Does Taylor make any guitars with rosewood fretboard & bridge?

[Terry]

Many makers will use rosewood for the fretboard or bridge, especially on a mahogany b&s guitar. Just did a quick run through on the Taylor site and all the models I looked at had ebony fretboards & bridges. Seems curious that they are all pretty consistent.
Terry

[michaelw]

they used to - very early (late '70s/early '80s) 500 series mahogany , '91-93 400 series
(honduras mahogany)early 600 series ('84 models are rw) & most 07 & 08 100/200 series

i don't see rosewood as an option on the BTO worksheet (macassar ebony is available),
nor have i seen any non-standard Taylor made with rosewood board/bridge recently

[Ted @ LA Guitar Sales]

Taylor has always felt strongly about using Ebony so the only option are standard and Macassar at this point but you never know what they come up with next.

[not darth]

Taylor has always felt strongly about using Ebony so the only option are standard and Macassar at this point but you never know what they come up with next.

Is this due to wood density and consistency?  I know that ebony, like that that they use in clarinets, is very dense, and pretty homogenous.  This is my guess, anyways. 
Ted, has this been written about in W&S, or on their website?  I'd be interested to hear their, or your, take on it.
Thanks, -Kris
 

[Ted @ LA Guitar Sales]

Kris, Ebony is in fact more dense than Rosewood so there is no doubt it's a more efficient material for fretboards than Rosewood, but many builders feel the use of Rosewood is needed to achieve the tone they are after. I can't hear the difference but many have claimed they can.

As for Taylor, I read an interview with Bob Taylor in one of the magazines about fifteen years ago where they touched on this subject, (as well as using only solid wood for soundboards) at which time he mentioned the physical attributes of Ebony not the tonal qualities as it relates to fretboard material.

[michaelw]

due to variance between 2 guitars, it would be difficult to discern just the tonal difference between
rosewood & ebony, imho, but one could certainly try by finding a 93 410 (rw b/b) & a 94 410 (e b/b)
to compare - i have heard much more input regarding fretboard (& fret) material relating to
change in tonal qualities on solid body electric guitars, especially on the Telecaster models

on the 100/200 series, the change was made from a mahogany neck & rosewood board/bridge
used in 07-08 to a sapele neck (scarfjoint headstock) with ebony board & bridge starting in 09,
so it would be a bit more difficult to make a 'direct comparison' - 100/200 series made between
03-06 had mahogany necks with ebony board & bridge, with the arch back on the 100s being much
more pronounced (more like a Big Baby) than the current models & the 200s had solid sapele b&s

there are other builders that use a rosewood fretboard/bridge on their mahogany models,
although this may be done also for reasons of being consistent to tradition, as well as tone

[Edward]

Rosewood vs Ebony vs Maple ...a looong-standing debate among Fender and Gibson guys with regard to tone in electrics.  Some feel there are distinct tonal diffs, others feel it's indistinguishable (minority opinion there), and those in between.  I've owned many of all the above (at least in electrics) and owned only one rw board acosutic (cheapie, so don't think it counts as a serious tone qualifier).  I think the truth really lies somewhere in the middle: differences in tone exist for the simplest reason that the densities of each species differs; but the tonal diff is not as dramatic as one may think because the fretboard (and amount of wood there) is no where near as much a factor in tone as are the numerous other factors.  So the cheesy answer is yes, there's a difference in tone.  But the better answer is really that it's nearly impossible to quantify since trying to narrow the tonal difference to just this one item is impossible given the innumerable other differences that contribute to tonal variances among guitars, especially acoustics.

Edward