Ebony vs Rosewood board

crunchman · January 2020

I have a Stonebridge (Furch) OM with mahogany back and sides. Rather than the Ebony you get on a Martin though, the fingerboard and bridge are rosewood.

It does sound warmer than I remember Martin OMs sounding. The Ebony board does seem to give a top end snap to the sound, but I'm actually liking the rosewood.

Then I twigged that a J45 has a rosewood board. I'm think that the board has to account for some of the difference between a J45 and a D18.

What does everyone else think?

octatonic · January 2020

Ebony is denser and heavier, it is also more durable.

All other things being equal you get a bit more top end snap, both both in terms of frequency and in the time domain.

You can mitigate these differences with other build choices though (soundboard stiffening, bracing choices), it is best to consider the whole guitar IMHO.

artiebear · January 2020

Yep, rosewood absorbs more high mids, Btw D18's in the 70's/80's had a rosewood board.

Andy79 · January 2020

The difference is a few grains of salt in the bread. The shape of the tin makes the big difference
For me there is a feeling difference. I prefer playing on ebony. Having said that I mostly have rosewood

GTC · January 2020

I've never found any noticeable sound difference between the two. I also prefer the play and feel of ebony. However, one of the nicest looking fingerboards I've seen was figured Mexican rosewood on an Alan Miller fan fret.

I've also got an LAG nylon with a "brownwood" fingerboard - which apparently is a heat and chemically treated Monterrey pine to give it the hardness and appearance of rosewood. No problems tonally.

crunchman · January 2020

I think there is a difference between the two. I've seen it on electrics as well. Ebony definitely has a snap to it, and seems to have more top end presence - if that's the right word.

I was just wondering how much it contributes to the difference between a D18 and J45. I know the scale length is different, and the construction is different, but based on what I'm hearing with my guitar compared with a Martin OM, I suspect that the fingerboard wood is playing a part.

Clashman · January 2020

My fingers run across an ebony board a lot quicker with far less friction than rosewood.

Lewy · January 2020

Clashman said:

My fingers run across an ebony board a lot quicker with far less friction than rosewood.

It's always puzzled me when people say this sort of thing...I don't think my fingers ever really touch the fingerboard, and they definitely don't when sliding. As a result, I don't pick up any discernible different in feel between materials. I must be in the minority!

EDIT - actually I just double checked there is a tiny bit of contact when fretting but not enough for me to be conscious of I guess.

brucegill · January 2020

crunchman said:

I think there is a difference between the two. I've seen it on electrics as well. Ebony definitely has a snap to it, and seems to have more top end presence - if that's the right word.

I was just wondering how much it contributes to the difference between a D18 and J45. I know the scale length is different, and the construction is different, but based on what I'm hearing with my guitar compared with a Martin OM, I suspect that the fingerboard wood is playing a part.

D18 vs J45 - scale length, shape, bracing paternal, bracing placement, bracing size, bracing scalloping, top thickness, back and sides thickness, bridge plate, bridge shape, neck carve...... the list goes on. Be the fingerboard rosewood or ebony, that’s must be close to 1% of the build?! Martin vs Furch, same goes. Shit, put one brand of strings on a Martin OM and another on the identical guitar and it’ll sound different. Not sure you can say it’s to do with the fingerboard material in any meaningful way.

I’ve heard of people wanting rosewood bridges on Martin style (custom builds based on Martin designs) Guitar’s, and I can see that. But only when comparing it to EXACTLY the same guitar with an ebony bridge would you really know. I think George Lowden mentioned in a video he found rosewood flexes more as a bridge material, helping the top move. Seems strange they went for ebony on the Sheeran builds.

It’s a bit like the slab board vs laminate (Think that’s what they’re called) boards on strats, it so minimal and then it’s still different era builds with two different bodies and different pick ups it’s really hard to say for sure that the board thickness makes a difference.

Sure, there will be a difference between an Ebony and rosewood board on exactly the same guitar, but if it’s not on the same model, how can you tell what’s contributing the perceived difference?

ICBM · January 2020

It’s a small difference overall, but a distinctive one that you can often hear through even quite a lot of much larger ones. Ebony has a distinct bite to the note attack and a tiny bit more top-end zing compared to rosewood.

I’m certain it’s purely due to the hardness of the wood because Pau Ferro has it as well.

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