wulf67 Southeast Alaska is North Americas only Rainforest, no rosewood grows here, the ONLY reason Leo made the change was a cleaner look. The Solid Maple is brighter than the softer RW and NEVER should Epoxy be in any Luthiers shop for anything other than making Jigs, Same with Superglue!
@@warrenweldon7552 1. Not all rainforests have rosewood, but the majority of rosewood grows in rainforests or tropical monsoon forests. 2. The reasons Leo switched to maple are irrelevant to my point about irresponsible harvesting and unsustainable destruction of rosewood on earth. 3. I don’t know what you are responding to with your comment on epoxy and superglue, but I’ll take the bait: Epoxy is used in the construction of some very beautiful guitars, such as those made of burled wood, and I use superglue, if for nothing else, to repair my fingers when I inevitably cut them while honing my chisels or plane irons. If you don’t have any superglue then you don’t have a first aid kit, much less a luthier’s shop.
@@wulf67Guitar manufacturers should all just switch to richlite fretboards. They can have any aesthetic you want, they're sustainable, and requires virtually no upkeep or maintainance. Superior to wood fretboards in every way.
Especially since his first two Strats were both red, and one was maple, the other rosewood!!! He often just swapped his fav pickups into whichever he was playing more at the time!!
The thing I gather from all these types of videos is that if there's a difference in tone at all it's minimal enough that when buying a guitar you really only have to worry about the feel and if you like the way it looks. The wood choice really isn't something that effects the recorded tone in a large enough way to matter.
Exactly, feel and aesthetics, that's the criteria I use to select the wood of my guitars, not that "tonewood" nonsense. If there's a tiny difference in sound between woods, it can't be perceived after the sound goes through the pickups, cables, effects, amp, etc.
Agreed. I love the look of Rosewood. I get frustrated that they don’t offer all colors in both. Some maple-only would be killer with the darker fretboard for contrast.
I was wondering about this for years. Mine is rosewood and I love it. The only Strat I'd played before mine, had a maple neck with more curve to it. I recall there being a difference in feel and sound and you proved this.
I just love the look of maple fretboards and never cared about change in sound. I heared "rumors" but I never thought it would be this clear in a kinda scientific comparism. This is a cool ear-opener.
Problem is... changing the necks can change pickup height as well so unless he checked pickup height and length over and over again, he's not giving an accurate representation
"in a kinda scientific comparism" This comparison is anything but scientific. Not only he changed way to many variables between runs, but he let you see the guitar he was playing!. Tonewood believers are so quick to make a judgement, but the funny thing is - only when they can see what is being played. As soon as it is a double bling trial, suddenly they are all busy with something else, or "youtube compresses the sound so it's not a good way for a comparison" etc.
@@imieniainazwiskaniepodam411 You can't hear the difference between the rosewood and maple here, seriously? It's pretty obvious one is brighter than the other, you could tell that even without seeing it. Now could I pick which one is which beforehand, probably not. That's not what the test was about, though. The EQ change is a lot bigger than I would have expected tbh.
"You can't hear the difference between the rosewood and maple here, seriously? " I don't think you understood my comment. Whatever you think you hear, may be a combination of both inconsistency in his runs, and you fortifying what you already believed based on what you see. Our perception is a tricky thing, and we know it, that is why double blind test has been invented. "you could tell that even without seeing it." Awesome, then that is exactly how it should have been presented, and my point is that it wasn't. As it happens I have both maple and rosewood stratocaster necks, I could swap between then on one body with one electronics and one set of strings. Think you could tell me from the audio alone, from let's say 50 samples, where the "bright" maple is, since as you claim - the eq difference is so obvious? "Now could I pick which one is which beforehand, probably not." See that is the thing, if you can't tell the difference when a metaphorical hand is not directly pointing at it while you can see it, then how do you know the difference is actually there, and you are not just experiencing suggestion and confirmation bias? @@FiendlingBM
For sound (very minimum) I like the rosewood but for feel I would go with the 50's roasted maple. The thing is, within a song mix there would not be much diffenece noticed. You would simply get use to the original recording.
As far as electric guitar recorded sounds, my sense (from a decade of personal tests and blind tests) is that this is the hierarchy form most impactful to least impactful: Guitar Speaker>Pickup tone>Pickup position+distance from strings>Player’s Touch>Mic>eq>Amp>Strings gauge/type>Bridge type/saddles>Cabinet size>Neck thickness>Fretboard Material>String Nut>Frets Material>Neck Wood>Body Weight>Tubes quality if applicable>Body Wood Type.
I haven't messed around with swapping the bridge or frets, but mine is effects > pickup position > amp > pickup type > player's touch > tone knob position > guitar strings > pot size > guitar action > everything else makes minuscule differences
@@KieraQ0323 That's one of the more sensible and reality-oriented lists I've seen. I like to include the length of the guitar cable. Longer cables have higher capacitance, and basic circuit theory tells you that'll cut more treble. I don't claim to hear the difference, but it's easy to calculate and measure, and it matters orders of magnitude more than fretboard material, neck thickness, and body wood and so on. Lots of stuff matters for ergonomics, which affects how you play, and that of course affects the sound. But yeah, maple necks do not inherently sound brighter, contrary to what this video would have you believe.
@@atan-11 Seen this comparison done before by someone else and the maple neck did sound a bit brighter - but also more full and lush compared with rosewood. It was a noticeable difference there as well. Listening for it here but it does seem to come in with a lot more top end in this vid.
Thanks Rhett, for taking the time to do this! While the differences are subtle, it's neat to know, and like yourself and many others have stated, it seems a bit less subtle than many thought. Of course, I'm looking forward to hearing them retest with the raised E strings adjustment of the last neck...
Hi Rhett, Great comparison!! Thanks for sharing this. I changed the neck one time. There was some time in between the change. There was a big difference. One neck was USA 2006 rosewood the other MIM 2022 pay ferro. The way of playing and the tone changed extreme. I did a lot of these comparisons on different guitars with different parts. Every part has a big influence on tone. You can have a guitar which challenge you or not with changing some little details. The most interesting I found the Strat Tremelo system. By sanding the Fender tremolo blocks the chime and sustain increased extreme. The Callaham gives the old chime. The electronics like wiring, pots and paper in oil caps also make a lot of tone and quality of the sound. My comparison between a standard Fender Fat 50’s pickguard and a wiring harness made by a luthier with paper in oil cap vs the cheap ceramic. He worked 15 years for Fender and had a lot of Custom Shop Guitars on the bench. This difference in electronics was really the difference of a very good sounding guitar into a bizar good sounding guitar. My conclusion is that all changes matter!! Wood, hardware, electronics, pickups, nut, etc. All these challenge the player or not. With all these knowledge you can let guitars with a good basis (wood!!!!!) letting sound like custom shop or even vintage.
@astiagogo Yes, "a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a particular factor is manipulated.'' In this case, too determine whether long term observations among guitarists that different neck woods produced different tonal properties was audible or not.
@@Renshen1957To truly harness the power of test cases, having a well-designed test _environment_ is critical. Im this case there is no well-designed test environment.
@@MrClassicmetal An experiment, nonetheless. Trying something new to see the results is an experiment. Doesn't mean anyone else has to be influenced by the results.
Great video! Thanks for putting the time into such a thorough test. The guitar community can sometimes be full of strong opinions that aren't backed by objective testing, so this was genuinely helpful in understanding the guitar and what elements influence tone. For what it's worth, I love a rosewood fretboard; I always seem to gravitate toward guitars that have them!
That’s a lot of work! Thanks for the effort. I didn’t think there would be that much difference. The maple necks are definitely brighter, noticeable so. Personally I liked the 50s maple the most.
I could hear the difference, and it matters to people who have such good hearing MAYBE. Decay is going to be a shorter interval if the fretboard absorbs energy. Sustain and presence of high frequencies (and harmonics) is better on the harder material (maple ?). So what sound do we want? The presence of rhythm built into a tune is more compelling by far. The tune might be calling for either of the spectrums, per the listener, so, it is a matter of luck and re-takes. But nothing is worse than an idiot adding a noise machine to ruin a beautiful work that begs to be heard a hundred times ("Falling Into You" is my pet peave). Who will remake it at the level of perfection it still deserves?
This should've been a blind test with 10 trials. No-one would be able to get more than 50% right. It's easy to tell them apart when you can see which guitar he's playing.
All three necks sounded good and all sounded like a Strat. The rosewood fretboard is slightly warmer than the maple ones, the maple necks were a bit brighter. I have an old Japanese '61 reissue Strat from the mid-eighties, it has a rosewood fretboard, is a very light in weight guitar, but is the brightest Strat I have ever played. My other Strat, also with rosewood fretboard, is a heavier guitar and has a much warmer tone. I happen to have changed the pickups on both guitars and each guitar kept the character of its sound, no matter what the pickups were.
If you can't tell the difference in tone between different pickups you've put in, it brings up more questions than answers. I'm trying to be nice here...
@@lukegoffkat I didn't say that I could tell no difference in tone between different pick ups, each set of pick ups sounded different off-course, which is why I changed them. I said each guitar kept the character of its sound no matter what the pickups, meaning the bright guitar was still brighter, the warmer one was still warmer.
LOL I still remember the guy who was so against the idea that wood made a difference he even did really angry rants as he explained things with the help of a whiteboard.
@@dwftube The angry rants usually mean that they're protecting a belief rather than being objective. It doesn't matter the tone subject, if people are having a discussion, someone will come in to disrupt it most of the time. I'd say wood doesn't make a bit of difference when you have a bunch of metal in the trem bridge, and playing high gain through a bunch of effects. Someone in that camp is usually the one arguing with those who play fairly clean. Then there is perception.
I first started in 1963. Had many types and brands of instruments. Probably owned and enjoyed 50+ guitars through the years. For me, it's a tele style, w/ a maple neck, and HB pups. My current #1 is an IYV tele headless (super Economy) in spalted maple veneer and and mapleneck w/ Joe Barden pick-ups. The git was $140.from Amazon, and the pups were almost $400. from Joe Barden Engineering in Manassas,VA. It is light , short, and kills. As a geezer maple seems brighter and I can see finger board a bit more easily. Good Vid.
There are like 14 factors in a guitar that affect tone in small ways, but they also counterbalance each other. And the second you start running it through EQs and compression in the mix, all bets are off.
We often speak of guitars we buy and love a lifetime. It's subjective how much we care but the in the mix argument is seldom valid. I'm an audioengineering and slam tone snobs as much as the next guy, but the last few years are just super skewed on hating that choose their instruments with care.
I've been repairing and building guitars for 25+ years. When it comes to fretboards, it's in the attack. Maple tends to have a quicker and quicker attack, where the rosewood has a softer attack. A more extreme example of what I'm referring to is like a solid body vs semihollow. Most tonal difference will be in how it interacts with the amp.
🔥Awesome video man!! In the studio, I always hear the difference too, on top of that, i have a few strats at home and the findings are always the same, and we all know it. just like you said, “everyone should get what fits them”. Both their needs and LIMITATIONS.(my editorial addition) 🤘🏻
I used Beats Studio Headphones (certainly not a brag) at a mid volume and the rosewood fingerboard was very distinguishable. Maples were both quite harsh and plucky. Do i think its the wood? I would need to see a much more controlled experiment. 1. Some sort of automated picking. 2. The same size and type of fretts. 2. Same finish on the fingerboard. 3. Exact same neck material, made from the same batch of wood at least. 4. Use the same nut and tuning machines. Ideally you would have it so you could swap out the fingerboard alone. A lot to ask obviously but it's speculative at best without real control. That being said, it's food for thought! Thanks for making the video Rhett, you put in the effort for your viewers and it doesn't go unnoticed!
Thanks for this video. I totally agree that you can hear the difference and that the rosewood is slightly warmer. Also great that you point out that no one who isn’t as nerdy as us “guitar people” ever will hear the difference or care. So the only one it matters to is the player and like you say if you have a preference you should go with it. It’s not better or worse just a matter of taste. Love that you did this. 😊 Also, isn’t it reasonable to assume that Leo, being a business man, quite simply skipped a step in production and just put the fret wire straight in to the neck to save cost? I mean there is a reason why strats are kind of the most common and wide spread guitar type ever. Partly because it was readily available to the mass market at a affordable cost. Again thanks for great video.
How do we know that the string height is absolutely the same down to 100% ? Also, the pick attack is absolutely not the same, I hear that the Maple run is picked harder than the rest.
Yeah, this is supposed to be a scientific test and he plays a bunch of extremely loose and feel-based riffs. I think the point to take away is that the whole debate is just stupid and I need to stop giving these videos my rageclicks lol (rage is a strong word, but you get me). Also, Rhett sees the guitar, right? His feel that the guitar is "snappier" could affect how he plays. I mean, turning the knobs on your amp has infinitely more impact. Don't pay out the nose for fancy wood, because a good player is going to sound great on any old crap. And if you think it'll make you better, you're probably not a good player lol
@@BilliamwoodsIf every great guitar player would sound great playing crap, why don't they? Why do guys still tour with their vintage guitars, when they could just play a Hello Kitty guitar? Gimmie a break.... Can you all say denial? 🙄
@@mattrogers1946 Better-made guitars play better, stay in tune better, break less - and guitarists are heavily traditionalist, believe in silly superstitions, like certain guitars more more for comfort or looks, etc. I didn't say there's no difference between cheap and expensive, just that as long as it's functional, your guitar is probably the least important part of your music, and the wood it's made from is probably the least important part of your guitar (unless it's made from like rotten wood that falls apart lol)
Great video Rhett! Very very interesting indeed, and I'm pleasantly surprised to find out directly what has been my experience through my guitar playing career, but never back to back like that. Cheers from Down Under sir. 🤘
Arthur Pate and others at the Sorbonne in Paris did some experiments and found that the resonance properties of individual pieces of wood vary more than the difference between the average piece of maple and the average piece of rosewood. They measured a bunch of nominally "identical" guitars made in the same factory, differing only in the wood type used for the fretboards. They also did tests where they had guitarists play guitars in a dimly lit room with funny-colored light, so that they couldn't tell whether the fretboards were rosewood or maple, and then asked the guitarists to describe the sounds of the different guitars. There was no pattern of them describing either type as brighter or snappier or any of the things we're told about fretboard effects on sound.
