Why rosewood fretboards?

[bjewell]

My KM-1000 has an Indian Rosewood board, dyed to look like ebony. I see a handmade F-style mando from Australia on the new instruments section with the same. Is rosewood that much cheaper than ebony in such a small piece? Is there a tone difference some people prefer? Just curious.

[Octavemando]

From my 35+ years experience with acoustic and electric instruments I doubt there's as much tone difference as there is a "feel" difference. Ebony is a harder (more dense)than rosewood. So is maple. And while many prefer the feel...some will argue that rosewood sounds "warmer"....

[foldedpath]

With a handmade instrument, it's likely to be an aesthetic choice related to the look of the instrument, or just personal preference.

With a mass-produced instrument, especially at the lower end of the price range, it's more likely to be an economic choice. Good ebony has grain so tight you can't see it... it just looks smooth and glassy. However, ebony is one of those depleting resources, like fine-grade koa wood. I see a lot of poor quality, open grain "ebony" these days on lower priced guitars. I'd rather have a good piece of rosewood, than something like that. With a higher-priced instrument, you can get the kind of ebony that used to be taken for granted on all instruments with an ebony fingerboard.

I blame the clarinet makers for this... competing for all that nice, grade AAA ebony.

[labraid]

Rosewood is a nice compliment to a relatively stiff, dense neck wood. Ebony is generally "always" nice, but as necessity is concerned, a good compliment to lighter neck woods such as mahogany.
When paying big money for a mandolin from a name maker, and that name maker uses rosewood on the board, you can be sure that person has thought about the tonal considerations.

[Bernie Daniel]

foldedpath: I blame the clarinet makers for this... competing for all that nice, grade AAA ebony.

Yeah and what about all those sharps and flats on the piano -- aren't there already enough of those monstrosaties? #What's more they are not easy to take to a jam.

Also there seemed to be the implication earlier in the thread that some might feel the choice of wood on the fingerboard affects the tone of the mandolin? #I would also kind of doubt (like the earlier poster) that the fingerboard wood has much to do with the tone.

I love the look of a rosewood headstock and fretboard -- Gibson finshed off some of the F12's that way in the '70s amd with gold trim and "aged" binding they looked sharp.

[craichead]

I think also that with fingerboard comes bridge, that is, they're usually matched.

A denser material -- like ebony -- is probably a better bridge material. But if you look, it seems to me that most luthiers match fingerboard and bridge wood for aesthetic reasons.

[SpazMan]

Hey, does ebony increase mass of the neck? Since rosewood is relatively porous, would that mean it's better for a bridge (more tonally transparent)?

[Ken]

I've used rosewood on my last 4 mandolins, as foldedpath says above it's an aesthetic choice, I like the look. It is easier to dig out divots in board with your fingernails with the rosewood, but keeping your left hand nails short takes care of that. As far as using rosewood for bridges, it depends on the piece of wood itself. Some rosewood (and ebony) just rings when you drop it on the bench, other pieces just go thud.
Ken