Thread: Spotted gum fretboards?

I haven't used all spotted gum but one of my fingerboards has a spotted gum inlay.

It finished up nice and smooth, I'd make a whole fingerboard out of it , no worries.
Nice colour too imo. Something a bit different.

If you had the right piece it would certainly be hard enough and if you get some with some fiddleback even better
but
isn't it traditional to have dark fretboards?

cheers

I've heard you can have trouble glueing and finishing some gum/euclypt woods for guitars. The site you had said it may be hard to glue up and that it needs quite strong clamping?

Just check for a compatible finish to go with it, the reason being gums aparently leach their oils or whatever into or under the finish.

I've never worked with any gum woods but obviously there are ways to do it i've seen plenty of good looking furniture pieces.

Have fun, post photo's and let us know how you go.

Originally Posted by boatchippy

I haven't used all spotted gum but one of my fingerboards has a spotted gum inlay.

It finished up nice and smooth, I'd make a whole fingerboard out of it , no worries.
Nice colour too imo. Something a bit different.

Did you have any trouble glueing the inlay?

it is a good colour similar density to rosewood i spose but less red

Originally Posted by soundman

If you had the right piece it would certainly be hard enough and if you get some with some fiddleback even better
but
isn't it traditional to have dark fretboards?

cheers

Fretboards can be any colour you fancy but dark is the tradition. This is only because ebony was the traditional fretboard wood by nature of its physical properties and it also just happened to be black.

Re gluing the stuff.....if oils are a concern give it a wipe with meths or acetone before gluing with Titebond. For advice on using gum talk to Tim Spittle at Australian Tonewoods.

Originally Posted by old_picker

Did you have any trouble glueing the inlay?

it is a good colour similar density to rosewood i spose but less red

No problems at all. I used titebond II glue and well seasoned spotted gum.
It's true eucalypt hardwoods aren't the best for glues, however with modern glues, seasoned wood and a little bit of prep you shouldn't have a problem

To be sure of good adhesion you could wipe the timber down prior to glueing with acetone.
Be sure the timber is dry, otherwise wouldn't matter how good the glue up is, it'll move.

While on the subject eucalypti, i recently helped knock together a river red gum retaining wall, and noticed that 4 out of 16 boards had moderate to semi-intense fiddleback figure, all of course green but it seems that if one could season said boards correctly, you could get some very nice drop tops after resawing, its got a fairly high density air dry, but still less than other eucalytpts such as Jarrah (which is a shocker of a tone wood), but it may work as a drop top or a chambered body, necks even?


Any one had any experience with RRG as an instrument timber?

You want to check out the shrinkage of this stuff both with time and changes in humidity. having the fret ends protrude when the fingerboard shrinks can be murder on your fingers. And a pain in the ass to trim them back.

The board I have has been machined, kild dried and has cupped. I would assume by that and the fact of the long hot dry spell we have had here in melbourne that it should be pretty dry.

I dont have a hygro or the cash to get a good one

I reckon I wll slice up a bit and see how stable it is.

Id be concerned about the stability of that timber for a fretboard, over time it may force the frets up and cause some buzzing, just a thought

once properly dry spotted gum is prety damn stable... and hard.

If you want to find out how dry it is lop a 100g or so piece off the end and dry it in the microwave. 30 sec every 30 min should do it.

wiegh it befor you pit it back in every time... when it stops getting lighter its dry and you can calculate the moistuer content of the original board.

cheers

mm what a good idee

i knew there was a reason i kept me old beam balance

Originally Posted by soundman

once properly dry spotted gum is prety damn stable... and hard.

If you want to find out how dry it is lop a 100g or so piece off the end and dry it in the microwave. 30 sec every 30 min should do it.

wiegh it befor you pit it back in every time... when it stops getting lighter its dry and you can calculate the moistuer content of the original board.

cheers

Great Idea Soundman, Have you compared your results with that obtained using a moisture meter?

Also does your method depend on the shape of the timber? I would have thought as thin a board as possible would work best?

As well as weighing the piece of wood you should also micrometer it and note changes in dimensions after drying.