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Are we really limited to ebony and rosewood fingerboards as I`ve seen in my research?
I`m wondering about walnut, maple, and maybe cherry, as I do have access to these kinds of wood as a fringe benefit of my job. Yes, I`m a cheapskate

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Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

I inquired about Walnut not long ago and was advised against it, too soft, Maple is widely used on Electrics. other options are Macasser Ebony, Texas Ebony, Ziricote (oh wait you said you were cheep )
Rosewoods not to expensive. Maybe others will chime in -

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Welcome,

There is no good reason why any of the higher density back & side woods can't be used for the fingerboard, in fact two woods I never use are Ebony and EIR, ebony because I think it can kill the sound and EIR for no better reason than I haven't got round to it (although I'm planning a classical with it) OK, my favourite is Brazilian, but I've also used bubinga, imbuya, ziricote and plum etc. If your not building for sale to the unimaginative traditional minded public try any harder samples that take your fancy, it's easy to change a fingerboard if you don't like it.

Colin

Colin S38559.4352083333

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

I use bubinga alot for fingerboards. Rickenbacker has been using it for years. I've also tried Ipe, it's as hard as nails but tough on tools.

Ipe? Never heard of it. Does it swim, fly, or run?

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Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

ipe is an exceptionally hard and heavy south american wood widely used for decks.

Snakewood makes fantastic fingerboards - very smooth and slinky to play and great to look at. I've also seen (but not used) some very nice cocobolo fingerboards.

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Another Option is Cherry

Cocobola makes nice fingerboards. It's at least as hard as Brazilian. I've found pieces of qs coco the right size for fingerboards for pretty cheap in the remainders bins at a couple of local hardwood places.

Bolivian rosewood is fairly light, but hard, and usually has a nice even grain. I have several fingerboard blanks of it given to me by a friend who is allergic to it. I'll likely never use it for fbs, so if you're interested, let me know.

Also, I know of several people who use bloodwood for fb's.    Bloodwood is very hard and quite dense, and gives one a striking visual.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

Please elaborate on the cherry! I do have that in a reasonable personal abundance. Doesn`t the crazed runout and "gum" found in this wood wreak havoc on a fingerboard over time and seasonal changes? Also, are we referring to the real name of cherry being (hush-hush) alder? I personally love it, but don`t hear much about it. Is it classified?

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Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

i forgot to mention that though maple is used widely for electic fb's, unless you finish it it will be grotty very quickly, and finished fbs have not gained acceptance on acoustics.

The Cherry used in guitars are the wild cherries, I think in the States that's the black cherry, Prunus serotina, and in the UK we also have Bird Cherry, Prunus padus. Both of the family Rosaceae. Whereas what we call Alder (in the UK at least) are trees of the Genus Alnus, family Betulaceae.

You may use different common names (a dangerous habit)

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Colin is Right

I was refering to what we know as Wild Cherry, sorry for the confusion.

Ipe is also known as Brazilian Walnut. If you want an alternative, I have Pau Ferro ( Bolivian Rosewood )fingerboard blanks which look very similar to Indian Rosewood but, is hard like Brazilian. It is very straight grained with black stripes like Brazilian. Only problem is I ship them from Brazil and it wouldn't be worth the shipping for only 1 piece. Brazilwood38558.9018634259

I was under the impression the reason people avoided maple/cherry/any light woods was that they get dirty to easily and it's a hassle putting a finish on them?

Hey Cocephus if you build a guitar with a curly maple fingerboard and give me photos I'll send you some fingerboards for free.. Maybe a fingerboard/bridge combo? I'll give you some bridges for free too. Just cover the shipping.

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CVT Inc.
A tour of our shop (Somewhat outdated)
My Personal eBay profile. BCWoodBug

I`m sure we can work something out. My rebelious nature is telling me to try it anyway. Now that I`ve pondered it, Lance`s recomendation on walnut being too soft is probably right for this sort of application. Ok, folks, here`s to the almighty Maple!

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Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

I play an electric with a bird's eye maple FB. It's finished in some oil. Really easy to keep clean, just a light buffing with some lemon oil does the trick. Very fast playing neck/FB BTW.

I'm thinking along the same lines as Ronn Coates. If I had to pick from among Maple, Cherry, and Walnut for fingerboard material, I would pick Hard Maple. Bird's Eye (BE) Maple is being used successfully, and the high-grade stuff that is intensely crowded with "eyes" is really beautiful. I have read that BE only occurs in Hard Maple, never Soft Maple. I suspect that is not 100% true, but might help to eliminate the chance that you have Soft Maple. Curl figure occurs in all the Maples, so if choosing curly, I would make darn sure it is Hard Maple for a fingerboard.

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Seems no one caught my 2 cents regarding the Pau Ferro fingerboards. I know I'm a newbie to the forum but, I'm not a newbie to the guitar business. Pau Ferro is a Rosewood (from Bolivia) is very hard, when oiled or finished has the same look as brazilian. And it's very suitable for fingerboard or any other application.

I tried to upload a photo of the Pau Ferro fingerboards on my last message but, it didn't take so, I'll try again.

How much would you charge for a set of Pau Ferro back and sides?

I have in my stock, and have used : Cocobolo, Ziricote, Pao Ferro, Madagascar Rosewood, Macassar Ebony, Brazilian Rosewood, Goncola Alves, Bocote, Tulip Wood and Snakewood as well as your standards(Maple, Ebony, R.W). So my guess is that just about anything can be used. You probably don't want to use something soft as it will not wear well ( and may lack tonal quality). Other than that...go for it!

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Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

Pau Ferro is not a true rosewood unless I am terribly off base. It is Machaerium, not Dalbergia... but you are right, it makes nice fingerboards.

As to using alternative woods -- I have never tried this, but often thought about it... Why not just get some resin impregnated fingerboards. Then you could use whatever -- walnut, cherry, anything. I don't know what effect that would have on the tone, but I think functionally it should work ok.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

what sort of costs are involved inlots of ten? and do you also sell back and side sets?

So Mr. Brazilwood,

The question begs to be asked, do you have access to "legal" Brazilian Rosewood, i.e. CITES approved pre-ban wood, or this "stumpwood"? I hear the government there is a pain to deal with, and have even ripped up Brazilian RW saplings that Allied Lutherie payed to have planted to help to renew the resource....
We're always interested in Legal sources of Dalbergia Nigra...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."