Really excellent point, often times the individuals setting up various experiments fail to grasp, the importance of such skills, as it is not their field of expertise. You are on point sir.
@huzursuzamakusursuz > chances are the guitarists that tested the guitars have not skilled ears, did they do a/b testing? or just one person tested one guitar and asked for her/his opinion?. Listening skills are really hard to develop. It is even harder to hear difference especially scenarios like this. You might be totally right on that but turn it around: if ONLY skilled listeners can tell the difference... and such listeners are so rare even among musicians... then I guess it doesn't really matter, does it? There's a difference between neck pickup and bridge that even a child can hear, or between CD and tape. Or Strat bridge and Les Paul bridge. I'd even say most people could tell the difference between a 5' and 20' chord (makes a big difference actually). > Your listening ability can vary day to day. One day your mix sound good next day your mix is awful So true. It depends on being tired, what else you've been listening to that day--noisy environment etc.
@huzursuzamakusursuz You would think they could take out the human variable and analyze the sounds produced by the pickups to find the difference empirically.
@huzursuzamakusursuz Totally agree! The results of A/B testing have to be taken with a grain of salt. There are too many variables to account for that affect the tone and even how you perceive that tone. Just listening to exactly the same thing before and after you yawn makes a huge difference in how you perceive that tone. (Yawning clears or opens your sinuses changing the way sound resonates in your eardrums.)
Here's a list, in some sort of order. Your order may be different from mine, particularly at the top. * amp choice/settings * production/mixing/eq * guitar's tone knob * string gauge * picking technique * cabinet * room * microphone choice/placement * fretboard wood
I bought the American Vintage II 61 Strat in Olympic White from Sweetwater and had them apply their PLEK setup service to it. It was and is astonishing just how flawlessly the guitar plays for me. Absolute perfection.
I have one also. Gawd it’s a good guitar. Mine isn’t plekked though. I’d love to try it. Of the Strats I own it’s like 1. American V2 2. Mike Mcready ( very close) 3. 50s Road worn Fiesta 4.American STD black 5. Some unknown year Tobacco Sunburst Mexi 6.American Pro 2 Dark Night 7. Player Plus tequila In that order. I feel like there’s another one around here but I can’t think of it at the moment
Thanks, Rhett! This is something I've wondered about for decades. I've owned/own LPs, Strats, and a Tele. I've never owned or played a reliced anything since I could afford new guitars. If I see a dent, ding, crack, or scratch on one of my guitars, I want to remember where, when, and why that mark's there. For my last Strat, I intended to buy a rosewood fingerboard but fell in love with a roasted maple. My first Strat had a plain maple neck. My Tele is plain maple. If I could only have 1 guitar, it would be an LP. But sometimes you need/want a different sound that, for me, only comes with a Strat or Tele. I suspected the results you got, but less difference between plain and roasted. But I've always wanted to know... what if I'd bought... Thanks again. This has been the most meaningful video of yours I've seen. Now I want to see a set-neck, roasted LP with P90s! 😂. Just kidding. I can imagine what that might sound like.
@@beefnacos6258 Fair enough. And to each their own, but is it enough to warrant a neck upgrade over a speaker swap, new pedal or even just a slight EQ tweak? I for one find more value out of the other three options... I'm also not rich yet.
It’s the front end of the note. It’s softer on the rosewood. I think the maple “snap” is a real thing. They sounded brighter. I think it’s from the feel, i have always preferred the “harder” feeling maple. Really well done Rhett!
The string vibrates between the saddle and the fret/nut, the neck doesn't have anything to do with it, but I always enjoy watching the fart sniffers clutch their pearls.
On the rosewood fretboard, the front end of the note had a sweet, full-body nose reminiscent of apricots and mango that bloomed into an earthy, woodsy-floral mid-bouquet, culminating in an intriguing black pepper and currant finish with an ever-so-subtle hint of tobacco. This fretboard obviously grew in rich, acidic soil with plenty of morning fog and afternoon sunshine.
Nice, love these type of comparisons. I myself found out that every single neck sounds different. The neck can make or break the tone of the guitar. Every piece of the guitar is unique and adds to the tone of the guitar. Cheers!
Headphones on, I could hear the difference, and am flabbergasted. I thought the difference would be negligible, or even naught, but to hear it is the confirmation for all the people who said there IS a difference. I love all those tones, but I'm glad I have an ash Strat, with a rosewood board, because that's the tone I love!! Thanks, Rhrett for your effort, so we can hear the difference! Wow!! Even installed a zero fret nut for more sustain, and to resolve tuning issues. I love that axe so much!
Have you considered the fact that how the player hits the string matters infinitely more than the fretboard material? You should have a look at Jim Lill's videos. I'd bet you three month's salary you'd never be able to pick out an ash body or a rosewood board in a blind test from audio only.
This has no data just opinion on sound. Jim does try to give data by sound wave mapping or something else. Jim's point are usually that moving your tone knob a bit will make more difference than the neck or tonewood.
Brett, you are absolutely spot on that the average listener in the audience will not tell the difference but as players we sometimes get into the slight nuances and this comparison, is definitely cork sniffing territory.
I could immediately hear the difference, even with no headphones on a tablet. At the conclusion Rhett stated exactly my thoughts. But you are correct most likely, the average person......
Man, you're getting a new subscriber just because of great video editing that make me focus on sound and not on rewinding video myself. Cheers! :) I also found found that on maple neck it's easier to notice subtle nuances - and in studio that means: you better play correctly because if you fail slightly bit with dynamics, it will be heard on record. :D
The biggest difference I've ever heard in regards to tonewoods was between a Les Paul with a maple neck and a Les Paul with a mahogany neck. The maple neck makes the sound hella brighter.
Music history is replete with stories of how guitarists have taken their instruments to a shop to have work done, like refinishing or getting the neck shaved down, and when they got their guitars back they didn’t like them anymore. And there are plenty of pros who judge an electric guitar based on how it sounds when it’s unplugged. I believe that Robin Trower and Warren Haynes are two top notch professionals who pay very close attention to the sound of their unplugged solid bodies. These guys are no dummies and they are tone monsters as well. Of course the wood and how it is assembled play a part in the amplified sound of a guitar. It’s probably most significant if there are no effects in the signal chain, and increasingly less important as more and more pedals are included between the guitar and the amplifier.
@@lumberlikwidator8863 It's less important to people lacking in their sensory cognitive function IMO. Details in tone would be less important to them. They might hear the rhythm, and note, but be less concerned with tone. The mistake is when they make the assumption that others are like them. I base this on having studied their arguments.
@@qua7771 Thanks for your reply. Your study and conclusions are very interesting. I’ve found that builders who make all their wooden parts from scratch (like the young Paul Reed Smith) tend to be more perceptive in their recognition of what different materials and construction techniques will do to the sound of an electric guitar.
@@lumberlikwidator8863 I did some guitar building as you mention with repeatable results. Unfortunately, guitar building is very time consuming, and it's not my day job. What I mentioned previously about the external sensory cognitive function explains why some people are hypersensitive to odors, and flavors etc... It's why some people cannot discern real, and imitation foods, while others can. For whatever reason, deniers get upset at the though that people can hear things they don't, and they'll make up all kinds of reasons. Most likely they are introverted sensing dominant, (sensing is interpreted internally) which would explain the frustration when their perception fails them. We all have a blind spot in our cognitive functioning.
Rhett: I want to test if the fretboard gives different sound, can I have the same neck with different woods? Sweetwater: Sure, here's three completely different necks.
@TIMExBANDIT But it's not only the strings that you hear. With an electric guitar, you aren't hearing the sound of the strings amplified. You are hearing the sound of the disruption in an electric field by the strings.
This is really a no brainer. How sound resonates on a guitar is directly related to the density of the wood or other material used to make up the neck and body among other things. There are actually people who believe that the pick-ups rule everything, and the wood doesn't matter. Any guitar builder and luthier will tell you that it does matter. I remember arguing with a guy about this and finally a guitar builder stepped in and set the record straight on how the wood matters. As you said, it's now just about what sound you like to be a part of the music you make.
@audiophileman7047 Great comment, well thought out and expressed. Eric Johnson had an oddball 1950s Strat with a body made from sassafras wood. He sold it some time ago and really regretted the sale. So he had Fender’s Custom Shop make another one for him. Eric was happy again. And the late Dickey Betts said more than once that you’ve got to put pickups into a good piece of wood. Robin Trower and Warren Haynes won’t even consider a guitar that doesn’t sound good to them unplugged.
@@lumberlikwidator8863 The builder (think if was Fender if not mistaken) told us that the sound vibrates/transmits into the wood at the bridge and nut as well as over the guitar. Yes, the great players know. They're so good that eventually they really get down to the quality of the sound. For the rest of us, we spend a lot more time just trying to figure out how to play songs. The better they get, the more this seems to matter to guitarists trying to carve out their own unique sound.
@@audiophileman7047 You got that right, pardner. Some people are just so talented it will make your head spin. I remember an interview with Roy Buchanan, who was dubbed “the world’s greatest guitarist” back in the 1970s. He was famous for his old Telecaster, and he said that he loved that guitar so much that when he flew he bought a seat for the guitar so he would never have to let it out of his sight. He also said that someone made him a heart shaped guitar out of granite. He said that it would sustain forever but the tone was completely wrong for his music. Besides that, the darned thing was too heavy to play.
"Any guitar builder and luthier will tell you that it does matter. " Of course they will blow smoke up your bum, because they sell those guitars. How else can they differentiate their product line this easily, if people wouldn't care about the wood? Fender even goes as far as claiming that paint job on body of an electric guitar can affect the tone, lol xD Wood does matter, among other things, but in acoustic instruments. But when it comes to electric ones - you can make an electric guitar even out of plastic and metal alone if you feel like it, and it will sound just fine and without knowing the material people will be amazed by it (Jack White uses one, and Kirk Hammett as well, and they aren't the only ones obviously) "I remember arguing with a guy about this and finally a guitar builder stepped in and set the record straight on how the wood matters." He just gave you his opinion, and because it was in line with yours, you remember it as 'setting the record straight' :) Jeez, confirmation bias is so strong in this comment section, my humbuckers start ti pick it up ;) If you want to learn something do a proper double blind trial, if you want to indulge in confirming what you already believe, watch videos where you can clearly see the wood that is being played, and hear with your eyes.
@@imieniainazwiskaniepodam411 Rhett pointed out through actual tests in the video that guitar necks with different wood sound different. Everything was the same on the Strat except for the wood in the necks, and there was a clearly noticeable difference. I've heard this from other players as well. This isn't just my opinion. It's supported by the experiments and the physics of sound.
Excellent work on this project, there is a difference, it is subtle, but it is there, I appreciate your attention to detail and love your work on the channel
In my mind, a maple -single chunk of wood would be more resonant that a rosewood neck, which is 90-95% maple neck, with the remaining fretboard rosewood. That aspect to me I think causes the rosewood to have what sounds like a shorter decay.
Solid Rosewood Necks are available as aftermarket purchases, however, there are maple fret board on maple necks without the skunk stripe. "A one-piece maple neck/fingerboard with a skunk stripe was standard at Fender from 1950 to 1958" the walnut insert to cover the truss rod absent for most of the 1960s (Rosewood necks), until its return in 1969 when a 1950s-style, one-piece maple neck/fingerboard once again became available as an optional feature. From 1969 to 1971, however, rosewood-fingerboard instruments still had no skunk stripe. Would the Maple Fretboard glued to a Maple Neck be more resonant (yes, Maple is less only than rosewood), but would a two piece maple neck be less resonant (glue, etc.) "Enquiring minds want to know.'
I’ve often wondered if the visual lightness of maple makes us think it sounds “brighter”, and the darkness of rosewood makes us characterise the sound as “darker”. The mind plays funny games…
No, if you are not deaf, you can clearly hear it. This is what us git players have known, but never verified because you are usually judging guitar to guitar.
That’s literally all it is. I understand if people have preferences to the feel of the wood under the fingers, but there is no discernible difference (especially when you can just eq your sound or cover it with the slightest bit of overdrive or distortion) and people should just pick what makes them want to play. I swear though the next time I hear maple described as “snappier” I think I’m going to lose it lol.
It's 100% this. If you took the samples and mixed up the order. You wouldn't have a chance in hell at identifying them blind. Anything else is inherently biased by your priors and visual cues and honestly a waste of time.
@@Y33tastic But if you are EQing your sound to cover the difference, aren't you admitting there is a difference? To MY ears there is a distinct difference, and like Rhett says: "if it matters to you it does, if doesn't matter to you, then it doesn't. I will agree it hardly matters in the context of a live band scenario though.
I have been thinking of getting an Ibanez Maple SG, the same one a friend of mine had when we were kids. I need the lighter weight that an SG affords since I'm an "old'e guy" now. Besides his SG having superb action back then (1973) his guitar "cut" through the mix better than any guitar I have ever heard. His neck was the roasted maple with Lacquer Finish on top "and" bottom. The Lacquer Finish on the bottom was a downside since my hand tended to not slip around as easily (more Finger-Ease is required). Good stuff, Maynard! I appreciate this video being made. It helps me to hear what I heard many years ago. True story: I loved my friend's SG and he loved my 73' Gibson L6 Deluxe w/ Ebony Neck!
It maybe cut through the mix better than another humbucker guitar but I have to say that I've never heard any humbucker guitar cut through a mix better than a Strat with single coils ... that's really the USP of a Stratocaster IMO.
