Quartersawn Ebony Available For Fretboards?

[Metallion]

Are Quartersawn Ebony Fretboards for Guitar available at all, or are they too rare to be an economical option?

[aidlook]

Are Quartersawn Ebony Fretboards for Guitar available at all, or are they too rare to be an economical option?

Is there a specific reason you want it quatersawn? Doesn't strike me as being very different in looks since ebony has such an even structure and colour. Also it's not like it's going to make much of a difference in strenghtening the neck either.

Anyway, even if you flatsaw a chunk of ebony you're going to end up with a couple of quatersawn pieces anyway, so you should be able to find some.

[erikbojerik]

Madagascar and Gabon ebony are sufficiently dense and black that it can be difficult to actually tell if its quarter, rift or flat. It makes little difference for the purposes of a fretboard when you're talking about ebony.

It is easy to see the endgrain on Macassar ebony, and its relatively easy to get quartersawn.

[Mattia]

Actually determining grain direction is a pain in black ebony, but getting quartered boards certainly is well worth it if you can find them! Ebony's one of the most finicky fingerboard woods when it comes to drying (takes a long, long time) and can and will shrink and move while it does so. once it's dry and stable, it's perfectly fine, and lovely to play on (if a little dead sounding in the tonal department because of the high damping), but I won't use fingerboards that haven't been 'aging' in my stash for at least 3-4 years.

[fryovanni]

Actually determining grain direction is a pain in black ebony, but getting quartered boards certainly is well worth it if you can find them! Ebony's one of the most finicky fingerboard woods when it comes to drying (takes a long, long time) and can and will shrink and move while it does so. once it's dry and stable, it's perfectly fine, and lovely to play on (if a little dead sounding in the tonal department because of the high damping), but I won't use fingerboards that haven't been 'aging' in my stash for at least 3-4 years.

+1, I have a stash for my use and it is old. Well quartered Ebony will cost you a bit more. You can do well to buy a small log by the pound and saw it up for yourself, if your goal is to stash them for several years before use. Personally though, I have come to find African blackwood to be outstanding as a different approach to the jet black fingerboard. They are much nice to work with, the wood is very musical. It is actually a true rosewood, but density and weight are right up there with Ebony, and it takes a very high polish.

Rich

[Metallion]

...but getting quartered boards certainly is well worth it if you can find them!

...it's perfectly fine, and lovely to play on (if a little dead sounding in the tonal department because of the high damping)

...African blackwood to be outstanding as a different approach to the jet black fingerboard.Rich

Looking for a Slotted & Radiused board, Firstly.

Stewmac have only flatsawn Boards, they tell, but OK prices (25.5" á $32).

Lmii.com would have been an option if their Shipping weren't 200-300% of Stewmac's [2 boards: $14.27 v/s $33 !!!].

Also Looking for 10" radius Quartersawn Maple, where I would have bought from Stewmac (12" but...) for $13, if they HAD Quartersawn boards!

[aidlook]

Might I ask where the obsession with quartersawn fingerboards stem from?

[Mattia]

Stability.

[doug]

Stability.

?? with all due respect...

It is common for fingerboards to be quartered. Grain patterns are more pronounced. The varieties I stock (pau ferro, ebony, rosewood, santos, madagascar ebony, and palisander) are all quartered or pretty darn close to it.

As for stability, I have to interject. Good wood is stable, no matter where it was cut from the log. Quartered and flat sawn woods shrink differently, that's all. So for a fingerboard, a flat sawn one will shrink in thickness, where a quartered one will shrink in width.

-Doug

[Mattia]

Quartered, no run out, even grained fingerboards are inherently more stable than skew or flatsawn boards.

Yes, they all need to be perfectly dry and stable, and at that point it doesn't matter quite so much if the wood's quartered or not, but that's not to say there's zero effect. But if they dry out too much, I'd rather have a quartered board that shrinks a little laterally than a flatsawn board that suddenly tries to warp a little.

Now, frankly, most of the time I do it for aesthetic reasons, and I prefer skew cut wood for acoustic bridges because it's less split prone, but for a wood like ebony, that takes a long, long, long time to stabilise, and is not the most stable of woods in my wood pile, I'll take quartered where I can get it. I can look at my stack of fingerboards, which I often get slightly green, and select flatsawn and quartersawn almost purely by how flat they all stay in a relatively climate controlled area; the flatsawn boards all cup veeeery slightly, the quartered ones do not.

If you insist on gluing with waterbased glues rather than epoxy, I'd say definitely go for quartered.

[jmrentis]

Also, not certain but from experience with a friend trying to get me some nice flatsawn coco, even with it dried, after sanding it to thickness it twisted and warped something fierce. In other words you might be more likely to run into twists and warps due to stored tension with flatsawn vs. quartered. Ebony probably doesn't really have that risk much, but I heard this with cocobolo a bit. Just something that I've run into in trying to get some nice flatsawn coco fretboards. J

[doug]

All woods have characteristics of their own Some woods are called "stable" in the woodworking community and others are not. For example, hickory is deemed "unstable" yet basswood is considered "stable". Regardless of the species, wood movement is inevitable. It's the art of working with those expectations that makes all the difference.

For example, you don't force a board flat. Rather, you work the irregularities out of it leaving the natural stresses in place. Aging the stock lets the lumber normalize so future movement is mitigated.

I too pick fingerboard wood based on grain figure. Grain orientation may in some cases be secondary.

-Doug

[Mattia]

For the record, I don't think we actually disagree in any significant way.

[doug]

For the record, I don't think we actually disagree in any significant way.

True...

One doesn't really have to go out of their way to find a quarter sawn fingerboard...

-Doug

[Metallion]

One doesn't really have to go out of their way to find a quarter sawn fingerboard... -Doug

I know.

It's Quartersawn Ebony I'm looking for, a bit harder to find than Maple or RW (10" rad.) .

[doug]

One doesn't really have to go out of their way to find a quarter sawn fingerboard... -Doug

I know.

It's Quartersawn Ebony I'm looking for, a bit harder to find than Maple or RW (10" rad.) .

Order it from LMI or Gilmer. You take your chances with Stewmac by the looks of the boards people have sent me here and there.

-Doug

[Metallion]

It's Quartersawn Ebony I'm looking for, a bit harder to find than Maple or RW (10" rad.) .

Order it from LMI or Gilmer. You take your chances with Stewmac by the looks of the boards people have sent me here and there.

-Doug

Stewmac say they only sell Flatsawn, an Gilmer don't slot boards.

[doug]

Oops, sorry. I forgot you needed the slotting done. Hands down the nicest boards come from Gilmer.

You're building a whole guitar so $33 shipping is almost insignificant in the over all picture. LMI will treat you right and give you the board you're asking for. African black wood looks fantastic and is very black. It seems to be more stable too. Since the fingerboard is so important to you, don't buy it from Stewmac...

Oh, Exotic woods may do some slotting. I've had wood from there, and some of my NJ customers have gone there to get stock. Like my shop, things at Exotic Woods are not very formal. Some people are bothered by that so I thought I'd mention it.

The reality of it is "fingerboards" from the better suppliers will be close or even fully quartered. You're obsession with perfectly quartered ebony is limiting your options. At some point you might have to consider if it's worth it or not.

-Doug