I've no problem with these new alternatives and in fact would love to start using them but have yet had a client that wants it. Not that I build a lot of guitars for people but still. I've only got a few real good Malagasy boards left and then some Gaboon and Indian for another 30 guitars. After that maybe I'll make the move.

Well I can certainly understand that. Many years ago I bought a couple of Madagascar ebony logs from Gilmer hardwoods and sawed them myself. The wood was exceptional and by careful sawing I extracted a bunch beautiful quartered ebony fingerboards. This year I traded the last of these beautiful fingerboard blanks to a fellow OLF subscriber for some BRZ RW veneer for some experimental guitars I want to build. I have some Gabon ebony fingerboard blanks that I bought a few years ago but am not happy with them and by the looks of the current offerings and prices of ebony those are the last ebony I will be buying. As is our rule, I have fully disclosed to our customers that we will be building with the Rocklite ebano fingerboards exclusively from now on and nobody has backed out. If someone in the future absolutely insists on ebony we still have this Gabon stuff but it's definitely second rate and I will make that clear to the client.

Rocklite makes superb binding. Looks like ebony, but bends. Great for headplates too.

I've used it for fretboards, it looks great but isn't super stiff. If you already use CF rods in your neck, you'll be fine.

"If you already use CF rods in your neck, you'll be fine."

Do you think it would be needed for a Classical neck?
There are plenty of dark (but not black) woods that will work fine as a fingerboard if you can sell a non-ebony board. I thought it was funny that when the BRW fretboards originally used on lower priced guitars became Cites listed their perceived "tone enhancing" virtues were extolled by some and the prices exceeded those of ebony. I have several board feet of Bubinga and Pau Ferro I bought I can make into $3 fretboards, so until a reasonably priced synthetic comes on the market that is the route I will take.

" I agree that there are many worthy substitutes for ebony fingerboards but if you look at the high end classic or flamenco market you won't find anything but black fingerboards. Our clients seem content with the idea of synthetic fingerboards but I suspect would balk at anything that wasn't black."

Hi John,
I'm sure you are right. Classical and Flamenco guitarists will accept some forward looking designs as long as they outwardly look traditional. Steel string players may be open to a wider range of different looking materials but prefer traditional construction methods as a general rule. But I could be wrong....

Ha! I remember many years ago a classical guitar student from one one of the local universities heard about me and came to inquire about a classical guitar. I had one for sale at the time and he asked if it was ok to bring to 'master' to see if he approved of it. Of course I did, and I knew that master was well respected, he came back and said he could not buy it. Why? I had inlayed a side dot! God forbid!

The "Master" probably felt that side dots are a "crutch" and undesirable for a student guitar. It would have been easy enough to drill it and fill it if it was an ebony board.
At one time I had a 1960 Manuel Velazquez guitar for sale for the Princely sum of $700 (what I paid for it as a used guitar). After playing it for a short time the student declared the guitar was "played out" and walked away from it. I'm not unhappy about that.

Hi John,
I still have it. At the time I had a couple of classical guitars and wound up selling the other one, so I kept the Velazquez. It's in it's case gathering dust. The finish is "alligatored" and was like that when I got it. Do you know what kind of finish he used in 1960 by any chance?