Talk to me about Chinese Fingerboards?

[rgarcia26]

On ebay u can see many of those they claim to be ebony, its that true?
Any Honest opinion about their quality?
how they compare to German’s FBs?

PS I did a Forum Search before asking this question “didn’t find anything about it ”

[Cody Sisk]

The cliché "you get what you pay for" applies here. Like any wood, ebony comes in different grades. Oftentimes, cheap boards will have pits and soft spots that make planing/dressing a nightmare. More quality ebony should be uniform and extremely dense. Unfortunately, good quality ebony comes at a real premium these days. The world's supply of this slow-growing wood is dwindling and sustainable harvesting is an ideal that we're nowhere close to.

My advice is to buy the best quality board you can afford. If you skimp out and go too cheap, you will have a hellova time trying to fit and dress the board.

[rgarcia26]

Originally Posted by DallasStrings

The cliché "you get what you pay for" applies here. Like any wood, ebony comes in different grades. Oftentimes, cheap boards will have pits and soft spots that make planing/dressing a nightmare. More quality ebony should be uniform and extremely dense. Unfortunately, good quality ebony comes at a real premium these days. The world's supply of this slow-growing wood is dwindling and sustainable harvesting is an ideal that we're nowhere close to.

My advice is to buy the best quality board you can afford. If you skimp out and go too cheap, you will have a hellova time trying to fit and dress the board.

what they have its 100% black, that's make me suspicious

[Jake deVilliers]

Originally Posted by rgarcia26

On ebay u can see many of those they claim to be ebony, its that true?
Any Honest opinion about their quality?
how they compare to German’s FBs?

PS I did a Forum Search before asking this question “didn’t find anything about it ”

Here's all you need to know about cutting corners on your fingerboard, and a few other things besides.
Go ahead and read the whole site while you're there, its a good start:

http://jeffbollbach.com/JB%20II/luthier_rant1.htm

[AuxOne]

Jeff is my luthier! Small world

[rgarcia26]

Originally Posted by AuxOne

Jeff is my luthier! Small world

Very interesting articles on his website. I wish he will give up some secrets

[sjd007]

And wear a mask - after dressing my fingerboard I was coughing up black s**t for days!

Simon

[Cody Sisk]

Originally Posted by sjd007

And wear a mask - after dressing my fingerboard I was coughing up black s**t for days!

Simon

Agreed! You don't want that stuff in your lungs man, it's a carcinogen!

[sjd007]

I know I know! You make the mistake, and share it, hopefully no-one else does!!

[timobee4]

I would be very careful with those finger boards, I have a beautiful Chinese bass, I paid top dollar for it and when I took it to my luthier to shoot it he said that it is of a great quality ebony but when one of my friend actually bought one thinking of saving money it turned out to be hardwood, perfect size and shape but the black color was dye from a hardware store! One wipe with a cotton bud and it was all black along fight his fingers.

[fdeck]

Originally Posted by timobee4

I would be very careful with those finger boards, I have a beautiful Chinese bass, I paid top dollar for it and when I took it to my luthier to shoot it he said that it is of a great quality ebony but when one of my friend actually bought one thinking of saving money it turned out to be hardwood, perfect size and shape but the black color was dye from a hardware store! One wipe with a cotton bud and it was all black along fight his fingers.

By "shoot" do you mean plane or dress the FB?

Here in 'merka, "shooting" is reserved for varmints and the odd occasion when Bristol Palin is on TV.

[T-zone]

I have a CCB, the fingerboard is maple painted black to look like ebony... plays fine, but I'm absolutely confident that I couldn't do any work on it if I wanted to.

[timobee4]

Haha! Shooting means when the neck its worked on to achieve that nice curve so there is no buzz along the fingerboard even at very low action, I am not a luthier to know all the trade lingos, that is how it was explained to me, I do know that on a bass guitar you must have what they call a neck relief and what I meant by what I said was equivalent to that. Different lingo developed in different parts of the world I guess. So shooting the neck means when you tie your bass to a tree and shoot it with an AK-47 until if fits into a shoe box

Originally Posted by fdeck

By "shoot" do you mean plane or dress the FB?

Here in 'merka, "shooting" is reserved for varmints and the odd occasion when Bristol Palin is on TV.