I absolutely think woods matter, but I think that when changing necks, there's a whole lot of pieces that are being changed that can impact the sound beyond just the wood. Fret size impacts the fret to wood contact and different fret materials sound different. Even how well seated the frets are matters (an air bubble under a fret can make for a dead spot, for example). Different nut materials sound different. I find tuner mass makes a pretty substantial difference too. I wouldn't be surprised if the type of truss rod makes a difference to some extent too. How the wood is cut (quarter sawn, flat sawn, etc) also makes a noticeable difference. The overall mass/weight of the neck (and thickness) play into it too. We don't get all of the specs of all 3 necks in this video, thus we can't fully say whether it is the wood or something else changing. Regardless, though, I think this video does show that there is more that impacts the sound of an electric guitar than just the pickups (as some people seem to claim).
laugh but he's right. the good builders know, the good techs know. it's subtle, obviously. the number of people who can recognize these things is exceedingly small even among guitar enthusiasts. there is an infinite spectrum of perceptual acuity. the amount of information contained in a single fretted note resonating through a room from speakers in the cabinet of an amplified electric guitar is incalculable. a representation of it in an audio recording through a microphone is a TINY fraction of that information. and even then, something like fretboard wood is clearly noticable with decent monitoring.
@@NicolasGtn85 Laugh, but it really is a thing. It's rare in a new guitar, but if you ever play a badly refretted guitar, it is a noticeable thing - especially if it is a guitar you played a bunch prior to the botched refret. It is perhaps perceived more as a dullness/lack of sustain, etc compared to other frets more than a clear "tone" difference. More often than not, it also results in the fret not being even too, which can result in some buzzing/sitaring from that fret.
@@smithcustomguitarco sure mate, can you also hear the type of glue used under frets? (cyano, fish glue, titebound I or II or III or none) Like UFOs only ppl that believe in it see them.
I tried this test in a guitar shop.....tested maple against rosewood back and forth over and over......played the maple guitar..unplugged...plugged straight into the rosewood guitar ( same guitar make and model, both brand new ) and played the exact same tune....over and over. The maple sounded like playing the rosewood closer back towards the bridge.....
A simple "Of course it Matters". Even on a Bow. Ebony over Carbon Fiber Frogs matter. It all matters. Put Brass Nut and Saddle on an acoustic it becomes more metallic. Change the Rosin type on a bow it matters. Even the same type of wood cut at a different grain angle will matter. Everything in our world resonates at different frequencies. All you would have had to do was play an Emaj chord and let it ring. That is the only sound test you need. I paid LAG an Extra $500 for the better lumber. The dimensions, strings and electronics are the same. But that Bear Claw Spruce Top.. Wow. IMO From the ears of a 50 year violinist.
Violins are very different from solid body electric guitars. I don't think you can even really compare the two on their materials because they matter a great deal in an acoustic instrument and almost not at all on a guitar where you're primarily hearing the pickups.
@@ampthebassplayer Just change the Nut on your electric from plastic to bone and witness the difference. Transference of energy matters even on a solid body. Glass solid body sound different than balsa wood.
@@Jack.Waters You're talking about a change in nut material that would have a dramatic effect on how much the string can vibrate, vs the wood of a neck that even this billionth example is so insignificant that the comments can't agree if there's even a difference. Not the same, at all. Violins are not electric guitars and I feel insane typing that.
Awesome! I love that we're living in a time where there's such access to simply testing if changing certain parts of the guitar (all other things equal) makes much difference. Just the PUPs swapped out? Just the necks swapped out? Does the material of the guitar body make a difference? etc etc etc Great video! Learning so much about what changes actually make a difference and what changes don't matter so you can customize those parts as much as you want. I know one hilarious myth I used to be told growing up was that the poly finish sounds way different than a nitro-cellulose lacquer. Once I had a little experience, I realized how dumb that argument was since a lot of the bands I enjoyed had custom paint jobs that didn't change the tone whatsoever. Just one example of how much fun the journey of learning music can be :) My favorite part is how music connects us all despite having different backgrounds. When you're jamming with someone else nobody gives af about your political beliefs, religion, work BS, etc. Just play and enjoy :)
Great job! I've noticed the difference between rosewood and maple, but could you do a comparison between rosewood and Pau Ferro? It would be interesting to see if those alternatives to rosewood actually sound like it or not.
He made a reference to the sound of the maple neck being "scooped," which is a reference to it having a different EQ waveform (relatively lower mids and lows from the maple, I'm assuming). I took that to mean that there were visible differences.
@@jameswheeler5260 same, it was that kind of verbiage that made me think it would possibly be visible. And if so, it would be a lot easier to articulate than, "I can hear a difference" because anyone could also see the difference.
As a person with a lot of high-frequency hearing loss, I love my maple necks because they are snappier and cut through; I can hear my treble better without EQ'ing my tone to the point where it sounds harsh to everyone else.
Yep. Rosewood is warm. So is cedar. My favorite (acoustic) guitar is a Seagull S6+CW with a rosewood fretboard and a cedar top. It's positively candlelight.
A maple neck is always brighter, it’s not a new discovery. It’s not just the wood, it’s the fact that the maple neck is solid wood from front to back. A rosewood is a ply or layered wood, so it’s going to have less resonance and sustain, because it’s a two piece neck. I have always preferred rosewood necks for this reason, although I do have a maple neck strat too.
I definitely heard time difference between the rosewood and maple. The rosewood is just sweeter and and more smooth. The maple was more harsh and biting. The roasted maple sounded somewhere in between.
If that's truly the case, then the pickups might need to be adjusted to compensate for the less tone absorbed by the neck. A warble in tone usually means pickups too close to the strings otherwise.
Great video! Thank you very much. I was really surprised that you liked the rosewood neck better in the end, because to my ears and taste the brighter, snappier maple necks clearly are superior.
Rosewood tames the harsh and bright nature of the single coil pickups, especially on the bridge side. But also it makes the neck sound muddier as a trade-off. My original DBZ Bolero has a rosewood neck and every time I play it, I feel like I ate a pack of chocolate :) It's that sweet and neat.
In 1982 I ordered my white Stratocaster with a maple fingerboard BECAUSE they sound brighter. I was not disappointed. It was awesome. Everybody who heard it thought so.
I sold Fender from 2000-2005 at a great Mom and Pop store called Wray Music in Lemoyne Pa. I am a Les Paul guy first, but Hendrix is my guitar idol. I love the sound of Strats but have a hard time warming up to the way at least I need to play them. I played literally 12 Strats before picking mine. You are IMO correct! I ended up with a 3 tone sunburst rosewood BECAUSE it wasnt so shrill to my ears. I actually only ever owned one Strat with maple and it was white like yours for obvious reasons, but it too went in trade. Just too bright for my taste but I LOVE the look of maple over rosewood. Ironically enough I prefer maple on a Tele so go figure?
@@brianseneca3546 Yes, I own 3 Fenders atm, 1 Squire, 1 Tele and 1 Strat. Both Tele and Squire have rosewood fretboards, but my old Strat has a roasted maple neck. I'm going to switch out the Tele's neck for the roasted maple for the extra quack a Tele is so well known for.
I think if you go into this with a preconception you will hear a difference. If you don't expect to hear a difference, you won't hear one. Here's why: if there's any difference (I don't think there is) it's so incredibly subtle that there is no way to play it exactly the same twice. And so depending on where you cut the A/B test, it'll reveal different differences, especially if the one playing and editing is the one with the preconceptions. A good player can extract different tones. That confirmation bias will lead the player to play that way. You would need some sort of robot to exactly recreate the playing, which unfortunately don't sound very good or human typically and so are hard to judge. Bottom line, like you said, the audience will never hear the difference. So the conclusion, as you also said, is just do whatever you like. If you like one look over the other, pick that. But don't spend the money because one is "better" or will improve your music, it won't, 5 minutes of practice will make a bigger difference in your song than a neck swap.
Wood is not magnetic and does not conduct electricity. Wax pickups do not produce a voltage when there are no metallic strings to vibrate. Tonewoods is only relevant to microphonc pickups I found that out the hard way when I changed the Peavey bridge pickup to a DiMarzio King Twang bridge, and now it sounds totally vintage pre CBS Fender. The original pickup sounded very midrange, almost like the guitar does acoustically. Not any more.🥰😍😋❤💯👍👍👍
@@chucksurgeonertribute2113 Yeah I agree, there is some amount that wood can absorb or resonate energy from the string. But for the most part solid body guitars with maple necks are so rigid that it's not a factor
I also felt that way. He played with a lighter touch on the rosewood and with maple he really dug in and snapped the strings harder and then realized wow its snappier 😅
@@acekkkkkk Just line to line you could hear tonal inconsistencies larger than at the cut. It's really difficult to test these things with a modicum of science. The human player is a huge variable, to test it scientifically you have to eliminate that variable. Jim Lil is really the only one to get close to that, and his tests reveal that when you eliminate variables down it comes down to a string and a pickup. I'll at that a base level of structure is also required, but virtually all modern guitars meet that. For example old Teisco guitars and such, they can have a plunky tone due to just being so wobbly that they absorb energy from the string.
Awesome video. As a strat guy (hss mostly), I think the finish of the neck makes the biggest difference. Those high glossy finishes I think reflect the snappy bright sounds. While the rosewood absorbs more of that snap. I love the feel of playing an unfinished roasted neck. But sound wise, i think it depends on what style of music you are playing. Thanks again Rhett!
Rosewood is subtly mellower but still very Strat. Maple was more 50's sound structure, and toasted was more trebly Tele. Amp took characteristics and made them more apparent. Knopfler is great choice to illustrate this, rather than Morello. Thank you.
@@kalkidasofficial Or your laptop plugged into a killer stereo. I was too lazy to crank it up, so I just found someone in the comments who posted the resonant frequencies from the .WAV files.
Totally agree the sound is different on all 3 fretboards. Yes, maple sounds brighter and with tight lows, whereas rosewood has less edge and more lows - mids presence. Roasted maple at least for me sounds even slightly brighter than standard maple, maybe due to the heat process it dries the wood too much. Anyways the differences are more noticeable with the guitar alone, but not so much in a mix or a band, and it's just subtle. Some people still say there's no difference, it doesn't matter... I do notice how they sound different, and I can think some people have different hearing, same with vision, so some will favor rosewood or maple. Thanks for the video Rhett, the best I have seen on the fretboard topic. Great channel, I suscribed ! 👍
My daughter walked into the room - she plays flute, not guitar - and I asked her to listen blind. She never saw the necks at all. She said it was easy to tell the difference.
I appreciate the time and effort that you put into this experiment. I do think that it's important to realize (at least through my 20 some years of swapping around fender necks and bodies) that you could run the same test with two different rosewood necks and also notice a difference, sometimes dramatically so. At least that's been my experience, but I've not recorded audio to compare. When we're dealing with natural components (wood) and varying torque specs on any and all fasteners you will hear subtle differences... note I didn't say improvements, but differences. I think this is why you can sometimes pick up a "cheaper" version of a strat and be blown away when compared to certain individual custom shop guitars. Sometimes the different components just marry up for a stellar guitar. Nothing dramatic, but don't be thinking because your start was 1000 rather than 10,000 that it's going to suck. Again, great video, thanks for posting.
@ItsAllFake1 The density of the wood does affect sound transfer, but I believe there are other elements involved, like the hardware mass for the bridge. Also, maybe the construction of bolt-on vs. neck-thru design. My music man bass with rosewood has "forever" sustain, haha, but that bridge is massive.
Not a surprise at all and quite logic. Reason is the Rosewood fingerboard is glued together with the maple and as we learn in acoustics two different materials stuck together will reduce noise transition. Simple explantation. The Roasted Maple sounds brighter because of a slightly higher wood density compared with the normal Maple neck. No mysteries here... you just proved it acoustically. Anyway, thanks for sharing this experiment.
Remember a couple of years ago when you mentioned Jim Lill's videos and seemed to have understood this stuff is 99.9% superstition? Did you forget all of it? Claiming that the maple neck is brighter is outright hilarious, considering how you've tried exactly three necks here, and that how you strike the strings would matter many orders of magnitude more than the fretboard material. There's a reason we don't test new drugs on just five subjects and draw a conclusion from that. It's fun to talk like we're real pros and discuss all these minute nuances, but most people understand this is just hogwash. I don't think you have bad intent here, but it's easy to convince yourself you can hear things that aren't there, and forget about all the other factors that have a bigger influence on what you're actually hearing when there's truly something there. Take a step back - don't become a snake-oil salesman.
Nice comparison Rhett! It kind of affirms what i always thought about different wood types for necks. I have two telecaster type guitars. One with a roasted maple neck (C shape) and one with a maple neck with rosewood fretboard (D shape). The difference is definitely audible. To me the roasted maple neck sounds brighter an harmonically richer, but the maple/rosewood neck sounds warmer and less harsh in the mid and high range. That said : the moment you start fiddling about with your amp's tone controls they can be made to sound pretty much the same though. The big difference is the shape. The roasted maple C shape neck feels the most comfortable and fast to me. Great channel Rhett ! 👍
I'm a steel string acoustic player exclusively, and I've know this to be true on acoustic guitars for a long time. There is even a notable done difference between dove tail, M&T, or bolt on necks as well. However, I did not know that even electric guitars could have these tonal deviations. Very interesting Rhett! Great vid.
