KD Williams

Yup I am a viking age norse reenactor as well...

hey while you are on it.... remember how toxic purpleheart is... be sure to wear a dust mask!

You won't have any problems with the wood's strength... but it is going to be HEAVY... you may want to chamber the body so your back doesn't go out... it'll be pretty though!!!

You've gotten good advice so far. Here's what I can add. If you've never done fretting or inlaying before, go with rosewood (or a similar wood) that is as uniform in color as you can get so that when you fill the inlay cavities with epoxy, there is no apparent difference in color between darker and lighter streaks. Ebony is very hard to install frets in but as others have said, more forgiving than rosewood for inlays. One tip for inlaying in rosewood. Mix in some rosewood dust with the epoxy filler and lighten the mixture with a bit (very little) of white paint. Without the white, the filler will always be darker that the surrounding wood. When macthing color it ok that the epoxy mix is a little darker than the wood because the surrounding wood will darken over time anyways. I apply tung oil to rosewood get the depth of color and somewhat seal the wood. A nice trick when inlaying into ebony is to cut your fret slots slightly wider than you would in other woods... It actually makes it comperable to fretting other woods.

+ 1 except for the nightmare part I always felt that wenge was harder than hard maple (at least the maple I've used). I think it in part depends on the actual piece of wood. I've worked with quite a bit of wenge merely as the back of the neck's primary wood, I find it to be an EVIL wood that is extremely unfriendly to work with... I would never even dream of using it for a fretboard especially. Wenge is DEFINATELY harder than maple... I've handled HUNDREDS of maple necks and possibly 50 or so wenge ones -- I must say I always dreaded working on the wenge ones. As for Ebony other than chipping if you aren't careful when you pull frets and taking longer to sand a radius It's really not that bad to work with...

Yeah I know of it... Warmoth was good to me but I had to move North... and actually USA Custom Guitars is in Tacoma... but Yeah I learned a lot; I worked primarily in the fret shop but I also jumped around the shop to where we needed me too... so I've got quite a bit of fretting experience....

From my experience of fretting 30-40 necks a day, 5 days a week, for 3 months (Minimum).... I have the following to say: EBONY: Due to Ebony's tight grain and stiffness, It is an ideal wood when it comes to inlaying because while you are drilling/routing out the cavities for your inlays as tear- out is not too bad... When it comes to fretting it is also a great wood as it is not too susceptable to 'crushing' frets (This is when the wood gives out under the fret while you are pressing it down, consequently making the fret too low.) Some of the disadvantages of utilizing ebony is that radiusing and slotting is a much more extensive chore as it will take you twice the energy to achieve the same result as a much more pourus wood. Also, ebony has a very bright tone. BLOODWOOD, MAPLE, & PAU FERRO: Bloodwood, Maple, & Pau Ferro are actually very simular to Ebony; although slightly less pourus; causing a slightly warmer (yet still bright) tone than the ebony. This makes them also ideal woods for inlaying and fretting for the same reasons as ebony. When radiusing and slotting they are slightly more forgiving than the ebony, though slightly more prone to tearout and fret-crushing. ROSEWOOD: Rosewood can be quite variable for it's density from piece to piece -- and especially between the different breeds of rosewood found worldwide. In general however the density is significantly less than the other woods, making it have a warmer tone and also more suceptible to tearout and fret-crushing. Radius and slotting are also significantly easier with rosewood in terms of energy, but the risks of tearout while drilling out inlay cavities can sometimes be rough on exceptionally less dense pieces of wood. All-in-all they are all exceptional woods for a fretboard; but I do wish to refer you to a link that describes numerous different woods used in making guitar necks and some of the tonal characteristics of said woods which may broaden your horizon on different woods to check out.... [HERE] A good trick to reference is that tighter grained woods (denser woods) will take more energy to radius and slot, while they are not as commonly suseptible to tear-out and fret crushing; while looser grained woods (less dense woods) take less energy to radius and slot, while they are more suseptable to fret-crushing and tearout. Also; on another note -- if you are planning on inlaying your own custom inlay on a pre-radiused fretboard plan on re-radiusing and re-slotting said fretboard so that the slots are deep enough and the inlays are smooth on the surface. Hope this helps, ~KD Williams Everett, WA

hehe... whatever you say friend.... hehe Thanks for the Welcome! ~KD Williams Everett, WA

If you worried about a compound radius don't be, an easy trick to make the compound radius not so scary is to get a set of radius gages when you get the fretboard and measuere out what radiuses are where and bend the fretwire to accomodate them; also, if you are using a fret press, make sure you have all of the cauls neccessary for fretting said fingerboard. Radiusing your own fretboard and be a hairy task... so can slotting your fretboard.... so if it makes you nervous; you may wish to skip those on your first build and buy a preslotted fretboard. I don't know if it's completely possible so you would have to call them; but I do know that Warmoth does custom necks in just about any radius you can think of and so you may be able to order the radius you want from them for a preslotted fretboard, as to the quality of their woods, having worked there as recently as last summer, they've got excellent woods... You should definately check them out... you will probably find them to be very accomodating. ~KD Williams Everett, WA

Hello all, My name is KD Williams and I am from Everett, WA. I have been designing and building guitars since 2001 while I was still in highschool. I spent most of last year working at Warmoth Guitar Parts in Puyallup, until I moved up north to Everett this summer. I recently found this board and figured two forums (I'm also a member of MIMF) on building are better than one -- Escpecially since I will be looking for people to look over an outline and rough draft for a final project for a writing course I am in at my local community college. Looking forward to many posts, ~KD Williams Everett, WA