French Bass full restoration

[Scott Pope]

A very dark hardwood, like rosewood, walnut or ebony, so as not to detract from the flame?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Scott Pope

A very dark hardwood, like rosewood, walnut or ebony, so as not to detract from the flame?

Rosewood or Ebony will move and shrink at a much greater rate than Maple throughout the seasons. Also, they are Oily woods and should be de-resinated befor gluing. On the Loveri, we used Tropical Walnut which I supplied, aged in my stock for over 15 years.

[Matthew Tucker]

I'm looking sideways at a nice sliver of very dark zebrawood right now. You can hardly see the brown/black striping, but it is there.

[Scott Pope]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

Rosewood or Ebony will move and shrink at a much greater rate than Maple throughout the seasons. Also, they are Oily woods and should be de-resinated befor gluing. On the Loveri, we used Tropical Walnut which I supplied, aged in my stock for over 15 years.

Ken, thanks. I did not know that. I thought being dense they were more dimensionally stable than that, and although I know rosewood is resinous, I didn't know ebony was considered the same. That would make them difficult to glue for a thin stringer. Another dense wood that comes to mind that, in spite of its name, does age to a dark, even brown is purpleheart. What is your opinion of that wood as a stringer? I see it a lot on the electric side of things.

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

I'm looking sideways at a nice sliver of very dark zebrawood right now. You can hardly see the brown/black striping, but it is there.

Indeed. I have a chunk of that right now I'm thinking about as a bridge block on an electric guitar to contrast the reddish finish.

[Matthew Tucker]

Personally, I don't think dimensional stability on a 2mm wide piece of whatever is anywhere near as important as the dimensional stability of the 14" wide pieces of maple its glued to! Even if it is (properly seasoned) wood that shrinks and expands more than maple, it is only a very small percentage of its own dimension, and a small percentage of 2mm is a tiny fraction of a small percentage of the maple, if you see what i mean. And the long-ways shrinkage is insignificant. I'm more concerned about it "taking" hide glue but I haven't yet met a wood that can't be glued with hide glue very well. I'm sure they exist but i haven't found it yet.

I have not personally seen the need to de-resin (or de-oil!) ebony before gluing. And none of my fingerboards have fallen off yet.

The only problem *I* have with purpleheart is the revolting colour. How anyone can love it, is beyond me :-)

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

Personally, I don't think dimensional stability on a 2mm wide piece of whatever is anywhere near as important as the dimensional stability of the 14" wide pieces of maple its glued to! Even if it is (properly seasoned) wood that shrinks and expands more than maple, it is only a very small percentage of its own dimension, and a small percentage of 2mm is a tiny fraction of a small percentage of the maple, if you see what i mean. And the long-ways shrinkage is insignificant. I'm more concerned about it "taking" hide glue but I haven't yet met a wood that can't be glued with hide glue very well. I'm sure they exist but i haven't found it yet.

I have not personally seen the need to de-resin (or de-oil!) ebony before gluing. And none of my fingerboards have fallen off yet.

The only problem *I* have with purpleheart is the revolting colour. How anyone can love it, is beyond me :-)

Over time with Ebony glued to maple you can feel the glue joint edge. So, something like the back of a bass is not like a fingerboard that can be replaced over time. The center strip of the back must stay for life and by the age of this or any other bass, we are talking 100s of years. Mostly, I see strips of maple being used on maple backs. Nothing fancy but it works. If you want dark, walnut works just fine. Having a bit of experience with all of these woods mentioned, I think maple or walnut are your best choices and colors to work from.

[Matthew Tucker]

All good points Ken.

On the other hand, a fingerboard is a much bigger chunk of ebony, glued to a smaller chunk of maple. So the movement is going to be more significant there.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

All good points Ken.

On the other hand, a fingerboard is a much bigger chunk of ebony, glued to a smaller chunk of maple. So the movement is going to be more significant there.

Lol, for sure but to find out, you might have to live a bit longer than the rest of us.