What is the Difference between Maple and Rosewood Fretboards

Question

Is there a difference that's based on feel or sound - why are they the two most widely used choices?

Answer 1

Maple boards are typically placed on Swamp Ash or brighter wood bodies and it lends a snap to the tone of the guitar. Rosewood is known to be much mellower, and usually makes it's way on mahogany bodies and necks. They definitely feel different too. A maple neck is harder and feels very smooth under your fingers, while rosewood has some sponginess to it due to the porous properties of the wood.

There are plenty of guitars out there that don't follow these traditional approaches so your mileage may vary. As to why they are chosen? I'd say tradition, along with the availability of the wood itself. It is however well known that woods lend specific tones to an instrument, so possibly years of experience and use by high quality luthiers have lent to the reputation of maple and rosewood. There are plenty of other fingerboard woods out there to choose from, but these two seem to be industry standards.

Warmoth has a stellar site dedicated to the distinction between different tonewoods (neck and body). Here's the neck site. Enjoy!

Answer 2

The fret dividers vibrate differently on each type of wood, but anybody who is pro will tell you that each instrument becomes a personal choice based off the sound, looks, and overall playability. A lead guitarist would most likely prefer a maple board because of the brightness, as a rythimist would prefer ebony or rosewood. It's all preference and your ability to enforce it.

Answer 3

One difference is how you treat and care for one or the other as a guitar owner.

Maple fretboards are usually varnished with the same finish (nitrocellulose, polyethylene, or other finishes) used on the rest of the neck. Thus they are sealed.

Rosewood fretboards have no finish on them, and should be treated periodically with a wood conditioning oil. Also, on guitars that are exposed to extreme seasonal changes in humidity due to climate, a rosewood fingerboard may expand or contract in size, causing problems with the seating of the metal frets. So if you live in certain climates, you should use a guitar humidifier to prevent those kinds of problems.

Another note: Some luthiers are now using a heat-treated maple fingerboard (sometimes called "roasted maple") in place of rosewood. Gibson has been doing a lot of this in the last year due to their acute shortage of rosewood (it's a long story). So now there are Les Pauls and SGs with roasted maple fingerboards instead of rosewood. Some recent Gibson models use fingerboards of granadillo (Dalbergia retusa) which also goes by names including cocobolo and palisander.