Rosewood neck on a classic ... Yaa or Nay?

[blues junkie]

So I'm in the process of specing out a Classic and here is what I decided on ...

1) Alder body
2) m1,m1, Humbucker of some kind (opinions please)
3) 60's vibe neck/ heavy frets
4) Blonde,tortiose pick guard, gold hardware

Last, I would love to get one with a rosewood neck.Has anyone done a classic with a rosewood neck? How would it sound? Opinions on this would be great.I will be calling Roy soon to discuss it with him.:D

Also would this configuration be a good compliment to my Hollow Cobra S ?

Thanks.

[coaltrain]

my classic has a Rosewood fret board, I really like it. I understand why a maple is a very good choice for a classic, they seem to have more sparkle.

I think you may want to consider the sound you are seeking and what other gear you are running through. I run through a Bad Cat Cub II most the time and I can get it to be really bright, so I like the rosewood to tone it down.

My classic has VA 12/12/23 and I can get them to sound as clear as I need to through the Bad Cat. I also have a DTC with a rosewood fret board and M pickups and it works good.

long ago I used to have all maple necks when good amps where hard to come by and expensive. I got tired of the heavy glossy finishes of the seventies and switched to rosewood and changed my gear to compensate and I have been playing rosewood ever since. The finish on the Anderson maple necks are fantastic and I am not considering getting a TAG classic with a maple neck in the future.

[tom]

if you're talking all rosewood neck, we don't see many at all. not sure if it's a tradition thing or maybe an expense thing. they work so well with maple or maple/rosewood i think most don't want to go out on a limb to try it.

[blues junkie]

if you're talking all rosewood neck, we don't see many at all. not sure if it's a tradition thing or maybe an expense thing. they work so well with maple or maple/rosewood i think most don't want to go out on a limb to try it.

Hey Tom, thanks for the input. Yes I was thinking all rosewood neck. How do you think it would sound.I'll probally go with Maple/Rosewood neck. I was just curious on what it would bring to the table tonally.

Thanks.

[tom]

it would firm up the bottom and make everything more fundamental tone as opposed to harmonics. if that sounds like a plus then it could be a good thing.
if your cobra s ahas a mahogany neck, you'll already be headed in that direction with the classic so it may be an extreme addition. if the cobra s already has a rosewood neck it may make it more familiar.

[marzzz]

2) m1,m1, Humbucker of some kind (opinions please)

I am kinda curious of the pros/cons of M1-M1-M3 vs M1-M1-H2+

Anyone?

[tom]

i have gone back and forth a lot in the past couple years with full size humbucker vs mini humbucker in the bridge position. here are some conclusions. i will also say that what you're playing through and how much headroom you have makes a huge difference.
for me when i was playing cobras the mini hum in the bridge never was quite big enough sounding. it was loud enough and made enough gain but wasn't quite fat enough. mild to mid output humbuckers worked better for that. my amp had more power than i needed so i had plenty headroom. when i switched to ct's, i found i was needing more top end clarity so the HC's worked great for me and still do on one of my guitars. on my all mahogany ct i was struggling with clarity for chording, so i tried an mc2 in the bridge along with the mc1 in the neck. it has been spectacular for me and it responds better(clearer) with gain pedals than the full size humbuckers did. i am also using an amp that is being pushed harder towards it's limits, so it has less headroom available so the weaker pickup has more clarity.
i would say that in a classic or drop top the m3 would give enough gain but would have a tighter focus than the h2+ would have.

[marzzz]

i would say that in a classic or drop top the m3 would give enough gain but would have a tighter focus than the h2+ would have.

Thanks Tom! One of the most difficult aspects of checking out TAGs is trying to find enough of them to play and compare, given the number of options available. I did play a beautiful Hollow Drop Top with M1-M1-H2+, but felt that the bridge pickup was pretty redundant vs my Cobra H1-/H2+; I am thinking a Classic or Drop Top with M1-M1-M3 would be more in line with somewhat more classic (but noiseless) strat tones with some decent power in the bridge; previously I had opted for a S-S-H setup in strat-type guitars.

