Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey!

I just want to you opinion about some hardwood that i would want to use on a funky project. First, back and sides will be in african padauk, probably, os some flashy colored exoctic wood. And i just had the idea of using a non-commun wood for the fingerboard, i mean, something else than ebony, rosewood, pau ferro and maple... I have 4-5 woods in mind, would you give my your point of you about those?

first one (the one i would prefer) : Bloodwood
And after:
Cocobolo
Zebrawood
Padouk


And if you have heard about some non-common fingerboards... share!

THANKS!

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

It seems to me that the #1 consideration for fingerboards is Ability to hold frets. Wear resistance is #2. I have a feeling that most any hard, dense, wear resistant, stable wood will make a great fingerboard.

The ones you mentioned are all used by custom guitar makers....

I would also add to your list:
Ipe
Jatoba
Gidgee
Jarrah
Wandoo
Sheoak
Zircote
Purple heart
Most every rosewood
Shedua/Ovankol/Amazique
Bubinga
Osage Orange
Persimmon and the entire ebony genus
Locust
Dogwood
and anything known locally as Ironwood
Etc.

LMII and several other Luthier Supply houses list many other choices.

Good luck

John

I think zebrawood or padauk would make lousy fretboards - too soft, adn padauk has rediculous pores in it to hold dirt. One that wasnt mentioned was bubinga .. lots of Rickys with that as the board. My choice of what you have mentioned so far, that is not really a std is cocobolo ...

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Using Cocobola as a fingerboard ... what do you glue it on with?

N

I've already glued some cocobolo... you juste have to clean it 2-3 times (depending of the thickness of the piece, it could be more than this) with acetone. And i glued it with epoxy.

But I heard that cocobolo is not a good idea for fingerboard cause it's a wood that uses fast and they're some pores in it, like the padauk.

Would you give me your opinion about bloodwood, i know is as hard and stable as black ebony. Anyway already worked with it? Anybody could give me some infos on the sound of it?

_________________
Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

Cocobolo is great for fretboards, never had a problem gluing coco with TB1, HHG or Gorilla wood glue. The gluing surface needs to be freshly cut, scrapped or sanded, like all oily exotics.
Bloodwood and purpleheart will make lousy fretboards, they're extremely brittle and may not hold the frets well. Perhaps OK for a fretless? Zebrawood is as soft as EIR, as Tony pointed out, also it is clear and will get dirty pretty fast. And it smells wrong.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Cocobolo with G2 epoxy from LV .... I dont wipe with acetone .. no need really, just fresh scrape/plane

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Same as all other fretboards Epoxy. Why epoxy? To eliminate using a glue that woulld introduce water to the neck and fretboard.

Some poeple develop really strong allergies to cocobolo. That's true to some extent with any tropical hardwood, but coco seems to be worse than most. Something to think about: you don't want your customers to break out or suddenly to go into acute resperatory distress.

Alan, some people are allergic to the dust, not the wood per se once it's made into a guitar, or even a picture frame.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

I have an old guitar that I've kept around for many years in spite of its clunky tone just because I like looking at and playing its wenge fingerboard. This piece of wenge has a very straight, tight edge grain, and it looks like a kind of photographic negative of the cedar soundboard. Wenge is a little splintery, so I'd hate to have to remove the frets, but there was no problem while sawing the slots.

Just some ideas:
Plum (Prunus domestica) and apple (Pyrus malus or Malus domestica) are pretty hard woods which might serve for fingerboards (I never used those woods for lutherie but have worked with them).
There are also some kinds of oak which provide really hard wood with reasonably small pores.

If you want something really special you can look for some "moor oak" ("bog oak") (= fossilized oak). As far as I know this one is hard to find and it will dull your tool blades excessively because of it's minerals it contains (like enclosed sand).
There are also other fossilized woods that might work well for fingerboards.

Yes, right: all those are non exotic woods. But all of them were often used in lutherie some centuries ago. It seems that today non exotic woods are exotic in lutherie...

Wenge, although not common on acoustics, is a very common FB material on basses.

Wild Olive anyone (Olea capensis macrocarpus)? I have two blanks from OWW to be used at some point. It feels like it would be a good FB wood.

I am in the final stages of a commissioned "100 mile guitar". All the wood (& shell & bone) used, is to come from inside a 100 mile radius of my shop. The owner was adamant that even the fingerboard be made of a local wood & I tried everything I could lay my hands on. All were too soft by far. Here on the Wet Coast, trees tend to grow fast & soft.
A friend gave me a large branch from a Gary oak he felled about ten years ago so I sawed that up & gave it a try.
I noticed that this oak has a very dense medular structure & when flat sawn, the surface was much harder than when quartered.
So... That's what I'm using. It takes a fret well, without crushing the edges of the slot & doesn't chip much when removing frets. It sure is a lot lighter than the more common choices. The oak bridge weighed in at under 20 grams, if I remember right. (My notes are out in the shop & its RAINING.)
My fingers are crossed on the results...

I used Bloodwood on a tenor guitar fingerboard and bridge. It worked great. It transfers sound wonderfully and I didn't have any problems with the wood at all. I didn't put a radius on the fingerboard so maybe I avoided some issue's. If your leaning that way, I wouldn't stop you. Oh yeah, it looks great too.

Sam

Thank you all!

I'm builind a ukulele now, with back and sides of sapele, Sitka spruce top, Spanish Cedar neck... I Think i'll use the bloodwood for fingerboard and bridge. It would give me an idea... Oh this ukulele is gonna be awesome, with red fingerboard and bridge on a yellow-creamy top, with black ebony bindings and rosette... little reddish sapele and cedar... i just can't wait!

_________________
Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

Oh my! Pictures!!!

wait wait, i'm still on plans lol

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars