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How much influence does the fret board have on the sound of the CBG?

Posted by David Tutterrow GutBucketGuitars on August 19, 2011 at 11:56pm in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

If at all?

 

Most of my builds have been made using red oak neck and red oak fretboard, mainly because of easy availability. On two recent builds though, I've experimented with Walnut and Cocobolo fretboards. I've noticed the sound on these two builds is a little different and seemingly more responsive (though it may just be me). 

 

I've tried a couple of other different things on these builds as well, so I'm trying to narrow it down as to what exactly it is I've done to create this change. Any thoughts on the fretboard wood?

 

Thanks, David

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Replies

  • Ron "Oily" Sprague March 16, 2013 at 7:31pm
    Fretboard wood is where you put your fingers. It should ideally be incredibly greasy, so that you can play faster. You can make even the cheapest fretboard wood extremely greasy by rubbing it with salami or summer sausage. The differences in tone will only be apparent after many sausages are tried, which is likely to make you hungry. All that fatty goodness will however soak into your fretboard, and lubricate your playing. If you play slide, you will feel like you are on ice. Any fretboard wood will do, because it just doesn't matter; the key to great tone is selecting the right type of sausage. Wieners, Vienna sausages, and especially Kosher franks have a detrimental effect on your tone. Boiling them does not help. Many people pay lots of money for special deli sausages, but these too are a simple waste of time, unless you are having a picnic.

    Strings, however...now that's where things can get interesting...>:-E
    • darryl kernaghan > Ron "Oily" Sprague March 16, 2013 at 8:12pm

      tried that idea with the sausage don,i,ll tell you how it went ,once i figure out where my bastard dog buried it

      • Ron "Oily" Sprague > darryl kernaghan March 17, 2013 at 11:03am

        Hehehehehehehehe...

        • RTZGUITARS > Ron "Oily" Sprague March 18, 2013 at 4:26am

          Just look at factory guitars they have done all the work. I have made oak on oak necks they sound fine, is it better then then rose. on mahog. if it was  Martin and and Taylor would build them. I have played the same strat with a maple on maple neck and Rose on Maple. maples brighter the rose warmer but the maple was much faster or greasy as oily said. Acoustic bodys is where you learn of the woods real  tone, Rosewood bodys the string are separated you can really hear each string very wide sound range, mahogany bodys blend the string a warm together sound. Maple bodys  to me is a Jumbo thing.

          I'm with bug on the reso. sound nothin beat an old National.

          All mahogany top back and sides are way cool try one some day.

          Guild M20 19665613_01.jpg

  • Kevin M. Kraft March 15, 2013 at 7:29am

    Since many aspects of a CBG define its sound, unless you made a number of  CBGs identical, except for the kind of wood the fretboard is made of--and that might not even be reliable, it'd be almost impossible to tell any difference.

    • David McQueen > Kevin M. Kraft March 15, 2013 at 9:07am

      I think the closest you would get to the "Identical" part would be to make a CBG with a bolt on neck and then change necks. I don't know about you, but if I make two identically, they still are not identical. And that is not a bad thing.

      Would it be worth the trouble. I don't think so.

  • SlowHound March 14, 2013 at 4:18pm

    What these guys said...

     

    "Once you start agonising over the tone benefits of one fretboard material against another for a cigar box guitar...then you've taken a wrong turn. It's a stick in a box..that's a STICK and a BOX, good people...a stick and a box."

    ChickenboneJohn

     

    "It's the player that makes all the difference."

    Ed (Bad Finger)

     

    "custom shop mumbo jumbo"

    jabes

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Rob Uker March 14, 2013 at 4:01pm

    I can't tell you why it makesa difference but I can definately hear a difference between a strat with a rosewood finger board and a maple fingerboard.

  • BUGGY (C) March 14, 2013 at 2:31pm

    Hi

    I have tried many things and the neck does play a part in the sound, try ash

    I also have 2 aluminium fretboard guitars and like they way they play as they are dead flat.

    Tiny minute differences affect the sound. I have the same strings and tuners on many things and they all sound different.

    Facinates me..But I wood (pun) imagine the neck is doing more than the fretboard. Neck material, Nut and Bridge and Pickups tone pots and cap are all Key..

    But strangely sometimes you find unexpected goodness from new materials...

    It would be an interesting experiment to build 2 the same and have each with different fretboards but everthing else the same.

    Most of the frequency resonate from the sound board and people have build paper backed guitars to prove this.

    The neck material is good for sustain.. mahogany is good or ash.

    I have a full mahogany guitar and its trebbly

    A spruce top one is warmer.

    Louder and warmer with a rosewood back (hardwood bounces the sound back forward)

    I quite like the sound of steel and tin as the resonator materials.

    Wood or bone or aluminium nut

    A bridge a hardwood bridge with a fret on it better than a bolt bridge for sound..

    But it's all personal I am sure...

    I prefer a rosewood strat fret board to a maple one, but each is personal I am sure.

    Try new things thats what I say and keep us posted..

     

     

     

  • David McQueen March 13, 2013 at 8:24am
    I found this artical on luthier woods some time ago. Someone else had also posted it on another thread. The long and the short of it is the tone depends more on the luthier than on the wood. The fee received may depend more on the wood than on the luthier.
    http://www.guitarnation.com/articles/calkin.htm
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