I am beside my self with confusion! It is so ridiculous that there are presently 30 dipshits in this world willing to give this vid a thumbs down!! This is an AMAZING video. No endless opinions, babbling, and time wasting mixed with incredibly tasteful playing, and hands on examples. Every "how to" and "vs" video should be modeled after this! FANTASTIC VIDEO THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!
Thanks, great demo and the wood makes a big difference. I have swapped necks on guitars and installed dozens of pickups and it makes a big difference what wood it is.
I have used both at gigs through 70's, 80's and 90's and can testify that a fender with a maple neck is much sweeter than a rosewood. If you have a good ear you can spot one on recordings.A string is suspended under tension between 2 metal points which are embedded into wood at both ends,if you change the composition of the wood your string is going to resonate accordingly. A pickup doesn't simply translate vibrations, it picks up resonance, harmonics and all sorts of nuances that are created by by the composition of materials in your guitar.
Weird, so many people are hearing the same meanwhile I hear quite a difference. At least with cleans (I normally only play cleans). Then again, maybe not everyone has a good sound system. Rosewood has more lower-mids (which are soft/spongier) and shimmery treble. Maple has less treble, bit smooth, but sounds more focus and brighter with the upper mids and greater attack. I love Rosewood or Ebony with acoustics for the shimmery treble but Maple fretboard just sounds right with a Strat. Plus, it seems to sit in the mix better. Tyvm for the demo!
Neil Pincus u probably meant maple fingerboards? Well i am not saying that this isnt true, its just that i personally dont believe that its that big of a difference. u can still mess around with setting on an amp to get the desired tone, so thats why i dont really give to much of an importance from which material its made.
Nejc rozic gorjup No, I was being a little sarcastic. Everybody says "it must be the electronics" but it's funny how the electronics always make the maple brighter, without fail :) You can surf these videos all day and the maple pickups are magically brighter. The difference is small but it is there. That's the whole point. People are saying there's none at all, which is bullshit. It's just subtle.
Fretboard material affects tone as much or more than body wood. Especially on a Strat with a floating trem bridge. The strings vibrate against and in relation to frets embedded in wood. The tighter grain of maple makes the frets (and therefore the strings) vibrate with more high frequency overtones than the coarse grain of redwood. It's pretty obvious if you really listen.
Your video is the most fair comparison I've seen, u picked up the guitars and plugged in the same setting with no editing. I'm glad u made me confirmed my preference for maple :-).
Before some of you try to kill each other listen to what Eric Clapton has to say on a Fender video talk about the Anniversary edition of his beloved Stratocastor named "Brownie" I listen to what he says about maple fretboards necks verses rosewood fretboards, Clapton clearly explains why he likes the maple neck the best. Its a video titled, "Fender Custom Eric Clapton "Brownie" Tribute Stratocaster" February 12, 2013....
Good video, I thought for sure that I would be able to tell the difference between the two but its very close. The maple may be slightly brighter and the rosewood slightly warmer but, they are very close.
+Al D. It's not close at all, even listening with some cheap apple earphones. To me, a rosewood board is a must tone wise even though I much prefer the lacquer feel of the maple fingerboards
Can you please tell me the specs for the rosewood strat? It sounds beautiful. Everything from wood to pickups to lacquer would be greatly appreciated. Amazing tone.
Hallo, its really absolutely normal 90s Stratocaster, Alder body, maple neck, stock pickups and hardware. The lacquer is also quite normal (Polyurethane) Cheers!!
Thanks for the very good comparison without all the blah blah blah, but I had a difficult time detecting a major tone difference listening on my IPhone, but will try again with headphones. It could be my 56 year old ears. I'm on the fence between an American Standard Strat or Tele, but leaning toward the Strat for more of the warmer blues tones. Like many others, I don't know if the fingerboard makes as much difference as the pickups and amp, but I'm just learning how to play so what do I know.
