Ebony and brightness

We know that the neck and by way of extension, the fretboard vibrate when you play your uke. (Otherwise, your Snark tuner would not work.)

But does that influence the sound you hear? I seriously doubt it.

Jerry, when you changed the plastic fretboard on one of your Magic Fluke to a wood one, did it make any difference to the sound of the instrument?
 
On my electrics, I have a preference for maple over other boards because I prefer the feel when bending notes. With my uke, I rarely bend and don't really notice the board all that much.
 
Another case of "the last 0.5%" of tone that only the very best players will ever have a hope of noticing. Carry on, buy whatever fretboard seems right, and keep practicing.
 
I’ve seen the myth grow in the guitar world, but Leo Fender went from maple to rosewood not because it sounded any different, but because he didn’t like how dirty the maple fretboards looked after a while. ;-)
 
I think that the Fender maple necks had a coat of clear paint for protection that wore off and made the messy look. Ebony is super hard and does not need any treatment, that's why is so popular as fretboards. As for "brightness" it is entirely subjective some people can associate it with uke and string attributes and others can't and it means different things to different people.
 
Pepe Romero Jr did mention in one of his many videos before that he prefers rosewood to ebony for his builds. He says it does affect the overall sound. I think it’s in one of his Instagram videos some time ago. For a person like me who can’t tell if a string is a few cents out of tune it won’t make any difference! Lol.
 
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