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I recently built a bouzouki for a customer who wanted local and 100% sustainable tone woods yet still wanted a black fretboard and bridge. As we all know, the hard part is finding a suitable wood for the fretboard and bridge. A luthier friend in Portugal sent me some Blackwood Tek to try out and after OK'ing it with the customer decided to give it a try. I don't personally know any builders who have used Blackwood Tek, and after an inquiry here on the forum a while back, it appears no one on the OLF has used it, so I thought I would give my impressions.

Blackwood Tek is made by a company called Madinter based in Spain. As far as I know there isn't any dealers in North America that offer Blackwood Tek so it has to be imported directly from Madinter in Spain. At the current price of 6.60 EU ($7.69 USD) for a guitar fretboard it is priced very low compared to other ebony alternative fretboards. The problem is that shipping and duties is high since it is imported, so the overall price goes up, but still probably a very reasonable price. Anyone who has bought Blackwood Tek and had it imported please let us know what the total cost was (the material I got was a gift from a friend).

Blackwood Tek is made from real wood, pinus radiata, grown on plantations in New Zealand. I know what you are thinking...what is pinus radiata? That was my question as well, so I did some research. Madinter doesn't say what the common name is on their website, but you can probably guess the genus: pine. One of it's common names is Monterey pine because it's natural range is the coast of central California. The material is manufactured through what Madinter says is a patented technological process; but it IS still solid wood. It looks like solid wood and has the properties of solid wood. Blackwood Tek is made through an impregnation and compression process. More details on the process here:

https://www.madinter.com/corporate/blac ... index.html

Pine is a soft wood so I had reservations at first, but Blackwood Tek is hard and dense. Not as hard or heavy as ebony, I would say about the same as Indian rosewood, or maybe slightly lighter and softer. I didn't take any measurements for comparison, just based on how the wood feels and works. The wood is flat sawn, but Madinter says this is necessary for the compression process. I had the wood in my shop for several months before I used it and there was no movement at all from when I received it; it was completely stable and I imagine there won't be any stability issues in service. The wood has grain lines with some lighter grayish streaks much like real ebony might have. It has larger pores than ebony but there are less pores. It has a greenish tent which goes away when the wood is finished or oiled; it turns black just like the best ebony.

Blackwood Tek machines, sands, and glues just fine, and takes a finish and polishes well. It has a very pungent smell when machining, especially sanding, so when running it through the thickness sander I wear a respirator, turn on fans, and open up the windows in the shop. It smells like a mix of pine and ink. The wood is quite chippy so care must be taken when working it. I had a chip out when beveling the fret slots with a three-corner file. This rarely happens, even with ebony so I was surprised. I repaired the chip out with super glue and wood dust and the repair worked just fine and was invisible. Frets installed just like any other wood without any issues, although care must be taken when hammering in frets because the wood dents easier than ebony. I didn't have a chance to pull any frets so I don't know how bad chip outs would be in this regard.

I would consider using Blackwood Tek again but since this is the first time I have used a "man made" ebony alternative I would like to try out some of the others first for comparison. There isn't a perfect ebony substitute and Blackwood Tek is not, but it works fine and is a potentially a great value if import shipping isn't too high. Maybe one of the luthier suppliers in the US will start carrying it.

Looks quite acceptable and usable to me.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Gil,

Thanks for the write up and the photos. I've got 10 sets coming from the manufacturer in China, a set being FB, Bridge blank, and headplate. Madinter is their only distributor, though they do sell direct to a few manufacturers in the US. Shipping is the killer when buying from either source. The 10 set will run me $25 each after the smoke clears which is still considerably less the same sets of Rocklite.

Thanks Michael. So $25 for each set of fretboard, bridge, and headplate? That's still a great deal I think. To get all of these in Rocklite from LMI would be about $60 plus shipping.

Just to clarify my review, Blackwood Tek is made by BLACKWOOD TECHNOLOGY CO. in China. Madinter says they are the exclusive distributor in Europe and North America.

I'm with you on the $25 outlay. Not bad...

Yes.. That is what Madinter says on the website but when I talked to them in Spain they said they have no distribution in North America. The folks in China said they'd happily send me as much as I want. To send by water they'd require a 500kg minimum order which would be around 2000 fretboards and likely cost about $10k total. This may happen if I like the product.

Cheers, M

Good to know. I am in Portugal and ordered one blank, just as a sample. Being so cheap and made from a softwood I was rather sceptical so it stood on (or under...) the pile. I might try something with now. Thanks.

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

I ordered some from China some months ago and have used it on several builds, I really don't like the smell when it is worked but other than that it seems OK. I also ordered some set of what they call "brownwood" which is a rosewood substitute, pretty much the same comments as the blackwood, smells very chemically but other than that seems fine.. Some pieces are not 100% black and have lighter visible grain, at least some I got, but not an issue for me.

Kerry

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My Website http://klw-strings.com
My Luthier's Blog...http://klwstrings.blogspot.com

Thanks Kerry,

I'd actually prefer that it wasn't pure black like what one would expect from Richlite.

Best, Michael

That's a lot of fingerboards, Michael...

Too true.. I figured I'd sell most of it and there would be a mix of the faux rosewood parts as well. Just a thought...

yeah like I said I'm ok with that as well

Kerry

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My Website http://klw-strings.com
My Luthier's Blog...http://klwstrings.blogspot.com

I'd like to try it out and maybe get in on a group buy if I like it.

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Pat

Hi Pat,

What part of the city are you in? I'm at my daughter's place in Ballard almost every week. I can bring a set along for you to check out if we can figure out the hand off. Do you ever get up to Port Townsend?

As for the group buy... the shipping fees are insane! The only way to get a great deal on shipping is to send it by water. The rub is the minimum shipment is 500kg... As Ed pointed out, that a lot of fretboards!! Likely around 1200 sets and $10k

I'm in Bellevue. I do make it to Port Townsend a couple times per year. Especially when the calls for Waterfront Pizza tip the scales! I'll give you a shout next time.

Their website says free shipping, so I assume that means to Asia. I'm over there every year or two and can possibly work something out. Last time I was there I got a lot of Aquila ukulele strings that way because their only distributor is in China.

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Pat

Best pie around!!!

Give me a shout if you decide to head over.

Best, M

I don’t doubt you, but that makes no sense. I have had a number of small items shipped to me from China and shipping costs were trivial. Shipping TIMES on the other hand....


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I’d love to know more about who you use for shipping.

Thanks, Michael

I just use China Post. I’m talking about items shipped from AliExpress vendors. Everything from a 3D printer to a knockoff Fitbit watch. Prices are usually comparable to Priority Mail. I can’t see why 10-20 fingerboard blanks wrapped up in plastic and shipped in a cardboard box would cost more than $15 or so. But I’m never paying for the shipping directly.


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Perhaps someone could talk to their Chinese luthier suppliers and get them to stock it. On eBay a lot of the Chinese stuff has free shipping and still has relatively low prices. Even with slow shipping I don't know how they do it.

Yeah, I've always wondered how I can order a $1 part from China with free shipping and somebody will deliver right to the front of my house! I'm sure they must have some slick shipping system, but it's probably centered around the major export hubs. I noticed the place where this is made is way out in the boonies. The Chinese boonies.

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Pat