I have the 1995 strat with matching painted headstock, it was a ltd edition 50th anniversary, its rosewood, I think rosewood warms teles up great as they are so bright anyway.
Are both bridges floating ? I ask because that makes a bit of a difference.. Blocked down flush with the body with a piece of wood sound very different from a free floating bridge.. WIth a floating trem I prefer the maple neck. Maple seems more immidiate in its response which offsets the hollow sound of a floating bridge.. A thick rosewood slab and the sound can become a bit to hollow on the wound strings. This is with vintage low output single coils pickups. On a tele with its hardtail setup and stingy bridge pickup and hard attack I actually like the little added warmth(sfter attack from rosewood.
Rob Chapman does a great comparison of squire/fender strats with his buddy at Anderton's Music. The one's they guessed correctly with a blindfold were the ones they could FEEL with their hands and fingers.
I love the argument that you can hear your strings acoustically as well and that clouds your perception. Believe me, when I crank up my Hiwatt stack, I can NOT hear the strings! My garage door rattles and my power tools fall off the shelves. What I hear is that different fretboards sound different.... amplified.
Tone aside, which has less drag on the hand, and therefore is faster/easier to play? For years rosewood, an oily wood requiring no finish, was said to be faster (although that might be true only of the neck shaft wood, not so much the fingerboard). Plus, now instead of the older glossy or satin finished maple necks, we now have roasted maple, which also requires no finish. So unfinished maple, with its finer grain, might be have the least hand drag, as well as that brighter tone. Both seem to have their respective applications.
Maple sounds thinner, less bass and less overall "fullness", is my impression. Great sound with the rosewood, I'm contemplating changing my maple neck for a rosewood one, and this is good news. I don't know how some people here say they don't hear a difference, it's quite obvious. Thanks!
First off very nice playing..and a great side by side comparison. I have always liked the Maple, the look, feel and sound (everyone has their own fav). Both clean settings sound great. I really liked the Rosewood overdriven sound ( that kind of surprised me because I have always gravitated to the Maple,,,must be the Clapton influence). Cool video.
great demonstration, it really clears the difference between the fretboards - I personally likes your roswood strat more. p.s you are a wonderful guitar player - you got the vibe!! thanks
for a better feel of playing go with a maple neck but for a richer on point sound go with the rosewood. but in general all guitar fenders give u a great feel/sound
Yes, maple is more clear, with bright basses and smooth trteble. I heard it on other video's too. Rosewood seems more distorted in sound, more mid range, or something. I have a Tele and a Strat with maple necks and wondered if it was time for another Fender with a rosewood neck. But now, I don't think it is necessary. There is one thing with the rosewood neck that appeals to me though: there is more contrast in color between the fingers and the fretboard.
I'd take the rosewood any day, and I believe its really the fretboard material that makes the difference. Would you choose rw or maple if you had to pick one? I am in a situation where I can get either a higher level strat with a maple fretboard or a standard with rosewood..
@haden Thanks a lot!! Its not a song, originally was a demo of some overdrive pedal i heard once, I liked it and kept playing it ever since when I am recording samples
good video, thanks for sharing this video, i have a question for you, which one is better for rock and roll? I want to play that kind of music, which one would give a heavy sound? I can hear the differences between both necks, I think that rosewood sounds more dark and maple sounds more clear.
Thank you! Yes, it's exactly like that. The maple has more initial attack and rosewood- more texture (in my opinion). About heavy sound, if I have use Strat (which I most probably wouldn't), I would go for the Maple! Cheers!
kudos, dude! most people apparently think wood is magnetic... duh... scott grove has demonstrated this very effectively on his channel. This guy tested with 2 different guitars. if he used the same guitar and 2 necks there would be no difference. The only difference i noticed b/t these two guitars is the way the guy plays and a little bit of pickup and/or string differences.
