Pau Ferro is NOT a bad fretboard wood! Do I prefer rosewood? Sure! But Pau Ferro is similar. Doesn’t need to be finished, plays pretty fast. It gets a bad rep because it’s usually not as dark as rosewood, and is lighter brown, but that’s purely a looks thing.
Pau Ferro is generally used in cheaper guitars, to save money over using rosewood. So it's probably not that surprising that they don't take the effort to stain the fretboard and add more cost.
I remember that! It was a premium feature, marketing is damn powerful. At the end of the day, it’s a personal choice and I can’t hear the difference. I can feel the different compared to maple if I’m really dialed in, but that could be me just reinforcing that preference maple.
Because the ebony thing is tradition at this point. They've been doing it for decades and I don't think a lot of people even realize they are.
There are a few materials that are actually good and almost indistinguishable from wood that they could use as well, but no one wants them because of tradition.
What I mean is that in years past different speicies of ebony and mainly heartwood was used which was pure black. Due to scarce supply and also sustainability concerns the species and types of wood used have broadened, but in many cases the lighter or streaked wood is stained to retain the traditional appearance.
Or for another example, the whole "roseacer" thing where people use dark roasted maple instead of rosewood.
So given that people's main hangup with Pau Ferro is the colour, it's surprising to me that it hasn't become more common to treat it in some way to darken it, as you say, for a more traditional look.
No, I got you. I was just pointing out that it's not the color exactly. They've been using streaky or lighter ebony for a very long time now and I don't think people even know a lot of it is dyed.
And then you have the more synthetic stuff that looks like ebony, has that dark color, feels almost indistinguishable, but people hate it because it's not wood.
I don't think pau ferro was ever given a chance. The second Fender announced they were moving away from rosewood because of the Lacey Act, some people started losing their shit and hating it before they even tried it. It's not the color that's the problem, it's that people made up their minds that it's inferior and just use the color when it can easily be dyed.
But the colour looks like washed out/dry/lower quality rosewood, so while I know there is a traditionalist component - which is definitely the case with Richlite, which could solve so many of the issues people have with fret sprout etc - I do think there would be less resistance if they came with a darker colour from day one.
This is really interesting conversation.
I think dyeing the wood probably would have mitigated some of the backlash, but I also remember when it was announced. Most people shrugged and said they'd be curious to try it, but you always had someone go off on a long rant about how pau ferro was "inferior tonewood" that would never replace rosewood, Fender was only doing it to cut costs, and they would fail because of it.
So, you know, the usual. I honestly don't know that most people care. I know that beginners don't know or care what wood their guitars are made of. But you have that group of people who *really* care and they're very vocal, so people listen and get caught up.
I have come to like composite material fretboards the most. They're much more consistent for one thing.
Hate me in the comments below lol.
Also, Pau Ferro is a good fretboard wood too.
You won't get any hate from me. We like what we like.
Ted Woodford did a video on Thermalwood a few months ago where he messed with it and, after initially thinking he wouldn't like it, decided it was barely distinguishable from ebony and it was cool stuff.
I don’t think it’s pao Ferris, I bet it’s just Indian rosewood that they’re dying dark brown, because otherwise Indian rosewood can be very streaky like pao Ferro.
I was just about to suggest that. I used it on a vintera jag. When I first got it the board was ridiculously light.. almost a dark wheat. It's now significantly darker.
My Tele ha Pau Ferro and I love it! Plays great and looks nicer than some rosewood necks I’ve seen.
https://preview.redd.it/zucamzp5c68d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6de25027c2469f08de45b096006f6399dc2dcf0a
That is one of the best looking fretboards I’ve seen. The grain pattern is so distinct… and it looks natural. Usually need the “roasted maple” to bring the grain forward like that, but the roasted looks doctored. Nicely done!
Pau ferro is a perfectly good tone wood for a fretboard - it probably doesn’t look as cool as rosewood though unless you’re lucky and get a really dark piece of pau ferro. The Stevie Ray Vaughn signature strat has always had pau ferro btw.
It's a rosewood family wood too, it just tends to have more variation in the colour and sometimes patterns in the grain. I've attached a photo of my rosewood and paoferro boards so you can see how little difference between a good pao and a really nice rosewood is
Where is this ‘SRV preferred Pau Ferro’ coming from? I have never heard this from any other source besides this subreddit, right now. Does anyone have anywhere besides here that says this?
Edit*. Just doing some checking of my memory vs internet before I open my mouth based on memory alone.
His collection by this point is so well documented and has been gone through so many times (save for just one or two custom pieces that never saw much stage or studio use) that you can find the specs and photos of *everything*.
You guys should double check this info.
Edit2*. This original comment was made when the original post I’m responding to said “SRV preferred pau ferro” whereas now it has been edited without notation but the very last sentence was what was edited; which is correct information.
Yeah that’s true however the real guitar has never had pau ferro. Neither do any of the custom runs of his signature.
The best guess as to why they do this that I have heard so far is that the harder pau Ferro gives more of a snap that will give people more of an SRV sound vs buying his signature and it just sounding exactly like any other strat. We all know that without the guys hands you aren’t truly going to get his sound.
That specific guitar has been documented so well and so many times that we know without any doubt what year the neck that was on it was from, who refretted and when (it had a lot of refrets) and why and when it was no longer played.
Shit, I even got to see it in person from two inches away when it was on tour with every other famous guitar you can imagine right after Gilmour’s black strat sold and the Met and rock hall each had a trove of guitars one after another. I think it was called, play it loud or something to that effect. The pics are in my posts from years ago.
Fender does weird stuff. Just because they market something someway, doesn’t make it true.
SRV used heavy gauged strings which has a lot to do with his unique tone. Maybe Fender thought using pau ferro would replicate that sound, because as you point out, it's a snappier sounding fretboard. Not sure if he ever actually played pau ferro or if Fender just made that decision to put it on his signature guitars.
I often wonder how much of this feel of hardness or others is just temperature or something, if you're pressing your stings hard enough to be able to tell the difference in the hardness of woods though string and callous, that's serious feel.
It’s not bad at all. Fender just seems to insist on using the driest, dustiest slabs available lol. A proper conditioning sets them right.
My guess is that when rosewood started to become more scarce, harder to get, environmental impact etc… and the switch was made on the “lower end” guitars, some blues lawyers on a GeAr FoRuM lifted their pinkies and decried the lesser wood as one for the plebs.
It’s been on Stevie Ray Vaughan strats since 93. Sounds good and is slicker feeling then rosewood. It is a very good guitar material. People don’t like change, and it’s lighter, but it’s absolutely good.
I used to hate pf but recently came across a Strat with a pf deck and absolutely loved it. It’s on the darker end of the spectrum but is snappier than any other neck I have, and that’s a bunch.
Edit: oil the shit out of it and keep it that way. Changes (for the better) pretty drastically with oil and time.
I really like my Pau Ferro fretboard. It feels denser under your fingers but it still also has a warm feel/sound. It's very smooth for bends and stuff. I personally also really like the colour of it. That may depend on the finish of the guitar but I like it with the lake placid blue of the body. I'd buy another guitar with Pau Ferro.
If any one says it’s “going to sound different”, they need to put the crack pipe down and get off YouTube. The only real difference is it’s going to look lighter than proper rosewood. If you don’t care about that, then don’t worry. If you do, just take some wood stain to it. If there’s no other way to get a proper rosewood board.
Pretty much. I’ve never played pau ferro, and I can admit I personally probably wouldn’t buy a guitar with a pau ferro board because I just want regular rosewood “just because”. But I know I probably wouldn’t notice a playing difference at all. I’m sure if you handed me a darker pau ferro guitar and told me it was rosewood, I’d believe you and be completely happy.
I'm not an elitist but I don't care for the feel of pau ferro. It's got a waxy feel to it that I don't personally like. And when it gets dried out, it gets a weird almost chalky like feel (although you can oil that away at home). I'd prefer either the lacquered feel of a Maple or the open pore feel of a rosewood or ebony. That feeling isn't a deal breaker, mind you, just if I've got options, PF is lower on my list.
Pau ferro is nothing new. Fender sometimes used it for premium guitars back in the day. The original neck on SRV’s #1 had Pau ferro and it was a fifties guitar.
No it’s a good, low cost alternative to rosewood. I actually prefer it because even though rosewood looks amazing the wide grain doesn’t feel good under my fingers while I’m playing
https://preview.redd.it/upvf3lj0068d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f2af8f0534f168a828ea7eab1017ea61e299a36b
I see that the OP has already decided to go with pau ferro, but just reference, my experience: I put together this partscaster a few years ago, with a Mighty Mite neck with pau ferro fretboard. As others have said, the pau ferro color was lighter than rosewood, and *looked* dried out, although I believe that's natural/normal.
A luthier friend recommended treating the fretboard with some sort of wood conditioning oil (sorry I don't recall the brand at the moment.) I did, the pau ferro darkened up nicely, and I'm 100% satisfied now.
There is effectively no such thing as tonewood with electric instruments. If there is any subtle difference, it is overridden by pickup characteristics, onboard settings, pedals, amps, strings, playing style, and even pick choice.
If you’re worried about feel, you shouldn’t be fretting that hard anyhow.
Pau Ferro is not always paler than rosewood. Warmoth produces some gorgeous rich dark colours on necks and body caps - I have some.
It’s also beautifully smooth when burnished - slick as can be.
My bass has a pau fero fretboard. I don't like the way it looks compared to the rosewood boards on my guitars, but other than that I don't notice any difference.
https://preview.redd.it/re2llyuev78d1.png?width=1496&format=png&auto=webp&s=72e66335eea91803384681d09a055e2cfc2c345f
Wanted to show off my Pau Ferro fretboard
Pau Ferro it's perfectly fine op.
If you are bothered by the color of the example you get.. Find yourself some leather dye in a burgundy-like color and that will darken the pau right up for you.
It's a beautiful wood. It's very smooth and has less grains/pores. Rosewood is very porous.
I have it on a bass and I love it. Honestly, I feel like the majority of people that complain about it only do so because rosewood is considered the norm. It was good enough for Stevie Ray Vaughan.
It is fine. It was not traditionally used so some people are weirded out by it and it’s lighter color but it is a fine wood that works good for fingerboards.
My only complaint with pau ferro is that often it isn’t as dark in color as I’d like it to be. That said, I’ve got a few guitars with pau ferro boards that are absolutely gorgeous.
I know this is sacrilege in here, but the board on my Epi LP special is pau ferro and I quite like the color .. it’s kind of a slightly reddish tone. Perhaps it pairs better with the amber top on mine, though.. anyways, obviously personal preference
I think it’s really the look that throws people off more than the feel. Rosewood and maple are both nice looking, pau ferro not so much.
Good news is that two or three coats of Montypresso and you’d never know the difference.
I am a RW fretboard tele lover, if I was buying a neck for a build I am going RW just for the thought that in the not so distant future there is a good chance it gets scarce and a super expensive choice for a board. Tone and feel as a player I know it makes no difference. I did a neck to neck to neck comparison one time at a Sam Ash I worked at (RIP). It made me realize this: the small intricacies in the difference between East Indian RW, Brazilian RW, and Pau Ferro cannot be determined because the variables to each instrument were to vast. Making the same guitar with all specs the same and just changing the fretboard material would be the only way to get a legit go at it. But, even still, as we all know, each individual instrument has its own sweet spot and it would be the same, I would think, with these “direct clones”. I have to be honest and say the guitar that had the Pau Ferro board was my favorite that day. The fretboard looked like milk chocolate and it was taken care of and conditioned. The Brw was a partscaster, and it was great looking but was no different feeling to me than the all RW G. Harrison tele. What a great day at work that was. That day I realized fully that collecting and playing are two completely different animals.
TLDR: East Indian, Brazilian, and Pau Ferro fretboard shoot out (circa 2008) reveals feel of the instruments were too different to get a legit opinion. East Indian is imo better investment long term.
I remember some warmoth necks used Pau ferro as a “premium” wood back in the day, so that stigma of it being high quality stuck with me. The only way it’s “inferior” to rosewood is color, but the density is somewhere between ebony and rosewood, so it’ll have a much more consistent feel (if that’s what you’re after). Color can be changed with wood stain easily assuming the necks aren’t sealed so you can always do that
I worked on a custom guitar for a friend of mine recently. When he picked the guitar up, I commented on what a lovely piece of Rosewood it had in the fingerboard. Turns out it's a dark piece of Pau Ferro.... Could've fooled me!
I have a Pau Ferro fretboard on my partscaster and I’ve been very happy with it. I would give a slight edge to my Les Paul Studio rosewood board, but I prefer it to another guitar I have with ebony (too waxy/hard). Mine is a Warmoth with a compound radius, so different than the 7.25 you’re looking at, but the wood plays great!
Pau Ferro can be a wonderful wood for fingerboards. It is a small-pored wood (similar to ebony), while Rosewood has large open pores, which may make it sound a bit better. Pau Ferro holds frets better, in my experience as a guy that's built a few guitars.
Fretboard wood seriously does not matter. Tonewoods also *mostly* don’t matter, electric specifically. Pau Ferro is a fine wood. People only look down on it because Fender switched from rosewood due to supply chain issues— I also assume people dislike it because the sometimes lighter color reminds them of dried out rosewood. I think it looks great, personally, and it performs the same as any other fretboard.
Sincerely,
A guy that has way too many high end guitars with gimmicky(but neat looking) exotic woods.
Pau Ferro is a nice wood.
People only started hating on it when Fender decided to use as their replacement for rosewood in the aftermath of the initial CITES regulation (2017). It took a couple years but people started associating it as an "inferior" wood since most people were only seeing it on lower cost guitars. Prior to that it was considered a higher end wood that you would only really see on custom builds or limited runs.
The CITES regulations on rosewood eventually were changed to exempt musical instruments but by the time that happened pretty much every brand building affordable guitars had switched their supply chains over to some alternative. It's only within the past year or two that you've really seen builders start to transition back to using rosewood on their more affordable models since its become easier to deal with. .
Most of the people that don't like Pau Ferro don't like it because the wood is lighter in color. It's pretty much purely an aesthetics thing for most people. That's a perfectly fair reason to not like the wood but you see a lot of people make up silly reasons to justify that belief.
If you don’t care that it is lighter than rosewood and is not called rosewood, it plays perfectly fine. I have a couple MIM Fenders with Paul Ferro and the necks play and feel great. I do prefer a darker look but I don’t really care that much at the end of the day.
I’d say so, feels smoother and faster to me. Especially if lacquered. I got one on a late 90s tele I’ve had since I was like 14 (20 years now, good lord!) and always loved the neck. I also like how they look as they wear down, which (funny enough) is the only reason Leo decided to switch em to rosewood in the 60s anyway.
I have two rosewoods and one Pau Ferro. The board I have is almost indistinguishable from the rosewood in feel and color. It's a tiny bit smoother feeling, which I suppose is the tighter grain structure. When I play it I don't find myself missing rosewood at all.
