Official Luthiers Forum!

This is a topic that I think is on more builders minds these days.

As much as I love ebony and all the rest, I'm trying to move forward with building using more local and native woods to the geographical area that I live.

What do we have up here that can be used?

Obviously there is maple. I'm not too big on the idea of having to apply a finish to my fretboards though..

Some of the cherry I've been using for necks is very hard, I would feel very confident using that. But again, I think it would probably require a finish.. or would it?

I suppose most any wood could be used if properly treated and/or finished? Walnut may be a candidate..

How about fingerboard woods from North America that do not require a finish? Are there any?

Persimmon is a true Diospyros, but I don't know anyone who has used it for a fingerboard.

I've built with catalpa - reminded me of ash. The color isn't as white, and it's a wee bit softer than ash. Didn't use it for the fingerboard, though.

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

I've used Maple and Walnut for bodies and necks.
I would think that Walnut is plentiful in the Northeast.
We have Mesquite in Texas that I plan to make a fretboard with.
I made one guitar body using local Chinaberry.

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I'm a big fan of walnut fret boards

I've paired it with mahogany necks...





And cherry

The only one I've used myself is Texas ebony, although according to Dave Newton from whom I got it, it's not really viable due to the way the trees grow, with lots of rotted and funky spots in the wood.

Others that should work are osage orange, desert ironwood, mesquite, black locust, perhaps pecan and oak. Dogwood and hornbeam are hard, but hard to come by since the trees are too small for regular lumber.

Walnut seems a little soft to me, but I guess if you use high frets so the strings don't normally ever come in contact with the wood, it should be ok. I haven't worked much with cherry, but what I have feels way too soft.

Sadly, nothing as dark as the tropical rosewoods and ebonies

I do want to try some osage. Ever since I ran across this tree in a local park, my opinion of its appearance has been greatly improved. If I could get it to turn this dark and orange rather than the bright yellow of fresh cut wood, I'd be pretty happy. But who knows how long this thing has been exposed to the air and sunlight to get that way.

I used red oak for the fingerboard on my first guitar years ago. This guitar was built with wood that I bought at home depot for various other wood working projects. I stained it black. It actually worked well. I found out years later that Brian may also used oak for his fingerboard on his homemade guitar...Mike

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Another day, another dollar.

I think the hardest North American woods are gonna be Hickory and Pecan. Here's a link to a wood hardness chart:

http://tinytimbers.com/pdf/chart_janka.pdf

So far we've gathered the options of:

Hickory, Pecan, Red Oak, Desert Ironwood, Persimmon, Osage Orange, Mesquite, Black Locust, Texas Ebony, Dogwood, Hornbeam, Walnut, and Maple.

Which of these do you think would require a finish? Which do you think would be ok left bare?

I notice that this dude here utilizes alot of these in his building of salvaged wood guitars: http://www.dismalax.com/

This fellow's salvaged wood guitars are great!

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Both cocobolo and bocote are from Mexico. Granadillo also comes from Mexico and Latin America.

Ziricote too

I've never seen it on a janka chart, but dogwood is waaaay harder than those. It's true that it doesn't grow very large, but you don't need a big tree to get some nicely quartered fretboards. I've never used it, but I've experimented with it before, and frankly it's a bit strange. Very, very hard, but doesn't have a very nice taptone when you knock it. Kind of dead. And when thinned, for back and sides, it's very stiff until it gets down to about 100 thou - and then all of a sudden, it gets very very floppy. Not sure it would make a great tonewood, but for a fretboard, might be fine.

Virginia-based builders Huss & Dalton were featured in a recent issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine for building a guitar from the wood of the iconic Tulip Poplar tree that once stood at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello estate. All of the tonewoods they used were native to the state of Virginia, including the Persimmon they chose for the fretboard and bridge.

I personally can't make any claims about the hardness or durability of Persimmon, but man, it looks gorgeous on that guitar! Visually similar to a Maple fretboard, but that creamy off-white is unlike any other fretboard/bridge I've laid eyes upon. Makes me want to track down some Persimmon...

Acoustic Guitar article:
http://www.acguitar.com/article/default.aspx?articleid=27578

Huss & Dalton website (scroll down in the News section):
http://www.hussanddalton.com/news.html

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Dan Greene
Greene Guitars & Custom Strings
(currently just a pipe dream)

I used to have a set of golf woods made out of persimmon, I'd have to think it's plenty hard.

Maple is a very common material for electric fbs.

The white ebony fingerboard looks absolutely stunning but I expect it to look horrible after a few months of use, unless it is lacquered.

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Build log

I'm making a fretboard out of claro walnut right now. It's only 7/32" thick as well. I usually have fretboards 8/32" at the center. Wish me luck.

I am trying to find somewhere to source some of the following north american woods to use for fingerboards. As I live in Maine, none of these are local. Do you know of any wood suppliers from which to order some of this stuff?

Hickory, Pecan, Desert Ironwood, Persimmon, Osage Orange, Mesquite, Black Locust, Texas Ebony, Dogwood, Hornbeam.

PM sent .

Rickenbacker uses a Maple that has been darkened by being "Retified" for the lamination in their Maple necks. I've never seen it used by anyone else but on the surface it looks promising. http://www.thermotreatedwood.com/World%20wide.html

Gibson is currently using maple fingerboards that is called "baked maple" Not sure of what the process that they use to do it though.

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Another day, another dollar.

'sounds like a fancy way to say "we ran out of ebony"...

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Or a way of saying that they will no longer use ebony because it is the right thing to do .
Baked maple or even unbaked maple will never bring the Feds to your doors unless something very drastic happens .
Like it or not , the world has changed .

Just watched this the other day. Was very informative for me.

The baked maple actually looks more in the line of a rosewood color. And I believe it has something to do with the recent raid on them over the Madagascar rosewood they were sourcing. They still use rosewood and ebony or higher value guitars.

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Another day, another dollar.

After watching Mr. Taylor's video, I take back my Gibson heckle.
I've seen photos of black and white swirly ebony that is very attractive, but I have never seen it for sell.
I admire Mr. Taylor's efforts.
Dan

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