Whats makes crackwood addictive...for you

[Casi1]

Hey guys,

I was recently playing my 408 and I noticed that the addictive-ness for me is more about feel than sound. I am in love with the smoothness of the fretboard. I have never felt a fretboard like that with any other type of wood...ebony is smooth too but its more of a matte/dry feeling type of smooth and then theres maple, but both are totally different to what I'm feeling out of the Brazilian rosewood board.

What are your thoughts?

 

[drdoom8793]

Never played anything with Brazzy RW

 

[László]

I don’t really notice a difference in feel, but I think there’s a definite zing to the notes with BRW fretboards, at least with mine.

It could be the case that I play so lightly that not much of my finger actually reaches the fretboard.

 

[AP515]

Get your hands on one with the whole neck of BRW instead if just the fretboard. That will take smooth to a new level.

But for me it also changes the sound. The two live together when BRW is in play. A BRW neck will make the sound quite mid heavy. I like mids so I'm ok with it, but I prefer the mahogany neck/BRW fretboard for a complete sound pallet. But then you have to live with a painted neck instead of that silky smooth rosewood neck.

 

[Casi1]

Get your hands on one with the whole neck of BRW instead if just the fretboard. That will take smooth to a new level.

But for me it also changes the sound. The two live together when BRW is in play. A BRW neck will make the sound quite mid heavy. I like mids so I'm ok with it, but I prefer the mahogany neck/BRW fretboard for a complete sound pallet. But then you have to live with a painted neck instead of that silky smooth rosewood neck.

Yep, my 408 and McCarty both have solid brazilian rosewood necks. I do notice an internal reverb with the McCarty. I dont know why that is but the wood on the McCarty is much much darker than the 408.

 

[Casi1]

Never played anything with Brazzy RW

You gotta remedy that soon man. It may change your life...

 

[ElrytNamrogo]

Hmm....I never knew what people meant by "crackwood."

Something new everyday, right?

 

[bodia]

So, are we talking necks, or fret boards? If we're talking about necks, I just love the feel of bare wood, or the impregnated finish that PRS uses on their maple necks. No stickiness! If we're talking about fret boards, I'm not sure I have a huge preference. I do like the hardness of ebony. Not sure if it actually is faster, but it kind of feels like it, to me. I don't really care for heavily coated maple frets boards.

 

[Casi1]

So, are we talking necks, or fret boards? If we're talking about necks, I just love the feel of bare wood, or the impregnated finish that PRS uses on their maple necks. No stickiness! If we're talking about fret boards, I'm not sure I have a huge preference. I do like the hardness of ebony. Not sure if it actually is faster, but it kind of feels like it, to me. I don't really care for heavily coated maple frets boards.

I guess we are talking about both, lol. I love the bare wood of my maple and rosewood necked guitars but I love the brazilian rosewood fretboard more than I love the raw wood necks. Its weird.

I have a strong hate for uber lacquered boards.

 

[bodia]

I have a strong hate for uber lacquered boards.

That definitely makes two of us!

 

[merciful-evans]

Rosewood of any sort is not much use to me as a fretboard. My poor & untutored technique wrecks them. It takes a long time, but the damage is noticible after a few months. I've worn out one entirely. It took 20 years and I disposed of it in 2015. That was a practice (at home) guitar. I saved wear on the gigging guitar that way.

The ebony board on my 40+ year old Fylde is as good as new (it has indian rosewood back & sides).
I have 2 maple boards. A lacquered one and a torrefied (heat dried) one. The torrefied one feels nicest.

 

[django49]

Best of both worlds? My Scott Walker Phantom has a Brazilian neck and ebony board (to go with the ebony carved top). Not everyone's cup of tea, but I love it.

 

[Casi1]

Rosewood of any sort is not much use to me as a fretboard. My poor & untutored technique wrecks them. It takes a long time, but the damage is noticible after a few months. I've worn out one entirely. It took 20 years and I disposed of it in 2015. That was a practice (at home) guitar. I saved wear on the gigging guitar that way.

The ebony board on my 40+ year old Fylde is as good as new (it has indian rosewood back & sides).
I have 2 maple boards. A lacquered one and a torrefied (heat dried) one. The torrefied one feels nicest.

Interesting! What exactly is tearing up the rosewood board... It seems indestructible to me so i had never thought about it. I have an ebony board guitar too and I'm always worried about the ebony cracking in low humidity.

I gotta try a torrefied one.

 

[11top]

Feel and sustain of BRW. My first choice including pernambuco.