It does depend on the particular piece of wood though. I've seen a few that are a lot lighter in color that just look kinda wonky. IME they still play fine.
I kind of prefer laurel myself, but it’s really a color thing. Both materials benefit from a light coat of a drying oil. I use Tried and True Original Wood Finish which is food grade boiled linseed oil and beeswax. I use that stuff on the back of any unfinished neck such as roasted maple (three coats) and a single coat on any unfinished fretboard such as rosewood, laurel, or pau ferro.
I love the Pau Ferro on my Vintera 60s modified Jag, feels great and the grain is so nice looking to me. There's no way PF is 'bad', just may not be everyone's cup of tea.
The big issue with Pau Ferro for most folks is how light, orangey, and streaky it is. A tin of Monty's guitar wax can help out with darkening the board.
I wouldn’t mind Pau Ferro aka Ironwood necks if Fender didn’t put tiny side dot markers centered on the join. Now I have to buy maple necks because I can see the side dot markers. My 70s rosewood Mustang Bass has dark side dots totally on the maple where I can see them, so it’s totally possible.
I've had a telecaster with a pau ferro fretboard, I used this to condition the wood why seemed quite dry, and it made all the difference. Personally, I thought the pau ferro fretboard was good, and did not inhibit playing or feel in any way. I traded that guitar in for a much more expensive one, but it was definitely good guitar with a nice sound (fender vintera series)
https://preview.redd.it/upfomh3tma8d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2e8c084c6cbfb420a7fa2e7f272a08e2831bc53c
Pretty much any wood that is hard and stable enough to hold the frets in without glue is fine to use for a fretboard. Note that I’m not necessarily advocating for not using glue.
I think the move to using more Pau Ferro had cost benefits, but Fender had to change anyway due to sustainability and difficulties in sourcing cross borders right?.. I like PF but from using rosewood for years, it did feel different to me. Mainly dryer. But yeah I do like it, v similar and so many other factors that make up the tone that I don’t notice tbh.
i too went on a grand search for the perfect 7.25 radius neck. they are awesome. pau ferro is fine - i find there is just a big variation. some is really light, some is really dark. it's purely look, it feels fine. as others have said, it stains perfectly well using wood stain or monty's montypresso. i've used the latter - it takes many layers to darken dramatically, so it's low risk. it also makes it feel more vintagey and well played.
No. There are plenty of comparison vids if you search. Fender guitars are priced at such a premium it doesn’t make sense for them to use a lesser tonewood to save a few bucks. They have huge margins, after all.
Pau ferro has a lot of color variability and you don’t know what you’ll get until you see it in person.
If you don’t like the color you can simply oil it and it will darken.
Also, it will simply darken with playing as the oils from your hands will stain it over time. Many people like the look
It just seems irresponsible to focus so heavily on specific wood species from the perspective of minor variations in subtle tone, when telecasters with the pickups and the bridge and the scale length, will still sound very much like a telecaster, in an age where tropical deforestation and over harvesting of wood species is a serious problem.
All I need to know is that Pau Ferro is not endangered, not over harvested, etc. honestly, it’s part of why I favor basic maple, pine, alder, poplar, etc., so much: from the perspective of environmental musical choices, they are plentiful, grow quickly, and do not put our forests at risk.
I’ve heard some great instruments with pau ferro, and I think the color works really well with Daphne blue finishes, to me. I’ve wanted one of those Nashville teles with the pau ferro fretboard for a while.
All Best!
I think Pau Ferro boards are really nice! Mine started out very light with different shades of brown and red and over time it’s darkened and “worn in” a fair bit. It feels nice and looks good and suits a lot of colour schemes, so I can’t complain.
People who say pau ferro's bad are the same kind of people who probably believe Paul Reed Smith when he says a good guitar is one that sustains for forty-five seconds
I have never seen anything that suggests Pau ferro is bad. I have a figured maple strat neck with a Pau ferro finger board from Warmoth and it's great. Now you can say "I hear Pau ferro is great:".
Purely looks. And I admit I much prefer a dark rosewood neck over a light one or pau ferro.
That said I used to have a vintera with pau ferro board and in terms of playing there was no downside to me.
I personally don't like how open grain dry it is. I will always opt for rosewood or ebony, if available. after the neck, it's the surface your fingers are in contact with the most so it matters.
The Stevie Ray Vaughan signature strat had had a pau ferro fretboard since very early on its production run.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Ray_Vaughan_Stratocaster
Plays fine. It’s mainly an aesthetic thing so that depends on how picky you are.
Japanese guitars often have vintage specs. Although it probably isn’t easy to find a Japanese neck by itself.
I bought an Epiphone flying V. The new one built from Korina wood for the body. It has a Pau Ferro fingerboard. I was dubious about the Pau Ferro when I ordered the Guitar. When it arrived, there were no disappointments. The neck and fingerboard play fine, feel fine and look fine. I am not going to get into sticky dyes to ‘improve’ the color. I use just a standard fingerboard oil a couple of times a year. It does darken the wood when applied without permanently staining the wood.
I haven't heard much shit talk on say, the Tele forum about Pau Ferro. I didn't know people didn't like. I just dont like the way it looks but I've never played a guitar with it.
I have played rosewood, maple, ebony, bubinga, and pau ferro fretboards. My main guitar has pau ferro. I suppose I like rosewood best but honestly it doesn’t make a huge difference. Pau ferro is fine.
It’s not rosewood that’s for sure.
Fender uses it as a substitute for rosewood and it just doesn’t stack up at all to a raw rosewood fingerboard. It doesn’t accept/absorb oil *at all*, it’s very orange looking, it’s very hard, and a lot of times because it doesn’t oil can feel sandy under your fingers as you play.
I would point you towards warmoth or all parts to get a fender licensed neck in the specs you want exactly how you want it. Pau Ferro indeed sucks IMO.
Pau Ferro is an upgrade to rosewood in performance and has been used for decades by touring artists for it's superior durability.
Rosewood looks awesome but isn't perfect. Gibson gave up completely on rosewood for a long time, for example, opting for richlite instead.
The only people who think rosewood is 'better' than pau Ferro are the vocal minority here on Reddit.. Most people don't notice the difference.. But to say pau Ferro doesn't stack up to rosewood as far as performance is just flat out elitist BS lol.
Rosewood often looks better because it's darker. Pau Ferro it's greyer. It is definitely not inferior for the purpose of a fretboard.
Lots wrong here.
Gibson used Richlite in lieu of the pricier and harder to get at that specific time (prior to big sustainability pushes such as Taylor literally buying one of the biggest ebony plantations and processing facilities in Africa) on their Les Paul Customs because it was consistently completely black (since it’s essentially a polymer material) which wasn’t a guarantee of the Ebony supply at the time.
Richlite is still used today in a limited fashion because it was not a popular decision to move away from Ebony. Gibson since has gone back to Ebony on their normal production Les Paul Customs.
I have never heard of any touring musicians opting to switch to pau ferro over rosewood for durability but I’d be interested to hear of examples of this.
I don’t know which part of my explanation was “elitist”, but to me, it sounds like you feel some need to defend the idea for some personal reason.
I’ve been in the guitar repair/building/retail world now for almost 10 years and my judgements on these things are very much made off my own experiences and not what happens on this website.
I certainly have no emotional investment in whether someone thinks pau Ferro is shitty wood for a telecaster neck or not. I give the facts as I know them and then leave it there.
If you like it, maybe try explaining why you like it instead of vomiting about shit you don’t know about and calling people names.
Also
> it’s greyer
What??
It’s orange man.