As a new guitar player but an experienced woodworker, I think it's not so much the vibrations in the wood (what most people mean) but all those other variations - the shape of the hand (the C shape, the curve of the fretboard) as you play, height of the strings, finished vs unfinished, and the texture and wear of the wood that could cause those subtle differences - and those differences might be different for different people - therefore there's nothing that can be said is inherent to one vs. the other. I'd venture to say if the fret surface (and specific profile) of the neck affect you're playing feel different in any way, then they make a difference, and if they don't feel different to you, they don't. That would then be something you'd have to know about yourself - not an inherent part of the guitar, based on this. (and maybe why people can't stop arguing about it). I agree with your sentiment, but I'd argue it's not the character of the guitar in that sense, but the impact on your own "character" the guitar can influence. Either through pure sentiment (possible) and/or through subtle changes in feel that everyone will experience differently (or not at all). I don't think therefore there's any way to say this board _does_ this or that, therefore there's no recommendations for a sound anyone could reliably make: Each musician would have to try up different things for themselves. What I can say is that rosewood would indeed wear 'better' aesthetically in my experience than maple. That's probably the most empirical thing that can be said about it, and fretboards have been made of that for hundreds of years for that reason. (maybe there is a better, less eurocentric wood that _could_ be used that we haven't tried...? There are lots of excellent 'exotic' hardwoods and some are very pretty, too. I'm sure people have tried this, but I wonder what their experiences ended up being with the long term care and sound?) The next thing to try would be several different players with differing opinions doing the same exercise (with the same setup)!
I agree with you the rosewood board sounds best all around. I used to only play maple boards, but a few years ago I came to the same conclusion you did and now my preference is more for rosewood. Great video!
In the words of Vinny Gambini "Do the laws of physics cease to exist in your kitchen?" For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. It is simply a matter of how much is noticeable. You are correct that which you like and what you hear as the difference is still somewhat subjective. A person with poor hearing at certain Hz will hear it differently than you or I will. Guitarists are always chasing the perfect tone. It doesnt exist. Tone itself is such a wide spectrum that you are always in it but not where you sometimes want to be. Good video.Very funny thing I thought I was subscribed already? Hit the button again.
this is actually something i learned within modding 2 guitars off of amazon, my 3rd and 4th guitars ever. I got some craaaaazy baseball bat maple vintage strat and tele necks and the brightness is REAL yo Buy cheap guitars with cool finishes, buy interesting necks, acquire lowkey woodworking/soldering skills and you learn a loooooot about what makes a guitar go vroom-vroom. Im also a fan of the toploader bridge lol. Guitarrists are full of urban legends.
This is a great vid Rhett (I just subscribed too) and I too was very surprised at the difference. I have three Fender USA Strats (all alder) & three Teles (1 USA Standard (alder), 1 MIM Thinline Deluxe (alder), and 1 HB TE52NA (ash). One of my Strats and the USA Tele have rosewood boards, the rest are maple boards. And although they all sound & feel different I assumed that it was all down to the body woods and pickups, bridges etc but that the fret board material made no noticeable difference and that the choice of maple v rosewood was more to do with aesthetics and feel rather than tone. But your vid has convinced me that the fret board material does impact on tone & certainly from your test, the maple sounds a little snappier and brighter, with the rosewood sounding a little warmer but slightly darker. But perhaps I could throw something else into the equation. Maple necks are (usually) uncapped i.e. they are one piece of maple with the top finished to be the fret board. My 1969 hardtail Strat is unusual in that it has a capped maple board laid onto a maple neck (which also means no skunk stripe because the truss rod was laid from the top). This is because for circa 18 mths between the second half of 1968 and Jan/Feb 1970 Fender only offered rosewood fret boards and they didn't offer a one piece maple neck. But due to customer demand they offered as a special order for extra cost, a maple capped board (Hendrix' famous white 68 Strat had a maple capped board too). Rosewood boards are laid onto a maple neck. So I was just wondering if the tonal difference was entirely down to the fret-board material or whether the one piece and two piece construction may also have something to do with the snappiness and brightness i.e. in the way that sound resonates/reflects?
Great video, thanks been wanting to see this kind of test for a long time. Bottom line: as you said, you can hear it. I have the same guitar btw, fender avii fiesta red w/rosewood. And I do prefer rosewood necks. I’ve been playing electrics for a year, and I played classical for 10 years in my 20s (it probably saved my life). I’m 54 now. Still have that classical guitar which I bought new 35 yo, takamine hirade h-7, ebony fretboard, rosewood back and sides, cedar top. I’ve been going through a lot of guitars, earlier in the year I had a purple prs se silver sky w/maple neck and fretboard. It was a beautiful playing and sounding guitar but it felt bright, I traded up for a silver silver sky w/rosewood board…it sounds like darker like there is more depth but it wasn’t something I was able to hear until I was very familiar with the se. The first electric I still have and love is a G&L asat bluesboy p90 (t-style) swamp ash body with maple neck and board. It does have a “depth” and smoothness to it but it’s the only maple fretboard electric I have left. I agree with you both, maple was brightest, roasted maple seemed in between, rosewood seemed darkest. But I also think that only maybe other players would perceive the difference out of anyone else. I think players can definitely feel it if they can’t hear it. Thanks again, Peace!
This is cool, I did this same test back in 86 when I got my first Strat. I did Maple and Rosewood, I don't think they had roasted back then, but I heard the difference right away and I went with the rosewood. People said I was crazy or I'm just imagining it. Thanks for setting the record straight
Funny how Fender went with rosewood because the maple showed age and usage….now they charge extra to make maple necks look that way!
They don't charge extra, what are you talking about?
Relic guitars is what he's on about.
Leo also made the bolt on neck to avoid needing a fret job. The idea was just to replace the neck.
@@timetraveler_0he was talking of relecing, and you're damn straight they charge a lot for that.
Did you measure and compare the string distance to pickup. This does have a way much bigger impact in sound
When I compared a Squier to a Fender standard/custom shop/original '63 loads of people didn't hear a difference either, which is totally understandable. They all sound very much like a guitar. This is basically the same, but even more extreme I guess. There are differences, but they are marginal. But if you've been playing guitar for so many years and for so many hours a day, these subtleties are easier to spot. I don't even know if it's the wood, or just the fact that it's different necks/nuts/tuning pegs.
For what it's worth: camp Rosewood.
Hey, could you do a follow up video to your strat comparision but you put pickguard from custom shop to squier?
Wholeheartedly agree on the point of the other parts. Though I am impressed by Rhett's ability to play very consistently, I would really appreciate another player of the same caliber testing necks that have the exact specifications and construction methods. (ex. 2 piece neck without a skunk stripe with a bone nut and Fender Vintage Nickel Tuners and String tree with the same radius.) The perfect comparison point would've been to take another Vintage II strat with a maple neck, considering they are off the same production line with the same hardware.
Camp Rosewood sounds like a nice place...
I feel like differences are so small they could be explained by *tactile* details. Different finish and texture of each neck affect the player on subconscious level and influence how he operates with both the left and right hand. It still results in different performance, of course - just like someone more used to C profile will play more confidently on C shaped neck than deep U or V. But I suspect that if those necks were given to some perfect and inhumanly precise robot it could be programmed to make those small differences disappear and maybe even prove that difference between maple and rosewood can be just as "huge" as between 2 maple necks from different wood suppliers.
TLDR - yep, fretboard matters but more in how it affects player's comfort than due to its specific sonic properties.
Paul and Rhett, the difference is much too subtle to tell over a laptop computer speaker with headphones or without. Only a "in person experience" could express the nature of these changes. Reminds of when I wanted to buy a Klon clone and the youtube videos weren't helpful, the subtleties just couldn't be expressed properly through this medium.
I think we can all agree that what made Jimi Hendrix so great was his incredible choices of fretboard wood.
He was ahead of time definitely!
Exactly so. He was a mediocre guitar player but the best tone wood specialist of his era. 😅
Hendrix played maple because he thought it looked cooler. He played rosewood in the studio a lot.
It's not like there are multiple accounts on his preferences or very much detailed descriptions of everything he got done to the guitars, the setup and whether or not he had preferences for maple or rosewood by Roger Mayer. I'm not a tone wood believer (more like a sceptic) but looking for subtleties and differences in your gear can definitely push you forward and make whatever talent you got really shine.
People just don’t get sarcasm. Holy crap you people should have your internet cut off.
11:14 In my humble opinion that is true for so much more than just fretboards. Even switching from a Peavey Wolfgang to a 1971 Les Paul Custom during a live concert doesn't change that much of what's being experienced by the audience in the room, but obviously it makes an immense difference for me. For me, whatever inspires you in any given moment is the right thing to use!
I agree I recently bought a cheap gretsch with broadtron pickups that almost every one hates but I love them and that guitar really inspire me. 🙏🙂
@@stormyweather2837 That's awesome, stromyweather. Another benefit of being one of few people who are inspired usually is the price tag on such an instrument. :)
I always thought that but then people argue how they need to "connect" with the instrument. But as a hobbyist musician I play 2 full gigs monthly and one of the thing that keeps things things interesting with me is switching gear often. Some times I use Tube Amps, sometimes Boss Katana... Sometime Helix AND I always own 7 guitars and I WALWAYS have 1 or 2 listed for sale or trade. Once a guitar sells I replace it so I have diferent guitar sets at any point in time and let me tell you: I can "connect" with ANY combination of guitar and amp or amp simulator. The time spent figuring out how to play something you did originally with a Telecaster, on a Schecter Shedder is fun and it grown your performing skill quite a bit (no new music, but interpreting what you know in different styles)
The simple truth that many guitar players tend to forget or not realize is the vast majority of the audience doesn't give a single damn about what guitar is being played and would not be able to tell the difference. They just hear "a guitar". They don't hear "a genuine Fender American Strat with a vintage 50's single coil pickups and a maple fretboard". The only people in the audience who give a damn about any of that are guitar geeks and (guitar snobs) and the person playing the guitar.
@@unodeldim3610 That's exactly what I mean. If it makes grow as a musician, you can't be wrong with your approach. I wouldn't go as far as the Katana, but I acknowledge that it works for some! :))
Now, the only problem is convincing my wife why I need three Strats.
My wife says you can only have 3 guitars if they're all Teles.
@@ampthebassplayer why does your wife care? I'm sure my wife can't tell the difference (other than color) - they all look the same to her.
What's the best thing about having too many guitars? When you buy a new one, your wife never notices!
no.... 3 necks
@@kevliao They don't care about the guitars, but, they do care about the family budget xD
@11:32 The sound and feel of a guitar ABSOLUTELY affects the way I play. This is th reason why I choose certain guitars for certain gigs. I hear in my head when I think I may want a Les Paul, or my blackguard Tele, or one of my Strats, or my 335. They all sound and feel differently, and it's reflected in my playing.
This is so true. I have a Les Paul and a strat, and yeah, a I feel that have some songs that I tend to use one or other. It affects some much the way I play. This is the beauty of guitars. Each type of guitar have their own unique way to play. I don’t think it’s about the tone of the guitar at all. Cause for regular people, they don’t even notice it
Sure, every 'girl' has it's own character and is inspiring differently
It's like liberals are more likely to change their accent, tone and, the words they use depending on the race of the person they are talking to.
Very cool of you to use your influence w/ StewMac to make this possible. Definitely a service to the UA-cam guitar building community, and possibly of use for players as well.
Brilliant work. We have always known Maple = Bright. I find the same thing in classical/flamenco guitars. Maple has a loud, narrow-range resonance, while rosewood has a darker, fuller tone.
I always think Maple gives a more bubbly, jangly tone, but there is a huge difference, maybe more difference, from what model pickups you are using.
The picking position, cut of the nut, height from the strings, and the fit of the pocket will affect your tone more than the fretboard material, -playability and stability of the frets is actually quite different with different woods though!
this
But they were all identical he explained in the beginning? Agreed though - I think I would be more concerned with which one helps me play the best in regards to how my hand fits the back of it
@@danbjornson6799 Being prepared to be close to the same and being the same are two different things which is why I brought it up, if he got two of the same neck there would still be minor differences because of wood variation and machining tolerances. The whole thing fell apart when he played with his hands and didn't use a controlled mechanical setup anyway, - the idiomotor effect is much larger than people think.
@@666dreamboatAlso, you can't unlearn the fact that maple is known to be "snappier" so that's a cognitive bias that you can't get around by "trying to play the same way".
@@666dreamboatI’m really late to this comment section but as a professional MI tech, you are doing the lord’s work with comments like this. Thank you.
I've got a 3 year college degree in lutherie. Altho I've not made a career out of it yet for obvious financial reason I can tell you this. Even if you pick wood from the same exact tree it can end up souding totally different from each other. We tuned our soundboards not by thickness but by putting weights on it and measuring how it flex and also various test with a frequency generator. A case could be made for neck thickness/ rigidity and sound.
Thickness & density of a wood will definitely affect the way it resonates.
On an accoustic?
And for the torque on the screws when each neck is put on
@@TheMightyYakno idea
@@Jb-ip3dias long as the neck is tight a little variation in torque shouldn't be an issue
Had my eyes closed during the A/B comparisons of the rosewood vs maple and other than the first playing where i had yet to shut my eyes, i could only tell when the neck had changed maybe 2 times out of 10
With videos like this, there should *always* be a blind comparison, with the reveal at least a few days later. Because people hear with their eyes and convince themselves there is a difference, whether they actually hear one or not.
Yeah I was hearing a massive difference until I started again and closed my eyes lol
Any proper blind ABX test requires at least an 80% accuracy during 5 complete runs to be relevant. So here we go, no difference whatsoever :)
@@mrcoatsworth429 Hence my grandad saying "Hang on I can't hear you, let me put my glasses on."
Thought I could hear a difference until I tried it again with my eyes close to blind see if I could hear the change. Short answer was nope, only heard the change like 2 or 3 of the changes.
At 10:50, you encapsulated a great answer to your query about neck woods. "Nobody in the audience is going to be thinking..."
As in most solitary pursuits such as guitar playing, snowboarding or canoeing, a lofty issue is how it feels while participating and how the activity creates enjoyment for the doer of it. If an onlooker is uplifted in the process, bonus. It's why one needn't always keep score when playing golf. Winning equates to being out there - perhaps even noticing one's own improvement - whether grinding an axe, hitting a straight drive, sinking a chip from the rough, surfing a frozen white wave or listening to the sound of a paddle being drawn through water.
The Strat at my house has a rosewood fretboard because the color combo pleases the eye. When I tell life to stop so I can take a half-hour escape while concentrating on perfecting a new (or admired) riff, the guitar needs to look like a vacation when its case lid is raised.
