Veneer On A Fretboard

[Dylanwad]

I was wondering if anyone has used a thin veneer on a fretboard. You'd have to radius the fretboard first and then glue the venner (maybe using a sand bag as weight on it to follow the curve of the board) and then cut the fret slots. Would it work? If it did you could get some pretty wild boards.

[j. pierce]

Well, Fender did for a while. They used a piece thicker than what most of us think of as "veneer", but it's doable.

I'd want to glue that with either a full-length caul the same radius as the board, or a vaccuum press.

[WezV]

gordon smith also experimented with this for a while - not sure if they still do it but they were in the mid 90's

[Dylanwad]

A nice walnut burl veneered fretboard would be awsome.

[doug]

I'm sort of wondering why veneer? Or maybe, what advantage is there to veneering over a fingerboard rather than just making the fingerboard out of the wood itself instead? Is there a certain look you're after?

Anyway, I wouldn't do it without a vacuum press. The veneer would have to be really uniform in thickness too. You won't have much wiggle room for leveling so the more accurate the veneer job, the better your frets will turn out.

-Doug

[ihocky2]

I would absolutely think a vacuum press is a requirement for a job like that. But at least from a cost stand point I can see using veneer. A piece of waterfall bubinga for a fretboard is going to cost a lot more than a veneer of waterfall bubinga. And you wold be able to tailor your sound a little more. If you like that sound of a maple fretboard but want the look of some exotic woood, I could see veneering helping with that.

[WezV]

also veneering makes some sense from an ecological standpoint and i suppose that makes it worth considering

obviously you have issues with wear and refretting to consider... but if you are set-up to veneer a fretboard then you are also set up to re-veneer it if wear ever was a problem

in itself i dont have a problem with the idea - but obviously it has an effect on tone that must be factored in

[westhemann]

A piece of waterfall bubinga for a fretboard is going to cost a lot more than a veneer of waterfall bubinga.

I don't know...I have a piece of offcut waterfall bubinga I have planned as a fretboard and it probably cost about $5 since it was only a very small piece of a $300 slab i bought for the Exploder.

[Dylanwad]

At the moment I'm just learning and seeing what's possible. How come some woods don't get used for fretboards then? I've never heard of a Walnut fretboard for instance but I've seen Walnut bodies and necks.

I've also been considering the cost of highly figured wood (body size in particular), veneering seems like an option to look fancy with a smaller price tag in these lean times.

[j. pierce]

While tone is a factor, I suppose, I think the major reason you don't see as much variety of woods used in fretboards as other parts of guitars is because they have a different set of requirements for the builds - besides all the things we normally look for in guitar woods, they have to be resistant enough to hold in fretwire, and resistant enough to abrasion not to wear away to nothing as metal strings get pressed and rubbed against them over and over again.

Another factor is inertia - guitar makers (larger companies, specifically) have a tendency to use what's always been used. This tends to limit what's available in a pre-made form for hobbiest builders.

You're starting to see a lot more interesting woods being used in guitars lately (particularly basses) with the further availability of acrylicized woods and durable epoxy coatings- things that would have been crazy to use years ago (spalted maple!) are available in a much sturdier form after being impregnated or coated with these materials.

[westhemann]

and resistant enough to abrasion not to wear away to nothing as metal strings get pressed and rubbed against them over and over again.

The strings don't touch the fretboard unless it's a fretless.

[j. pierce]

and resistant enough to abrasion not to wear away to nothing as metal strings get pressed and rubbed against them over and over again.

The strings don't touch the fretboard unless it's a fretless.

I suppose you're right - and it would make sense, as the wear I'm thinking of seeing on old boards also shows up on classical guitars. I imagine it's from peoples fingers, I guess?

I know a few players who strangle those necks hard enough I wouldn't be surprised if the strings were touching the board though. Same folks who complain that they can't get the intonation set on their guitars, and that they need a fret job every few years.