I like how everyone says that the fretboard makes a sound difference, when the strings don't even touch the fretboard. Sure there would be an infinitely minute differences from say the density of the wood on frets and other factors, but all of them are virtually impossible to detect.
+Nathanael Hutchison there's a lot of nonsense out there about what changes the sound and how, but fretboard wood is a pretty noticeable thing, particularly with fenders. Just an opinion. I think Rosewood is a noticeably darker tone with a fair amount of sustain. The maple sounds tinny and has a bite to it, better sound between strings. I could pick out the difference any day.
can you make video with title - best overdrive pedal, how to get best tone, etc, will be more viewed as ppl are always in search to improve their tone and guitars. or comparing things etc. like i wonder which od are you using in this video. awesome tone.(hope you remember as its been 10 yrs)
I have a black fender strat with rosewood. I have also played a Telecaster with maplewood and I have to say that the maple wood feels more comfortable to me and sounds better IMO
Great Video Nikolay, I totally agree about the biting sound from the rosewood. I'm currently researching how I can get more of a 'rosewood' tone out of my maple neck strat. Which pickups are you using here in each guitar? they sound good :) thanks, Andy
Those look like black strings on the rosewood in the video. Pickup heights would have to be identical, strings would have to be the same also. Even with everything matched as well as possible, no two guitars will sound exactly the same even with the same specs. The body affects sound too.
I played an American Standard Strat with a maple board for some time, but finally got back to rosewood. Sounds warmer, sweeter and more colourful in my opinion - has more bass and treble than maple.
I have both types, but I can't find a difference in sound, unless I play something completely different with different playing techniques. But then again, maybe I just don't hear the difference... :) By the way, excellent guitar play!
I hear very little if any difference. Both necks are maple and one has a rosewood fingerboard. The pickups, electronics, strings, body, fingers have a bigger impact on the tone than a guitar neck. This is an age old fallacy similar to what the guitar is painted with.
The only reason I prefer maple is because it looks better. I hate the way rosewood looks when the guitar has a maple neck/headstock. It makes the guitar look very mismatched to me. Maybe that's because I have OCD, I don't know...
The 99 sounds better clean. The 87 dirtys up nicely. Don't think it's all fretboard tho. Lot of other factors. Even the same pickups with exact mags, windings, etc, sound a little different. I think you were just looking for a reason to show off those awesome strat riffs. Nice playing bro!
Nicely done, helpful. For listeners who can't hear a difference, I think they probably would if they were in the room with the player. Through the average desktop speakers, the difference is very subtle - maple is a bit brighter, and with more "attack" - moving in the direction of a tele. In a true live performance, the band and crowd would wash out the differences. Incidentally, with a quality analog equalizer (MXR) you fine tune your clean tone to make up for these differences.
Seems they would sound the same but how bout feel? you like the glossy maple or the dry rosewood better , Im buying one soon & am really not sure yet what I want lol.
I have a Amer. Strat with a Maple Fretboard and I'm wondering if I should go the Rosewood route if I get a Amer. Std. Telecaster? Since the Tele already has more twang to it compared to the Stratocaster. I love the fretboard on my Strat. with that High gloss Maple though. I'll be playing mostly Blues and Rock. What is your opinion?
Thank you so much!! I had a hard time deciding which strat deluxe to buy, maple or rosewood. I chose maple and loving it. Awesome playin bruv, take care!
@CandleOfGod I could see how one would prefer maple for clean settings. But there is some extra noise in there that the rosewood eliminates. Some might call it flat, but for distortion I think I would prefer rosewood. it is like a "De-esser" for guitars :D Keep in mind I'm using this video to make a decision for a neck on a rock oriented guitar either Charvel or Ibanez, so my tonal goals maybe different from yours.
There's definitely a sound difference between the two. I guess there is a thing like tonewood. The rosewood one sounds smoother, while the maple one is snappier. Clearly
Maple seems to sound more defined in lows and highs. A little more mid-range tones with the rosewood fretboard. But I maybe couldn't tell without the video.