Great video content resulted from your desire to research this neck wood idea. Thanks for posting it.
Spot on! 😅🥹👍🏻
I owned strats with different fingerboards, and now I have two that I cannot decide between. I believe that the rosewood sounds nicer to the ear, it's warmer and more round. It is also kinda softer to the touch. The maple neck strat that I own now is snappier, brighter and in my opinion cuts through the mix better than the rosewood.
So, I think there are just different uses for the two fingerboard types. I would use the rosewood strat in solo playing, bluesy stuff, and the maple in a funky rhythm band situations. It's best to have two! :)
What does "more round" mean?
You should give a few raps up and down the back of each neck , whilst unplugged, and listen to hear if there is any movement of the truss rod inside. In over 40+ years of doing guitar repairs I've found you might find a spot along the neck where the sound of the rap is noticeably different, indicating a slight space between the trussrod and the channel on the back of neck or under the fretboard. I do this before fitting any after market necks as well [Cheap necks off Ebay/Amazon have about a 5-10% failure rate of this test], and advise the owner to get a replacement that doesn't show this trait, as it's not really viable to repair.
Thank you very much for sharing the wav files!
Fantastic video Rhett, this comparison is most welcome and demonstrates so much. Yes, it's subtle but it's definitely a thing. I've been building guitars and basses for almost 25yrs now, and I can say without a doubt that a good-sounding neck is more important than the body wood in many ways. I can even add that the type of truss rod makes a difference also, but in a different way. What you're hearing here is the attack of the strings and whether the materials in the neck are affecting how they vibrate. The pickups only really see the movement of the strings within their magnetic field (let's ignore microphonics for a moment) and the strings are stretched over an assembly of wood and metal that alters their vibrations. Taken to the logical extreme, if this were a concrete guitar or a rubber one, there would be even greater differences in the final output. Wood matters. One thing I look for in a guitar's characteristics is how the notes develop over time in the room with amplification, and how they "bloom" and evolve. Some necks and material choices are winners in this category, some less so. Genuine Mahogany is a very "slow" sounding wood, contrary to the immediate snappiness of Maple. It seems to be a wood that responds better to in-the-room amplification, especially when the neck is laminated with something stiff and toneful like Wengé, Bubinga. Walnut is relatively similar, but quite dark. It attenuates the upper end of the spectrum somewhat. My go-to combination is a Rosewood board, a combination of Maple or Mahogany with those Bubinga or Wengé laminates and a single-acting vintage style compression truss rod. The lamination dials out the wolf tones and dead spots whilst keeping the low end tight. The way compression rods work make the neck far more responsive and "musical". As sensitive as those rods are, they can make a neck sing. I know that this doesn't apply to off-the-shelf factory Fender necks, however everything you found here extends itself way out there.
I'm with Leo...I prefer the looks of the Rosewood (or Darker) fretboards. The slight sound difference is irrelevant to me, a pickup change, EQ in the mix can make up the slight difference. If it means the world to you.
I think I preferred living on a planet with rainforests, but at least you and Leo were able to experience some fleeting superficial happiness with the appearance of your guitar necks.
@@wulf67 Southeast Alaska is North Americas only Rainforest, no rosewood grows here, the ONLY reason Leo made the change was a cleaner look. The Solid Maple is brighter than the softer RW and NEVER should Epoxy be in any Luthiers shop for anything other than making Jigs, Same with Superglue!
@@warrenweldon7552 1. Not all rainforests have rosewood, but the majority of rosewood grows in rainforests or tropical monsoon forests.
2. The reasons Leo switched to maple are irrelevant to my point about irresponsible harvesting and unsustainable destruction of rosewood on earth.
3. I don’t know what you are responding to with your comment on epoxy and superglue, but I’ll take the bait: Epoxy is used in the construction of some very beautiful guitars, such as those made of burled wood, and I use superglue, if for nothing else, to repair my fingers when I inevitably cut them while honing my chisels or plane irons. If you don’t have any superglue then you don’t have a first aid kit, much less a luthier’s shop.
@@wulf67Guitar manufacturers should all just switch to richlite fretboards.
They can have any aesthetic you want, they're sustainable, and requires virtually no upkeep or maintainance.
Superior to wood fretboards in every way.
Nice touch starting with some Knopfler on the red strat. It’s the little details.
Especially since his first two Strats were both red, and one was maple, the other rosewood!!! He often just swapped his fav pickups into whichever he was playing more at the time!!
Instant demonetization, though. 😆
Marks favorite strat was a Candy Apple red one, not a Fiesta red.
@@Mexxx65 no that was a Schecter Dream Machine, not a Fender Stratocaster. He got that in 1980, he played his Fenders from 1977-1980.
@@handle433 That Schecter got modded to Duncan alnico Vs, though. The stock Schecter pickups sound really bad.
The thing I gather from all these types of videos is that if there's a difference in tone at all it's minimal enough that when buying a guitar you really only have to worry about the feel and if you like the way it looks. The wood choice really isn't something that effects the recorded tone in a large enough way to matter.
This is truth 100%, you will have tonewood crazies after you real shortly without any evidence to support their opinions. Minimal change if any.
Satisfaction with feel and aesthetics is a great place to start. As a kid, whatever Jimi Hendrix had in his hands looked good enough to me.
Exactly, feel and aesthetics, that's the criteria I use to select the wood of my guitars, not that "tonewood" nonsense. If there's a tiny difference in sound between woods, it can't be perceived after the sound goes through the pickups, cables, effects, amp, etc.
Feel, look, and the pickups combination.
Agreed. I love the look of Rosewood. I get frustrated that they don’t offer all colors in both. Some maple-only would be killer with the darker fretboard for contrast.
I was wondering about this for years. Mine is rosewood and I love it. The only Strat I'd played before mine, had a maple neck with more curve to it. I recall there being a difference in feel and sound and you proved this.
I just love the look of maple fretboards and never cared about change in sound. I heared "rumors" but I never thought it would be this clear in a kinda scientific comparism. This is a cool ear-opener.
It’s nonsense
Problem is... changing the necks can change pickup height as well so unless he checked pickup height and length over and over again, he's not giving an accurate representation
"in a kinda scientific comparism"
This comparison is anything but scientific.
Not only he changed way to many variables between runs, but he let you see the guitar he was playing!.
Tonewood believers are so quick to make a judgement, but the funny thing is - only when they can see what is being played. As soon as it is a double bling trial, suddenly they are all busy with something else, or "youtube compresses the sound so it's not a good way for a comparison" etc.
@@imieniainazwiskaniepodam411 You can't hear the difference between the rosewood and maple here, seriously? It's pretty obvious one is brighter than the other, you could tell that even without seeing it. Now could I pick which one is which beforehand, probably not. That's not what the test was about, though. The EQ change is a lot bigger than I would have expected tbh.
"You can't hear the difference between the rosewood and maple here, seriously? "
I don't think you understood my comment. Whatever you think you hear, may be a combination of both inconsistency in his runs, and you fortifying what you already believed based on what you see.
Our perception is a tricky thing, and we know it, that is why double blind test has been invented.
"you could tell that even without seeing it."
Awesome, then that is exactly how it should have been presented, and my point is that it wasn't.
As it happens I have both maple and rosewood stratocaster necks, I could swap between then on one body with one electronics and one set of strings. Think you could tell me from the audio alone, from let's say 50 samples, where the "bright" maple is, since as you claim - the eq difference is so obvious?
"Now could I pick which one is which beforehand, probably not."
See that is the thing, if you can't tell the difference when a metaphorical hand is not directly pointing at it while you can see it, then how do you know the difference is actually there, and you are not just experiencing suggestion and confirmation bias?
@@FiendlingBM
For sound (very minimum) I like the rosewood but for feel I would go with the 50's roasted maple. The thing is, within a song mix there would not be much diffenece noticed. You would simply get use to the original recording.
As far as electric guitar recorded sounds, my sense (from a decade of personal tests and blind tests) is that this is the hierarchy form most impactful to least impactful:
Guitar Speaker>Pickup tone>Pickup position+distance from strings>Player’s Touch>Mic>eq>Amp>Strings gauge/type>Bridge type/saddles>Cabinet size>Neck thickness>Fretboard Material>String Nut>Frets Material>Neck Wood>Body Weight>Tubes quality if applicable>Body Wood Type.
I haven't messed around with swapping the bridge or frets, but mine is effects > pickup position > amp > pickup type > player's touch > tone knob position > guitar strings > pot size > guitar action > everything else makes minuscule differences
@@KieraQ0323 That's one of the more sensible and reality-oriented lists I've seen. I like to include the length of the guitar cable. Longer cables have higher capacitance, and basic circuit theory tells you that'll cut more treble. I don't claim to hear the difference, but it's easy to calculate and measure, and it matters orders of magnitude more than fretboard material, neck thickness, and body wood and so on. Lots of stuff matters for ergonomics, which affects how you play, and that of course affects the sound. But yeah, maple necks do not inherently sound brighter, contrary to what this video would have you believe.
@@atan-11 Seen this comparison done before by someone else and the maple neck did sound a bit brighter - but also more full and lush compared with rosewood. It was a noticeable difference there as well. Listening for it here but it does seem to come in with a lot more top end in this vid.
Last, but not least...guitar color. 😉
The first 8 I would agree. After that I tend to say it is not noticable or could be smaller changes in one of the first 8, you still hear.
Thanks Rhett, for taking the time to do this! While the differences are subtle, it's neat to know, and like yourself and many others have stated, it seems a bit less subtle than many thought. Of course, I'm looking forward to hearing them retest with the raised E strings adjustment of the last neck...
Hi Rhett, Great comparison!! Thanks for sharing this. I changed the neck one time. There was some time in between the change. There was a big difference. One neck was USA 2006 rosewood the other MIM 2022 pay ferro. The way of playing and the tone changed extreme.
I did a lot of these comparisons on different guitars with different parts. Every part has a big influence on tone. You can have a guitar which challenge you or not with changing some little details.
The most interesting I found the Strat Tremelo system. By sanding the Fender tremolo blocks the chime and sustain increased extreme. The Callaham gives the old chime. The electronics like wiring, pots and paper in oil caps also make a lot of tone and quality of the sound. My comparison between a standard Fender Fat 50’s pickguard and a wiring harness made by a luthier with paper in oil cap vs the cheap ceramic. He worked 15 years for Fender and had a lot of Custom Shop Guitars on the bench. This difference in electronics was really the difference of a very good sounding guitar into a bizar good sounding guitar.
My conclusion is that all changes matter!! Wood, hardware, electronics, pickups, nut, etc. All these challenge the player or not. With all these knowledge you can let guitars with a good basis (wood!!!!!) letting sound like custom shop or even vintage.
Always preferred rosewood boards on alder Strats and maple boards on ash Teles, this could explain why
I prefer generally bright fingerboards than the dark ones at strats
I heard more of a difference than I expected. Thanks for taking the time to run this experiment.
@astiagogo Yes, "a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a particular factor is manipulated.'' In this case, too determine whether long term observations among guitarists that different neck woods produced different tonal properties was audible or not.
@astiagogo🤡
@@Renshen1957To truly harness the power of test cases, having a well-designed test _environment_ is critical.
Im this case there is no well-designed test environment.
@@MrClassicmetal An experiment, nonetheless. Trying something new to see the results is an experiment. Doesn't mean anyone else has to be influenced by the results.
@@martyk656 Sure, but not one to be taken seriously because it's seriously flawed.
Great video! Thanks for putting the time into such a thorough test. The guitar community can sometimes be full of strong opinions that aren't backed by objective testing, so this was genuinely helpful in understanding the guitar and what elements influence tone. For what it's worth, I love a rosewood fretboard; I always seem to gravitate toward guitars that have them!
That’s a lot of work! Thanks for the effort. I didn’t think there would be that much difference. The maple necks are definitely brighter, noticeable so. Personally I liked the 50s maple the most.
I could hear the difference, and it matters to people who have such good hearing MAYBE. Decay is going to be a shorter interval if the fretboard absorbs energy. Sustain and presence of high frequencies (and harmonics) is better on the harder material (maple ?). So what sound do we want? The presence of rhythm built into a tune is more compelling by far. The tune might be calling for either of the spectrums, per the listener, so, it is a matter of luck and re-takes. But nothing is worse than an idiot adding a noise machine to ruin a beautiful work that begs to be heard a hundred times ("Falling Into You" is my pet peave). Who will remake it at the level of perfection it still deserves?
This should've been a blind test with 10 trials. No-one would be able to get more than 50% right. It's easy to tell them apart when you can see which guitar he's playing.
All three necks sounded good and all sounded like a Strat. The rosewood fretboard is slightly warmer than the maple ones, the maple necks were a bit brighter. I have an old Japanese '61 reissue Strat from the mid-eighties, it has a rosewood fretboard, is a very light in weight guitar, but is the brightest Strat I have ever played. My other Strat, also with rosewood fretboard, is a heavier guitar and has a much warmer tone. I happen to have changed the pickups on both guitars and each guitar kept the character of its sound, no matter what the pickups were.
In the first comparison, for sure the maple neck sounds a bit brighter than the maple neck. Later on I swear that the rosewood neck is brighter.
I suspect the potentiometers and capacitors make the difference.
If you can't tell the difference in tone between different pickups you've put in, it brings up more questions than answers. I'm trying to be nice here...
@@lukegoffkat I didn't say that I could tell no difference in tone between different pick ups, each set of pick ups sounded different off-course, which is why I changed them. I said each guitar kept the character of its sound no matter what the pickups, meaning the bright guitar was still brighter, the warmer one was still warmer.
Oh boy.... The PTSD this gave me. The great Tonewood Wars of the early to mid 2010s.... What a time to be alive
I could care less what people debate. I care more about how my gear sounds, and how I can improve it.
😂
LOL I still remember the guy who was so against the idea that wood made a difference he even did really angry rants as he explained things with the help of a whiteboard.
