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ngaa

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Is Brazilian Black Walnut good as a fretboard? I've got a lot sitting around

here at my house and I would like to use a nice piece for the fretboard

so it wont cost me extra to build this guitar. :D

One thing that might be important is, it's from hardwood flooring, but

it's using the real wood still, and I could just cut or plane it so a part from

the centre or something like that instead of using just the top.

Edited by ngaa
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hello? anyone wanna help me plz? by the way, the piece

I found seems to be quilted with a bit of flame in it too..

If the wood you got is imbuia, then I think that it may be too soft for a fretboard (the pieces I came across here in brazil were not so dense)

If not, and if it is a dense wood, you can use it without any problems, just try to find some quartersawn piece, if possible.

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http://www.woodfloorsonline.com/techtalk/hardns.html

Woods with figure tend to be more unstable than woods without odd grain or high figure. For example, a highly flamed maple neck tends to move more than a plane hard rock maple neck.

I looked at this list of hardness scales and Brazilian Walnut is much harder than maple, Padauk, wenge and other suitable woods used on Fret boards.

I did read that naturally dried Brazilian Walnut is unstable and tends to shrink a lot but Kiln dried stuff seems to be stable.

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http://www.woodfloorsonline.com/techtalk/hardns.html

Woods with figure tend to be more unstable than woods without odd grain or high figure. For example, a highly flamed maple neck tends to move more than a plane hard rock maple neck.

I looked at this list of hardness scales and Brazilian Walnut is much harder than maple, Padauk, wenge and other suitable woods used on Fret boards.

I did read that naturally dried Brazilian Walnut is unstable and tends to shrink a lot but Kiln dried stuff seems to be stable.

I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that brazilian walnut was imbuia.

If what you got is Ipe, just go ahead.

ipe is so hard and dense that you can use it as a fingerboard wood without any problems. I've used on some instruments before.

Edited by Hector
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Would it be better or worse than rosewood for tone.. I have a rosewood

fretboard available but it's around $40 or something. I just want to make

this cost the least amount for my parents while still being a good guitar.

I'll see if I can get a picture of it, but I'm pretty sure it's IPE.

Thanks for the help so far guys :D

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Would it be better or worse than rosewood for tone.. I have a rosewood

fretboard available but it's around $40 or something. I just want to make

this cost the least amount for my parents while still being a good guitar.

I'll see if I can get a picture of it, but I'm pretty sure it's IPE.

Thanks for the help so far guys :D

Is it suitable as a fretboard is a fair question, and that is simple to answer. What will it sound like(or better, how will it effect the sound vs other woods, is very subjective). You can use all the common descriptions you find on the web for different fretboards(just do a quick search), but they are not going to be absolutely correct or true for your guitar(although they have merit in general).

You mention "rosewood"(there are a lot of different species of Dalbergia). You certainly can pay $40 for certain species of Rosewood, you can also pay $8(EIR) or $50(African Blackwood).

My best advise would be to do a little looking, don't get too hung up in this wood will make your guitar sound like this and that wood will sound like that. Choose a wood that you like, is suiatble in the sense of wear and structure, and fits your budget(great fretboards are not expensive, exotic fretboards are expensive).

Peace,Rich

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Thanks rich, I got some pictures of the wood just now.

Underside (no stain or anything)

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa98/lo...ar/guitar07.jpg

Top (stain and sealer)

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa98/lo...ar/guitar06.jpg

Side view

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa98/lo...ar/guitar05.jpg

Rosewood I have

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa98/lo...ar/guitar08.jpg

Also, I do really like this wood, and it's free for me.. Plus it is around 7/8" thick so I could get a couple fret boards out of it :D

I also have some pieces with really straight grain on them, which could be better suited as a fretboard than the figured stuff.

Dimensions; 36" x 3 3/4" x 7/8" (length x width x thickness)

Edited by ngaa
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Just picked all this wood out, I wonder what sorts of things

I can do with all this? :D

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa98/lo...ar/guitar09.jpg

If what you got is ipe all you can do with it is use it as a fretboard. the wood is way too hard to use in other aplications.

if you plan on building a go bar deck, you can use the ipe to make some go bars. here in brazil, ipe is also known as pau d'arco, which translates as bow wood. and the indians do use this wood to make their bows to hunt animals.

perfect wood for go bars, with incredible memory.

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Ipe = bois d'arc?

hey jon, bois d'arc and pau d'arco (ipê) are different woods, but they have the same name because both of them are used for making bows.

what I found in google was Bois D'arc = Maclura pomifera, and Ipê = Tabebuia spp

different woods, same popular name, one in french and the other in portuguese.

Edited by Hector
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Ipe = bois d'arc?

hey jon, bois d'arc and pau d'arco (ipê) are different woods, but they have the same name because both of them are used for making bows.

what I found in google was Bois D'arc = Maclura pomifera, and Ipê = Tabebuia spp

different woods, same popular name, one in french and the other in portuguese.

Thanks for clearing that up, gotta love common names! I personally stay away from Ipe because of the damage it would do to my tools (bandsaw and planer in specific). It is an extremely dense wood that I know I would have a horrible time resawing. Have fun with the Ipe, looks like it'd make a great fingerboard!

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