82cabby Posted April 20, 2014 Report Share Posted April 20, 2014 (edited) Hi all - I found this thread using the search, but it was originally created several years ago and the posts won't display, so... Before I waste a lot of time making one, how does black walnut work as a fretboard? I am in the planning stages of a guitar that will have a walnut neck and body with a figured maple cap. I was planning on making the fretboard from the same walnut as the neck and body. Is it suitable? Thanks for any pointers. Edited April 20, 2014 by 82cabby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 20, 2014 Report Share Posted April 20, 2014 Very odd. There was a forum crash in the past which might have screwed this up. I wouldn't use it. I don't think Walnut has the durability to work as a fingerboard and you would probably have to finish it the same as you would Maple. Fret retention is usually the biggest yes/no with any fingerboard material, however if you are dead set on Walnut you could epoxy or CA them in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted April 20, 2014 Report Share Posted April 20, 2014 Or get it acrylic impregnated? I also think it is a poor choice. There are a number of easy-access good choices... even from North America herself. Why use walnut? Find some persimmon, osage orange, hard maple, etc. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 20, 2014 Report Share Posted April 20, 2014 A particularly beautiful piece of Walnut would make a great candidate for acrylic stabilisation, definitely. A plain piece, not so much. You're obviously trying to tie in the major elements of the instrument together which is a good idea, however bringing the fingerboard into that equation may undermine the good work elsewhere. You can of course always add Walnut in as accent to the fingerboard, whether those be inlays or as a purfling line. In that respect you can maintain the uniformity you're aiming for without endangering the build from a reliability point of view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82cabby Posted April 20, 2014 Report Share Posted April 20, 2014 Thank you for the replies. I am not dead set on walnut for the fingerboard. It would give the look I was going for and I happen to have a lot of it in the shop. I also have maple I could use. I'll have to mock the guitar up and see if I could live the look of the maple fingerboard on the walnut neck. Worst comes to worst I can order an ebony fingerboard which will maintain the dark coloration I was planning on. Thanks for the advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pan_kara Posted April 20, 2014 Report Share Posted April 20, 2014 not that this says anything re the original question, but rather as a curiosity: I saw "walnut burl" fingerboard blanks in one of the eu online wood stores the other day. I was actually wondering if that would make any sense... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 20, 2014 Report Share Posted April 20, 2014 Sounds like that might be stabilised material! Larry at Gallery Hardwoods has always been the go-to guy for this stuff. Not sure what he's doing at the moment but I'm sure he's come leaps and bounds. Chris? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 16, 2017 Report Share Posted June 16, 2017 Zombie thread, but an update based on testing; black Walnut seems to work well enough however it definitely needs some sort of finish. Pulling frets from my test scrap brought up a lot of chips. Glue isn't 100% necessary during fretting. I don't think Walnut is an ideal choice unless you want to use it for looks, or as a single-piece neck like myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.