@@dwftube The angry rants usually mean that they're protecting a belief rather than being objective.
It doesn't matter the tone subject, if people are having a discussion, someone will come in to disrupt it most of the time.
I'd say wood doesn't make a bit of difference when you have a bunch of metal in the trem bridge, and playing high gain through a bunch of effects. Someone in that camp is usually the one arguing with those who play fairly clean. Then there is perception.
we lost a lot of good men to the Tonewood Wars. the ones that survived barely made it through the war on christmas.
I first started in 1963. Had many types and brands of instruments. Probably owned and enjoyed 50+ guitars through the years. For me, it's a tele style, w/ a maple neck, and HB pups. My current #1 is an IYV tele headless (super Economy) in spalted maple veneer and and mapleneck w/ Joe Barden pick-ups. The git was $140.from Amazon, and the pups were almost $400. from Joe Barden Engineering in Manassas,VA. It is light , short, and kills. As a geezer maple seems brighter and I can see finger board a bit more easily. Good Vid.
There are like 14 factors in a guitar that affect tone in small ways, but they also counterbalance each other.
And the second you start running it through EQs and compression in the mix, all bets are off.
We often speak of guitars we buy and love a lifetime. It's subjective how much we care but the in the mix argument is seldom valid. I'm an audioengineering and slam tone snobs as much as the next guy, but the last few years are just super skewed on hating that choose their instruments with care.
I've been repairing and building guitars for 25+ years. When it comes to fretboards, it's in the attack. Maple tends to have a quicker and quicker attack, where the rosewood has a softer attack. A more extreme example of what I'm referring to is like a solid body vs semihollow. Most tonal difference will be in how it interacts with the amp.
🔥Awesome video man!! In the studio, I always hear the difference too, on top of that, i have a few strats at home and the findings are always the same, and we all know it. just like you said, “everyone should get what fits them”. Both their needs and LIMITATIONS.(my editorial addition) 🤘🏻
I used Beats Studio Headphones (certainly not a brag) at a mid volume and the rosewood fingerboard was very distinguishable.
Maples were both quite harsh and plucky.
Do i think its the wood? I would need to see a much more controlled experiment.
1. Some sort of automated picking.
2. The same size and type of fretts.
2. Same finish on the fingerboard.
3. Exact same neck material, made from the same batch of wood at least.
4. Use the same nut and tuning machines.
Ideally you would have it so you could swap out the fingerboard alone.
A lot to ask obviously but it's speculative at best without real control.
That being said, it's food for thought! Thanks for making the video Rhett, you put in the effort for your viewers and it doesn't go unnoticed!
Thanks for this video. I totally agree that you can hear the difference and that the rosewood is slightly warmer.
Also great that you point out that no one who isn’t as nerdy as us “guitar people” ever will hear the difference or care. So the only one it matters to is the player and like you say if you have a preference you should go with it. It’s not better or worse just a matter of taste. Love that you did this. 😊
Also, isn’t it reasonable to assume that Leo, being a business man, quite simply skipped a step in production and just put the fret wire straight in to the neck to save cost? I mean there is a reason why strats are kind of the most common and wide spread guitar type ever. Partly because it was readily available to the mass market at a affordable cost.
Again thanks for great video.
How do we know that the string height is absolutely the same down to 100% ?
Also, the pick attack is absolutely not the same, I hear that the Maple run is picked harder than the rest.
Yeah, this is supposed to be a scientific test and he plays a bunch of extremely loose and feel-based riffs. I think the point to take away is that the whole debate is just stupid and I need to stop giving these videos my rageclicks lol (rage is a strong word, but you get me). Also, Rhett sees the guitar, right? His feel that the guitar is "snappier" could affect how he plays.
I mean, turning the knobs on your amp has infinitely more impact. Don't pay out the nose for fancy wood, because a good player is going to sound great on any old crap. And if you think it'll make you better, you're probably not a good player lol
Exactly, some people don’t have brains that figure that out.
I thought I heard more string buzz on the maple fretboard, on the first few frets. That could give the impression of "brightness", imo.
@@BilliamwoodsIf every great guitar player would sound great playing crap, why don't they? Why do guys still tour with their vintage guitars, when they could just play a Hello Kitty guitar? Gimmie a break....
Can you all say denial? 🙄
@@mattrogers1946 Better-made guitars play better, stay in tune better, break less - and guitarists are heavily traditionalist, believe in silly superstitions, like certain guitars more more for comfort or looks, etc.
I didn't say there's no difference between cheap and expensive, just that as long as it's functional, your guitar is probably the least important part of your music, and the wood it's made from is probably the least important part of your guitar (unless it's made from like rotten wood that falls apart lol)
Definitely a difference in tone. Thank You
Great video Rhett! Very very interesting indeed, and I'm pleasantly surprised to find out directly what has been my experience through my guitar playing career, but never back to back like that. Cheers from Down Under sir. 🤘
Arthur Pate and others at the Sorbonne in Paris did some experiments and found that the resonance properties of individual pieces of wood vary more than the difference between the average piece of maple and the average piece of rosewood. They measured a bunch of nominally "identical" guitars made in the same factory, differing only in the wood type used for the fretboards. They also did tests where they had guitarists play guitars in a dimly lit room with funny-colored light, so that they couldn't tell whether the fretboards were rosewood or maple, and then asked the guitarists to describe the sounds of the different guitars. There was no pattern of them describing either type as brighter or snappier or any of the things we're told about fretboard effects on sound.
Really excellent point, often times the individuals setting up various experiments fail to grasp, the importance of such skills, as it is not their field of expertise. You are on point sir.
@huzursuzamakusursuz > chances are the guitarists that tested the guitars have not skilled ears, did they do a/b testing? or just one person tested one guitar and asked for her/his opinion?. Listening skills are really hard to develop. It is even harder to hear difference especially scenarios like this.
You might be totally right on that but turn it around: if ONLY skilled listeners can tell the difference... and such listeners are so rare even among musicians... then I guess it doesn't really matter, does it? There's a difference between neck pickup and bridge that even a child can hear, or between CD and tape. Or Strat bridge and Les Paul bridge. I'd even say most people could tell the difference between a 5' and 20' chord (makes a big difference actually).
> Your listening ability can vary day to day. One day your mix sound good next day your mix is awful
So true. It depends on being tired, what else you've been listening to that day--noisy environment etc.
@huzursuzamakusursuz You would think they could take out the human variable and analyze the sounds produced by the pickups to find the difference empirically.
@huzursuzamakusursuz Totally agree! The results of A/B testing have to be taken with a grain of salt. There are too many variables to account for that affect the tone and even how you perceive that tone. Just listening to exactly the same thing before and after you yawn makes a huge difference in how you perceive that tone. (Yawning clears or opens your sinuses changing the way sound resonates in your eardrums.)
Makes sense. Seems like any resonance doesn't go up the bolted-on neck and back down. It's the pickups, amp, technique that provide the tone.
Here's a list, in some sort of order. Your order may be different from mine, particularly at the top.
* amp choice/settings
* production/mixing/eq
* guitar's tone knob
* string gauge
* picking technique
* cabinet
* room
* microphone choice/placement
* fretboard wood
need to add pickups to that list, not sure where exactly but near the top.
This doesn't work because they all interact.
I bought the American Vintage II 61 Strat in Olympic White from Sweetwater and had them apply their PLEK setup service to it. It was and is astonishing just how flawlessly the guitar plays for me. Absolute perfection.
I have one also. Gawd it’s a good guitar. Mine isn’t plekked though. I’d love to try it.
Of the Strats I own it’s like
1. American V2
2. Mike Mcready ( very close)
3. 50s Road worn Fiesta
4.American STD black
5. Some unknown year Tobacco Sunburst Mexi
6.American Pro 2 Dark Night
7. Player Plus tequila
In that order. I feel like there’s another one around here but I can’t think of it at the moment
Thanks, Rhett! This is something I've wondered about for decades. I've owned/own LPs, Strats, and a Tele. I've never owned or played a reliced anything since I could afford new guitars. If I see a dent, ding, crack, or scratch on one of my guitars, I want to remember where, when, and why that mark's there. For my last Strat, I intended to buy a rosewood fingerboard but fell in love with a roasted maple. My first Strat had a plain maple neck. My Tele is plain maple.
If I could only have 1 guitar, it would be an LP. But sometimes you need/want a different sound that, for me, only comes with a Strat or Tele.
I suspected the results you got, but less difference between plain and roasted. But I've always wanted to know... what if I'd bought...
Thanks again. This has been the most meaningful video of yours I've seen.
Now I want to see a set-neck, roasted LP with P90s! 😂. Just kidding. I can imagine what that might sound like.
So it will make a subtle difference in sonic tone, but the change in visual tone is much more apparent.
lol I clearly hear differences, I prefer one over the other in certain demonstrations.
@@beefnacos6258 Fair enough. And to each their own, but is it enough to warrant a neck upgrade over a speaker swap, new pedal or even just a slight EQ tweak?
I for one find more value out of the other three options... I'm also not rich yet.
I closed my eyes and listened to the entire thing and I could not tell when you switched.
same.
Beethoven is that you?
@@trentwaterman7049 I hear you my brother, it is I.
100%
Exactly
It’s the front end of the note. It’s softer on the rosewood. I think the maple “snap” is a real thing. They sounded brighter. I think it’s from the feel, i have always preferred the “harder” feeling maple. Really well done Rhett!
Bullshit, the pickups do not detect the sound of the neck, only of the string.
@@andreasfetzer7559correct. And the wood affects the sound of the string lol
The string vibrates between the saddle and the fret/nut, the neck doesn't have anything to do with it, but I always enjoy watching the fart sniffers clutch their pearls.
fret material is an orders of magnitude bigger factor to that snapiness, a 1/4" cap on a maple slab is literally meaningless
On the rosewood fretboard, the front end of the note had a sweet, full-body nose reminiscent of apricots and mango that bloomed into an earthy, woodsy-floral mid-bouquet, culminating in an intriguing black pepper and currant finish with an ever-so-subtle hint of tobacco. This fretboard obviously grew in rich, acidic soil with plenty of morning fog and afternoon sunshine.
Nice, love these type of comparisons. I myself found out that every single neck sounds different. The neck can make or break the tone of the guitar. Every piece of the guitar is unique and adds to the tone of the guitar. Cheers!
Headphones on, I could hear the difference, and am flabbergasted. I thought the difference would be negligible, or even naught, but to hear it is the confirmation for all the people who said there IS a difference. I love all those tones, but I'm glad I have an ash Strat, with a rosewood board, because that's the tone I love!! Thanks, Rhrett for your effort, so we can hear the difference! Wow!! Even installed a zero fret nut for more sustain, and to resolve tuning issues. I love that axe so much!
Have you considered the fact that how the player hits the string matters infinitely more than the fretboard material? You should have a look at Jim Lill's videos. I'd bet you three month's salary you'd never be able to pick out an ash body or a rosewood board in a blind test from audio only.
It's over Rhett. You live in a post-Jim Lill world now.
This has no data just opinion on sound. Jim does try to give data by sound wave mapping or something else. Jim's point are usually that moving your tone knob a bit will make more difference than the neck or tonewood.
this is a lot of listening either your eyes. a double blind with waveform graphs would be more convincing
I wonder if this video was a reply to Paul’s recent rant on the tonewood debate. Rhett trying to stay in Paul’s good book.
Rhett is providing the files so you can do your own waveform analysis
@@jamesalley7387 Even if there is a difference your tone knob will make more of a difference.
Brett, you are absolutely spot on that the average listener in the audience will not tell the difference but as players we sometimes get into the slight nuances and this comparison, is definitely cork sniffing territory.
I could immediately hear the difference, even with no headphones on a tablet. At the conclusion Rhett stated exactly my thoughts. But you are correct most likely, the average person......
A large portion of the listening public can't tell the difference between Joe Satriani and Tom Morello.
@@rmcq1999 truth
@@danbosch-Sure buddy 😂
It's all visual as andertons has proved plenty with pedals etc.
People look at maple and it's brighter colored so it must sound brighter!
Man, you're getting a new subscriber just because of great video editing that make me focus on sound and not on rewinding video myself. Cheers! :) I also found found that on maple neck it's easier to notice subtle nuances - and in studio that means: you better play correctly because if you fail slightly bit with dynamics, it will be heard on record. :D
The biggest difference I've ever heard in regards to tonewoods was between a Les Paul with a maple neck and a Les Paul with a mahogany neck. The maple neck makes the sound hella brighter.
I have both, but my maple neck LP has an ebony board.
Music history is replete with stories of how guitarists have taken their instruments to a shop to have work done, like refinishing or getting the neck shaved down, and when they got their guitars back they didn’t like them anymore. And there are plenty of pros who judge an electric guitar based on how it sounds when it’s unplugged. I believe that Robin Trower and Warren Haynes are two top notch professionals who pay very close attention to the sound of their unplugged solid bodies. These guys are no dummies and they are tone monsters as well. Of course the wood and how it is assembled play a part in the amplified sound of a guitar. It’s probably most significant if there are no effects in the signal chain, and increasingly less important as more and more pedals are included between the guitar and the amplifier.
@@lumberlikwidator8863 It's less important to people lacking in their sensory cognitive function IMO. Details in tone would be less important to them. They might hear the rhythm, and note, but be less concerned with tone. The mistake is when they make the assumption that others are like them. I base this on having studied their arguments.
@@qua7771 Thanks for your reply. Your study and conclusions are very interesting. I’ve found that builders who make all their wooden parts from scratch (like the young Paul Reed Smith) tend to be more perceptive in their recognition of what different materials and construction techniques will do to the sound of an electric guitar.
@@lumberlikwidator8863 I did some guitar building as you mention with repeatable results. Unfortunately, guitar building is very time consuming, and it's not my day job.
What I mentioned previously about the external sensory cognitive function explains why some people are hypersensitive to odors, and flavors etc... It's why some people cannot discern real, and imitation foods, while others can.
