MOTM

Paul Schreiber wrote:
>
> One serious Q: is there that much "feel" from a maple vs rosewood? Is it
> looks or
> is there a tonal difference.
>
They've always felt different to me. My first strat had a maple 
fingerboard, and since I got use to it I've always preferred maple. 
If I was going to try to quantify it:

1) Strats w/ rosewood fingerboards "seem" to have more radius than 
maple. Never actually measured it, and I've only owned one strat w/ 
rosewood. It was an early seventies strat, same age as my main strat
w/ maple fingerboard. At the other extreme, some of the "big-hair" 
guitars I've played with in shops have what feels like a completely 
flat fingerboard. These I can't stand to play. 

2) Maple "seems" brighter, poppier, more pronounced attack.

3) Maple is finished w/ poly-what-ever-their-using-these-days. Rosewood
is inherently oily and doesn't take or need a finish. This probably
has consequences in terms of hand sweat. I knew a guitarist that built
his own guitars that had made the entire neck out of rosewood. It felt
really nice as your hand slide smoothly over the back of the neck. He
had the front scalloped, so fretboard material wasn't really an issue.

Two pieces of advice for best tone: 
- Start out w/ a gauge of string that is comfortable, and work your 
  way up to a heavier gauge. High E gauge of 008 on a strat is a crime 
  against nature. 010 is good 011 is better. I can't use 012's
  because my finger starts separating from my fingernails. SRV use
  to use superglue to fix this same problem.
- If you want low action, buy a Les Paul. Strats sound better w/ slightly
  higher action.

These are completely subjective opinions and if a scientist w/ a blindfold
shows up at my door I'll deny ever saying them...

Thomas