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  1. #1
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    Default Locally available substitute for rosewood?

    Hi all

    I've been using jarrah for fretboards on my funny little guitars for the past couple of years, but I finally ordered some Indian Rosewood fretboards from a US supplier and discovered that rosewood is actually quite soft compared to jarrah. No wonder it's been taking me about an hour to cut the slots in each fretboard!

    So my question is, would someone like to suggest some locally available substitutes for Indian rosewood?

    I've tried New Guinea Rosewood, and although it smells great and is a pleasure to work with it's too soft and doesn't hold the frets particularly well. Tassie blackwood holds frets a little bit better but the rubbing of the strings against the timber beats it up way too quickly.

    Timbers used for fretboards in commercial manufacture are ebony, Indian Rosewood and sonekeling (sp) if that's any guide.

    Any ideas?
    Rob

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  3. #2
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    Default

    Maybe you could have a look at some of the inland acacias like mulga, weeping myall, gidgee. They are the same family as tas blackwood but slower growing and lots harder. We have just become the proud owners of a guitar made of bunya, Qld maple and blackwood and I'm a bit disappointed that they are still using rosewood fingerboard and bridge when we have such beautiful desert timbers.

  4. #3
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    Default

    Hi Len

    Is your new guitar Cole Clarke or Maton? Maton were using jarrah for the fretboards on one model but I think they're all rosewood now.
    Rob

  5. #4
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    Default

    er yes odd question, most of the local australian woods that get called Rose wood are not a dalbergia at all. NSW rosewood, (Dysoxylum fraseranum) is a really nice wood ( also called rose mahogany) but no where near hard enough for steel strung guitar fingerboards.

    A lot of aussie guitar makers use Gidgee, its great but u gotta get nice dry (3%) and well machined pieces. Other acacia such as Mulga, Brigalow, Lancewood, Dead finish are all good and hardwearing.

    I did some fingerboard test peices a while back on various woods and the Lancewood was definalty a favourite, hard as nails but looks really nice. I recomend it but u would have to try it for yr self i guess. Brigalow is really hard but dont have a nicer grain.

    Also why not look at Red,Ironbark, Cooktown Iron wood or Wandoo, a bitch to work but harder than anything else.

    check Scotts stuff at www.scottwise.net, he has some good info and pics using aussie woods for the whole instrument.

    And yes if u r really nice i can supply some well cured and cut to size lengths of some,the above species, just PM me..
    cheeers

  6. #5
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    Default

    Try http://www.australiantonewoods.com/ . They've got fingerboard blanks available in some of the desert acacia species. Good service too.

  7. #6
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    Default fret-boards

    Hi there
    I was up the top end a few years back and called in at a native timber yard in PINE CREEK - got myself some great slabs of IRONWOOD...
    Bloke there had piles and piles of thin-cut IRONWOOD and was making them for an INDIAN manufacturer of violins - these were to be the fret boards. . . So IRONWOOD might be suitable...
    Jedo

  8. #7
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    Eucalypt Banjos , here in Bris , use Cooktown Ironwood for fretboards . I have seen a u ku lay lee , fretboard done in redlance wood ( dead finish) & another in western rosewood , both seem to be doing ok but then I suppose there is a bit less wear with nylon strings .

    Veebull

  9. #8
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    mmm nice woods at that west Aussie site, yum...thanks for the link..

    ironwood i think is pretty generic term for a variety of hardish species...
    desert ironwood or cooktowon ironwood i i have seen used in guitars and banjo fretboards

    attached is few pics...

    first is 6 pieces from left, gidgee, mulga, lancewood, NG red ebony, budgeroo and a strange wood i was told was australian rosewood but it dont look like any other rosewood, more like a Eucalypt, i undertand somered eucs have been lable a rosewood..anyways its pretty hard...

    The Red ebony is really nice and hard but kinda open grained....

    the other 2 are closer views of the same woods...
    smaller pieces are around 46 cm larger aorund 60cm..

    as most of it is bought stock i gotta put some cost on it, but u can have them as test samples for $ 10 a piece so you can try em out, and if u want prepared lenghts i can do it for around half of what the various sites want...

    cheeeeeers
    john

  10. #9
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    Cooktown Ironwood & Ironwood are not generic terms, both are totally different to look at , not possible to confuse the two .Cooktown , is VERY HARD and grows in a very small area ( guess where ) it is also a true ironwood , it will not float in water .

    VEEBULL

  11. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by VEEBULL
    Cooktown Ironwood & Ironwood are not generic terms, both are totally different to look at , not possible to confuse the two .Cooktown , is VERY HARD and grows in a very small area ( guess where ) it is also a true ironwood , it will not float in water .