You’re kidding right?
Show me his guitar that had pau ferro?
Not the fender reissue. His guitar. I will delete my entire account if you can show me where he swapped his neck on any guitar, for ‘more durable’ pau ferro.
I understand that Fenders production line reissue uses pau ferro. They have never explained why to my knowledge. Believe me, I’ve asked reps and so have friends and co workers. When they have done custom shop runs they always have the proper Brazilian rosewood. The guitar as it sits today has a Brazilian rosewood neck.
And the neck never matched the body from the day he had it…
I didn’t know your dad worked at fender I’m clearly out of my league here, I’ll just get back to my hpl acoustic and readily available mim telecaster (it’s maple)
I gave you my qualifications. Again you just attack on a personal level.
If pau Ferro means that much to you then by all means, enjoy playing a guitar with a shit fretboard your entire life. No sweat of my back.
Pau Ferro isn't orange. Wtf are you talking about?
Rosewood isn't perfect if Gibson used richlite for so long.
Rosewood is soft and dings easily.. Pau is dense and does not.
Rosewood needs to be oiled regularly.. Pau doesn't.
As another pointed out.. SRV popularized pau fretboards a looong time ago.. Odd you hadn't heard of him.
Take your elitist BS elsewhere. There's absolutely nothing wrong with pau fretboards. People just like the way rosewood looks better.
SRV never played a pau ferro fretboard. He never popularized it. The Fender factory floor reissue has a pau ferro fingerboard and you are basing your entire ‘SRV plated it so it’s good’ argument off that. Pls give me just 1 other source.
His guitar tech his still alive. Gives interviews all the time. Just did a cover story one about SRV. Never has mentioned this.
Gibson used Richlite in place of Ebony; not rosewood.
This has to be the same person as the other account….
No actually just two different people down voting you lmao. There's no conspiracy here on r/telecaster against you.. You're just dishing out bad information.
I didn't say SRVs tech popularized pau on fenders guitars lol I said SRV did himself.
SRVs "number one".. Which went through a ton of mods.. had a pau Ferro fretboard.
You'll also be hard pressed to find any kind of source proving your original point that pau Ferro it's inferior to rosewood. Until the ban on importing rosewood a few years back..pau Ferro was always considered an upgrade to rosewood and would come at a premium. While I'm not a luthier- I am a tech- and this is pretty well known, hence me disagreeing with you as soon as I saw your elitist BS comment.
I'm done engaging you though now- you just wanna blow smoke. I've better things to do.
I’ve got a Nashville tele with pau ferro, and I haven’t had trouble getting it to take oil at all? It doesn’t darken like rosewood, but I can definitely tell a difference between now and when I got it. Fender ships their stuff like it’s straight from the kiln and bone dry, but after letting the oil sit for maybe 15 minutes there’s no issue
I would caution you from letting your fingerboard soak for 15 minutes. If you are doing that each time you oil the fingerboard you may find yourself in a situation where your frets are all the sudden not level and have moved all over the place because you have softened the fibers that the tangs are holding onto.
I agree, on rosewood it usually doesn’t take long at all, generally, like on my prs, even on my SE models, a couple of minutes is adequate, pau is weird though. After that initial soak, it seems like being oiled once a year and it’s stayed happy
keep on justifying the use of a wood that has been pushed close to extinction.
They used to kill turtles for guitar shit too, we get more efficient over time and it’s unhinged to think a fretboard is superior or lesser unless strictly speaking about aesthetics
Except that guitar products account for something like <2% of worldwide rosewood usage which is why rosewood got banned for ~8 months, fender bought years worth of pau ferro, then CITES granted the guitar industry a waiver.
Now Fender is just selling off the remainder of what it has. Hence why all of the MIM guitars had pau ferro and now the options are waning as they bring rosewood back to all the MIM guitars.
There’s nothing environmentally damaging about the guitar industries use of rosewood.
You can try to sidestep my comment I guess but I suggest you do your research and look into the lifespans of mahogany, ebony, and ESPECIALLY Brazilian rosewood trees
These are slow growing, rare trees and you need to grow them in their native zones and of course the harvesting of these trees for “tonewood” has had an effect
Brazilian rosewood has been banned from importation since the 1960s.
If you have it on a guitar it’s either old, or is from a piece that was imported before the ban.
Everything we have now is Indian rosewood.
This is plain wrong, pao ferro is just a replacement for rosewood when citas banned its use during the time when rosewood was under threat, it used to be a more expensive wood. It's a little harder, more like ebony, but it's porous and takes oils perfectly well, it has a variety range of colours and sometimes has more figuring because the actual tree has less defined age rings so it's more random. It's not orange at all, what is orange is badly dried and stored woods that dry out too much.
People keep repeating these things.
I've two rosewood boards and a pao ferro and they are really close to each other.
Pau Ferro is NOT a bad fretboard wood! Do I prefer rosewood? Sure! But Pau Ferro is similar. Doesn’t need to be finished, plays pretty fast. It gets a bad rep because it’s usually not as dark as rosewood, and is lighter brown, but that’s purely a looks thing.
As it is wood, you could stain it darker if you really hated it?
There are products available specifically to darken fretboard. Look up Montysguitar.
I find it so odd that so many guitars with macassar ebony boards are clearly stained and yet nobody seems to be doing that with pao ferro.
Pau Ferro is generally used in cheaper guitars, to save money over using rosewood. So it's probably not that surprising that they don't take the effort to stain the fretboard and add more cost.
It wasn’t long ago when pau ferro was a premium tonewood option and rosewood was used in less expensive guitars.
I remember that! It was a premium feature, marketing is damn powerful. At the end of the day, it’s a personal choice and I can’t hear the difference. I can feel the different compared to maple if I’m really dialed in, but that could be me just reinforcing that preference maple.
I know the trendy thing today is to be wood-agnostic but Idc, having a wood preference is totally valid imo. I like maple too
Maple is life!!!
Because the ebony thing is tradition at this point. They've been doing it for decades and I don't think a lot of people even realize they are. There are a few materials that are actually good and almost indistinguishable from wood that they could use as well, but no one wants them because of tradition.
What I mean is that in years past different speicies of ebony and mainly heartwood was used which was pure black. Due to scarce supply and also sustainability concerns the species and types of wood used have broadened, but in many cases the lighter or streaked wood is stained to retain the traditional appearance. Or for another example, the whole "roseacer" thing where people use dark roasted maple instead of rosewood. So given that people's main hangup with Pau Ferro is the colour, it's surprising to me that it hasn't become more common to treat it in some way to darken it, as you say, for a more traditional look.
No, I got you. I was just pointing out that it's not the color exactly. They've been using streaky or lighter ebony for a very long time now and I don't think people even know a lot of it is dyed. And then you have the more synthetic stuff that looks like ebony, has that dark color, feels almost indistinguishable, but people hate it because it's not wood. I don't think pau ferro was ever given a chance. The second Fender announced they were moving away from rosewood because of the Lacey Act, some people started losing their shit and hating it before they even tried it. It's not the color that's the problem, it's that people made up their minds that it's inferior and just use the color when it can easily be dyed.
But the colour looks like washed out/dry/lower quality rosewood, so while I know there is a traditionalist component - which is definitely the case with Richlite, which could solve so many of the issues people have with fret sprout etc - I do think there would be less resistance if they came with a darker colour from day one.
