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I have some bits of walnut kicking around the shop that are too small for sides or backs but the right size for fretboards and bridges.

What are your thoughts on using walnut for these purposes?

All thoughts are welcome.

Thanks, Ed.

The Walnut fretboard that I used turned out to be a little soft for the purpose. Some minor string grooves appeared less than 1 year after the instrument was first strung - Nylon strings as well. Having said that the piece of Walnut that I used was a bit on the soft side.
I think there are better, very cheap alternatives such as Oak. The Walnut I used for the Bridge worked perfectly fine and is still on the instrument.

Agreed that, as a general principle, walnut is not nearly hard enough for FBs. However, if I were making an instrument for myself and wanted to use it for some reason, I might, because I know the player (myself) doesn't dig into FBs. In other words, nothing is a hard and fast rule.

One other thing I would test is how well it would hold fret tangs.

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Todd Rose
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I have heard that Bastogne walnut (a hybrid) is much harder than other varieties of walnut and may be suitable. I acquired a piece to try but haven't done anything with it yet. I plan to cut a few fretboards out of it soon to see if I think it will hold up.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Ovation used walnut for bridges .
They were pinless bridges and held up well.

For f.b.s-some banjo makers used it.
If the pieces you have are hard & dense then use it for a f.b.

Mc

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Mike Collins

Thanks for the input, much appreciated.

So, do we feel that it will be ok for bridges then? I tend to make pinless bridges, would I need to think about the ball ends of the strings doing damage to the walnut?

Again, all thoughts, opinions and experiences are welcome.

Thanks Ed.

Yes it's fine for bridges.
Lite weight also!
Route a groove for the balls of the strings to rest.
This helps allot to prevent wood damage.
Look at an Ovation bridge if you can.

Mike

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Mike Collins

I've heard of others using Minwax Wood Hardener or epoxy to harden a softer fretboard's surface.

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David Malicky

Learn somthing new every day , I would have thought that for bridges it would be to soft . May have to try it myself in the future.

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Trevor, in his book uses a walnut style laminated bridge with carbon fiber reinforcement Very light and stiff.I pulled a walnut fretboard off an old harmony archtop. too soft imho I would only use walnut as part of a 3ply laminate for a fb. with the walnut in the middle an bottom, and a much harder woodon top e.g. rosewood or ebony.

Bridges,yes. Fretboards,no,too soft.

I cut up the bastogne walnut into fretboards and bridges. It was easy to see that it is harder than the black walnut I'm used to from around here. Not real scientific but it is easier to mark the eastern walnut with a tool than it is the bastogne walnut. The bastogne walnut seemed to mark about as easy as a scrap of BRW. I may try to do something a bit more scientific later but I think the wood shows promise and will try it.



I need to find a way to make it darker - I'm going to try to ebonize some using steel wool dissolved in vinegar along with a tea made from Quebracho Bark powder (has a high tannin content). This is based on an article in Popular Woodworking:
http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/ebonizing_wood

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"