String bending on wenge fingerboards

[Cracka G]

Hello all.  First post here.  I'm currently building a CBS style strat with a red dyed, flamed maple top, rear 2-1-2 pickup routing, and fixed bridge.  I'm contemplating neck materials.  I have one strat with maple/maple and one with maple/rosewood.  I'm thinking to try something different.  I have several Warwick basses with wenge necks and fingerboards and love that wood for the bass.  However, I have never played guitar strings on a wenge fingerboard.  Maybe I should try rolling some over one of my bass necks. 

Can the owners of guitars with wenge fingerboards please provide some imput as far as what other fingerboard woods the feel of wenge compares to.  How is string bending compared to a nice ebony or finished maple fingerboard?  Has anyone noticed any issues with excessive wear?

BTW, Howard's Feed-N-Wax works great on wenge.  However, if you play it regularly, the oil from your skin should be enough to keep it looking good.

 

[line6man]

Were you talking about radial or tangential grain? It will make a very big difference if the fretboard is quartersawn.

 

[Cracka G]

I believe it is flat sawn.

 

[bagman67]

I have a pretty-close-to-quartersawn wenge/wenge neck on Quty Pie, and the fingerboard is perhaps the least "different" feeling thing about it.  I have tall-ish stainless frets (6115), and I am not a real strangler when it comes to my touch on the guitar - I don't squeeze the strings very tightly against the neck.  Consequently, I don't end up feeling the fingerboard much. But to compare it to other textures, it feels a lot closer to rosewood than to, say, ebony.  But it feels slicker than rosewood.

 

[fdesalvo]

With that large, parallel, open grain, I can only imagine the strings will catch while bending.  Maybe I'm a sensitive ninny, but I've been able to feel the grain of some of the cheaper rosewood planks.

 

[Cracka G]

I have a pretty-close-to-quartersawn wenge/wenge neck on Quty Pie,

Thanks for your input.  Beautiful looking neck/fingerboard.  The difference between flat sawn and quarter sawn is interesting because it is possible to get a piece of "flat sawn" (from the center of the tree) wood that is exactly the same as a piece of true quarter sawn wood.  Of course, it doesn't always happen, but it is possible.  I think a lot of "quarter sawn" pieces are just the byproduct of selecting the best pieces from a flat saw job.  Now, if the necks/fingerboards were formed in the sagital plane (as opposed to the longitudinal plane of flat sawn, quarter sawn, and rift sawn cuts) of the tree, the grain would be perpendicular to what yours is and I'm sure it would have a completely different feel.  It would have a peppered/dotted pattern when viewed from the top of the fingerboard or the back of the neck.  Of course, one would need a massive wenge tree to make a neck by cutting it this way.  Interestingly, Millettia laurentii does grow big enough to do this:  http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/wenge/  However, I've yet to see a guitar or bass neck cut this way.

Bagman67, can you provide any feedback regarding string bending on your fingerboard?  As fdesalvo points out, I am concerned with the strings catching on the grain while bending.  On a bass, the strings are so much thicker that it isn't an issue.  But I wonder about the G, B, & E strings on a guitar.  Maybe my concern is unfounded, but there doesn't seem to be too much info online about this issue.

 

[bagman67]

No problem bending at all.  Visually, those big, open pores are pretty prominent - but in playing, they really make no difference at all.

 

[fdesalvo]

I should've mentioned that I don't have the lightest touch lol

 

[Cracka G]

Thanks, bagman67.

fdesalvo, I believe I'm like you.  I play heavy strings with high action.  I like to really chop at the strings with my pick hand.  I don't think I really wrench the strings with my fretting hand, but I know that I like more resistance than 9's set as low as they can go.  Friends who like light strings and low action don't like playing my guitars--which suits me just fine.  :toothy10: