Fingerboard wood, possible alternatives

[Thomas Erickson]

Seeing as ebony is already becoming hard to find in the size and desirable quality for DB fingerboards, not to mention expensive and with questionable issues, maybe we can speculate on alternative woods and other materials.

I for one am interested in hearing about recent experiences with carbon/graphite boards in particular, and also I'm curious about some of the different stabilized/impregnated wood-based materials or whatever else might be an option.

It seems to me like the key issues when looking for a fingerboard are hardness, density, stiffness, ease of dressing, and color. These are all well understood qualities that should be simple enough to find in materials other than ebony, unlike the more mysterious qualities and the dimensional variables involved with other parts of the bass and their materials, no?

[Arnold Schnitzer]

Carbon fiber fails when it comes to ease of dressing. And it's pretty toxic. The one CF fingerboard I tested from Moses, Inc. was too rubbery for adequate neck stiffness. I tried Mesquite once--hard, but not stiff enough. I've thought about trying Ipe and Purpleheart, but haven't had the time.

[Ken Smith]

About 30+ years ago we started using a wood we considered an Ebony substitute called Caviuna by one supplier. Later we saw the wood used elsewhere called Morado. Then again, called Pau Ferro and also Bolivian Rosewood. The common names now that is most used in these parts is either Morado of the fancy Brazillian name Pau Ferro. Pau=wood and Ferro=ferrite/iron aka Iron wood. One book I have says there are over 80 species called Iron wood. It's just a descriptive name for very hard wood, not a particular species. Most wood names are names, not species as well.

The wood I am referring to is a 'Machaerium' species and that is the actual name the wood is called when it enters the country, 'Machaerium Villosum'.


Have a look here;http://www.kensmithbasses.com/woodpages/morado.html

Its weight is about 85% that of ebony but very stiff. Also, it is very stable and shrinks less in use making it an ideal substitute for Ebony FBs. The only draw back is the color being of various brown shades and never black IF that's a problem. I have seen a few DB FBs of this but only a few.

[Thomas Erickson]

Carbon fiber fails when it comes to ease of dressing. And it's pretty toxic. The one CF fingerboard I tested from Moses, Inc. was too rubbery for adequate neck stiffness. I tried Mesquite once--hard, but not stiff enough. I've thought about trying Ipe and Purpleheart, but haven't had the time.

Arnold - how long ago was it that you encountered the Moses board? I've heard reports of them having issues with stiffness, or lack thereof, but when i talked to someone at the company a while back they assured me it was no longer an issue. They also said that for more $$$ the fingerboards could perhaps be made extra stiff and also thicker than what they usually do.

I've also wondered about Ipe, since I hear it's about as hard and dense as wood gets. Anybody worked with the stuff?

The purpleheart I've had has always been a real pain to work with; lots of irregular grain that likes to splinter and tear out everywhere alternating with super dense rock hard stuff that's impossible to work. If, however, some really good quality wood was available I can see where it might make a good fingerboard. It does seem to have a nice consistent color and texture that would look good.