Not seeing a lot of love for Canary/Rosewood?

[Ron D]

Hi everyone,
Please don't pounce on me if this has been asked before.
I'm a relative newbie here.
I've spent a few hours searching, but haven't found too much info about this.

I'm just about to pull the trigger on a chambered Tele body, all swamp ash, all the body contours, double humbucker rout, but I'll be using split single coil pickups by MJS.

Basically, my idea of the perfect "Jazz Tele".

I want a raw neck. 24 3/4 conversion. I currently have a maple/rosewood that i left unfinished. No issues in 1 1/2yrs. Frankly, I don't anticipate any...
However, I don't want to take any chances with this build.

I'm thinking Canary based on all the praise here, but most folks here seem to like it with ebony for the fingerboard, as it is the same tone as maple/ rosewood.
My thinking is that the rosewood FB will warm up the sound a little. Remember, it's a Jazz sound I'm looking for.

I'd love to hear the thoughts of the many experienced builders here.

Cheers, Ron

 

[mayfly]

I have two canary/canary necks on two teles, and two with maple/ rosewood.  They are a close match tone wise to my ears.

 

[tfarny]

I have a canary / Pao Ferro neck that is my favorite neck ever on my favorite guitar. Expect a bright tone along the lines of maple but also know that the double truss rod construction will have an effect as will the shorter scale length. Wood species is just one variable among many, and definitely not the most important one. It's not easy to know how something is going to sound in advance, and anyhow you've got tone controls all over your amp and pedalboard, right?

 

[Ron D]

but also know that the double truss rod construction will have an effect as will the shorter scale length.

Thanks tfarny,
What is the general effect on tone of these two factors?
i realize that I won't know for sure until I try, but I'm just trying to get an idea.

Cheers, Ron

 

[line6man]

The reason that Rosewood is unpopular on non-Maple and non-Mahogany necks is that most people that order them try to break away from tradition.

 

[Ron D]

I'm only concerned with the raw wood aspect. I have an archtop, with an ebony finger board and SS frets. I find it to be very bright sounding. I love the SS frets... just thought the rosewood board might warm up the sound a bit.  :dontknow:

 

[Patrick from Davis]

The finger board is not going to change the sound much if any.  The neck wood will.  The truss rod will hold the thing from moving over time (don't need to adjust very much at all), and the pro one holds things real well.  The shorter scale will loosen up the strings a hair, and it chunks things up a bit to me.  The finger board choice should mainly be what you like to play on.  In a perfect world the rosewood fingerboard would be a warmer sounding neck, but the differences are just not that great that most hear them.  The Canary will sound like maple, and have a lot of cut if you need it.  If you are going to play jazz on it, then get a nice set of pickups and get comfy with the tone knob.
Patrick

 

[Great Ape]

If canary/rosewood is what you want, then go for it-you'll love it no doubt. will it really be significantly 'warmer' than an ebony board? Probably not, but it's your pickups that'll do that for you more than any other component of the guitar. 

 

[LushTone]

The fretboard ABSOLUTELY affects the tone. This is because the fretboard lies within closest proximity to the strings and along the majority of the string's length. Rosewood is a classic fretboard tone wood and it will sound great. Rosewood doesn't take away brightness as a guitar is a naturally bright instrument. Though it will balance the lows, mids and highs better than ebony, pau ferro and maple, which all place emphasis on the brights (too harsh and dominating IMO).

Besides, if you want extra brightness, your amp's eq will do that for you. But, the brightness from a fretboard wood is not so easy to take away, as it exists in the fundamental 'attack' of the strings.

 

[bob7point7]

I have a canary/canary tele neck and a canary/pau ferro bass neck. Both came from the showcase and they are two of my favorite necks (my favorite is wenge/ebony). They both offer great tone with plenty of brightness. I wouldn't hesitate to use canary/rosewood for a second.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

The fretboard ABSOLUTELY affects the tone. This is because the fretboard lies within closest proximity to the strings and along the majority of the string's length. Rosewood is a classic fretboard tone wood and it will sound great. Rosewood doesn't take away brightness as a guitar is a naturally bright instrument. Though it will balance the lows, mids and highs better than ebony, pau ferro and maple, which all place emphasis on the brights (too harsh and dominating IMO).

I love discussions such as these when they stay civil.  I'm of the school that the fretboard, compared to the other woods of the instrument; neck and body, makes the least difference.  Proximity to the strings seems a likely cause, but we can't even get consensus that fret material makes a significant difference.  It would seem the rigid, load bearing structure of an instrument would effect it the most.  Neck, body, trussrod, even rigidity of neck joint.

 

[Cagey]

I love discussions such as these when they stay civil.  I'm of the school that the fretboard, compared to the other woods of the instrument; neck and body, makes the least difference.  Proximity to the strings seems a likely cause, but we can't even get consensus that fret material makes a significant difference.  It would seem the rigid, load bearing structure of an instrument would effect it the most.  Neck, body, trussrod, even rigidity of neck joint.

That's pretty much where I'm at with the issue, although I don't know if I'd say the fretboard makes the least difference. It's what connects the frets to the neck meat after all, so you'd think the more dense it is the less vibration it absorbs. However, I don't know of any fretboard wood that's particularly soft. It wouldn't be practical because regardless of "tonality" it wouldn't hold frets and would wear too fast, with no real recourse for repair. Indian Rosewood is arguably the softest and most common variety used, and that's a pretty hard wood. It also doesn't require a finish, is easy to machine, has a relatively dense grain, is attractive enough, and has historically been common as dirt so it's inexpensive (although that's changing). The cheapest Walmart blisterpack guitars in the world use Rosewood fretboards.

So, as was mentioned earlier, Rosewood is often passed up when constructing custom necks in favor of something that says "custom" at first glance, rather than because of any particular sonic qualities. But, Rosewood is kind of a generic name anyway, describing any wood from a tree of the genus Dalbergia. So, Tulipwood, Cocobolo, Kingwood and some others are all actually just different varieties of Rosewood.

 

[LushTone]

Well, I admit it's hard to argue the affect of a fretboard. Any argument usually gets dismissed by claiming that an identical guitar with a different fretboard must be compared side by side. But, I have. I've compared a Breedlove American series acoustic with a rosewood board to that of the exact same model with an ebony board. The difference wasn't subtle to me.

 

[LushTone]

Besides, to people that don't hear a difference from a fretboard, how do you think Warmoth developed a "tone meter". They are the experts, and have made it clear that tone woods produce relatively consistent results, enough to make blatant, general descriptions.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

I think the problem is that two guitars is nowhere near enough of a test. There are so many factors, both physical and psychological, that could affect whether or not you hear a difference. A one-time test by one person who knows what they're playing is basically meaningless from a scientific point of view. You'd need lots of guitars, lots of people, and for it to be double-blind. Then you'd get somewhere.

But why do the research? Let's say the result comes out positive - there's a definite difference. Fine then, now we know all the advertising is true and we'll continue as we are. Or if it's negative, people who believe it makes a difference will still say "well, I can hear a difference", and we'll continue as we are.

FWIW, I think Warmoth probably developed their tone meter from accepted wisdom and anecdote, not scientific testing of woods. Which is fine, of course.

 

[Cagey]

Well, I admit it's hard to argue the affect of a fretboard. Any argument usually gets dismissed by claiming that an identical guitar with a different fretboard must be compared side by side. But, I have. I've compared a Breedlove American series acoustic with a rosewood board to that of the exact same model with an ebony board. The difference wasn't subtle to me.

I'm sure it wasn't. But acoustics are designed a lot differently than electrics. Change the top on an electric from Mahogany to Spruce, and you won't hear it. Do that on an acoustic, and it's a completely different guitar. Same with the neck, fretboard, sides, mechanical supports and attachment methods, etc.

 

[stubhead]

I think the poster's choice of custom single coil pickups will work so as to transmit plenty of highs, mids and lows into the amplification system. I won't say all wood is the same, but any further refinements can be had with an adequate amount of tone controls. When you start nudging up the volume, speaker choice is probably the largest overall "tone control" you have. Playing jazz, I'd expect him to choose from the cleaner side of the aisle - JBL, E-V, Black Widows, Eminence make some great clean, high-headroom "PA-bass" speakers as they name them.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Interesting points, but I'm not ready to make a jump that a tone meter equates to integrity of a company.  As I read their tone meter, it describes the wood and whether or not it is available for neck, wood, and/or fretboard.  When there's a hodgepodge of different tonewoods on the same guitar, the percentage they flavor is conjecture.  Alder body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard, it's brighter than a mahogany body, mahogany neck and ebony fretboard, and of course that is generally speaking.  Then you're right back to how much it affects depending on which component.  Many can pick the Telecaster vs. Les Paul or Vox vs. Marshall on a recording, but how many can name the fretboard wood?  There's a rosewood vs. maple Am. Standard Strat comparison on YouTube, but again, your eyes are telling you what your ears are hearing.

 

[DangerousR6]

I have a canary/ziricote..And I think you'll find loads of peeps with canary and rosewood..

The reason that Rosewood is unpopular on non-Maple and non-Mahogany necks is that most people that order them try to break away from tradition.

I think you hit the nail on the head there line6'er, rosewood has kind of over saturated the guitar world.

But I would like to have an all rosewood neck at some point...All ziricote as well.. :laughing7:

 

[DustyCat]

I have Canary w/GA board that I like a lot.

If I could do it over...and I will in thefuture...I would have gone raw canary (I got mine with a light finish) and I would have ordered a much bigger...fatter neck back contour, then sanded it down to my exact hand contour.