... and Thomas Blug, all play a rosewood fretboard Strat. It's the sheer immersion in their music & technicalities that made me close my eyes & forget about the details of their guitars; I shouldn't be too distracted with music this good. To date, I just can't bring myself to purchase a Strat sporting a rosewood fretboard- it's all maple for me. Well the only 'Strat' with rosewood fretboard in my possession, isn't a Fender (it's my LTD ST-203! Yikes!).
What's the fuss with this difference, you might ask. The maple Fenders possess this very solid treble attack. It's very rewarding for someone like me who peddles heavy distortion even if there are single coils in the mix, knowing well the level of feedback & hum I would manifest with this kinda set up. I can still retain clarity if I pump the low frequencies up because the instrument retains top end authority, that's the joy of maple.
With rosewood fretboards, the single coils' top end are given less poke but maintain its clarity. The lower midrange responses are heightened instead. Stevie Ray Vaughan manipulated this tonal characteristic to maximum appeal, fusing the single coil snap (produced by thicker gauged strings coupled with high action) & drive saturation. His clean but driven tone is signature itself. I hear similar warm, (driven) overtones coming from Beck & Blug. Should have known it's the rosewood talking.
7 comments:
Stevie Ray Vaughan had Pao Ferro fretboard
which strat is this? not his deceased Number 1, yes? they don't put pao ferro in 60s neck do they?
Im a sucker for ebony fretboards! :)
Fitch
bro... to me ebony has that nasty, solid, top end thumping akin to the maple's, just a little warmer sounding. great with humbuckers.
Between dark woods - Rosewood and Ebony, i'll choose the latter. But Maple is still my overall love! :)
Fitch
Let's put this to bed!
No. 1 probably was probably rosewood! Custom shop replicas should be Pao Ferro.
http://www.stevieray.com/srv-strat.htm
the CURRENT SRV models are Pao Ferro- we can read that over at Fender's. the one Mr. Vaughan fixed to his guitar wasn't a contemporary replacement, it's a 60s genuine article & should be rosewood. if it's not then it's another chapter in Fender blunder (which i doubt) :-)
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