S
Spud
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Whoa momma!I've got a ziricote board on my baritone canary neck and love it. Similar feel to ebony and very attractive grain. What's not to like?
Favorite neck woods?
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ragamuffin
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Thanks! I got pretty lucky on it; I didn't choose a "unique choice" board, so I wasn't really expecting the figure to be so nice
stratamania
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I was thinking I'd get some figuring on this board. Also, it's a tobacco sunburst strat, so black may not be the best color.
I should have gotten ebony on my recent tele
Perhaps check out Macassar ebony. Not all ebony is black.
JohnnyHardtail
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Ziricote is a lovely wood. I have owned many necks with Pau Ferro fretboard, but my latest with Ziricote seems like an upgrade. Looks great and is hard, but not as hard as ebony. Maybe I'm the only person on this forum who isn't impressed with ebony. People may disagree but I think ebony affects the tone, giving a crisp and dry sound.
cromulent
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I assume it's unfinished... Curious what you do to maintain it. Tru Oil?
ragamuffin
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Yep it's unfinished. And nuthin'! Tru Oil is a hardening oil/varnish so you wouldn't want to use that. If the wood gets reaaaaaaaly dry and you feel the need to apply something a tiny drop of mineral oil or lemon oil (scented mineral oil) will work like a charm.
stratamania
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If the instrument is kept in a reasonable environment, the wood will not get "reaaaaaaaly dry"
Mineral oil or lemon oil, which is rarely made from lemons (at least the sort sold for guitars) is more of a cleaner, which is ideally a wipe on and wipe off proposition.
The idea of "oiling" wood to stop it drying out, I think, is a fallacious one. It's wood, not a car engine.
I have ebony boards here, some nearly forty years old, and none of them have needed oiling or have dried out or expanded due to absorbing too much moisture.
S
Spud
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Still, what if it were to get reeeeaally, super mega, extremely, bone dry devoid of even a remembrance of humidity?!!!
S
Spud
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Every now and again, maybe once in approx two years, I do wipe down my rosewood fingerboards with good old 3 in 1 household oil. The ebony one I have I basically leave alone.
stratamania
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Still, what if it were to get reeeeaally, super mega, extremely, bone dry devoid of even a remembrance of humidity?!!!
If it gets that bad, then go here, get pickin' and clickin'.
Rick
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Conditioning is the wrong purpose for tru oil. Curious where that came from ... You want a some mineral oil. I've only seen ebony split in bone dry conditions after 25 years. I bought the guitar and fixed the split with advice of dan erlwine s assistant. That guitar is almost 50 years old now
JohnnyHardtail
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I recommend a light application of mineral oil or Dunlop lemon oil. Most fretboards won't have a problem in normal use because the fretboard aborbs the human oils from the player's hands. It can become an issue when the guitar isn't played for a period of time. Once the wood starts to develop cracks, then it is a bit too late. Ebony will dry out and form tiny cracks eventually, so a light oiling is a worthwhile precaution IMO.
stratamania
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It is linseed oil based, and may have some other mineral type oils in it along with driers etc but it is a proprietary product made by Birchwood Casey for finishing gunstocks. It happens also to be a good finishing material for necks in particular.
S
Spud
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Outstanding sir!
stratamania
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What did you end up deciding on for woods in the end?
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