For whatever reason, deniers get upset at the though that people can hear things they don't, and they'll make up all kinds of reasons. Most likely they are introverted sensing dominant, (sensing is interpreted internally) which would explain the frustration when their perception fails them. We all have a blind spot in our cognitive functioning.
Rhett: I want to test if the fretboard gives different sound, can I have the same neck with different woods?
Sweetwater: Sure, here's three completely different necks.
I've never heard of a neck with interchangeable fretboards.
wtf are you on about…how is 3 necks on the same guitar an invalid experiment
REGARDLESS, if changing the necks changes the tone, then how is it just only the strings that you hear?
This is still the same debate.
@TIMExBANDIT But it's not only the strings that you hear. With an electric guitar, you aren't hearing the sound of the strings amplified. You are hearing the sound of the disruption in an electric field by the strings.
@@castleanthrax1833Believe it or not, I knew a guy who was doing this in the 70s, it didn't really work out for him tho.
This is really a no brainer. How sound resonates on a guitar is directly related to the density of the wood or other material used to make up the neck and body among other things. There are actually people who believe that the pick-ups rule everything, and the wood doesn't matter. Any guitar builder and luthier will tell you that it does matter. I remember arguing with a guy about this and finally a guitar builder stepped in and set the record straight on how the wood matters. As you said, it's now just about what sound you like to be a part of the music you make.
@audiophileman7047 Great comment, well thought out and expressed. Eric Johnson had an oddball 1950s Strat with a body made from sassafras wood. He sold it some time ago and really regretted the sale. So he had Fender’s Custom Shop make another one for him. Eric was happy again. And the late Dickey Betts said more than once that you’ve got to put pickups into a good piece of wood. Robin Trower and Warren Haynes won’t even consider a guitar that doesn’t sound good to them unplugged.
@@lumberlikwidator8863 The builder (think if was Fender if not mistaken) told us that the sound vibrates/transmits into the wood at the bridge and nut as well as over the guitar. Yes, the great players know. They're so good that eventually they really get down to the quality of the sound. For the rest of us, we spend a lot more time just trying to figure out how to play songs. The better they get, the more this seems to matter to guitarists trying to carve out their own unique sound.
@@audiophileman7047 You got that right, pardner. Some people are just so talented it will make your head spin. I remember an interview with Roy Buchanan, who was dubbed “the world’s greatest guitarist” back in the 1970s. He was famous for his old Telecaster, and he said that he loved that guitar so much that when he flew he bought a seat for the guitar so he would never have to let it out of his sight. He also said that someone made him a heart shaped guitar out of granite. He said that it would sustain forever but the tone was completely wrong for his music. Besides that, the darned thing was too heavy to play.
"Any guitar builder and luthier will tell you that it does matter. "
Of course they will blow smoke up your bum, because they sell those guitars.
How else can they differentiate their product line this easily, if people wouldn't care about the wood?
Fender even goes as far as claiming that paint job on body of an electric guitar can affect the tone, lol xD
Wood does matter, among other things, but in acoustic instruments. But when it comes to electric ones - you can make an electric guitar even out of plastic and metal alone if you feel like it, and it will sound just fine and without knowing the material people will be amazed by it (Jack White uses one, and Kirk Hammett as well, and they aren't the only ones obviously)
"I remember arguing with a guy about this and finally a guitar builder stepped in and set the record straight on how the wood matters."
He just gave you his opinion, and because it was in line with yours, you remember it as 'setting the record straight' :)
Jeez, confirmation bias is so strong in this comment section, my humbuckers start ti pick it up ;)
If you want to learn something do a proper double blind trial, if you want to indulge in confirming what you already believe, watch videos where you can clearly see the wood that is being played, and hear with your eyes.
@@imieniainazwiskaniepodam411 Rhett pointed out through actual tests in the video that guitar necks with different wood sound different. Everything was the same on the Strat except for the wood in the necks, and there was a clearly noticeable difference. I've heard this from other players as well. This isn't just my opinion. It's supported by the experiments and the physics of sound.
Excellent work on this project, there is a difference, it is subtle, but it is there, I appreciate your attention to detail and love your work on the channel
In my mind, a maple -single chunk of wood would be more resonant that a rosewood neck, which is 90-95% maple neck, with the remaining fretboard rosewood. That aspect to me I think causes the rosewood to have what sounds like a shorter decay.
Solid Rosewood Necks are available as aftermarket purchases, however, there are maple fret board on maple necks without the skunk stripe. "A one-piece maple neck/fingerboard with a skunk stripe was standard at Fender from 1950 to 1958" the walnut insert to cover the truss rod absent for most of the 1960s (Rosewood necks), until its return in 1969 when a 1950s-style, one-piece maple neck/fingerboard once again became available as an optional feature. From 1969 to 1971, however, rosewood-fingerboard instruments still had no skunk stripe.
Would the Maple Fretboard glued to a Maple Neck be more resonant (yes, Maple is less only than rosewood), but would a two piece maple neck be less resonant (glue, etc.) "Enquiring minds want to know.'
Rhett, I think the real change in tone is caused by the dirt in my phones speaker mesh….
I’ve often wondered if the visual lightness of maple makes us think it sounds “brighter”, and the darkness of rosewood makes us characterise the sound as “darker”. The mind plays funny games…
No, if you are not deaf, you can clearly hear it. This is what us git players have known, but never verified because you are usually judging guitar to guitar.
That’s literally all it is. I understand if people have preferences to the feel of the wood under the fingers, but there is no discernible difference (especially when you can just eq your sound or cover it with the slightest bit of overdrive or distortion) and people should just pick what makes them want to play. I swear though the next time I hear maple described as “snappier” I think I’m going to lose it lol.
It's 100% this. If you took the samples and mixed up the order. You wouldn't have a chance in hell at identifying them blind. Anything else is inherently biased by your priors and visual cues and honestly a waste of time.
@@Y33tastic But if you are EQing your sound to cover the difference, aren't you admitting there is a difference? To MY ears there is a distinct difference, and like Rhett says: "if it matters to you it does, if doesn't matter to you, then it doesn't. I will agree it hardly matters in the context of a live band scenario though.
@@agalvin1313 I know I could do it (soloed, maybe not in a full mix).
I have been thinking of getting an Ibanez Maple SG, the same one a friend of mine had when we were kids. I need the lighter weight that an SG affords since I'm an "old'e guy" now. Besides his SG having superb action back then (1973) his guitar "cut" through the mix better than any guitar I have ever heard. His neck was the roasted maple with Lacquer Finish on top "and" bottom. The Lacquer Finish on the bottom was a downside since my hand tended to not slip around as easily (more Finger-Ease is required). Good stuff, Maynard! I appreciate this video being made. It helps me to hear what I heard many years ago. True story: I loved my friend's SG and he loved my 73' Gibson L6 Deluxe w/ Ebony Neck!
It maybe cut through the mix better than another humbucker guitar but I have to say that I've never heard any humbucker guitar cut through a mix better than a Strat with single coils ... that's really the USP of a Stratocaster IMO.
I absolutely think woods matter, but I think that when changing necks, there's a whole lot of pieces that are being changed that can impact the sound beyond just the wood. Fret size impacts the fret to wood contact and different fret materials sound different. Even how well seated the frets are matters (an air bubble under a fret can make for a dead spot, for example). Different nut materials sound different. I find tuner mass makes a pretty substantial difference too. I wouldn't be surprised if the type of truss rod makes a difference to some extent too. How the wood is cut (quarter sawn, flat sawn, etc) also makes a noticeable difference. The overall mass/weight of the neck (and thickness) play into it too. We don't get all of the specs of all 3 necks in this video, thus we can't fully say whether it is the wood or something else changing. Regardless, though, I think this video does show that there is more that impacts the sound of an electric guitar than just the pickups (as some people seem to claim).
Also exhaling near the frets causes a microscopic expansion of the frets causing them to be tighter in the slots which makes it sound brighter.
@@snuffbox2006 haha
Plz dont make fun of ppl that can hear air bubble under frets 🤣
This is like perfect pitch next level 🤯
laugh but he's right. the good builders know, the good techs know. it's subtle, obviously. the number of people who can recognize these things is exceedingly small even among guitar enthusiasts. there is an infinite spectrum of perceptual acuity. the amount of information contained in a single fretted note resonating through a room from speakers in the cabinet of an amplified electric guitar is incalculable. a representation of it in an audio recording through a microphone is a TINY fraction of that information. and even then, something like fretboard wood is clearly noticable with decent monitoring.
@@NicolasGtn85 Laugh, but it really is a thing. It's rare in a new guitar, but if you ever play a badly refretted guitar, it is a noticeable thing - especially if it is a guitar you played a bunch prior to the botched refret. It is perhaps perceived more as a dullness/lack of sustain, etc compared to other frets more than a clear "tone" difference. More often than not, it also results in the fret not being even too, which can result in some buzzing/sitaring from that fret.
@@smithcustomguitarco sure mate, can you also hear the type of glue used under frets? (cyano, fish glue, titebound I or II or III or none)
Like UFOs only ppl that believe in it see them.
I tried this test in a guitar shop.....tested maple against rosewood back and forth over and over......played the maple guitar..unplugged...plugged straight into the rosewood guitar ( same guitar make and model, both brand new ) and played the exact same tune....over and over.
The maple sounded like playing the rosewood closer back towards the bridge.....
A simple "Of course it Matters". Even on a Bow. Ebony over Carbon Fiber Frogs matter. It all matters. Put Brass Nut and Saddle on an acoustic it becomes more metallic. Change the Rosin type on a bow it matters. Even the same type of wood cut at a different grain angle will matter. Everything in our world resonates at different frequencies. All you would have had to do was play an Emaj chord and let it ring. That is the only sound test you need. I paid LAG an Extra $500 for the better lumber. The dimensions, strings and electronics are the same. But that Bear Claw Spruce Top.. Wow.
IMO From the ears of a 50 year violinist.
Violins are very different from solid body electric guitars. I don't think you can even really compare the two on their materials because they matter a great deal in an acoustic instrument and almost not at all on a guitar where you're primarily hearing the pickups.
@@ampthebassplayer Just change the Nut on your electric from plastic to bone and witness the difference. Transference of energy matters even on a solid body. Glass solid body sound different than balsa wood.
@@Jack.Waters You're talking about a change in nut material that would have a dramatic effect on how much the string can vibrate, vs the wood of a neck that even this billionth example is so insignificant that the comments can't agree if there's even a difference. Not the same, at all. Violins are not electric guitars and I feel insane typing that.
Awesome! I love that we're living in a time where there's such access to simply testing if changing certain parts of the guitar (all other things equal) makes much difference. Just the PUPs swapped out? Just the necks swapped out? Does the material of the guitar body make a difference? etc etc etc
Great video! Learning so much about what changes actually make a difference and what changes don't matter so you can customize those parts as much as you want. I know one hilarious myth I used to be told growing up was that the poly finish sounds way different than a nitro-cellulose lacquer. Once I had a little experience, I realized how dumb that argument was since a lot of the bands I enjoyed had custom paint jobs that didn't change the tone whatsoever. Just one example of how much fun the journey of learning music can be :) My favorite part is how music connects us all despite having different backgrounds. When you're jamming with someone else nobody gives af about your political beliefs, religion, work BS, etc. Just play and enjoy :)
Great job! I've noticed the difference between rosewood and maple, but could you do a comparison between rosewood and Pau Ferro? It would be interesting to see if those alternatives to rosewood actually sound like it or not.
Anything visible in the waveforms on a computer?
He made a reference to the sound of the maple neck being "scooped," which is a reference to it having a different EQ waveform (relatively lower mids and lows from the maple, I'm assuming). I took that to mean that there were visible differences.
@@jameswheeler5260 same, it was that kind of verbiage that made me think it would possibly be visible. And if so, it would be a lot easier to articulate than, "I can hear a difference" because anyone could also see the difference.
As a person with a lot of high-frequency hearing loss, I love my maple necks because they are snappier and cut through; I can hear my treble better without EQ'ing my tone to the point where it sounds harsh to everyone else.
Yep.
Rosewood is warm.
So is cedar.
My favorite (acoustic) guitar is a Seagull S6+CW with a rosewood fretboard and a cedar top.
It's positively candlelight.
A maple neck is always brighter, it’s not a new discovery. It’s not just the wood, it’s the fact that the maple neck is solid wood from front to back. A rosewood is a ply or layered wood, so it’s going to have less resonance and sustain, because it’s a two piece neck. I have always preferred rosewood necks for this reason, although I do have a maple neck strat too.
Guitarists really will believe anything...
@@ileutur6863Guitarists will deny everything, even if the truth is laid before you...
I definitely heard time difference between the rosewood and maple. The rosewood is just sweeter and and more smooth. The maple was more harsh and biting.
The roasted maple sounded somewhere in between.
My vote: The Rosewood sounded subdued. The Maple sounded crisp and clean. The Roasted Maple had a warble to each note.
roasted maple seems to add this tone no matter the guitar or company, i like the feel but im still getting used to the tone.
The maple was way louder.
If that's truly the case, then the pickups might need to be adjusted to compensate for the less tone absorbed by the neck. A warble in tone usually means pickups too close to the strings otherwise.
That warble clearly comes from the heat haze
Great video! Thank you very much. I was really surprised that you liked the rosewood neck better in the end, because to my ears and taste the brighter, snappier maple necks clearly are superior.
Rosewood tames the harsh and bright nature of the single coil pickups, especially on the bridge side. But also it makes the neck sound muddier as a trade-off.
My original DBZ Bolero has a rosewood neck and every time I play it, I feel like I ate a pack of chocolate :) It's that sweet and neat.
In 1982 I ordered my white Stratocaster with a maple fingerboard BECAUSE they sound brighter. I was not disappointed. It was awesome. Everybody who heard it thought so.
