bloodwood or pau ferro?

blindeddie · #1 02-12-2009, 08:41 AM

i've been thinking about replacing my fretted neck with a new fretless neck. my question is, which fingerboard would be more wear resistant, bloodwood or pau ferro? i don't really want to use ebony.

scottyd · #2 02-12-2009, 09:26 AM

Bloodwood

insomniac2295 · #3 02-12-2009, 09:29 AM

+1 to that!

vbasscustom · #4 02-12-2009, 09:36 AM

yup, give er with that sweet sweet bloodwood

blindeddie · #5 02-12-2009, 10:17 AM

thanks for the input. i know ebony is probably better, but i'm just over the whole black appearance thing.

elros · #6 02-12-2009, 10:31 AM

Mine is bloodwood. But it's too new to make any impression on wear.

scottyd · #7 02-12-2009, 12:40 PM

Having hand radiused several fingerboards, I would have to say that bloodwood is right up there with ebony in hardness and density. Plus it's red!!

jordan_frerichs · #8 02-12-2009, 02:12 PM

blood wood. is. amazing. if you have never worked with it, then use bloodwood. if smells amazing to work with. so far it is my favorate wood.

vbasscustom · #9 02-12-2009, 03:13 PM

here, check this out, it should help some people decide on some wood choices

http://www.countyfloors.com/about_janka.html

hoytbasses · #10 02-13-2009, 07:15 PM

pau-ferro is obnoxious to work with.. I hate the smell.. but don't discount it as a fingerboard wood. Also very hard and comparable to bloodwood from a density point of view. I've used it on a couple fretlesses and it has a nice fretless 'sizzle ' to it. Even with rounds, it will be years of heavy use before it has to be dressed.

I think it's really an aesthetic choice. what's going to look the best on your particular instrument.....

BUT............... bloodwood IS red :-)

BigOldHarry · #11 02-13-2009, 07:24 PM

I have bloodwood on my new clement and it's pretty cool - But why the nix on Ebony?

scottyd · #12 02-13-2009, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigOldHarry

I have bloodwood on my new clement and it's pretty cool - But why the nix on Ebony?

Price, you can get a bloodwood board for much less than what a Madagascar Ebony one would cost. This Ebony is getting higher and higher due to export restrictions. There are other ebonys, but bloodwood is still slightly cheaper and it's RED!!

astrah · #13 02-13-2009, 11:40 PM

Be careful and use appropriate breathing protection cutting bloodwood though. I used to use it making furniture, until I was sensitized to it. I was sick for months coughing up redish flegm. Not fun. Like many rain forest woods, it contains some pretty awful toxins, and the dust can be powder fine and permeate your lungs very rapidly.

tjclem · #14 02-14-2009, 05:51 AM

Bloodwood rocks. Great stuff my favorite FB wood. Funny nobody mentioned it was RED yet.

Love the smell too.

joeyl · #15 02-14-2009, 08:30 AM

I don't really like bloodwood because it is too RED for my taste, but ymmv

vbasscustom · #16 02-14-2009, 02:59 PM

i actually hate the smell of it, it burns my nose, and is just generally an unpleasent smell. but mahogany now, that smells like bacon, i enjoy that