    VEEBULL
    ok cool thanks for info mate,,,

    heres the wiki link with general info, u may wanna check it out..

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironwood

    or the aussie woods link

    http://www.aussiewoods.info/species/...&Submit=Search

    seems an aweful lot of specifc kinds of ironwood....;-)
    dozens in fact..

    cheeeeeeers
    john

  12. #11
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Paul B
    Try http://www.australiantonewoods.com/ . They've got fingerboard blanks available in some of the desert acacia species. Good service too.
    Talk to Tim Spittle and Im sure hell be able to help you. I was looking at some violins the other day with ironwood fingerboards...hard as nails.

    I use mainly ebony on my acoustics....

    Cheers Martin
    Whatever note you blow youre never more than a semitone away from the correct one....(Miles Davis)

  13. #12
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    Default

    Hi Martin

    To save me an email to Tim do you know if his website prices are slotted or just a fingerboard blank?

    Jarrah seems very variable, hence my search for an alternative. The dark brown stuff slots nicely... the pink stuff is stringy and a real chore to cut. I was thinking my Stewmac fret slotting saw was blunt until I tried cutting an offcut of a Stewmac rosewood fretboard... it was the timber not the saw. I tried on some offcuts of maple from a neck blank and even that's nicer to cut than the jarrah. I run the saw over an old candle after each slot, but with the pinkish jarrah you need to wax the blade after each couple of strokes... gets tedious.
    Rob

  14. #13
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by JupiterCreek
    Hi Martin

    To save me an email to Tim do you know if his website prices are slotted or just a fingerboard blank?

    Jarrah seems very variable, hence my search for an alternative. The dark brown stuff slots nicely... the pink stuff is stringy and a real chore to cut. I was thinking my Stewmac fret slotting saw was blunt until I tried cutting an offcut of a Stewmac rosewood fretboard... it was the timber not the saw. I tried on some offcuts of maple from a neck blank and even that's nicer to cut than the jarrah. I run the saw over an old candle after each slot, but with the pinkish jarrah you need to wax the blade after each couple of strokes... gets tedious.
    Rob,

    Tim not actually advertising fretboard material at the moment but he is currently sourcing ebony and a few other alternatives.

    Most freboard suppliers supply un slotted blanks but many will slot them for an extra charge.

    I also wax my slotting saw....makes things alot easier and lowers risk of the saw jumping out of the half cut slot and damaging the fretboard.

    Im using ebony on all my fretboards....personal choice I guess but I just like the look.

    Give me a few days and Ill check out some alternative fretboard materials for you...got a couple of references in the library that list a few Ozzie woods.

    Cheers Martin
    Whatever note you blow youre never more than a semitone away from the correct one....(Miles Davis)

  15. #14
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    Default

    Hi Martin

    Thanks for the info.

    I use the Stewmac fret slotting mitre box with the adjustable fret slotting saw and templates that are based on the Stewmac ones, except I've made my own up from flat aluminium. I've made up blocks of wood that jam in next to the fretboard to hold it secure and stop it from jumping around on the return stroke. My "wax on - wax off" consists of running the blade across an old citronella candle. All very hight tech! )

    When you consider the prices people like Stewmac, LMII and Allen's are charging they're actually quite reasonable prices.

    Dan from Barking Log Products suggested brigalow as a possibility... seems brigalow is the NSW equivalent to our Mallee or the central Australian mulga. From what I've found on the web it could have possibilities, but it all comes down to how hard the stuff is to slot.
    Rob

  16. #15
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    Dan from Barking Log Products suggested brigalow as a possibility... seems brigalow is the NSW equivalent to our Mallee or the central Australian mulga.


    ah yes i live smack in the middle of the Brigalow belt,

    http://www.deh.gov.au/biodiversity/t.../brigalow.html

    http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/...low+Belt+South

    which is largley in Qld...but hell i didnt make the borders..

    heaps of it used up here, traditionally for sleepers and fence posts etc.. there area few different kinds of brigalow (Acacia harpophylla ). Its about 2wice as hard as the other local acacias such as mulga or gidgee and has a less defined but denser grain..

    please find attached a pic

    From what I've found on the web it could have possibilities, but it all comes down to how hard the stuff is to slot.


    .it slots well with my PAX saw, in fact its close to excellent but i guess you will need to try it for yr self....the acacias can be bit 'chippy' much like ebony, the brigalow seems to be less chippy than the other...s, it is very hard and dense, like seriously so..the Lancewood (Acacia petraea) also seems to slot pretty well, the Gidgee seems to be the most brittle..from the bits i have

    cheeeeeeers
    john

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