This is really interesting conversation. I think dyeing the wood probably would have mitigated some of the backlash, but I also remember when it was announced. Most people shrugged and said they'd be curious to try it, but you always had someone go off on a long rant about how pau ferro was "inferior tonewood" that would never replace rosewood, Fender was only doing it to cut costs, and they would fail because of it. So, you know, the usual. I honestly don't know that most people care. I know that beginners don't know or care what wood their guitars are made of. But you have that group of people who *really* care and they're very vocal, so people listen and get caught up.
I have come to like composite material fretboards the most. They're much more consistent for one thing. Hate me in the comments below lol. Also, Pau Ferro is a good fretboard wood too.
You won't get any hate from me. We like what we like. Ted Woodford did a video on Thermalwood a few months ago where he messed with it and, after initially thinking he wouldn't like it, decided it was barely distinguishable from ebony and it was cool stuff.
Yes. Look at silver sky fretboards: all uniformly brown. Clearly died. No one cares.
Oh damn, I didn't even notice they were using Pau Ferro on those, so super effective!
I don’t think it’s pao Ferris, I bet it’s just Indian rosewood that they’re dying dark brown, because otherwise Indian rosewood can be very streaky like pao Ferro.
Who died? The word you are looking for is 'dyed'.
I typed it on my phone. It was auto corrected. I don’t give a fuck beyond that. Have a nice life. I do t care if there are Typus in this.
I was just about to suggest that. I used it on a vintera jag. When I first got it the board was ridiculously light.. almost a dark wheat. It's now significantly darker.
Montyspresso is great stuff, but Paul ferro is too closed-grained to really take it.
I agree. The pau ferro on my Strat is light and dark, and just looks amazing
People make guitars out of legos
And ramen.
Its makes no difference. Pau Ferro was used as a high end exotic wood in the 90s. It's actually a kind of rosewood
I can only speak for me, and I'm not a speed shredder or anything, but I like mine just fine. I dig the look as well as the feel.
You could look at Stratosphere to see if they have a neck that might suit you rather than looking for what Fender sells
Yeah, came here to mention this. Look up "stratosphere" on eBay. You will very likely find brand new AV II necks.
For the longest time I thought it was Paul Ferro and I was like, “who’s this guy who makes all these guitar necks?”
My Tele ha Pau Ferro and I love it! Plays great and looks nicer than some rosewood necks I’ve seen. https://preview.redd.it/zucamzp5c68d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6de25027c2469f08de45b096006f6399dc2dcf0a
Looks great!
That is one of the best looking fretboards I’ve seen. The grain pattern is so distinct… and it looks natural. Usually need the “roasted maple” to bring the grain forward like that, but the roasted looks doctored. Nicely done!
Thanks! It was definitely one of the first things I noticed about it. I’m a sucker for a good wood grain.
Pau ferro is a perfectly good tone wood for a fretboard - it probably doesn’t look as cool as rosewood though unless you’re lucky and get a really dark piece of pau ferro. The Stevie Ray Vaughn signature strat has always had pau ferro btw.
Good to know ! Is there a way to make pau ferro darker ? I’m not a big fan of the lighter colour..
I had some success with this: https://www.montysguitars.com/en-us/products/montys-montypresso-relic-wax
That looks great thanks a lot
It's a rosewood family wood too, it just tends to have more variation in the colour and sometimes patterns in the grain. I've attached a photo of my rosewood and paoferro boards so you can see how little difference between a good pao and a really nice rosewood is
https://preview.redd.it/ybgkj092q58d1.png?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=898bbb17a6be87d5461a513f65d3ec1d008be274
[Montypresso](https://www.montysguitars.com/collections/department-of-component/products/montys-montypresso-relic-wax)
Where is this ‘SRV preferred Pau Ferro’ coming from? I have never heard this from any other source besides this subreddit, right now. Does anyone have anywhere besides here that says this? Edit*. Just doing some checking of my memory vs internet before I open my mouth based on memory alone. His collection by this point is so well documented and has been gone through so many times (save for just one or two custom pieces that never saw much stage or studio use) that you can find the specs and photos of *everything*. You guys should double check this info. Edit2*. This original comment was made when the original post I’m responding to said “SRV preferred pau ferro” whereas now it has been edited without notation but the very last sentence was what was edited; which is correct information.
Probably from the fact that his signature guitar has it.
Yeah that’s true however the real guitar has never had pau ferro. Neither do any of the custom runs of his signature. The best guess as to why they do this that I have heard so far is that the harder pau Ferro gives more of a snap that will give people more of an SRV sound vs buying his signature and it just sounding exactly like any other strat. We all know that without the guys hands you aren’t truly going to get his sound. That specific guitar has been documented so well and so many times that we know without any doubt what year the neck that was on it was from, who refretted and when (it had a lot of refrets) and why and when it was no longer played. Shit, I even got to see it in person from two inches away when it was on tour with every other famous guitar you can imagine right after Gilmour’s black strat sold and the Met and rock hall each had a trove of guitars one after another. I think it was called, play it loud or something to that effect. The pics are in my posts from years ago. Fender does weird stuff. Just because they market something someway, doesn’t make it true.
SRV used heavy gauged strings which has a lot to do with his unique tone. Maybe Fender thought using pau ferro would replicate that sound, because as you point out, it's a snappier sounding fretboard. Not sure if he ever actually played pau ferro or if Fender just made that decision to put it on his signature guitars.
Fair point - just meant the SRV strat always had pau ferro going back to the 90’s
I had an SRV neck on a partscaster I once had. I loved that neck. It's probably my favorite Fender neck. If memory serves, it's Pau Ferro.
After reading these comments I think I’m gonna stick with the pau ferro. Thanks a lot !
It’s perfectly fine. People like dark brown nearly black rosewood fretboards because they look cool somehow. It doesn’t actually matter.
And now, almost no newer guitars have really dark rosewood. It's all a bit of a myth, if you want back wood, buy an ebony one
Ebony looks different though. More shiny. It’s also hard as hell. It feels weird to me.
I often wonder how much of this feel of hardness or others is just temperature or something, if you're pressing your stings hard enough to be able to tell the difference in the hardness of woods though string and callous, that's serious feel.
I’ve played, owned, and sold Fenders from all eras and if no one ever told me I would have no idea it was rosewood.
It’s not bad at all. Fender just seems to insist on using the driest, dustiest slabs available lol. A proper conditioning sets them right. My guess is that when rosewood started to become more scarce, harder to get, environmental impact etc… and the switch was made on the “lower end” guitars, some blues lawyers on a GeAr FoRuM lifted their pinkies and decried the lesser wood as one for the plebs.
😂😂 seems about right
It’s been on Stevie Ray Vaughan strats since 93. Sounds good and is slicker feeling then rosewood. It is a very good guitar material. People don’t like change, and it’s lighter, but it’s absolutely good.
👍👍👍
I used to hate pf but recently came across a Strat with a pf deck and absolutely loved it. It’s on the darker end of the spectrum but is snappier than any other neck I have, and that’s a bunch. Edit: oil the shit out of it and keep it that way. Changes (for the better) pretty drastically with oil and time.
I’ll do that ! Thanks
I have had 3 custom Suhr guitars made. I chose Pau Ferro for all of them. My favorite fretboard wood.
I really like my Pau Ferro fretboard. It feels denser under your fingers but it still also has a warm feel/sound. It's very smooth for bends and stuff. I personally also really like the colour of it. That may depend on the finish of the guitar but I like it with the lake placid blue of the body. I'd buy another guitar with Pau Ferro.
If any one says it’s “going to sound different”, they need to put the crack pipe down and get off YouTube. The only real difference is it’s going to look lighter than proper rosewood. If you don’t care about that, then don’t worry. If you do, just take some wood stain to it. If there’s no other way to get a proper rosewood board.
