Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello, Friends,

Before I solicit one of those "do you research" rants, please be assured that I entered several terms including the word "ipe" into the search engine. I repeatedly got a screen which said "no suitable matches were found".

I am curious to know how many of you have used ipe in an instrument project. A friend gave me a fairly well quartered piece of ipe decking material today, and it looks to me like it might be suitable for fingerboards. I do realize the word "ipe" covers a lot of species. My piece seems hard and heavy, and is a nominal 1 x 4 decking cut-off. My friend says this is a real tool-dulling hunk of wood, so I am curious about cutting fret slots, etc. Further, because this is a piece of decking material, I will assume that it is fairly resistant to abrasion. Ergo, perhaps difficult to radius for a fingerboard.

I am certain some of you have tried this wood, although perhaps not my EXACT species of the wood. We can't be certain about that. Please share your general experience with it, and whether or not you were satisfied with the results.

Many thanks,
Patrick

It's hard difficult to work. Doesn't machine easy since it contains silica which eats blades.

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Guitars, guitars and more guitars.

Mike,
Thanks for the heads up about the silica. That's pretty much what my friend said, although he didn't know why it ate his tools.

Patrick

I think I am already convinced. No need to perpetuate the thread any further. I'll make something else out of it. Thanks, fellas.
Patrick

I've made a number of fretboards from Ipe. I suppose a lot of people will call it a bland wood but I kind of like the greenish/brown homogeneous color. It certainly fits the bill for hardness and polish-ability. One thing though...Ipe can have very thin stress cracks that are impossible to see until it's polished. I found out the hard way on a neck. The answer for me is to polish the fretboard surface prior to gluing it to the neck.

You have to cut it with carbide blades and bits...but that doesn't bother me any.

Other than that...I'll certainly use it when that color fits into a scheme.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic