Rosewood fingerboard

Manfred-Klose

I am going to be building my first guitar pretty soon, and need some advice on what type of rosewood i should get for the fretboard.

The combination i am going for is similar to the gibson les paul's tonewood.

African mahogany body
Curly maple top
African mahogany neck
Rosewood fretboard, but dont know which rosewood would be the best?

list of rosewoods i can get:
African
Brazilian
Indian
Madagascan
Santos
Vietnamese

Which one should i choose?

AlanRatcliffe

Generally Brazilian, Madagascan, Indian, Vietnamese - in that order, but does depend on the quality of the piece. Most Brazilian left now is the dregs, so often you'll actually do better going for the Madagascan.

Santos and African are not real rosewoods.

Manfred-Klose

Thanks. ?

Manfred-Klose

I just went to the wood retailers to order rosewood, the brazilian rosewood is definately not in my price range!!!!!!!!! ? ? ?

I'll be going for the madagascan

Wizard

I've used Madagascan Rosewood to build marimba keys.
There is a huge variation in the wood from light coloured and dry to unbelievably dark and heavy.
Also examine the wood carefully for cracks.
Where are you looking to source it from?

Manfred-Klose

I'm going to buy it from rare woods in epping.
i am going to inspect the wood and choose a clear cut.

Wizard

What are the dimensions you will need?

Manfred-Klose

I need a really small one, to use it as a fretboard.
dimensions: 10mm x 100mm x +/-600mm(can be shorter), which will be planed to about 6mm.

I went to rare woods yesterday, but they dont any have any offcuts of rosewood, they only have it in 2m lengths for R800, and that too much for the size i need.

Do you have any madagascan rosewood left you would want to sell perhaps?

Do you have any pics of the marimba you have built?

Wizard

My offcuts are all much narrower than 100mm.
My marimba keys are 50mm wide, so I get all my timber precut to this width when I buy it.

I do have one offcut that is JUST wide enough to cover my own guitar fretboard, so MAY be wide enough with a squeak.

Manfred-Klose

If i'm really pushing the limits the fretboard lenght could be: 6mm x 60mm x 500mm

But i'll rather get a bigger piece so that i can cut out a nice and beautiful fretboard.

I can get a 1.35m lenght for R250, but still has to make shure about it.

Wizard

Pity - so very, very close ... ?

I had a similar dilemma once where I needed a really small block of Burmese Teak to repair a couch. That stuff is also quite expensive.
If you get stuck, give me a shout - you are welcome to the piece I have.

I have found though that you don't want to have just enough to get the job done - you don't need the stress of knowing there's no room for error.

While looking through my workshop this morning hunting for wood for you I was reminded of Padauk.
I wonder how that would work as a fingerboard - given its tonewood qualities

Manfred-Klose

you don't need the stress of knowing there's no room for error

Amen

Padauk

I'll go do some research on the internet, or wait till someone chips that you has used it before.......

The guys at RareWoods also regularly cut up wood for special clients, and sometimes they have madagascan rosewood cut offs, so just have to go and look for it in the off cut section if i'm lucky.
I found a really nice piece of wormy maple this way.

P.S: you seem to know alot about woods, do you build funiture?

Manfred-Klose

I have found uses for it on guitars, here is the links:

Acoustic guitar back:
http://www.dickert.ca/Guitar%20site/gal%20006%20Padauk/006_Padauk_Acoustic.htm

Description of padauk:
http://www.ellisguitars.com/Padauk.html

Solid body electric guitar:
http://www.bedlam-guitars.co.uk/padauksolid/index.htm

Classical guitar:
http://www.nitsugamangore.com/padauk-guitar-classical.html

seems like mostly used on the sides of acoustic guitars, it looks alot like rosewood though.

AlanRatcliffe

Padouk works well as a fretboard! Has a waxy feel, doesn't need a finish and is plenty hard enough. Rickenbacker has used it quite a bit, as have quite a number of custom bass builders like Pedulla. Brilliant purple-red or orange color which oxidizes to a nice warm brown over time.

Wizard

Woodwork is a hobby ... have finally set myself up with a decent workshop.
I strongly support the concept of learning wood by buying varied offcuts cheaply from "bargain bins".

My shop of choice is Country Woods in Paarden Island.
Got to know the guys there - and they now keep a lookout for stuff I'd like.
Much smaller and more personal than Rare Woods

Had to go to Rare Woods recently as they are the only people currently with Padauk

Country Woods had a nice stock of Madagascan Rosewood ... until some guitar maker in Namibia bought up most of their stock.

Manfred-Klose

Yeah, i dig the bargain/offcut bins, that where i found my one of kind piece of wormy maple.

I heard that marc maingaurd also does his wood shopping at rarewoods.

I would like to go and check out exotic woods as well, they are also situated somewhere in cape town.

AlanRatcliffe

Hmm... Haven't been to Country Woods... I need to get around to finally replacing my "temporary" (it's been about 5 years... ?) backplate on my Sanox:

I'm thinking rosewood to go with the pickup surrounds and knobs. About the right size for a "bargain bin special" too ?

AFAIK, Marc goes to Europe every few years and personally selects his wood there.

Wizard

Seriously impressed with Alan's woodworking skills.

Manfred-Klose

Wizard, take a look at alan's rosewood pickup rings on the sanox:

http://www.guitarforum.co.za/setup-mods-and-repair/project-3-sanox-rosewood-hardware/

Wizard

Very impressive.
But that's one of the whole points of forums like this.
People set standards to inspire others to follow.
People get credit for good stuff they've done.
Lovely virtuous and growth cycles.

I made a few bits for an Ngoni once (west african lute thing).
Tiny pieces made from Burmese Teak recovered from an old garage door.
Took me forever. Needed to be remade a number of times.
(one of the pieces holding the strings kept breaking until I realised that the string tension should be with the grain)

Didn't look as professional as Alan's pieces
(but then very few would)

I have a motto though - there are few things in life as pleasurable as playing a musical instrument you have made / improved yourself.