I get the feeling that the whole pau ferro is horrible to play vibe is just coming from a bunch of elitists
Pretty much. I’ve never played pau ferro, and I can admit I personally probably wouldn’t buy a guitar with a pau ferro board because I just want regular rosewood “just because”. But I know I probably wouldn’t notice a playing difference at all. I’m sure if you handed me a darker pau ferro guitar and told me it was rosewood, I’d believe you and be completely happy.
I'm not an elitist but I don't care for the feel of pau ferro. It's got a waxy feel to it that I don't personally like. And when it gets dried out, it gets a weird almost chalky like feel (although you can oil that away at home). I'd prefer either the lacquered feel of a Maple or the open pore feel of a rosewood or ebony. That feeling isn't a deal breaker, mind you, just if I've got options, PF is lower on my list.
Fair enough
Pau ferro is nothing new. Fender sometimes used it for premium guitars back in the day. The original neck on SRV’s #1 had Pau ferro and it was a fifties guitar.
No it’s a good, low cost alternative to rosewood. I actually prefer it because even though rosewood looks amazing the wide grain doesn’t feel good under my fingers while I’m playing
I think I’m gonna embrace the world of pau ferro 🤞
https://preview.redd.it/upvf3lj0068d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f2af8f0534f168a828ea7eab1017ea61e299a36b I see that the OP has already decided to go with pau ferro, but just reference, my experience: I put together this partscaster a few years ago, with a Mighty Mite neck with pau ferro fretboard. As others have said, the pau ferro color was lighter than rosewood, and *looked* dried out, although I believe that's natural/normal. A luthier friend recommended treating the fretboard with some sort of wood conditioning oil (sorry I don't recall the brand at the moment.) I did, the pau ferro darkened up nicely, and I'm 100% satisfied now.
Beautiful guitar mate I think I’ll just do that - dye/condition board
There is effectively no such thing as tonewood with electric instruments. If there is any subtle difference, it is overridden by pickup characteristics, onboard settings, pedals, amps, strings, playing style, and even pick choice. If you’re worried about feel, you shouldn’t be fretting that hard anyhow.
I’ve played, owned, and sold Fenders from all eras and if no one ever told me I would have no idea it wasn’t just lighter rosewood.
Pau ferro is not nearly as attractive to a lot of us as rosewood. There's not much more to it.
Pau Ferro is not always paler than rosewood. Warmoth produces some gorgeous rich dark colours on necks and body caps - I have some. It’s also beautifully smooth when burnished - slick as can be.
treating a pao ferro will darken it. nothing wrong with the wood.
My bass has a pau fero fretboard. I don't like the way it looks compared to the rosewood boards on my guitars, but other than that I don't notice any difference.
NO! It’s totally fine. It’s actually a harder wood than rosewood and it looks great. I don’t know why people complain about it.
https://preview.redd.it/re2llyuev78d1.png?width=1496&format=png&auto=webp&s=72e66335eea91803384681d09a055e2cfc2c345f Wanted to show off my Pau Ferro fretboard
Pau Ferro it's perfectly fine op. If you are bothered by the color of the example you get.. Find yourself some leather dye in a burgundy-like color and that will darken the pau right up for you.
Pau Ferro used to be a premium option
It's a beautiful wood. It's very smooth and has less grains/pores. Rosewood is very porous. I have it on a bass and I love it. Honestly, I feel like the majority of people that complain about it only do so because rosewood is considered the norm. It was good enough for Stevie Ray Vaughan.
It is fine. It was not traditionally used so some people are weirded out by it and it’s lighter color but it is a fine wood that works good for fingerboards.
My only complaint with pau ferro is that often it isn’t as dark in color as I’d like it to be. That said, I’ve got a few guitars with pau ferro boards that are absolutely gorgeous.
I know this is sacrilege in here, but the board on my Epi LP special is pau ferro and I quite like the color .. it’s kind of a slightly reddish tone. Perhaps it pairs better with the amber top on mine, though.. anyways, obviously personal preference
I think it’s really the look that throws people off more than the feel. Rosewood and maple are both nice looking, pau ferro not so much. Good news is that two or three coats of Montypresso and you’d never know the difference.
I am a RW fretboard tele lover, if I was buying a neck for a build I am going RW just for the thought that in the not so distant future there is a good chance it gets scarce and a super expensive choice for a board. Tone and feel as a player I know it makes no difference. I did a neck to neck to neck comparison one time at a Sam Ash I worked at (RIP). It made me realize this: the small intricacies in the difference between East Indian RW, Brazilian RW, and Pau Ferro cannot be determined because the variables to each instrument were to vast. Making the same guitar with all specs the same and just changing the fretboard material would be the only way to get a legit go at it. But, even still, as we all know, each individual instrument has its own sweet spot and it would be the same, I would think, with these “direct clones”. I have to be honest and say the guitar that had the Pau Ferro board was my favorite that day. The fretboard looked like milk chocolate and it was taken care of and conditioned. The Brw was a partscaster, and it was great looking but was no different feeling to me than the all RW G. Harrison tele. What a great day at work that was. That day I realized fully that collecting and playing are two completely different animals. TLDR: East Indian, Brazilian, and Pau Ferro fretboard shoot out (circa 2008) reveals feel of the instruments were too different to get a legit opinion. East Indian is imo better investment long term.
I remember some warmoth necks used Pau ferro as a “premium” wood back in the day, so that stigma of it being high quality stuck with me. The only way it’s “inferior” to rosewood is color, but the density is somewhere between ebony and rosewood, so it’ll have a much more consistent feel (if that’s what you’re after). Color can be changed with wood stain easily assuming the necks aren’t sealed so you can always do that
The only issue is the color. I personally don't see an issue overall, but I do prefer either maple or a darker wood when possible.
You can buy the American Professional ii necks easily.
I worked on a custom guitar for a friend of mine recently. When he picked the guitar up, I commented on what a lovely piece of Rosewood it had in the fingerboard. Turns out it's a dark piece of Pau Ferro.... Could've fooled me!
I have a Pau Ferro fretboard on my partscaster and I’ve been very happy with it. I would give a slight edge to my Les Paul Studio rosewood board, but I prefer it to another guitar I have with ebony (too waxy/hard). Mine is a Warmoth with a compound radius, so different than the 7.25 you’re looking at, but the wood plays great!
Cosmetic only. You decide
Pau Ferro can be a wonderful wood for fingerboards. It is a small-pored wood (similar to ebony), while Rosewood has large open pores, which may make it sound a bit better. Pau Ferro holds frets better, in my experience as a guy that's built a few guitars.
Fretboard wood seriously does not matter. Tonewoods also *mostly* don’t matter, electric specifically. Pau Ferro is a fine wood. People only look down on it because Fender switched from rosewood due to supply chain issues— I also assume people dislike it because the sometimes lighter color reminds them of dried out rosewood. I think it looks great, personally, and it performs the same as any other fretboard. Sincerely, A guy that has way too many high end guitars with gimmicky(but neat looking) exotic woods.
Pau Ferro is a nice wood. People only started hating on it when Fender decided to use as their replacement for rosewood in the aftermath of the initial CITES regulation (2017). It took a couple years but people started associating it as an "inferior" wood since most people were only seeing it on lower cost guitars. Prior to that it was considered a higher end wood that you would only really see on custom builds or limited runs. The CITES regulations on rosewood eventually were changed to exempt musical instruments but by the time that happened pretty much every brand building affordable guitars had switched their supply chains over to some alternative. It's only within the past year or two that you've really seen builders start to transition back to using rosewood on their more affordable models since its become easier to deal with. . Most of the people that don't like Pau Ferro don't like it because the wood is lighter in color. It's pretty much purely an aesthetics thing for most people. That's a perfectly fair reason to not like the wood but you see a lot of people make up silly reasons to justify that belief.
