Well today I made my weekly visit to my local music store to drool over Guitars I can't afford. I've been saving my pennies to buy an American Telecaster. I played one today with a gloss finished maple neck. I was surprised at how it felt.

Up until now I've only played rosewood fret boards. The maple seemed a bit sticky. Sliding and string bending seemed more difficult because of the added sticksion.

Is this typical of maple or is this just a new neck that has not been broke in yet?

Nope - that's what they are like till they are well-played in.

Personally, I don't get on with all-maple necks. I've tried.

Some people love them.

From a cosmetic point of view, I think they look very scrappy once the finish has worn through & the wood starts going grey.

G.

I know what you mean. For example Bruce Springsteen's Tele and some of Brad Paisley's guitars look, well... filthy. But, they have been well played.

Hmmm, that gives me a new angle on what I'll ultimately buy.

Indeed, you have to play maple necked guitars for a long time to wear some smoothness into them, or you can just give them a light coat of lemon oil or fret ease or whatever.

I doubt that I would ever buy a new guitar with a maple neck. But the old ones that are all worn in are cool.

I do not like rosewood unless the frets are jumbo. I always opt for maple or ebony. I like the slick smoothness of both vs the grainy rosewood. Just my preference. I do have one guitar with rosewood fretboard but Ibanez did some thing to it because it is as slick as ebony with out any grain to feel.

Jeff Beck's Esquire, anyone?





You can scuff 'em up a little with some very fine grade steel wool, going side-to-side, just enough to rough up the surface of the finish without removing it. But, yeah, the old ones that are all worn in are cool.



Not all rosewood is that rough and open-grained. And you might really like Pua Ferro, the wood used for fretboards on Fender SRV sig-model Strats- nice and smooth feeling, with a bright yet warm tone, somewhere between rosewood and maple, with an exotic hardwood look and color somewhat like high quality rosewood.

The fretboard on my Bubinga Cirrus is Pao Ferro and it's like a cross between ebony & rosewood. Very nice indeed.

G.

For my Strat, gotta be that one-piece solid maple neck. IMO, nothing compares. I've never found one to be "sticky" either and God knows who or what was playing them in a store and I'm sure the store doesn't clean them.

I takes a long, long, long time to get that kind of wear on a guitar and if you ask me, it's a badge of honor, not "filthy".

Rosewood has the same "wear" you just can't see it as obviously.

I had the Strat and LP out (the ones in my avatar) last night and it's just such a battle playing with them. Not a "bad" battle, but they each have their own personalities and qualities that it's hard to put one down to play the other (I know...poor, poor me! ROFL). It's nice to have the maple and rosewood fretboards and I don't get any stickness from them; just the tonal difference (maple does tend to be a bit brighter sounding).

"Rosewood has the same "wear" you just can't see it as obviously."

Not in my experience. Maple necks have a layer of varnish. When that wears through, the maple starts to get dirty. Very cool look, in my opinion. Rosewood and ebony fretboards are not varnished.

I love the look of a Strats and Teles with maple necks. There is something that looks "right" about that to me. But I like the slight mellowing effect rosewood and ebony have on the inherent brightness of Fender single coil p/ups.

A bit of Fender neck trivia; Jimmy Page's old Tele, the one he's reputed to have played on the end solo of "Stairway to Heaven", was famous for being "black-necked", having a rosewood fingerboard. That was a big deal for some reason.

Agreed.



Agreed.

>>> It takes a long, long, long time to get that kind of wear on a guitar and if you ask me, it's a badge of honor, not "filthy" <<<

To properly know where I was coming from you need to finish the quote...

>>> But, they have been well played <<<

Not that I want to get into a battle of snarky comments, but my observation when taken as whole actually agrees with what you stated. However, I just don't fall into the badge of honor camp. I understand how a player could have a connection to a guitar and it's all about the tone all that, but I like nice looking guitars, especially when a great player is pushing it to it's limits. Maybe filthy was a bit harsh, however it was just an opinion that I did qualify on how it got that way. To me, they look worn out. To some they are trophy guitars.

As they say in France: "Viva la difference"

Now back to the original subject of this thread...

Would a satin finish avoid the breaking period of a gloss finished neck?

To an extent, yes. The satin finish isn't glossy because the surface isn't really smooth. The benefit is that you don't have as much of the finish in contact with the skin of your hand and fingers, so it's not as "grabby" as a gloss finish. It's the same principle as not polishing the slots in the guitar's nut smooth, so that the strings slide through them easier and don't bind.

