I know this might go against the grain of many "real" wood enthusiasts, but I think Warmoth should offer ebonol fretboards. The material is great stuff, and I've heard from other luthiers that it works a lot like real ebony. It doesn't cost too much, and has a slick feel not found in most woods. The price factor will probably become more of a plus as rare hardwoods become more expensive and hard to find.
Ebonol fingerboards
- Thread starter ironfist
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I love the feel of ebonol - there's really nothing else quite like it. It might be more affordable than ebony due to it's synthetic nature, but it's not just cheap plastic. Here's the Wikipedia, entry on ebonol:
Ebonol is an artificial material similar to ebony (Diospyros crassiflora), a black wood from Africa, which sometimes includes grey streaks. Ebonol is commonly used in place of ebony in the construction of stringed instruments, like fretless bass fingerboards, because it is easy to work with and resistant to forming grooves from roundwound strings. Ebonol is technically known as "XXX Paper Phenolic", and is a paper-based high pressure laminate made from layers of black paper and phenolic resin.
There are some small custom builders than use ebonol or one of its equivalents (phenolite, garolyte) on their instruments. It's moe than just a cheap substitute.
http://www.knuckleguitarworks.com/1.html
Ebonol is an artificial material similar to ebony (Diospyros crassiflora), a black wood from Africa, which sometimes includes grey streaks. Ebonol is commonly used in place of ebony in the construction of stringed instruments, like fretless bass fingerboards, because it is easy to work with and resistant to forming grooves from roundwound strings. Ebonol is technically known as "XXX Paper Phenolic", and is a paper-based high pressure laminate made from layers of black paper and phenolic resin.
There are some small custom builders than use ebonol or one of its equivalents (phenolite, garolyte) on their instruments. It's moe than just a cheap substitute.
http://www.knuckleguitarworks.com/1.html
line6man
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ironfist said:
ok, so i guess i was wrong then. ebonal is really a desirable wood substitute for certain applications
well, but still, doesnt a beautiful wood grown from a tree in africa sound sexier than a piece of (plastic) cooked up in a lab?
i havnt tried ebony so i cant vouch for its feel, however, when i got my warmoth neck with the goncalo alves fingerboard, the raw goncalo had a very very smooth feel to it.
i never got to actually play it, because i immediatly sent it out to be epoxy coated, however, i am tempted to say that it would have had a smoother feel than the ebonal board that it replaced.
now that its epoxied, the actual board itself has the feel of a gloss finish when you touch it, but bending is very smooth.
jackthehack
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If you were going to epoxy the board you might have well got a composite plastic board as an exotic wood; defeats the whole purpose, doesn't it?
SkuttleFunk
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not really
you gotta admit that this is a pretty cool looking epoxied 5-string board
you just aren't going to get this look with a composite fingerboard
R
you gotta admit that this is a pretty cool looking epoxied 5-string board
you just aren't going to get this look with a composite fingerboard
R
jackthehack
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I was more referring to the feel rather than the look.
SkuttleFunk
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the feel is quite a bit different as well - epoxied boards tend to feel somewhat close to an unepoxied board, where Ebonol feel like you're playing a synthetic slab plastic IMO
sure, Ebonol is harder than real wood - but unless you're playing with a clamp hand (considered to be poor fretless technique BTW) you're not going to wear real wood that fast anyway (even with RotoSounds) ... that epoxied Maple board has shown zero string wear to date, and it's the fretless bass used by a local first-call session/live bassist here in Seattle. hundreds of gigs/sessions with D'Addario rounds and still nothing more than the slightest bit of string marking
for the image above, it's the poor lighting making it look satin ... this buffed out nice and glossy
R
sure, Ebonol is harder than real wood - but unless you're playing with a clamp hand (considered to be poor fretless technique BTW) you're not going to wear real wood that fast anyway (even with RotoSounds) ... that epoxied Maple board has shown zero string wear to date, and it's the fretless bass used by a local first-call session/live bassist here in Seattle. hundreds of gigs/sessions with D'Addario rounds and still nothing more than the slightest bit of string marking
for the image above, it's the poor lighting making it look satin ... this buffed out nice and glossy
R
line6man said:
That's why I like it. It's jet black, moreso than most Gaboon Ebony, and completely devoid of grain lines. It's also incredibly slick - there's no wood like it at all. I'd actually want it for regular fretted necks, as I'm not a fretless player.
Of course, there is another solution to fretless boards without abandoning wood. Has anyone ever heard of acrylized wood? The stuff is amazing, and you retain all the natural beauty of wood with a hardness that surpasses pretty much anything out there.
line6man
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ironfist said:
no offense, but that sounds crazy to me...
i would take a nice wood grain look over plain black any day of the week.
i dont have an ebony board, but take a look at this picture and try to tell me that a tan colored (ebonal type) board would look better...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28212214@N05/2700108172/in/set-72157606353782634/
what is acrylized wood?
is it like Zon's Phenowood?
from what i have heard, Phenowood is sort of like sawdust mixed into epoxy.
so you still have a good "wood" tone, but with the strength of the epoxy.
line6man
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i respect all your preferences, however, someone needs to explain this to me...
on the one hand, you have a piece of ebony wood, grown from a tree somewhere in africa (or something) and perfected by nature.
it shows off a beautiful grain and looks and feels great.
on the other hand, you have a piece of (plastic) thats made by a machine in a factory.
it has no beauty to it, just a solid black.
i dont mean to sound argumentative, but i just dont understand the reasoning here.
on the one hand, you have a piece of ebony wood, grown from a tree somewhere in africa (or something) and perfected by nature.
it shows off a beautiful grain and looks and feels great.
on the other hand, you have a piece of (plastic) thats made by a machine in a factory.
it has no beauty to it, just a solid black.
i dont mean to sound argumentative, but i just dont understand the reasoning here.
GoDrex
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I always though solid black is what most ebony looks like anyway and what was what people wanted when it came to ebony fretboards. People even buy stain to make sure their ebony is solid black. The idea of having all this crazy grain is something very new to me. A lot of it looks like something that might be in Elvis' Jungle Room. 
SkuttleFunk
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ironfist said:
I have used acrylicized woods for fretless fingerboards on numerous instruments - this is they way to go instead of Ebonol IMO
you can't do spalted maple for a fingerboard unless it's been acrylicized - and Larry Davis at Gallery Hardwoods has the best product on the market today bar none
R
But this is the Warmoth site, they spend thousands of man-hours scouring the globe to find neat-o wood.... If you want an ebonol board, go get one. You can probably even order a Warmoth neck without a fingerboard and have one put on there. There oughta be a mission statement somewhere from Warmoth that mentions what it is that they do. :icon_scratch:
knuckle_head
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line6man said:
If I may - the stuff (garolyte) I get to use does have a grain to it as it seems they use black or dyed-black layers of cellular material along with the resin so that when the board is radiused a subtle grain presents itself. I used to use ebony exclusively but grew tired of how it moved/shrank/cracked in time. The longer/wider the ebony the more problematic it can be.
Besides, the garolyte is absolutely black and buffs out to a reasonably high gloss with no finish on it what-so-ever. It does indeed sound like ebony.