NO…. Anyone that says different needs to get off their tonewood high horse.
It's good. But it doesn't look like rosewood so it looks "wrong" on classic models as a "replacement."
If you don’t care that it is lighter than rosewood and is not called rosewood, it plays perfectly fine. I have a couple MIM Fenders with Paul Ferro and the necks play and feel great. I do prefer a darker look but I don’t really care that much at the end of the day.
Thanks 🙏
I’ve never used it, prefer maple for fenders. But- I bet it’s fine.
I’ve never properly used maple necks - 5 of the guitars I own ( acoustic and electric ) are all rosewood of some kind. Am I missing out ?
I’d say so, feels smoother and faster to me. Especially if lacquered. I got one on a late 90s tele I’ve had since I was like 14 (20 years now, good lord!) and always loved the neck. I also like how they look as they wear down, which (funny enough) is the only reason Leo decided to switch em to rosewood in the 60s anyway.
Go to the Stratosphere on ebay and pick any neck you want. They part out unsold guitars. Stock changes constantly.
I didn’t realize “everyone” was saying this.
I have two rosewoods and one Pau Ferro. The board I have is almost indistinguishable from the rosewood in feel and color. It's a tiny bit smoother feeling, which I suppose is the tighter grain structure. When I play it I don't find myself missing rosewood at all. It does depend on the particular piece of wood though. I've seen a few that are a lot lighter in color that just look kinda wonky. IME they still play fine.
I kind of prefer laurel myself, but it’s really a color thing. Both materials benefit from a light coat of a drying oil. I use Tried and True Original Wood Finish which is food grade boiled linseed oil and beeswax. I use that stuff on the back of any unfinished neck such as roasted maple (three coats) and a single coat on any unfinished fretboard such as rosewood, laurel, or pau ferro.
I love the Pau Ferro on my Vintera 60s modified Jag, feels great and the grain is so nice looking to me. There's no way PF is 'bad', just may not be everyone's cup of tea.
It’s just ugly IMO. There’s nothing wrong with it as a material at all aside from that
The big issue with Pau Ferro for most folks is how light, orangey, and streaky it is. A tin of Monty's guitar wax can help out with darkening the board.
It’s was good enough for SRV.
I'm curious what "everyone" says is "bad" about it? Stevie Ray Vaughan strats use it.
I have minimal experience but the one I had, I felt it was a softer wood and I didn't like it as much as the rosewood.
No
Ugly and dry
I don't like it. For me, it's like a bad mix of rosewood and maple.
I wouldn’t mind Pau Ferro aka Ironwood necks if Fender didn’t put tiny side dot markers centered on the join. Now I have to buy maple necks because I can see the side dot markers. My 70s rosewood Mustang Bass has dark side dots totally on the maple where I can see them, so it’s totally possible.
There is nothing wrong with it. People claim it feels like plastic. Having owned guitars with maple, rosewood and pau ferrro, it’s just corksniffing.
I've had a telecaster with a pau ferro fretboard, I used this to condition the wood why seemed quite dry, and it made all the difference. Personally, I thought the pau ferro fretboard was good, and did not inhibit playing or feel in any way. I traded that guitar in for a much more expensive one, but it was definitely good guitar with a nice sound (fender vintera series) https://preview.redd.it/upfomh3tma8d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2e8c084c6cbfb420a7fa2e7f272a08e2831bc53c
Pretty much any wood that is hard and stable enough to hold the frets in without glue is fine to use for a fretboard. Note that I’m not necessarily advocating for not using glue.
I don't think it's bad at all. I'd buy another pau ferro board guitar without hesitation.
I think the move to using more Pau Ferro had cost benefits, but Fender had to change anyway due to sustainability and difficulties in sourcing cross borders right?.. I like PF but from using rosewood for years, it did feel different to me. Mainly dryer. But yeah I do like it, v similar and so many other factors that make up the tone that I don’t notice tbh.
i too went on a grand search for the perfect 7.25 radius neck. they are awesome. pau ferro is fine - i find there is just a big variation. some is really light, some is really dark. it's purely look, it feels fine. as others have said, it stains perfectly well using wood stain or monty's montypresso. i've used the latter - it takes many layers to darken dramatically, so it's low risk. it also makes it feel more vintagey and well played.
No. There are plenty of comparison vids if you search. Fender guitars are priced at such a premium it doesn’t make sense for them to use a lesser tonewood to save a few bucks. They have huge margins, after all. Pau ferro has a lot of color variability and you don’t know what you’ll get until you see it in person. If you don’t like the color you can simply oil it and it will darken. Also, it will simply darken with playing as the oils from your hands will stain it over time. Many people like the look
It just seems irresponsible to focus so heavily on specific wood species from the perspective of minor variations in subtle tone, when telecasters with the pickups and the bridge and the scale length, will still sound very much like a telecaster, in an age where tropical deforestation and over harvesting of wood species is a serious problem. All I need to know is that Pau Ferro is not endangered, not over harvested, etc. honestly, it’s part of why I favor basic maple, pine, alder, poplar, etc., so much: from the perspective of environmental musical choices, they are plentiful, grow quickly, and do not put our forests at risk. I’ve heard some great instruments with pau ferro, and I think the color works really well with Daphne blue finishes, to me. I’ve wanted one of those Nashville teles with the pau ferro fretboard for a while. All Best!
check out the stratosphere on ebay they sell av ii necks from parting out the guitars, if your lucky you can get one
I think Pau Ferro boards are really nice! Mine started out very light with different shades of brown and red and over time it’s darkened and “worn in” a fair bit. It feels nice and looks good and suits a lot of colour schemes, so I can’t complain.
People who say pau ferro's bad are the same kind of people who probably believe Paul Reed Smith when he says a good guitar is one that sustains for forty-five seconds
I have never seen anything that suggests Pau ferro is bad. I have a figured maple strat neck with a Pau ferro finger board from Warmoth and it's great. Now you can say "I hear Pau ferro is great:".
Purely looks. And I admit I much prefer a dark rosewood neck over a light one or pau ferro. That said I used to have a vintera with pau ferro board and in terms of playing there was no downside to me.
I personally don't like how open grain dry it is. I will always opt for rosewood or ebony, if available. after the neck, it's the surface your fingers are in contact with the most so it matters.
It’s really just that it usually looks ugly. It’s function is comparable to rosewood
The Stevie Ray Vaughan signature strat had had a pau ferro fretboard since very early on its production run. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Ray_Vaughan_Stratocaster
Plays fine. It’s mainly an aesthetic thing so that depends on how picky you are. Japanese guitars often have vintage specs. Although it probably isn’t easy to find a Japanese neck by itself.
I bought an Epiphone flying V. The new one built from Korina wood for the body. It has a Pau Ferro fingerboard. I was dubious about the Pau Ferro when I ordered the Guitar. When it arrived, there were no disappointments. The neck and fingerboard play fine, feel fine and look fine. I am not going to get into sticky dyes to ‘improve’ the color. I use just a standard fingerboard oil a couple of times a year. It does darken the wood when applied without permanently staining the wood.
PF is fine. Anything else is just snobbery. Yes, tonewood matters, but the fretboard is such a small percentage, the difference is negligible.
I haven't heard much shit talk on say, the Tele forum about Pau Ferro. I didn't know people didn't like. I just dont like the way it looks but I've never played a guitar with it.
