Ibanez' Aversion to Maple Fingerboards

[Kemono]

Why no maple boards?

I want a maple board on a wizard neck in a J-Custom or Prestige model. Seems like everything is rosewood now and rosewood is dull. Maple, neck thru.

[screamndemon69]

For tone most gravitate towards rosewood fretboards (due to the balancing qualities) but maple is more popular in feel and looks (adds a bright spankiness to the tone IMHO). I wonder if their decision to not produce maple as a standard neck on RG's anymore has to do with the Strat-like looks or qualities of maple over rosewood? Beats me

There are maple necked JC's to be had on the secondary market (ibanezrules) if you are patient and keep an eye peeled, in fact their might be one on his site right now I believe.

[PGM_Neil]

Originally Posted by Kemono

Why no maple boards?

Seems like everything is rosewood now and rosewood is dull. Maple, neck thru.

I agree, Love the looks of a maple fingerboard, They should make more guitars with them on.

Neil.

[Dee]

I agree too, but I don't think they will do it. Maple is cheap, easily available, and looks great... for a while. I think they won't do it because it looks bad after a few years. If they could somehow seal it from dirt without giving it a hugely thick coat of clear, that would be nice. Meanwhile, rosewood looks good for decades.

[andy7jem]

Well......i bought 2 maple board Ibbies this year

[kool98769]

I definitely agree. It's very frustrating to only have a couple of guitars with maple fretboards. And they're a pain in the arse to find.

RG550-reissues are getting more and more rare, being that there was only like 800 between the yellow and red.
RG770-extremely rare
RG1550-Only sold in japan
and now...
RG350-Complete peice of crap, but it has a maple board.

Im sure that i missed some, but that's the basic jist of it.

[RG_76]

Don't forget the PGM models, the 301 kicks ass ;p

[markg5150]

Originally Posted by andy7jem

Well......i bought 2 maple board Ibbies this year

Really - I must've missed those threads

[Jaden]

I cant stand the feeling of the clear that goes over the maple fingerboards, I know they get dirty quick but I kust give it a covering of oil and play it. goes black pretty quick though ;(

[Ayrton]

I don't think they (Ibanez) even offer the 1550 anywhere currently.

[Drew]

After spending some play time on a buddy's UV777GR, I'd seriously kill for a good 7 with a maple board. Screw the "evening qualities" of rosewood, the fact that maple accentuates the "snap" of the attack is what makes it so magical for sparse, lower gain stuff - you start snapping strings against the board, and it just sounds explosive.

[Inzane]

Originally Posted by kool98769

RG550-reissues are getting more and more rare, being that there was only like 800 between the yellow and red.

Is that how it worked out? I was wondering if the 1,987 unit production was split by a 1R:1Y:1B ratio, or 1R:1Y:2B. Depending on which way it went, the approximate number of RFR and DY produced would be ~ 496-662 units each.

[bulletbass man]

It was 1987 total

1200 were for the us. 400 of each color respectively.

I'm thinking about buying black 20th with the rosewood (they have one at the sma has in King of Prussia PA)

Though if I'm buying another rg it's probably going to be this summers annie.

[Rachmaninoff]

Remember the RG 550 20th anniversary.
And they also have the old neckjoint

[bulletbass man]

*looks down at guitar*

yeah I'd say I remember