garywright
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2002
- Messages
- 16,273
Holy BRYLCREEM a little dab ( should ) will do ya
There's so much nonsense being discussed in this thread it's mind boggling. The idea that somehow the fretboard material, the material that the frets are seated directly into and is a significant component of a neck's rigidity, does not affect tone is ridiculous.
BRW and EIRW have different density and ridigity, and anyone who has handled unprocess wood and has clanked and tapped them can easily hear a difference.
Many times on this very forum people have discussed the profound impact on tailpiece and ABR-1 stud material but somehow the fretboard material is negligable?
Anyone every swap a BRW slab board neck on a strat and compare A-B with an all-maple neck? Forget "plugged in", just listen carefully acoustically to the note attack and bloom. The differences are subtle, granted, but audible nonetheless. Similar to what is reported on the Historic Makeovers with fretboard swaps.
Anyone can take 5 Historic Les Pauls and they'll all sound slightly different. Sure not like Strat vs. Les Paul different, but subtly different nonetheless.
EIRW makes a good fretboard wood, as do many other woods, and of course a BRW board in itself does not guarantee a great sounding guitar. But BRW is part of a Burst DNA. If a "good" guitar is what you are after, you can buy a good guitar for much less than the price of admission of a Historic Gibson.
As PRS would say, if the fretboard was made of rubber, would it affect tone? Of course it would. So now we're just debating "how much".
I own two classical guitars BR backs & sides yes they sound great Although we are talking about fingerboard material lets keep the thread on corse !
I own two classical guitars BR backs & sides yes they sound great Although we are talking about fingerboard material lets keep the thread on corse !
your mullet !
I have never had Brazilian on any of my Les Paul guitars but I have Brazilian on my Martin D-18 A 1937 with the headstock overlay and the back center seam and I have no problem hearing and feeling the difference.eace2
I have never had Brazilian on any of my Les Paul guitars but I have Brazilian on my Martin D-18 A 1937 with the headstock overlay and the back center seam and I have no problem hearing and feeling the difference.eace2
The Martin D-18 has Mahogany back and sides ?
I prefer Hollywood.I have never had Brazilian on any of my Les Paul guitars but I have Brazilian on my Martin D-18 A 1937 with the headstock overlay and the back center seam and I have no problem hearing and feeling the difference.eace2
'34 Golden Era reissue
There's so much nonsense being discussed in this thread it's mind boggling. The idea that somehow the fretboard material, the material that the frets are seated directly into and is a significant component of a neck's rigidity, does not affect tone is ridiculous.
Absolutely! The "psycho-acoustic" (placebo effect pertaining to sound) is very real, and a powerful force - the reason blind tests are the only way to tell differences in sound. There is so much snake-oil hype in the gear industry it boggles my brain! I go strictly by sound, and cheap guitars can sound great, while expensive guitars can sound cheap, although not the norm. I remember reading about Gibson's acoustic factory doing an experiment with BRW vs EIR for bridges and fretboards - they found the BRW sounded better to most of their ears. Gibson changed to using IR in 1965 supposedly? Most luthiers I've read say good EIR is better than not-so-good BRW, so there's that.Expectation bias affects the perceived tone that most players and enthusiasts experience. This phenomenon is reinforced by street wisdom (often fomented by Internet forums and retail setting yack ‘em up hangs).
K
I have never heard "not-so-good BRW" lol. Even BRW stump wood, the really curly stuff, sounds fantastic and bell-like when you tap it. So I am pretty sure the luthiers who said that are selling regular RW guitars. The guys who have BRW stock and build with it agree that it sounds better and charge a lot for it.Most luthiers I've read say good EIR is better than not-so-good BRW, so there's that.