Sorry, I did read all your post; my bad to not make note of that

My strat has a satin finish on it and it's smooth as a baby's you know what. My strat "out of the box" had no problems with being sticky. You would not be disappointed with a maple neck and with proper care and cleaning, I don't think it would look like Beck's even after 20 years of use. Think about it: the practice of fretting a note is to touch the string to the fret NOT grind your fingers into the fretboard! LOL

And don't forget it's a solid chunk of maple. Even if it starts to get remotely dirty, a fretboard level of a few thousands of an inch and a fretjob could be done 10 times in the life of that guitar!! And you're talking at the most a fret job every 5 years? That's 50 years for that neck dude

I like the maple the best and it's built for speed, it only gets stickey when you don't clean it..I've had mine for years and there are no wear marks...keep it clean it it's slicker than rosewood or ebony (have one of each)..lemon oil on the rosewood really speeds things up and changes the feel from grainey to smooth, the ebony is already smooth feeling but a little oil and wah lah you're moving fast...if you want the broke in "roadworthy" feel and look, just take some very fine grit sand paper and smooth off the protective coating and in a week or two she'll turn grey from your dirty sweaty fingers and look like you've been playing for years and years 8 hours a day...

Maple is the only way I go. It has more snap and sustain IMO... I like to hear and play them. If they look played, I like them even more!

Also, if maple is sticky, sounds like it has to much finish on it! I take that crap right off... Raw maple, with a little dutch oil for protection, is very slick and bendy compared to most other fretboard wood.

+1

> B U M P < for Reif "rosewood? what's rosewood?" D. Bluesape...





+2

Yeah, if it's "sticky", either the finish is thick and tacky and not hard enough, or it's so glossy-smooth that it actually creates a sort of "traction" against your skin, or both.

"Satin" finished maple feels smoother, even though it's actually rougher, because that drag-slick like glassiness is eliminated by a thinner, rougher finish.

If you like "raw", oiled maple- especially for the back of the neck- try tung-oil, followed by Butcher's Wax after the oil has completely cured- a KILLER combination! The better the sanding before the oil and wax are applied, the smoother the bare wood is, the better the oil/wax finish will feel. Like marble that warms to the touch!

How'd ya know I'd jump in here, Caev?

I have several maple fretboard guitars, and none are sticky. A couple I've owned for over 30 years have no visible finish erosion. I use very light strings, and I use corn starch as a lubricant, and find it keeps the neck dry and fast. Rosewood just doesn't grab me, and my dislike for it has kept me away from LP Std's, SG's, PRS's, Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Rickenbackers, and many others. Maple and ebony are fast and glassy, and much more to my liking. Many fine players prefer rosewood: SRV, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Billy Gibbons, Vai, Satch, Angus, Slash, Jeff Healey, Santana, ....., so it all comes down to personal preference.

Tonally, there is a mellower shade to rosewood fretboards, and some players make the choice based on that aspect, but I've always felt that the "feel" of a guitar is much harder to dial in than the tone, and I'll go with fast and glassy every time.

I'm not so tweaky as BA about my guitar necks or fretboards. While acknowledging that ebony is the best (according to all luthiers that I've met), so long as the finish on the neck is not distracting (and sticky ones certainly ARE...), I pretty much don't care what it is made of.

I have noticed in the last several years that newer guitars have necks and, if the board is finished, fretboards that are sticky. Undoubtedly something to do with the emissions laws and spray trequirements where the instruments are made forcing manufacturers to use water based varnishes which hold moisture for months and months before they finally dry to proper hardness... and even then they seem to be softer that what makes me comfortable.

But any lubricant can level the playingfield as to how a neck feels, and there are several that are safe for use on guitar necks. So BA, give a little lemon oil a try on any LP rosewood Strat or any other instrument that you might like to try because of the sound but have not been able to get over the feel. I have all sorts of guitars with all sorts of neck materials, including epoxy. My fingers never touch the fretboard wood itself to any appreciable degree, and the lemon oil makes them all just as fast as anyone could want.

Ya got a point, there, Bill!

Lemon oil - Would that be for maple fretboard's too, or is there something different I should use?

A maple fretboard is usually varnished, so the lemon oil will not protect and rejuvenate the wood... it is already protected. But lemon oil will lubricate the playing surface, making the neck 'faster'. Just remember, you want OIL, not polish.

I prefer rosewood, I like the slightly mellower sound and the feel of it.

I love them both. I learned on a Kramer American with a rosewood, so playing rosewood feels like putting on an old pair of shoes. Your toes just know where to go. I love the tone of a maple. Mine seems a little faster and the tone is brighter for sure. so i guess i have no prefrence. just what ever falls in my lap.

Yeah I have an electric that was designated as my `crown jewel`-it has a maple neck/board. My first impression was the same-it felt grabby. I left it in N.Y. so didn`t get enough time to experiment.
Part of me wishes it wasn`t varnished but I think it`s also possible to adjust playing style. I do like the way the notes pop,
it makes playing clean a lot of fun.

Thank you.
I'm on the rosewood band wagon, too.

My Wolfgang does have an unfinished maple fingerboard which is fine because it doesn't stick. I also like the way rosewood looks.