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the fret board, being thin as it is, is not really a structural component of the neck, so the grain orientation shouldn't matter much. as we have recently seen on the forum, fingerboards can split in the fretting process; flatsawn wood should be much less likely to do so.

If this is your first guitar, you should be using good beginner woods (something cheap and relatively easy to work with, such as EIR). It would have been better to go with ebony or EIR simply because if you mess up on those, you are out less money than ziricote.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Hey Tai, interesting comment. When I decided what I wanted this first one to look like, zircote was pretty cheap at 12 bucks a blank for fret boards. Then, sometime between the start of the project and when I got around to ordering wood, Gibson got raided and the next thing I knew the price doubled overnight. That was a hard pill to swallow, but since I had already put zircote on the head stock of my first two, I went with it. Little did I know I would mess two up, have to buy two more, then have all that trouble with splits and chips. So cost wise, what started out as something cheap has turned into a financial nightmare!

Oh well, the wood is pretty, and if anyone asks, I can honestly say this one is a $70 fret board. But maybe I just won't explain why...

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Phil

http://www.oleninstruments.com

"Those who tilt at windmills are only considered insane by those who can't see the dragon."