!!METAL MATT!! Posted December 21, 2004 Report Posted December 21, 2004 (edited) Hey guy's I need to know how Lace wood would work for a fretboard?? what is it like to work with?? "ANY" info would be great. Thanks !!METAL MATT!! Edited December 21, 2004 by !!METAL MATT!! Quote
Drak Posted December 21, 2004 Report Posted December 21, 2004 There's Lacewood, then there's Snakewood, they look a LOT alike figurewise. One is usually dark chocolaty-brown-ish, like Leopardwood. The other is sort of pinkish-light brown, this is what I have. The stuff is soft as butter, very porous and not very dense at all. The stuff I have, you could put your thumbnail right into it no problem. The other stuff I believe is harder, and darker. Here is a pic of what I have. Just for you. Quote
asm Posted December 21, 2004 Report Posted December 21, 2004 dont even bother looking at using snakewood. that stuff is extremely expensive. ive seen cane blanks go for 650$. i dont think it grows naturally wide enough for any of our usage ayways. Quote
fryovanni Posted December 21, 2004 Report Posted December 21, 2004 I have never used lacewood, but here is a link to a Gilmer's website. They have some Snakewood (pretty expensive stuff, but very cool). While you are at the site check out the pink ivory (wild stuff). I bought the finest piece of quarter sawn Gaboon Ebony I have ever found from them. Marc actually pulled it from his stash for me one day when I was picking up some figured Maple. Very cool company.Gilmer Quote
asm Posted December 21, 2004 Report Posted December 21, 2004 got a pic of it fryo? id love to see it, whats the dimensions? Quote
westhemann Posted December 21, 2004 Report Posted December 21, 2004 yes snakewood does grow wide enough for fingerboards...as was mentioned gilmer sells quite a bit of it. it s expensive Quote
!!METAL MATT!! Posted December 21, 2004 Author Report Posted December 21, 2004 (edited) No I"ve got lace wood for sure mine look's just like Drak's I would like to use lace wood for a fretboard but if it's to hard to work with or is no good for a fretboard I will use something elese, any more info on lace wood would be great, is the stuff strong enough for use as a fretboard? what type of a finish should/could I use If it will work as a fretboard? Thanks for the pic Drak !!METAL MATT!! Edited December 21, 2004 by !!METAL MATT!! Quote
Setch Posted December 21, 2004 Report Posted December 21, 2004 Not hard enough IMO. That said, there's more than one Lacewood, one is London Plane and the other is Silky Oak, best to get a latin name for whatever it is you've got. Quote
tdog Posted December 21, 2004 Report Posted December 21, 2004 Don't confuse the Lacewood from Australia with the very similar looking Brazilian Lacewood. Braz Lacewood is very hard and dense and is a darker than the very soft Aussie Lacewood. I have a stash of the Braz Lace and have yet to use it for a fretboard, but its density leads me to believe it could work. Aussie Lacewood=Silky Oak Braz Lacewood=Leopardwood Snakewood=Snakewood.......most commercially available stock comes from Surinam Planetree is part of the Sycamore family. http://www.righteouswoods.com/imported_hardwoods.html Quote
ACSpike Posted December 21, 2004 Report Posted December 21, 2004 Best I can say is that it has been done. I put what I believe is Australian Lacewood on my guitar. I don't have enough experience in luthiery to say whether it is good or bad. And it has been 8 years since I worked with it so I don't remember much of that either. If I wouldn't have scalloped the whole board it would have been very nice too look at though. Quote
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