 

[Buck]

Interesting! What exactly is tearing up the rosewood board... It seems indestructible to me so i had never thought about it. I have an ebony board guitar too and I'm always worried about the ebony cracking in low humidity.

I gotta try a torrefied one.

That is interesting...I've had/have ziracote, ebony, indian & brazzy RW, maple in many neck board combos over the years...the only ones I've had issues with as far as cracks/roughness are the ones I didn't oil on a regular basis when changing strings.

My 1987 hot pink Kramer has RW board that still looks like new, but my '89 Carvin board not so much...both around same playtime over the years and only difference was the Kramer was my first guitar ever so I have religiously oiled and cleaned the fretboard every time I possibly had access...she's my first born, so...ya know.

Keep 'em oiled/conditioned I guess and the hardwoods will last a LONG time

 

[11top]

That is interesting...I've had/have ziracote, ebony, indian & brazzy RW, maple in many neck board combos over the years...the only ones I've had issues with as far as cracks/roughness are the ones I didn't oil on a regular basis when changing strings.

My 1987 hot pink Kramer has RW board that still looks like new, but my '89 Carvin board not so much...both around same playtime over the years and only difference was the Kramer was my first guitar ever so I have religiously oiled and cleaned the fretboard every time I possibly had access...she's my first born, so...ya know.

Keep 'em oiled/conditioned I guess and the hardwoods will last a LONG time

Snakewood is another story, though.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Fretboards = 2 Rosewood, 1 ovangkol and an Ebony on the acoustic. Love them all.

1 of the Rosewood boards has 20+ years playing and no wear.

A ziricote board on the way, it looks stunning as a billet, so I can only imagine what it will look like finished!

All wood is “crack-wood” to me, love it all! Even the pieces that others wouldn’t take to the high school dance!

 

[Buck]

Snakewood is another story, though.

Just checked out that snakewood you mentioned...now that is frickin' cool looking!!!! Gotta get my hands on one sometime to try...just killer if somebody asks what kind of guitar you play...and you're like "well, it's gotta snakewood board man"...enuff said!

I just think it's nice we're talking about a healthy form of "crack...wood"...Alnus is right, love it all!!!

 

[eclecticsynergy]

In terms of feel I much prefer rosewood to maple or ebony, though I have guitars with all three. And the Brazilian really is a bit special. Not night and day, but it's feel is slightly more luxurious. One could even call it lubricious (now there's a word you don't use every day). I have two with Braz, the first PRS I bought back in '87, and a ltd korina McCarty made with the aged Brazilian that Paul got from CF Martin. That one's not as nicely figured as the '87, but it's especially waxy and dense. Fantastic feel under the fingers. I'm still not sure of any tone difference with Brazilian- I just don't have a good enough frame of reference. My other McCarty has 57/08s and an entirely different character to it, and the T&Bs in my '87 are nothing like any other pickups either.

I had an ebony board go south on me once on an acoustic- it was a Guild Mk IV that had been in storage for twenty years without any attention. The ebony dried out & shrank so badly that the top cracked a little where the fretboard had pulled away at the neck joint. All the frets had sprouted so badly that they were actually concave. The guitar was worth saving (it's a '74) but it took a complete refret and expert attention to the cracked top. A fairly expensive set of repairs. Nowadays I keep my acoustics at home and am careful not to let them dry out.

The electrics get regular attention and fretboard oiling if they start to look dry (once a year or so, usually) so they aren't a matter of concern for me. I'm using bore oil now, but for decades I used lemon oil.

I suspect that Brazilian would be slower to dry out than regular rosewood due to its extra oil content, but I can't say that for sure.

As for neck backs, I do like the feel of whatever they sprayed the maple on my CE22 with, and I like the feel of a satin finish too. I've considered trying the Scotchbrite pad thing on one of my lesser guitars to see if I'd like it. And some of my vintage axes have a wonderful worn-in feel to the back of the necks.

But my absolute favorite neck feel is the gun oil & wax finish on my all-rosewood neck MusicMan. It's just perfect. For me.

That said, I really don't have any problem with shiny neck finishes either. Most of my favorite guitars have regular gloss finish on the back.

 

[Buck]

I also suspect that, as with anything, quality varies not only from manufacturer to manufacturer, but also with each piece of individual wood. How dry it was, how tight the grain, was it kiln dried properly, where it was harvested from, etc...along with climate conditions where it's kept around the world...and of course the care.

As we all know, two identical guitars can sound and play completely different...the neck/board is part of that. I think that's what everybody refers to when they say, "I got a good one"...because some are just better than others.