I own one of each. The Rosewood neck plays slicker..... if that makes sense. The Maple has a tendency to be more sticky. The only consideration is the Rosewood neck has many more years of playing on it than the Maple. I'm sure that has something to do with it. The Maple is brighter. IMO. Both are nice.
Great playing and tone. Here is something to consider though... The strings resonate from the fret wire to the bridge however so it could be plastic as far as tone goes pickups aren't microphones so they only capture the strings vibration in the magnetic field if it affects the strings then it affects tone. Pickups 101
I've wound a shitload of pickups. Good ones, that people pay good money for. What if I told you those string vibrations are altered by the solid material they're attached to? So the string vibrating in your magnetic field IS being manipulated by the composition of the guitar and its hardware. Every material on Earth absorbs and reflects vibration and that's the foundation of how your strings behave.
Neil Pincus agreed... if it affects the way the strings react it affects the sound.however I have two custom strats with different builds completely rosewood to maple ash to pine and different pickups in each however they sound very much alike.... almost indistinguishable Only real difference is color and one has better action. Every guitar is a little different, even exact model to model. Why? Who knows maybe setup. a quarter turn adjustment on pickups can make a noticeable difference.
I agree it would be better, but my idea was not to prove something, just to compare two guitars I got at the time. The guitars sound fairly different, at least for me(obviously not for everybody else), but its one thing to listen them on RU-vid, other to play them actually. Cheers!!
Hmmm I agree. I like having that extra penetrative power of the maple neck on my bass guitar though. I might order one from Fender and keep my rosewood if I miss that big low end sound
I never cease to be amazed that people actually think that the fingerboard affects the tone. The difference in tone that you hear from one guitar to another here could be any number of variables, but the fingerboard isn't one. You are certainly free to imagine whatever you like :)
No, it definitely isn't. I can always tell a maple neck when I hear it. My father-in-law is a blues freak and is always playing me stuff I've never heard before and I can always guess what kind of guitar it is before I see it. Usually a maple neck strat, but when I hear a rosewood tone, my ears are never wrong. I'm not even sure which I prefer, tbh, I just know that rosewood sounds a little darker and smoother ("creamier," in the case of old Pink Floyd) but if you use more emphasis in your playing, you can get nearly the same brighter quackier tones that come much easier on a maple neck. It just depends if you really want to play with more emphasis or more subtlety, I guess. I'm a relaxed player, so sometimes I feel like I prefer a maple to get more of that sharper edge, but then for some reason I can also tire of that and want more of a Jeff Beck / Marc Bolan sound. When people say it's cosmetic-and they often do-I think they're insane. Just play a tele with a rosewood neck and you'll instantly realize "hey, that doesn't quite sound like a tele is supposed to sound." Whenever you see a live performance of Hendrix playing a strat with rosewood neck, it's always darker and smoother, just like Jeff Beck / Mark Bolan. When David Gilmore used a rosewood, it was the same thing. I suppose every time it's a coincidence? It's always due to the pickups or tone settings or some other factor every single time? I don't think so. I also don't think it's a coincidence that Teles are the brightest guitar on the planet and are defacto maple neck 99% of the time and Gibsons are known for a smoother, darker tone and are defacto rosewood 99% of the time. Check out the rare Gibson Les Paul with maple neck (there's videos on youtube) and you'll hear that flabby, quacky, farty, springy Fender tone moreso than on any other Les Paul. Here's one example: watch?v=nDZQlIa8fzI
sounds good man keep up the good work, i believe the rosewood has a fuller sounds but the maple emphasizes the single coils better. thanks for the vid. ill be making a comparison video on the Jackson DXMG(rosewood) VS Jackson DK2M(maple). i will make various videos with these same guitars but each video will have different pickups(Dimarzio,Seymour Duncan) to see the true differences in pickups and fretboard.
