Official Luthiers Forum!

I have a Honduran RW fingerboard that, for reasons I'd rather not get into here , is about ..195-.200 thick, versus the more normal .250. Assuming I get the bridge/saddle height correct, is this any kind of a concern? Shooting for 1/2 an inch above the soundhole, but would .050 matter? Thanks, just need a little reassurance one way or the other.

Hi, Tom,
I would go ahead and use it. As long as you are working out the geometry, it will be fine.

Fingerboard thickness does matter, in that if you have one that is too thick, you will run the risk of either a neck that is too fat, or a trussrod that will want to pop out the back of said neck.

You're fine, and in good company at .200"....

You guys are all right. Thank you. I'm thinking I'm going to like the look; it had occurred to me on my last build that the FB looked a little chunky, for lack of a better word, so I'm curious to see how I like the slimmed look, however accidental.

I like the look of a thinner board too, but you might need to use smaller side markers.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

I've gone that thin on purpose on electrics to make the neck thinner. It will make a little difference in your neck angle/top radius/string height at bridge geometry. You could just drop the height of the strings above the top by that amount, but that's a design change that will reduce power, and probably not the best option.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

One consideration to keep in mind is slot depth req'd (ie to be deep enough for the tang after you've radiused the top. (Deep slot in thin f'bd .... pick it up & "snap")

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Dave
Milton, ON

"Deep slot in thin f'bd .... pick it up & "snap""

Funny you should mention this - that ended up being the motivation for making this my first shot at a bound fingerboard - the binding serves as reinforcement until I get it glued up. Liked the results so much that I bound the other one. I have no idea why binding fingerboards intimidated me.