Fender no longer using rosewood ?

C_Becker

C_Becker

Mar 30, 2017
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#1
Sorry if this has been posted before, the search turned up nothing.

According to the Andertons website: Fender Announce Transition From Rosewood - CITES | Andertons Blog
Fender will be discontinuing the use of rosewood and will be switching to Pau Ferro for the Mexican and Ebony for the American Elite models due to the CITES regulations on rosewood.

This will take effect somewhere in June / July of this year.

:wideyed:
 
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#5
el_Bajo_Verde said:
Look cheap? How so?
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Probably the lighter color compared to rosewood.

I've seen some very light colored rosewood fretboards on Epiphone & low end Gibson Les Pauls and it screamed cheap especially when coupled with the sloppiness of the workmanship. So from that learning experience, I tend to stay away from light colored fretboards unless they are maple.
 
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#7
C_Becker said:
Sloppiness of workmanship is one thing, but I really like the grenadillo fretboard on my 2013 LP Studio.
I would actually choose it over rosewood for looks and feel.
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I know that there is a difference between the workmanship and the materials used. I used to work in manufacturing for over 15 years and performed miracles on a regular basis considered what I was given (machine, tooling and materials) and the final product.

My point is that the small sampling of light colored fretboards I picked up had poor workmanship. Those happen to be on Epiphone & Gibson Les Paul guitars.

Is there light colored fretboards with top notch quality work out there? Probably.
Do they also have the Epiphone & Gibson logos on their headstocks? Possibly.
Will I find one myself? No because I associate light color fretboards with poor workmanship the same way a child who touches a hot stove associates that with pain.
 
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#9
5544 said:
Probably the lighter color compared to rosewood.

I've seen some very light colored rosewood fretboards on Epiphone & low end Gibson Les Pauls and it screamed cheap especially when coupled with the sloppiness of the workmanship. So from that learning experience, I tend to stay away from light colored fretboards unless they are maple.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, I just don't understand how the color of fingerboard wood can make a bass look cheap.

Have you ever picked up one of those $40 beginner acoustic guitars? Now THAT'S a cheap fretboard.
 
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#10
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2008-12-25.jpg

Doesn't Fender have a history of using Pau Ferro? I think my 1993 MIA Fender Urge and my 1997 American Standard Jazz V both have Pau Ferro fretboards.
 
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#11
Hasn't "rosewood" almost become a marketing term anyway? Rosewood is popular because early Fenders used a specific type of rosewood. Now, the term "rosewood" gets applied to any wood that is even distantly related to those original planks. Pau Ferro has even been marketed as a type of rosewood at times.

I'm pretty sure that when Sadowsky basses have a "Morado" fingerboard, they are using Pau Ferro.

#M8803 Metroline RV5 – Sadowsky Guitars
#M8112 Metroline RV4 – Sadowsky Guitars
 
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#12
Pay Ferro is a great fretboard material. I have it on a bass, it looks and sounds great, quite similar to my rosewood basses in fact. I believe it is a suitable replacement, what doesn't make sense is using ebony as a stand in on the American basses. Ebony is much harder that rosewood and has a very different sound. Not sure the reasoning behind that.
 
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#14
wvbass said:
Hasn't "rosewood" almost become a marketing term anyway? Rosewood is popular because early Fenders used a specific type of rosewood. Now, the term "rosewood" gets applied to any wood that is even distantly related to those original planks. Pau Ferro has even been marketed as a type of rosewood at times.

I'm pretty sure that when Sadowsky basses have a "Morado" fingerboard, they are using Pau Ferro.

#M8803 Metroline RV5 – Sadowsky Guitars
#M8112 Metroline RV4 – Sadowsky Guitars
Click to expand...
true, Pau Ferro is Morado, and also called rosewood too, according to this database- Pau Ferro
 
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#15
el_Bajo_Verde said:
I'm sorry, I just don't understand how the color of fingerboard wood can make a bass look cheap.

Have you ever picked up one of those $40 beginner acoustic guitars? Now THAT'S a cheap fretboard.
Click to expand...

Did you bother reading the quote of me trying to explain my experiences in answering someone else's opinion?

Explain how you came to the conclusion that all the $40 beginner acoustic guitars have cheap fretboards. Did you do non-destructive testing against a high end acoustic guitar using scientific equipment?
 
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#17
sneha1965 said:
My Sadowsky has a Pau Ferro fretboard. Nothing cheap looking about it.


View attachment 1136938
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At least the fretboard matches the plant holders and the brick (right side even with the 2nd fret).

Personally, I think the fretboard would look much better if it was the same darkness as the door (below the 12th fret) because of how dark the body color is, but that is just me.
 
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#20
FingerDub said:
Ebony will be great on the higher end models, but pau ferro on the Mexi's will just make them look cheap.
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This is just absolutely ridiculous, as others have said, very high end builders have been using it for a long time. Fender has used it on higher end models.

This is such a typical TB knee jerk reaction...
 
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