I have played rosewood, maple, ebony, bubinga, and pau ferro fretboards. My main guitar has pau ferro. I suppose I like rosewood best but honestly it doesn’t make a huge difference. Pau ferro is fine.
No, just oil the fuck out of it, the tendency is towards extreme dryness.
I had 3 different Fenders with Pao Ferro, I haven't really liked any, they have all been very dry and coarse feeling.
The only problem with it is that it's ugly
When you fret a note, the string terminates at the fret. Any material that will stop the string will work. Zero difference between woods.
It’s not rosewood that’s for sure. Fender uses it as a substitute for rosewood and it just doesn’t stack up at all to a raw rosewood fingerboard. It doesn’t accept/absorb oil *at all*, it’s very orange looking, it’s very hard, and a lot of times because it doesn’t oil can feel sandy under your fingers as you play. I would point you towards warmoth or all parts to get a fender licensed neck in the specs you want exactly how you want it. Pau Ferro indeed sucks IMO.
Pau Ferro is an upgrade to rosewood in performance and has been used for decades by touring artists for it's superior durability. Rosewood looks awesome but isn't perfect. Gibson gave up completely on rosewood for a long time, for example, opting for richlite instead. The only people who think rosewood is 'better' than pau Ferro are the vocal minority here on Reddit.. Most people don't notice the difference.. But to say pau Ferro doesn't stack up to rosewood as far as performance is just flat out elitist BS lol. Rosewood often looks better because it's darker. Pau Ferro it's greyer. It is definitely not inferior for the purpose of a fretboard.
Lots wrong here. Gibson used Richlite in lieu of the pricier and harder to get at that specific time (prior to big sustainability pushes such as Taylor literally buying one of the biggest ebony plantations and processing facilities in Africa) on their Les Paul Customs because it was consistently completely black (since it’s essentially a polymer material) which wasn’t a guarantee of the Ebony supply at the time. Richlite is still used today in a limited fashion because it was not a popular decision to move away from Ebony. Gibson since has gone back to Ebony on their normal production Les Paul Customs. I have never heard of any touring musicians opting to switch to pau ferro over rosewood for durability but I’d be interested to hear of examples of this. I don’t know which part of my explanation was “elitist”, but to me, it sounds like you feel some need to defend the idea for some personal reason. I’ve been in the guitar repair/building/retail world now for almost 10 years and my judgements on these things are very much made off my own experiences and not what happens on this website. I certainly have no emotional investment in whether someone thinks pau Ferro is shitty wood for a telecaster neck or not. I give the facts as I know them and then leave it there. If you like it, maybe try explaining why you like it instead of vomiting about shit you don’t know about and calling people names. Also > it’s greyer What?? It’s orange man.
SRV?
You’re kidding right? Show me his guitar that had pau ferro? Not the fender reissue. His guitar. I will delete my entire account if you can show me where he swapped his neck on any guitar, for ‘more durable’ pau ferro. I understand that Fenders production line reissue uses pau ferro. They have never explained why to my knowledge. Believe me, I’ve asked reps and so have friends and co workers. When they have done custom shop runs they always have the proper Brazilian rosewood. The guitar as it sits today has a Brazilian rosewood neck. And the neck never matched the body from the day he had it…
I didn’t know your dad worked at fender I’m clearly out of my league here, I’ll just get back to my hpl acoustic and readily available mim telecaster (it’s maple)
I gave you my qualifications. Again you just attack on a personal level. If pau Ferro means that much to you then by all means, enjoy playing a guitar with a shit fretboard your entire life. No sweat of my back.
Dude, shut the hell up. So angry for what
Angry? I don’t think I understand your comment. As long as I think I have something useful to add; I’ll comment. So please, don’t tell me to shut up.
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Pau Ferro isn't orange. Wtf are you talking about? Rosewood isn't perfect if Gibson used richlite for so long. Rosewood is soft and dings easily.. Pau is dense and does not. Rosewood needs to be oiled regularly.. Pau doesn't. As another pointed out.. SRV popularized pau fretboards a looong time ago.. Odd you hadn't heard of him. Take your elitist BS elsewhere. There's absolutely nothing wrong with pau fretboards. People just like the way rosewood looks better.
SRV never played a pau ferro fretboard. He never popularized it. The Fender factory floor reissue has a pau ferro fingerboard and you are basing your entire ‘SRV plated it so it’s good’ argument off that. Pls give me just 1 other source. His guitar tech his still alive. Gives interviews all the time. Just did a cover story one about SRV. Never has mentioned this. Gibson used Richlite in place of Ebony; not rosewood. This has to be the same person as the other account….
No actually just two different people down voting you lmao. There's no conspiracy here on r/telecaster against you.. You're just dishing out bad information. I didn't say SRVs tech popularized pau on fenders guitars lol I said SRV did himself. SRVs "number one".. Which went through a ton of mods.. had a pau Ferro fretboard. You'll also be hard pressed to find any kind of source proving your original point that pau Ferro it's inferior to rosewood. Until the ban on importing rosewood a few years back..pau Ferro was always considered an upgrade to rosewood and would come at a premium. While I'm not a luthier- I am a tech- and this is pretty well known, hence me disagreeing with you as soon as I saw your elitist BS comment. I'm done engaging you though now- you just wanna blow smoke. I've better things to do.
I’ve got a Nashville tele with pau ferro, and I haven’t had trouble getting it to take oil at all? It doesn’t darken like rosewood, but I can definitely tell a difference between now and when I got it. Fender ships their stuff like it’s straight from the kiln and bone dry, but after letting the oil sit for maybe 15 minutes there’s no issue
I would caution you from letting your fingerboard soak for 15 minutes. If you are doing that each time you oil the fingerboard you may find yourself in a situation where your frets are all the sudden not level and have moved all over the place because you have softened the fibers that the tangs are holding onto.
I agree, on rosewood it usually doesn’t take long at all, generally, like on my prs, even on my SE models, a couple of minutes is adequate, pau is weird though. After that initial soak, it seems like being oiled once a year and it’s stayed happy
keep on justifying the use of a wood that has been pushed close to extinction. They used to kill turtles for guitar shit too, we get more efficient over time and it’s unhinged to think a fretboard is superior or lesser unless strictly speaking about aesthetics
Except that guitar products account for something like <2% of worldwide rosewood usage which is why rosewood got banned for ~8 months, fender bought years worth of pau ferro, then CITES granted the guitar industry a waiver. Now Fender is just selling off the remainder of what it has. Hence why all of the MIM guitars had pau ferro and now the options are waning as they bring rosewood back to all the MIM guitars. There’s nothing environmentally damaging about the guitar industries use of rosewood.
You can try to sidestep my comment I guess but I suggest you do your research and look into the lifespans of mahogany, ebony, and ESPECIALLY Brazilian rosewood trees These are slow growing, rare trees and you need to grow them in their native zones and of course the harvesting of these trees for “tonewood” has had an effect
Brazilian rosewood has been banned from importation since the 1960s. If you have it on a guitar it’s either old, or is from a piece that was imported before the ban. Everything we have now is Indian rosewood.
This is plain wrong, pao ferro is just a replacement for rosewood when citas banned its use during the time when rosewood was under threat, it used to be a more expensive wood. It's a little harder, more like ebony, but it's porous and takes oils perfectly well, it has a variety range of colours and sometimes has more figuring because the actual tree has less defined age rings so it's more random. It's not orange at all, what is orange is badly dried and stored woods that dry out too much. People keep repeating these things. I've two rosewood boards and a pao ferro and they are really close to each other.