Would you choose solid rosewood or roasted maple for a neck?

[Lewguitar]

Which one in terms of tone? Not for looks.

I'm loving the deep, warm, full solid twang of my Parts-o-Caster with roasted swamp ash body and roasted maple neck.

Never owned a one piece rosewood neck tho.

I know Carlos Santana loves the solid rosewood neck on his PRS guitars.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Not sure why you're asking this question. You seem to already know what you like, so get what you like.
The neck material has a tiny affect on electric guitar tone (but there is an affect). This has been demonstrated in Aaron's videos. The body material has a greater affect (although still small) on tone. For my latest Soloist build, I contemplated a solid rosewood or Pau Fero neck, but ultimately chose roasted maple for the reduced weight.

 

[Rick]

the answer is clearly yes.

Mr. Street is correct, as to sound, it's de minimis, particularly between those two. As such, because you already have a roasted maple neck, you must purchase a rosewood neck. I have a rosewood neck on a p90 git, and it sounds great ... and while you didn't mention touch ... it feeeels sooooo goooooood.

Go by feel, then by looks ... sound is there, but very small.

I do hear a bigger difference with wenge and either of those two. On my one wenge neck, it's bright and crisp. Between maple and mahogany, with my eyes open, sometimes I hear a difference. Maple, Rosewood and Mahogany all sound good. As does goncalo.

 

[ragamuffin]

I love rosewood and roasted maple; they're a little different in feel, but I'd take a either (raw) neck over a glossy finished one any day

 

[Scab Pickens]

What exactly is "tone"?

I would say that you can't go wrong with either choice ... unless you go wrong with one choice or the other.

I guess what I am trying to say is ... the neck wood will be only a small variable in the overall construction.

Inlay material, size and shape, have a much bigger impact on tone.

 

[Lewguitar]

Anyone

I love rosewood and roasted maple; they're a little different in feel, but I'd take a either (raw) neck over a glossy finished one any day

Thanks!

I'm going to go for it.

I would like to try getting this look but with a solid rosewood neck.

https://imgur.com/Y80ZqrH

Anyone certain of how to finish the body to achieve that look? Twenty coats of Tru Oil?

I'd like to avoid toxic finishes. No Nitro this time.

I'll buy a solid rosewood Strat neck and a roasted swamp ash body from the same vender I used before.

Now would seem the time. Everything's on sale.

I'll use the Fender American Standard Tremolo I like so much, Fender locking tuners and either Chubtone or Duncan Antiquity Surf pickups.

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

I have never owned a one piece rosewood neck, but I'd expect it to be rigid and bright sounding. A lot of guitars with rosewood necks, typically either have alder strat bodies, or mahogany bodies with shorter scale length. I think its difficult to predict the tone of a guitar even when you know all the components, so I hope you will let us know after you build one.

 

[Lewguitar]

I have never owned a one piece rosewood neck, but I'd expect it to be rigid and bright sounding. A lot of guitars with rosewood necks, typically either have alder strat bodies, or mahogany bodies with shorter scale length. I think its difficult to predict the tone of a guitar even when you know all the components, so I hope you will let us know after you build one.

Sure will. I post a lot on the PRS Forum and have a 95, 97 and 00 PRS CE22. Those are my faves. Bolt on maple neck. I see them as a cross between a Strat and a double cutaway Les Paul.

Carlos Santana's personal PRS guitars have a solid rosewood neck. Might even be Brazilian.

Mahogany body and flame maple top.

He gets an incredible sound on tunes like Europa.

Anyway, I just ordered everything I'll need for this next build.

 

[Lewguitar]

What exactly is "tone"?

I would say that you can't go wrong with either choice ... unless you go wrong with one choice or the other.

I guess what I am trying to say is ... the neck wood will be only a small variable in the overall construction.

Inlay material, size and shape, have a much bigger impact on tone.

My experience has been different. Maple necks sound different than mahogany necks and when Gibson made the switch to maple necks on guitars like the Les Paul Deluxe in the 70's the sound changed. Not as warm and round. Some players probably preferred maple but I didn't. I wanted to hear the original sound I'd gotten used to.

I think the wood a neck is made from matters a lot.

Tone can be anything. But if you had a great pianist compare a Steinway and Bosendorffer and a Yamaha piano you'd hear a difference and prefer one because of its tone. That's what tone is.

 

[Strat Avenger]

I think the wood a neck is made from matters a lot.

It matters only a little. Body material matters more, and pickups & amplifiers even more than that.
Again, I refer to Aaron's videos.
Any material you choose from Warmoth is gonna be nice, and I look forward to seeing pictures.

 

[teleme01]

Rosewood,

 

[vetteman]

Unless you finish the roasted Maple neck with some kind of oil finish you won't wind up with one looking like that photograph. It will also feel really dry to the touch. I ended up using a pure Tung oil finish on mine and it now feels really nice. Rosewood has more of a naturally oily feel and doesn't need a finish. But it won't look like the oiled neck in the picture either. Best of luck on your project.

 

[BroccoliRob]

It matters only a little. Body material matters more, and pickups & amplifiers even more than that.
Again, I refer to Aaron's videos.
Any material you choose from Warmoth is gonna be nice, and I look forward to seeing pictures.

yo i just wanna say i agree the neck wood is less of a Big Deal than places like TGP would proclaim (like a Medium Deal, or even a Small Deal). i changed my strat's maple/rosewood neck for an all-wenge one and the acoustic (unplugged) sound was like 10% less brite, but the plugged in sound (through my rig) was imperceptibly different. i was flummoxed (cool word for suprised)

 

[Lewguitar]

It matters only a little. Body material matters more, and pickups & amplifiers even more than that.
Again, I refer to Aaron's videos.
Any material you choose from Warmoth is gonna be nice, and I look forward to seeing pictures.

yo i just wanna say i agree the neck wood is less of a Big Deal than places like TGP would proclaim (like a Medium Deal, or even a Small Deal). i changed my strat's maple/rosewood neck for an all-wenge one and the acoustic (unplugged) sound was like 10% less brite, but the plugged in sound (through my rig) was imperceptibly different. i was flummoxed (cool word for suprised)

10% is a substantial difference if you're a skilled and sensitive professional musician who hears as well as FEELS the sound vibrating through his or her body. I hear and feel the difference between a one piece maple neck and a maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard. The rosewood warms and slightly thickens the tone. But these conversations go nowhere if one party simply doesn't hear or feel the difference in sound.

I think I'm done defending my point of view on this subject.

But I will say that my friends over on the PRS Forum are saying that once I start using a solid rosewood neck I'll never go back to maple.

 

[Ma77]

If someone is just going to give me one I’ll take rosewood

 

[Strat Avenger]

10% is a substantial difference if you're a skilled and sensitive professional musician who hears as well as FEELS the sound vibrating through his or her body. I hear and feel the difference between a one piece maple neck and a maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard. The rosewood warms and slightly thickens the tone. But these conversations go nowhere if one party simply doesn't hear or feel the difference in sound.

I think I'm done defending my point of view on this subject.

But I will say that my friends over on the PRS Forum are saying that once I start using a solid rosewood neck I'll never go back to maple.

Righttt....and you can hear the difference between a Duracell and a Energizer too, right?
"Thicken" is not a scientific definition of tone.
We're talking about electric guitars here, not acoustic guitars. Your pickups affect the tone more than anything, period.
'You want "thicker" or "thinner"; install pickups that sound "thicker" or "thinner". 'You like rosewood, get rosewood. It looks great.
The tone snobbery is just insulting to the intelligence of people who understand what produces sound, especially when it is claimed that their hearing just isn't as good or sensitive as yours, or that they must not be "professional musicians". It's just ignorance and snobbery (which is unkind).

 

[Scab Pickens]

I think the wood a neck is made from matters a lot.

I think so, too.

Tone can be anything. But if you had a great pianist compare a Steinway and Bosendorffer and a Yamaha piano you'd hear a difference and prefer one because of its tone. That's what tone is.

Sure, but it isn't as easy to swap out parts on a piano.

You are strictly talking about "tone" from a guitar neck. Only the material it is made from. No other variables. Impossible to draw any conclusions as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway, you seem to already know the answer to your "question". So, I'm out of this one. Your skill level is far above mine.

 

[teleme01]

I always played Gibson (type) guitars which is mostly mahogany, now when I play on my warmoth necks it's realy noticeable, you can feel and hear the difference. Whew, the Rosewood and maple. Are on different ends of the sound spectrum., the difference is like a and bb

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

Aaron has already tested the neck woods in this video.

I thought the differences were readily noticeable and I'm a bit surprised to read so much controversy. My own take is the Warmoth Modern construction (double acting trussrod) affects the tone as much as the wood variety. I wish the comparison had been done with Vintage/Modern neck using the trussrod adjustment at the headstock as I think the wood type would have greater influence.

 

[BroccoliRob]

10% is a substantial difference if you're a skilled and sensitive professional musician who hears as well as FEELS the sound vibrating through his or her body. I hear and feel the difference between a one piece maple neck and a maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard. The rosewood warms and slightly thickens the tone. But these conversations go nowhere if one party simply doesn't hear or feel the difference in sound.

I think I'm done defending my point of view on this subject.

meh, unplugged sound is meaningless on an electric guitar.

if my plugged in sound was 10% darker, yeah, i would've been pretty crestfallen, but it ended up being the same. i'm not gonna sit here (well stand here at work) and tell u no wood is gonna make your guitar sound different, but the degree of it is overstated. i get woods I like the look and feel of and pickups i like the sound of. i hate that that sentence had two clauses ending in a preposition but that is just how goes sometimes and I don't feel like rewriting it. OK gotta go, one of my coworkers (Trenton) just got back from a camping trip and i've been waiting to call him Tent Reznor since before the weekend ttyl