Guitar questions

[jet_powers]

They say with advancing age comes advancing wisdom, and I wish to advance my guitar knowledge.
 
Being a confirmed bassist, I have not given proper, sufficient consideration to the smaller six stringed cousins. I have used them to bang out song demos on the tape machines and was doing so the other day when two things occured to me.
 
A) What does maple or rosewood fingerboards do for the overall performance of a guitar? Is one necessarily better than the other?
 
B) Playing a Telecaster, I noticed that keeping the little finger of the picking hand on the plastic pickguard generates some sort of static electricity that shows up on tape. How does one avoid this short of keeping your fingers off the pickguard? I've seen many guitars that have holes worn into them from this type of action. Granted, they were Les Paul types with pick guards removed. Removing the pick guard on a Tele is probably not an option...
 
Any thoughts?
 
-JP

[white_cloud]

Hey JP,
 
Maple fingerboards give a brighter tone - rosewood a warmer tone!  
 
Each individual tone wood used on a guitar will colour the sound to some degree - there is no right or wrong...its a matter of personal taste!
 
As for the little finger thing - I really dont know much about that as Im a bassist born and bred!
 
John.

[jas]

JP,
Being a Telecaster man myself ('58 original  ) I feel I may contribute, certainly on the maple/rosewood area. Maple is varnished (or lacquered on earlier models). John's right about the tone, but it's the feel of the fingerboard that is important as well. There's more friction (and hence tactile feedback) with rosewood but maple's quicker. It's possible to play about 15 notes per second on a six string (and not strumming, I mean picking), so speed can be important. In age, the lacquer/varnish becomes worn and the fingerboard becomes blackened with gunge. This adds thousands of pounds to the value - funny old World. I've used maple and rosewood and they are very different to play.
My Ricky 4001 has a varnished fingerboard but that's not really for speed, but to preserve the neck, I'd guess. My Persuader is ebony so is smooth and quick, so it's unlike the relatively grainy rosewood.
 
As for the pickguard, it's plastic and not capable of holding much in the way of charge, and is of course a good insulator, so not sure what's going on. You might want to check your earthing, perhaps a ground loop?
 
Cheers!
Jas

[jet_powers]

John and John,
Thanks for the replies. Fingerboard wood is as I suspected.... why should guitars be any different from basses?
 
Pickguard? Well, I didn't want to be too verbose in the earlier post so I didn't mention that I've a Squier strat that has this same 'static' issue. I put it down to, well, it is a Squier strat made in Mexico, procured from the evil empire in Boston for $200 some 10-15 years ago. Upgrading to a 'good' USA Tele, I figured this would not be an issue any longer, yet it still is.  
 
I haven't yet taken it apart to look for grounding problems but I can't help but think how that plastic wrap covering things like CD's, cigarette packets and the like, will stick to you or anything else you don't want it to when you?re attempting to dispose of it. I suspect that a charge is being built whilst the finger actually rubs the guard when strumming away much in the same manner which you can build up a static charge by dragging your feet across the carpet until you come upon the cat napping on the sofa and discharging it on Tiddles? nose.
 
Perhaps it?s merely poor technique on my part or I?m just lucky enough to get two Fenders with identical issues. I?ve never noticed it on other people?s strats but then again, I wasn?t playing them. I?ve only noticed this when recording really.
 
I believe glass is supposed to make a good insulator. If I haven?t already, perhaps I could make a mountain out of a molehill and commission a glass pickguard!
 
-JP
 
ps- I think we John?s may have taken over from the Paul?s here on the board!

[keith_h]

You might want to check the grounding wire that goes under the bridge. I have seen this lose it's connection to the bridge as it just gets sandwiched between the body and bridge. This results in grounding issues that might show up as pops and crackles.
 
Keith

[anarchyx]

well, on my Strat, the pickguard came with some kind of plastic wrap on it. maybe that's what the problem is.