[tom]

i usually enjoy differences. i think that's a good call to go with all m's.

[jness]

Tom,

Just so I am clear, what do you mean when you say more fundamental than harmonics? You know I like maple necks but also wonder what the all rosewood option would do tone wise. I do like the tone variations that rosewood fretboard necks offer and wonder if a solid rosewood neck would deliver a fuller,warmer sound different than the brighter,more open sounding maple.

Can you describe the differences in more musical(?) terms?

Thanks Tom!

Joe

[tom]

i'll try.
mahogany necks are at the harmonic end of the spectrum. there's lots of stuff going on around the note and a soft almost compression on the plain strings.
maple/rosewood more fundamental, faster attack, still has some high sizzly stuff on top.
maple has the solid attach with firm bottom and doesn't have the fizzy stuff on top. super defined.
solid rosewood emphasizes the strong bottom and solid middle, very clear with a fast attack, not much extra stuff on top.
mahogany=sweet
maple/rosewood=warm with edge
maple=defined articulate
rosewood=huge aggressive
body wood choice can tame or exaggerate the neck wood tone.
this is not exhaustive, just general observations. your observations may be different having heard necks on particular body and pu combinations. please join in.

[John Price]

For some reason every time I owned a guitar with a solid rosewood neck it just never worked! It always felt and sounded like the notes were getting absorbed into the fretboard and coming off soft! It also sounded a bit dark for me......I like the combination of maple/rosewood but my favorite is a solid maple neck. Faster note response and just enough highs...

But that's just how my hands react to it!.....:D

[mdrs]

I enjoyed your descriptions, Tom. You have so much more experience in stuff like this than (probably) any of us ever could have.

I feel that there are some really good generalizations that can be made. And, you made them better than I could, that's for sure!!

It's also important to mention that there are so many variables that lead to the overall tone of any guitar, that I think the best we can do is make generalizations.

For example, I agree 100% that a maple neck sounds brighter, more articulate, cleaner, etc.. However, I think that every maple neck I've played was sending it's "work" thru single coil pu's, which in general are cleaner and more articulate, compared to humbuckers. So, it's hard to really know.........

Have you ever swapped out a maple neck for, say, a mahogany neck on the same guitar with the same pu's, and compared the tone?? Also, do you use an oscilliscope to evaluate waveforms with this sort of "tone evaluation" in mind?? I thought I might have seen one in your office, where you do the final setups on one of your vids???

This kind of stuff would be facinating to really try to break down into the component parts that give a guitar it's overall tone.

We'll have to start a guitar research institute..............Might be a good retirement profession for old farts like me...........:)

[tom]

yes i have swapped maple to mahogany on the same guitar. i would stand by my descriptions above.
i don't hear maple as brighter than maple/rosewood. the rosewood has some extra way up high stuff that all maple does not have. all maple does have a much tighter low end which some might equate to less bottom. the bottom on rosewood is looser to me, less defined.
we just use ears around here. i think that so much of what we hear is also what we feel, and the scope would not measure that. any tools could be useful, but in the end my ears tell me whether i like it or not. i've had many discussions with john suhr about measuring sound or documenting pickups and we agree that there is not a universal method that would make the numbers mean much.

[marzzz]

Many years ago (mid 90's at Gand Music just north of Chicago) I heard Roy describe a rosewood fingerboard as "Clint Eastwood." It has stuck with me ever since....!

[mdrs]

I really appreciate the way you describe tone qualities, Tom. Your insight is really helpful. For instance, the fact that a tighter low end equates to less bottom..........that's a great way of looking at it. I've always thought about maple as having more highs, and never really even thought that it was, in fact, just displaying "less lows".

Discussion and generalities are helpful. The most important thing is good ears!! When you hear it, you know it!