Ebony vs. Rosewood for bridge and fretboard

Joyful Uke

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Comparing the specs on 2 ukuleles where I thought that the price difference was simply due to a little bling on one, I see that one has ebony bridge and fretboard and the other rosewood bridge and fretboard.

Would this make a difference in sound? If so, how noticeable, and what would the difference be? Both ukuleles are all koa top, back and sides, same size, same brand.
 
Doubt that these would make any difference to the sound/tone as neither are in contact with the vibrating string, & I wouldn't think there would be any difference between bridge & soundboard as it would be glued solid to it.

(I'd likely go for the ebony. ;) )
 
Don't know about sound, but all else being equal, I'd pick ebony just for the looks alone. Why it's not used more on ukes is something I don't understand. Rosewood fretboards are just "meh" to me, and downright "yuck" if they're light-colored.

bratsche
 
With the CITES restrictions on rosewood, I would think that use of some other wood is a good idea, but since I don't buy with a plan to later buy and ship overseas, that part isn't all that relevant to me.

IA agree about ebony vs. rosewood for appearance, but just wondered if there is any other reason to prefer one over the other. I'm guessing there could be a difference (slight as it might be) in sound, but really have no idea, so I thought I'd ask all you knowledgeable people. :)
 
With steel string guitars there is some thought that Ebony gives a very slightly brighter response / attack and Rosewood gives a very slightly warmer response / attack; I am not sure about that, but I think it may be true.

I do prefer the look and the feel of an ebony board on a steel string guitar and on a uke as well.
 
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As others have stated, the fretboard wood probably doesn't make much difference in sound nor practicality.


That being said, I think that ebony is a bit harder than rosewood, in theory making it more resilient to wear and tear.
Can anyone confirm this?

Not that it makes a "practical" difference. I don't think hardly any of us would have played a ukulele so long and so much that the fretboard actually wears out. And by the time we do, it's probably worth getting a new uke, as that ukulele would have served a lifetime or two by then!
 
In all cases, I prefer ebony to rosewood. Appearance-wise, especially, but I also prefer the finer grain of ebony under my fretting fingers... each of which is a sentient being and all of which which unanimously agree that they, too, prefer ebony.
 
I like maple fretboards :)

But, in the ebony or rosewood comparison, I too prefer the look and feel of ebony.
 
With the CITES restrictions on rosewood, I would think that use of some other wood is a good idea, but since I don't buy with a plan to later buy and ship overseas, that part isn't all that relevant to me.

IA agree about ebony vs. rosewood for appearance, but just wondered if there is any other reason to prefer one over the other. I'm guessing there could be a difference (slight as it might be) in sound, but really have no idea, so I thought I'd ask all you knowledgeable people. :)

Ebony will be one of the next wood on the list. Some manufacturers are already using ovangkol instead of rosewood, if you've bought an imported ukulele in the past year, that "rosewood" fretboard might be ovangkol.
 
Coming from the guitar world, ebony is known for more fundamental tones while rosewood adds more overtones. Density matters too. Classical guitar makers would use a ebony fretboard with a rosewood bridge as the lower weight of the bridge allows the top to vibrate more freely. I personally find rosewood to add sizzle. On ukuleles, I can't comment, but I would assume it follows the same path as guitars.
 
Coming from the guitar world, ebony is known for more fundamental tones while rosewood adds more overtones. Density matters too. Classical guitar makers would use a ebony fretboard with a rosewood bridge as the lower weight of the bridge allows the top to vibrate more freely. I personally find rosewood to add sizzle. On ukuleles, I can't comment, but I would assume it follows the same path as guitars.

This is a somewhat debated topic in the guitar world.
The scientific minds tend to say that fretboard woods doesn't affect the tone, in both electric and acoustic guitars.

I'm inclined to lean towards the view that fretboard material has little or no effect on tone.
It's not very scientifically plausible, with the physics considered.

A more realistic explanation as to why guitar companies imply different woods on necks results in different tones, etc, is more to do with marketing and hype.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVmFlzksMCE

(warning: some mature language)
 
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Ahem, please re-read: "as the lower weight of the bridge..."

And at what point did he talk about fingerboard woods (or bridge woods) having no effect on tone? I personally don't believe the fingerboard wood matters much in terms of tone—not something I worried about or researched—but if you're going to cite a source in this fashion, it should at least be relevant. Maybe I missed his comment, buried amid his conspiracy theorist-style rhetoric.

Somewhere out on the internets, there's a heated discussion unfolding about the tonal differences between various materials used in the tuner knobs. :D

But seriously - when I can play identical make and model acoustic guitars and hear tonal differences, at some point I came to the conclusion that the variations inherent to having two different pieces of wood - even of the same species - can be enough to override a lot of the observations I've read about the tonal qualities of one species of wood VS another - and that's with the tops, backs and sides. I can only imagine the wood used for the fretboard and bridge is even less consequential.

I'm not saying the wood used to make the top, back and sides makes no difference, only that the rules of thumb we're used to about this and that tonewoods are broad generalizations and have to be taken with a grain of salt.
 
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Somewhere out on the internets, there's a heated discussion unfolding about the tonal differences between various materials used in the tuner knobs. :D
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Actually in some instances it will affect tone, mass that is. It really depends on the guitar and the overall weight. I have a particularly light and lightly braced Martin 000 from 1989 that had a set of 9oz grovers on it. I put on some Grover sta-tites (5.4oz) and the guitar immediately sounded airer, less bass than before. The guitar sounded way better, but it still felt like something was lacking. A few years later I swapped some old grovers from the 60's (7oz) and the guitar finally sounded how I wanted it to.

With regard to Uke's, it may be that the extra mass is negligible.

With regard to the video posted above, I prefer to get my information from luthiers with years and decades of experience.

I may be spoiled in the fact that I have a local wood store that has a section of wood devoted to luthiers and doing tap tone tests on 50 different finger boards does result in auditory differences.

Read through his thread and it will shed some insight on mass in guitars.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/umgf.com/viewtopic.php?t=170716&amp=1
 
I may be spoiled in the fact that I have a local wood store that has a section of wood devoted to luthiers and doing tap tone tests on 50 different finger boards does result in auditory differences.

I can scarcely imagine a controlled experiment that might conclusively demonstrate this as anything other than anecdotal - sorry.
 
I've got to agree with Swamp Yankee, the number of variables in any given instrument makes it impossible to say it sounds a certain way because of just one contributing factor.
 
I've got to agree with Swamp Yankee, the number of variables in any given instrument makes it impossible to say it sounds a certain way because of just one contributing factor.

If I'm playing them, that might be the one factor that does make them sound a certain way. I'm sure I can clear out a room quickly when I start to play. :)

But, that is yet another variable in how an instrument will sound. The top players can probably coax a better sound out of any ukulele than I can.

I hadn't heard that ebony might next on the CITES list. Glad that I'm not a builder who has to keep those things in mind.
 
Try a Martin D-21 and a D-28. The only difference is ebony F&B vs rosewood.
 
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