Goncalo Alves fretboard

[Toolmaster Of Brainerd]

I recently built a guitar with a Ziricote neck and a Goncalo Alves fretboard, both given the Unofficial Warmoth burnishing treatment. The guitar has almost no acoustic volume and the fretboard almost feels gummy to play. It takes a lot more effort to do hammer-ons and pull-offs. No resonance at all.

Anyone else have this experience with a Goncalo Alves fretboard?

I'm trying to figure out if the cause is the craftsmanship, the setup, or the materials.

It's a neck I made, not Warmoth. But I figure people here are much more likely to have experience with a Goncalo Alves fretboard.

 

[Rick]

I never had a problem like that, so ... makes me think the person you bought the wood from did something to the wood.  What did they say?  Maybe they put some oil on it to make it look nice and didn't know what they were doing or inadvertently put on the wrong stuff?  Shame, because otherwise sounds awesome.

 

[Toolmaster Of Brainerd]

I never had a problem like that, so ... makes me think the person you bought the wood from did something to the wood.  What did they say?  Maybe they put some oil on it to make it look nice and didn't know what they were doing or inadvertently put on the wrong stuff?  Shame, because otherwise sounds awesome.

I bought the board from Woodcraft and shaped it myself. I'm a complete novice at woodworking; it's very likely it's my craftsmanship that caused the problem. However, this is my second guitar and the first one is very resonant, which makes me wonder if it's the wood.

 

[Spud]

Is this a bolt on or a set neck?

 

[Toolmaster Of Brainerd]

Is this a bolt on or a set neck?

Set neck

 

[Spud]

Is the joint nice and tight? I wonder if the neck could be sort of "disconnected from the body vibration wise? Or if some of the wood wasn't dried enough?

I am not a :icon_thumright: luthier, never built a neck from scratch, so my thoughts are merely guesses!

 

[Rick]

It had been so long since I did a gig in hot weather.  I forgot what an hour's worth of playing in high heat and humidity will do to strings and a fretboard.  It feels like some one shot a giant clot of snot on it.  Strings only lasted a week.