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Location: N.J. | Have they ever done or has anyone ever custom ordered an Adamas I or II that had a Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard? I am curious to know what the differences would be between that board and a Walnut board. Anyone?? |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Not me. Might be interesting. The only adamas I had custom was a ebony fretboard instead of walnut. I'm just partial to ebony. Dave |
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Location: Scotland | Brazilian is stupidly expensive, even for a fingerboard. Indian Rosewood, or any of the rosewood family such as Ziracote will do just as good a job for a fraction of the price of Brazilian. In terms of sound, no difference. As for resistance to wear, going by the amount of worn Adamas walnut boards I've seen rosewood couldn't be any worse. |
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Location: N.J. | Hi there Paul,
There is no denying that the Braz. boards are extremely expensive,but the prices keep rising and I am only thinking about 20-30 years down the road.I do agree that East Indian Rosewood is cheaper but Madagascar seems to be a bit more consistant and only amounts to pennies more on bulk. As far as sound I really would think on a guitar thats as finely tuned as an Adamas 1 there would be sonic differences between a Walnut fretboard and say a Braz Dark Rosewood?
Surely enough to hear with your ear. :) |
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Location: Scotland | Originally posted by Sleepy Eyes McGee:
As far as sound I really would think on a guitar thats as finely tuned as an Adamas 1 there would be sonic differences between a Walnut fretboard and say a Braz Dark Rosewood?
Surely enough to hear with your ear. :) As has been said many times, the sound of a musical instrument is the sum of it's parts, and changing one detail, in the overall scheme of things, doesn't account to much. I guess you could prove a difference with the Laser Vibrometer, and a good ear might just be able to hear a difference. But it would be so subtle as to be insignificant and in a blindfold test you'd have no chance. |
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Location: N.J. | Well Paul ya got one thing right when ya said "As has been said many times, the sound of a musical instrument is the sum of it's parts".I would absolutely do a blindfold test between two identical Adamas I guitars with the only difference being a Walnut and Rosewood board.Its just fact that no two Adamas' sound exactly the same{which even someone with an average ear can pick out},never mind throw in a different fretboard.How much of that board would make the difference is basically what I was asking,but to say that it would be insignificant is nonsense.We are talking about a guitar where the majority of the wood accounts for the neck,basically. The only way to actually judge acurately would be to do a run of 8-10 Adamas I guitars each with the different boards. Obvious thats not going to happen but that would be a more acurate test. As far as changing one detail not accounting to much? Well,on your average box guitar there is the detail of the top wood, the neck wood,brace patterns,.ect, All those things are one of many details but those do impact the sound in a major way. ;) |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | I'm no expert but that does not prevent me from having an opinion, right? I would say that YES there may be some subtle different in sound between a walnut and a rosewood board. But the degree of difference is probably burried within the normal variations in sound you would get from ANY two boards, even if they were the same type of wood. Do boards without inlays sound different than those with lots of abalone? Does stainless fretwire sound different than nickle. Of course the answer is always YES. Everything sounds different. But I challenge anyone to quantify it and pick it our in a blind test. The last A/B blind test I did I couldnot even pick out the cutaway guitar from the non-cutaway of an identical model. Interesting question about the wood type in the board, but honestly to me the differenc is restricted to what looks and feels better to me, not any difference in sound. Dave |
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Location: N.J. | Dave,
Certain woods sound different.Custom guys will try and match the woods together to achieve a certain tone.While I didnt play all the different O models at the factory I did play all the Proto's as well as the 47RI'S and the original 47.In my opinion Cliff's guitar {#54 I think?} sounded the best to me. Its all personal.Not that the others sounded bad, just different,some different enough that I would absolutley do a blind A/B test.Can I tell the difference between stainless and nickel fretwire?
Gooood Luck! :D Inlays or no inlays? Well again,thats silly. I doubt highly I'd be able to pick out a cutaway vs. non cutaway..But I could probably distinguish between the two guitars just because they will just naturally sound different. At least thats my experience with the Adamas. I actually had a conversation with Kim about how exact in tone to each other they can make these given current technology.Some are so close that it would probably come down to new or old strings to be the best deciding factor, and then theres some that are really obvious.
When I was 14 I was some hot shot kid guitarist in my town and had just gotten my first Marshall, a JCM 800. Set the amp up,plugged in my cord and hit an "E" bar chord {going for the live sound on a Judas Priest album}.I remember saying over and over that "That dont sound like Judas Priest" and completly being letdown like I never had been before.I thought just because they used Marshalls that I would sound like that to.It was from that day forward that I dove into the whole why does this sound the way it does thing,and from there it progressed into actually working at a guitar factory building them.You would think I would do all my own setups since I built them and set them up, but I'm such a pain in the ass that I have my luthier do it. I kid my wife that if he ever moved,which he actually is soon, I am going with him,'cause there are a million woman in the world but try and find a kickass luthier?! Ya know,I have worked with some of the top guys @ Lexicon over the years and done this and done blah blah... :rolleyes: You get the idea. Even though our musical styles are quite different you have to agree at least our passions for these guitars are the same. ;) I dont know all the answers and would be the first person to tell you I dont, but I can you tell you what I hear. |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Sleepy, I agree with everything you wrote. However I still can not understand how the choice of ebony vs. walnut vs. rosewood fretboard will make the guitar sound different. If it is because the choice of fretboard wood has different densities and will effect the overall neck "density" and therefor the total guitar vibration, then other factors need to be taken into account that also effect the density. For example bound vs. unbound neck, number of inlays, etc. I think we are really splitting hairs here.
Dave |
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Location: N.J. | Dave,
It all has to do with the densities of the fretboard material. Some wood has close characteristics while others are completely opposite.Number of inlays are really not going to effect the mass of your average board to make a difference to a human ear,{unless you know something I dont ;) }.Remember, no 2 guitars that are built EXACTLY the same in every way will sound the same. They will be very close,but never exact.Would I hear a difference in a bound neck on an Adamas I? #1. I doubt it and #2, I hope I never see an Adamas I with a bound neck EVER! :) . There are a few custom guys out there that build acoustic box guitars and really get into the phsyical properties of the woods and can give you specs,print outs,data reports everything as to why this wood should sound different than that wood.. :rolleyes: .I'd rather go in blind and let my ears tell me what it sounds like rather than what i'm supposed to hear. |
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Location: Australia | My custom ordered 1687 (2002) came with an ebony board.
Initially I was shocked but I've changed my tune.
After 4 years of heavy use, the board looks and plays as good as new. In fact, if I were to order another Adamas 1, I would definately specify an ebony board.
Looks better, feels better, plays better, wears better.
Also, even if you could compare the tone of two Adamii with different boards and even if they sounded different, how would you know the difference was due to the different f'board wood. You wouldn't. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I would say that the density of the neck/board materials does has an audible affect on the sound of a guitar. It was once not an uncommon pratice to place dense metal bars in the headstock to improve sustain.
The denser the neck materials, the more likely the sustain will have a effect on the guitars over all tone, however subtle. |
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Braz. Board Adamas??