Hahahahahaha
I sold Fender from 2000-2005 at a great Mom and Pop store called Wray Music in Lemoyne Pa. I am a Les Paul guy first, but Hendrix is my guitar idol. I love the sound of Strats but have a hard time warming up to the way at least I need to play them. I played literally 12 Strats before picking mine. You are IMO correct! I ended up with a 3 tone sunburst rosewood BECAUSE it wasnt so shrill to my ears. I actually only ever owned one Strat with maple and it was white like yours for obvious reasons, but it too went in trade. Just too bright for my taste but I LOVE the look of maple over rosewood. Ironically enough I prefer maple on a Tele so go figure?
@@brianseneca3546 Yes, I own 3 Fenders atm, 1 Squire, 1 Tele and 1 Strat. Both Tele and Squire have rosewood fretboards, but my old Strat has a roasted maple neck. I'm going to switch out the Tele's neck for the roasted maple for the extra quack a Tele is so well known for.
I think if you go into this with a preconception you will hear a difference. If you don't expect to hear a difference, you won't hear one. Here's why: if there's any difference (I don't think there is) it's so incredibly subtle that there is no way to play it exactly the same twice. And so depending on where you cut the A/B test, it'll reveal different differences, especially if the one playing and editing is the one with the preconceptions. A good player can extract different tones. That confirmation bias will lead the player to play that way. You would need some sort of robot to exactly recreate the playing, which unfortunately don't sound very good or human typically and so are hard to judge. Bottom line, like you said, the audience will never hear the difference. So the conclusion, as you also said, is just do whatever you like. If you like one look over the other, pick that. But don't spend the money because one is "better" or will improve your music, it won't, 5 minutes of practice will make a bigger difference in your song than a neck swap.
Wood is not magnetic and does not conduct electricity. Wax pickups do not produce a voltage when there are no metallic strings to vibrate. Tonewoods is only relevant to microphonc pickups I found that out the hard way when I changed the Peavey bridge pickup to a DiMarzio King Twang bridge, and now it sounds totally vintage pre CBS Fender. The original pickup sounded very midrange, almost like the guitar does acoustically. Not any more.🥰😍😋❤💯👍👍👍
@@chucksurgeonertribute2113 Yeah I agree, there is some amount that wood can absorb or resonate energy from the string. But for the most part solid body guitars with maple necks are so rigid that it's not a factor
I also felt that way. He played with a lighter touch on the rosewood and with maple he really dug in and snapped the strings harder and then realized wow its snappier 😅
@@acekkkkkk Just line to line you could hear tonal inconsistencies larger than at the cut. It's really difficult to test these things with a modicum of science. The human player is a huge variable, to test it scientifically you have to eliminate that variable. Jim Lil is really the only one to get close to that, and his tests reveal that when you eliminate variables down it comes down to a string and a pickup. I'll at that a base level of structure is also required, but virtually all modern guitars meet that. For example old Teisco guitars and such, they can have a plunky tone due to just being so wobbly that they absorb energy from the string.
Awesome video. As a strat guy (hss mostly), I think the finish of the neck makes the biggest difference. Those high glossy finishes I think reflect the snappy bright sounds. While the rosewood absorbs more of that snap. I love the feel of playing an unfinished roasted neck. But sound wise, i think it depends on what style of music you are playing. Thanks again Rhett!
The Rosewood definitely sounds warmer to me, the difference was clear through good headphones.
same feeling here
Rosewood is subtly mellower but still very Strat. Maple was more 50's sound structure, and toasted was more trebly Tele. Amp took characteristics and made them more apparent. Knopfler is great choice to illustrate this, rather than Morello. Thank you.
No frequency response graphs?
No need if you use good headphones
@@kalkidasofficial Or your laptop plugged into a killer stereo. I was too lazy to crank it up, so I just found someone in the comments who posted the resonant frequencies from the .WAV files.
What about differences in paint color? I assume purple will be funkier and red will be warmer? :D
With a red you fingerstyle like crazy and black you bend like a god
Now that's funny right there.
Red adds gain.
@@martinjesenicnik With white you become a double stop god
Contrary to purpular belief, a purple guitar actually makes you a prince
Totally agree the sound is different on all 3 fretboards. Yes, maple sounds brighter and with tight lows, whereas rosewood has less edge and more lows - mids presence. Roasted maple at least for me sounds even slightly brighter than standard maple, maybe due to the heat process it dries the wood too much. Anyways the differences are more noticeable with the guitar alone, but not so much in a mix or a band, and it's just subtle. Some people still say there's no difference, it doesn't matter... I do notice how they sound different, and I can think some people have different hearing, same with vision, so some will favor rosewood or maple. Thanks for the video Rhett, the best I have seen on the fretboard topic. Great channel,
I suscribed ! 👍
My daughter walked into the room - she plays flute, not guitar - and I asked her to listen blind. She never saw the necks at all. She said it was easy to tell the difference.
Use an oscilloscope to measure the difference. Your ears can't tell the minute difference but you can tell you can hear it.
exactly
people already commenting before listening. 🤣🤣
I appreciate the time and effort that you put into this experiment. I do think that it's important to realize (at least through my 20 some years of swapping around fender necks and bodies) that you could run the same test with two different rosewood necks and also notice a difference, sometimes dramatically so. At least that's been my experience, but I've not recorded audio to compare. When we're dealing with natural components (wood) and varying torque specs on any and all fasteners you will hear subtle differences... note I didn't say improvements, but differences. I think this is why you can sometimes pick up a "cheaper" version of a strat and be blown away when compared to certain individual custom shop guitars. Sometimes the different components just marry up for a stellar guitar. Nothing dramatic, but don't be thinking because your start was 1000 rather than 10,000 that it's going to suck. Again, great video, thanks for posting.
Agreed. That's why I'm reluctant to buy online, and always buy the floor model that I actually played at a shop, scratches or not.
Rosewood sounded warmer for sure. Definitely a little surprised
Even on crappy laptop speakers, the maple neck is clearly brighter with more attack.
Rosewood: softer attack, darker tone
Maple: sharper attack, brighter tone
Thanks
I agree I can hear a difference right away.
Have you seen those videos where he strips it all down to just the pick ups and strings….. and it sounds the same 😂
@ItsAllFake1 The density of the wood does affect sound transfer, but I believe there are other elements involved, like the hardware mass for the bridge. Also, maybe the construction of bolt-on vs. neck-thru design. My music man bass with rosewood has "forever" sustain, haha, but that bridge is massive.
Agreed! I think the size, radius and finish on a neck also affects the tone.
Rhett, you've come a long way. this experiment is something I wanted to try, I knew I liked my maple neck best on the Strat. oB
Not a surprise at all and quite logic. Reason is the Rosewood fingerboard is glued together with the maple and as we learn in acoustics two different materials stuck together will reduce noise transition. Simple explantation. The Roasted Maple sounds brighter because of a slightly higher wood density compared with the normal Maple neck. No mysteries here... you just proved it acoustically. Anyway, thanks for sharing this experiment.
Remember a couple of years ago when you mentioned Jim Lill's videos and seemed to have understood this stuff is 99.9% superstition? Did you forget all of it? Claiming that the maple neck is brighter is outright hilarious, considering how you've tried exactly three necks here, and that how you strike the strings would matter many orders of magnitude more than the fretboard material. There's a reason we don't test new drugs on just five subjects and draw a conclusion from that. It's fun to talk like we're real pros and discuss all these minute nuances, but most people understand this is just hogwash. I don't think you have bad intent here, but it's easy to convince yourself you can hear things that aren't there, and forget about all the other factors that have a bigger influence on what you're actually hearing when there's truly something there. Take a step back - don't become a snake-oil salesman.
Nice comparison Rhett! It kind of affirms what i always thought about different wood types for necks. I have two telecaster type guitars. One with a roasted maple neck (C shape) and one with a maple neck with rosewood fretboard (D shape). The difference is definitely audible. To me the roasted maple neck sounds brighter an harmonically richer, but the maple/rosewood neck sounds warmer and less harsh in the mid and high range. That said : the moment you start fiddling about with your amp's tone controls they can be made to sound pretty much the same though. The big difference is the shape. The roasted maple C shape neck feels the most comfortable and fast to me. Great channel Rhett ! 👍
I'm a steel string acoustic player exclusively, and I've know this to be true on acoustic guitars for a long time. There is even a notable done difference between dove tail, M&T, or bolt on necks as well. However, I did not know that even electric guitars could have these tonal deviations. Very interesting Rhett! Great vid.
As a new guitar player but an experienced woodworker, I think it's not so much the vibrations in the wood (what most people mean) but all those other variations - the shape of the hand (the C shape, the curve of the fretboard) as you play, height of the strings, finished vs unfinished, and the texture and wear of the wood that could cause those subtle differences - and those differences might be different for different people - therefore there's nothing that can be said is inherent to one vs. the other.
I'd venture to say if the fret surface (and specific profile) of the neck affect you're playing feel different in any way, then they make a difference, and if they don't feel different to you, they don't. That would then be something you'd have to know about yourself - not an inherent part of the guitar, based on this. (and maybe why people can't stop arguing about it).
I agree with your sentiment, but I'd argue it's not the character of the guitar in that sense, but the impact on your own "character" the guitar can influence. Either through pure sentiment (possible) and/or through subtle changes in feel that everyone will experience differently (or not at all). I don't think therefore there's any way to say this board _does_ this or that, therefore there's no recommendations for a sound anyone could reliably make: Each musician would have to try up different things for themselves.
What I can say is that rosewood would indeed wear 'better' aesthetically in my experience than maple. That's probably the most empirical thing that can be said about it, and fretboards have been made of that for hundreds of years for that reason. (maybe there is a better, less eurocentric wood that _could_ be used that we haven't tried...? There are lots of excellent 'exotic' hardwoods and some are very pretty, too. I'm sure people have tried this, but I wonder what their experiences ended up being with the long term care and sound?)
The next thing to try would be several different players with differing opinions doing the same exercise (with the same setup)!
I agree with you the rosewood board sounds best all around. I used to only play maple boards, but a few years ago I came to the same conclusion you did and now my preference is more for rosewood. Great video!
In the words of Vinny Gambini "Do the laws of physics cease to exist in your kitchen?" For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. It is simply a matter of how much is noticeable. You are correct that which you like and what you hear as the difference is still somewhat subjective. A person with poor hearing at certain Hz will hear it differently than you or I will. Guitarists are always chasing the perfect tone. It doesnt exist. Tone itself is such a wide spectrum that you are always in it but not where you sometimes want to be. Good video.Very funny thing I thought I was subscribed already? Hit the button again.
this is actually something i learned within modding 2 guitars off of amazon, my 3rd and 4th guitars ever.
I got some craaaaazy baseball bat maple vintage strat and tele necks and the brightness is REAL yo
Buy cheap guitars with cool finishes, buy interesting necks, acquire lowkey woodworking/soldering skills and you learn a loooooot about what makes a guitar go vroom-vroom.
Im also a fan of the toploader bridge lol.
Guitarrists are full of urban legends.
This is a great vid Rhett (I just subscribed too) and I too was very surprised at the difference. I have three Fender USA Strats (all alder) & three Teles (1 USA Standard (alder), 1 MIM Thinline Deluxe (alder), and 1 HB TE52NA (ash). One of my Strats and the USA Tele have rosewood boards, the rest are maple boards. And although they all sound & feel different I assumed that it was all down to the body woods and pickups, bridges etc but that the fret board material made no noticeable difference and that the choice of maple v rosewood was more to do with aesthetics and feel rather than tone. But your vid has convinced me that the fret board material does impact on tone & certainly from your test, the maple sounds a little snappier and brighter, with the rosewood sounding a little warmer but slightly darker. But perhaps I could throw something else into the equation.
Maple necks are (usually) uncapped i.e. they are one piece of maple with the top finished to be the fret board. My 1969 hardtail Strat is unusual in that it has a capped maple board laid onto a maple neck (which also means no skunk stripe because the truss rod was laid from the top). This is because for circa 18 mths between the second half of 1968 and Jan/Feb 1970 Fender only offered rosewood fret boards and they didn't offer a one piece maple neck. But due to customer demand they offered as a special order for extra cost, a maple capped board (Hendrix' famous white 68 Strat had a maple capped board too). Rosewood boards are laid onto a maple neck. So I was just wondering if the tonal difference was entirely down to the fret-board material or whether the one piece and two piece construction may also have something to do with the snappiness and brightness i.e. in the way that sound resonates/reflects?
Great video, thanks been wanting to see this kind of test for a long time.
Bottom line: as you said, you can hear it.
I have the same guitar btw, fender avii fiesta red w/rosewood. And I do prefer rosewood necks.
I’ve been playing electrics for a year, and I played classical for 10 years in my 20s (it probably saved my life). I’m 54 now.
Still have that classical guitar which I bought new 35 yo, takamine hirade h-7, ebony fretboard, rosewood back and sides, cedar top.
I’ve been going through a lot of guitars, earlier in the year I had a purple prs se silver sky w/maple neck and fretboard. It was a beautiful playing and sounding guitar but it felt bright, I traded up for a silver silver sky w/rosewood board…it sounds like darker like there is more depth but it wasn’t something I was able to hear until I was very familiar with the se.
The first electric I still have and love is a G&L asat bluesboy p90 (t-style) swamp ash body with maple neck and board. It does have a “depth” and smoothness to it but it’s the only maple fretboard electric I have left.
I agree with you both, maple was brightest, roasted maple seemed in between, rosewood seemed darkest.
But I also think that only maybe other players would perceive the difference out of anyone else.
I think players can definitely feel it if they can’t hear it.
Thanks again,
Peace!
It’s brilliant to finally hear the difference between rosewood and maple, side by side. Definitely brighter. Thx!
This is cool, I did this same test back in 86 when I got my first Strat. I did Maple and Rosewood, I don't think they had roasted back then, but I heard the difference right away and I went with the rosewood. People said I was crazy or I'm just imagining it. Thanks for setting the record straight