Rosewood vs Pau Ferro

[t-ray]

As may have been noted already...pao ferro used to be a "premium" upgrade to rosewood. Fender used it on some artist models like the Roscoe Beck V and the SRV strat. While it is usually lighter in color than rosewood, I've found that a good fretboard treatment with Howard's Feed-n-Wax or other quality, natural wood conditioner will darken it up nicely. I hate a dry board.

 

[jmlee]

Personally, I really like pau ferro as a fingerboard wood: both because I've got some pretty examples and because of the "feel" of the wood. In my experience the pau ferro has less friction as my hand or a bent string moves over it (relative to rosewood). I don't think this is important to tone per se, but it enhances my enjoyment of playing that neck. This is non-trivial because I'm aware of it each time I pick up one of my pau ferro fingerboard basses.

 

[pudge]

The PAU boord on my mustang pj is decent not super dark tho.I used some F-ONE oil on a rosewood neck I had and that stuff darkened it alotI'll see if it changes the darkness of the mustang neck at all.

 

[Bob_Ross]

Mike Lipe and I have been using roasted pau ferro on many of his necks for several years, and we love it.

Thread drift: Can you make a solid one-piece neck (i.e., not a separate fingerboard) out of roasted Pau Ferro?

 

[monkeyfinger]

Thread drift: Can you make a solid one-piece neck (i.e., not a separate fingerboard) out of roasted Pau Ferro?

cool idea.

 

[graphics1988]

my Dingwall Super PJ - Pau Ferro - i love it - the pic had flash i believe - so its lighter than in person. I would not hesitate to ever order a custom bass using this wood - its perfect for me. Cheers

 

[blue4]

Well, you have to do what you have to do for sustainable materials. 7 billion plus people on the planet and all. Personally, I've seen plenty of crappy rosewood fretboards hanging in music stores to get too wrapped up in the looks debate. That's totally more indicative of the store or the manufacturer then the material.

 

[graphics1988]

Left to Right - Wenge, pau ferro and maple. Camera flash again i believe - oops

 

[Pops OB]

Tsk, tsk, only a solid aluminum CNC’d or carbon fiber neck will do. Along with a cup of French roast java.

 

[maturanesa]

Pau ferro is the third. And it looks good to me. My main bass has it. Just works like any other fretboard wood. No complains..

 

[bass12]

The question to me is, "which wood floats better"? 'Cause we're going to have way bigger problems to worry about over the next few decades than what wood our fretboards are made of.

 

[MtManiac]

I've heard and seen quite a few discussions about how manufacturers are using Pau Ferro now in place of Rosewood because of CITES regulations. And there seems to be a significant negative reaction to the use of Pau Ferro. I'd like to understand better what it is about Pau Ferro that some find objectionable. Most of the objection I have heard centres around the appearance of Pau Ferro - how it doesn't look as good as Rosewood.

The problem is that there are so many variations on Rosewood, it's hard to make a comparison. And since manufacturers have been dying their Rosewood fretboards dark for years, it becomes an almost meaningless discussion.

However, I decided to put up photos of some Pau Ferro, Indian Rosewood and Brazilian Rosewood for comparison and discussion. So here they are. Care to guess which is which?

View attachment 3197282

Nice comparison, but those are three individual samples. The pao ferro I keep seeing in stores tend to look sand-coloured. For me, it isn't about tone or feel, it's about looks. I think in time consumers like me will be more used to it, but at this point those sandy ones look alien.

You could also add linden as an option for comparison.

 

[maturanesa]

My problem with pao ferro is that on a vast majority of guitars it looks literally like dried poop.

All brown woods can look like poop with the use of imagination

 

[mikeswals]

I'd like to understand better what it is about Pau Ferro that some find objectionable. Most of the objection I have heard centres around the appearance of Pau Ferro - how it doesn't look as good as Rosewood.

Oh yeah, I'd like to know too. I find it laughable... Rosewood stopped looking good decades ago. for the past almost twenty years rw has been pale in comparison. (pun intended)

 

[harmonyriver]

As may have been noted already...pao ferro used to be a "premium" upgrade to rosewood. Fender used it on some artist models like the Roscoe Beck V and the SRV strat...

I have a 90s Fender Roscoe Beck V with the Pau Ferro - when I first received it I thought WOW the fingerboard looks really pretty and different. It sounds amazing to my ears, except I can't really tell the difference between rosewood vs maple vs pau ferro on recordings..... can everyone else can?

 

[Holdsg]

I love the pao ferro /morado board on my Sadowsky. Blends in so well with the natural finish on the body. Rosewood would not look as good (IMO).

 

[MtManiac]

Oh yeah, I'd like to know too. I find it laughable... Rosewood stopped looking good decades ago. for the past almost twenty years rw has been pale in comparison. (pun intended)

I have a 2014 American Standard and the rosewood on it is black as sin.

 

[MEKer]

I would think PF should be just fine. ??? I can't really opine on it with any first hand experience as all my basses are:
1- maple neck (sounds fine + I keep it clean)...love it
2 - Gabon ebony (the super tight almost grainless ebony---beautiful, older basses before the CITES restrictions)...love'em
6 -Brazilian rosewood (vintage Washburns which pre-dated the ban back when made)...love'em
1- Ibby 1979 MC-900--don't know the fretboard wood. (probably gonna sell it as I cannot keep up with what all the switches/pots do)

That being said, I'd not turn down a PF fretboard on a bass that felt+spoke to me. Would not bother me a bit.

 

[micguy]

I could probably put up with the pale colour, if it was more consistent and less streaky

I'm pro-streak (and pale, sometimes), to the point of selecting this piece of Goncalo Alves as a fretboard. I also went with this one because it's light along the upper side, so I could see the dark position dots easily. Some of the other options would have been alternating light and dark on that edge, making some of the position markers not so visible. Anyone that's OCD about Maple being acoustically brighter than Rosewood would probably have a fit trying to play this thing.

 

[Turnaround]

I have a 2014 American Standard and the rosewood on it is black as sin.

That's because it has been dyed.