Graphite Fingerboards

[disaster]

I've played a few graphite guitars & I love the feel of the graphite fingerboard.  Smooth & very fast.  Unfortunately I'm not as thrilled about the sound & feel of the all graphite guitars.  It would be great to see Warmoth add graphite fingerboards to their arsenal.  Graphite & Satin Maple would be sweet.

 

[tubby.twins]

Can you name some specific examples of guitars that you've played, which had true "graphite" fingerboards?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that most "graphite" guitar or bass necks (i.e. carbon fiber or graphite composite construction) used another material for the fingerboards, such as ebony, ebonal, phenowood, etc.  But not graphite itself as a fingerboard.  Wouldn't it be too powdery to hold the frets?

Or maybe I'm totally off base here...

 

[chrisg]

These guys do graphite necks - http://www.mosesgraphite.com/details/necks.html

Never seen one myself, so interested in any feedback.

 

[Wyliee]

I think you're talking about carbon fiber/graphite necks. 

I would be deeply concerned about the expansion ratio of such dis-similar products as maple and carbon fiber.  The 'graphite' necks are exceptionally stable and can see any expansion of the wood causing the neck to move in all manner of crazy ways.

 

[shanejw]

Yeah, I'm not so sure about this one.

 

[Jeremiah]

I know Status Graphite in the UK (http://www.status-graphite.com) generally use phenolic fingerboards on their graphite necks.

However, they also make a graphite guitar with a maple top, and also have graphite necks with rosewood fingerboards on some instruments. So it must be possible to bond the wood to the graphite despite the expansion of the wood.

One thing they don't seem to offer, however, is a graphite fretboard, so maybe there's some good reason for this...

Edit: Just looked at the Moses site and they claim graphite fingerboards are better than phenolic, so there you go..

 

[the7can6pack]

I've played a guitar with a Modulus neck and have absolutely no complaints.  Sounded great and felt just right.  Reassuring to know that the weather ain't gonna crash your party either.  Sucks to your barometer!

 

[disaster]

Can you name some specific examples of guitars that you've played, which had true "graphite" fingerboards?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that most "graphite" guitar or bass necks (i.e. carbon fiber or graphite composite construction) used another material for the fingerboards, such as ebony, ebonal, phenowood, etc.  But not graphite itself as a fingerboard.  Wouldn't it be too powdery to hold the frets?

Or maybe I'm totally off base here...

I've played 3: the RainSong acoustic, the Status Graphite, & something called the Handle (by XOX something: made in Italy).  100% graphite.

The Steinbegers have (or had) a maple neck w/ phenolic fingerboard.  I played one long ago..... Very nice to play.  I'm told the phenolic material doesn't hold up very well though.  No experience with that however.

 

[dbw]

Ebony is just like graphite, but it grows on trees.

 

[chrisg]

Ebony is just like graphite, but it grows on trees.

From wikipedia:

Ebony is a general name for very dense black wood. In the strict sense it is yielded by several species in the genus Diospyros, but other heavy, black (or dark colored) woods (from completely unrelated trees) are sometimes also called ebony. Some well-known species of ebony include Diospyros ebenum (Ceylon ebony), native to southern India and Sri Lanka, and Diospyros crassiflora (Gaboon ebony), native to western Africa.  Ebony is one of the most intensely black woods known, which, combined with its very high density (it is one of the woods that sink in water), fine texture, and ability to polish very smoothly, has made it very valuable as an ornamental wood.


The mineral graphite is one of the allotropes of carbon. It was named by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789 from the Greek γραφειν (graphein): "to draw/write", for its use in pencils, where it is commonly called lead, as distinguished from the actual metallic element lead. Unlike diamond (another carbon allotrope), graphite is an electrical conductor, a semimetal, and can be used, for instance, in the electrodes of an arc lamp. Graphite holds the distinction of being the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions.