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12-23-2005, 09:16 AM
| | | | Spalted Fingerboards?
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I am looking to buy some spalted fingerboard, does anyone know where I could find em? Like a web site or other?
Thanks
Bingo  |
12-23-2005, 10:38 AM
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Owner and builder Clementbass | | Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Central Florida | | | |
12-23-2005, 10:39 AM
|  | Supporting Member
Owner/Builder: Regenerate Guitar Works | | Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Upper Left Corner (Seattle) | | send a PM to Larry Davis at Gallery Hardwoods, and take a visit to the Gallery forum then search on spalted fingerboards to find a couple of threads on them there. http://www.galleryhardwoods.com |
12-27-2005, 01:40 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: lower mid Sweden | | | Spalted fingerboard??!?
Normally, spalted means uneven hardness, which is about the worst scenario for a fingerboard.
One of those 'acrylized' boards may work, but natural spalted? Forget it and be happy.
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For better and for worse, 'til Kingdom comes. www.suburban.se Quote:
Originally Posted by Basschair
See what happens when you don't check out the FAQ section and use the search function?
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12-27-2005, 07:42 AM
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Owner and builder Clementbass | | Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Central Florida | | | I am going to mirror coat mine.t |
12-29-2005, 04:33 PM
| | TalkBass Pro
Owner: FBB Bass Works | | Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Maryland | | | Mirror coat won't improve stiffness or bending strength.
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owner: FBB Bass Works
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12-29-2005, 04:48 PM
| | Registered User
Owner and builder Clementbass | | Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Central Florida | | | Counting on the neck, not the fingerboard, for stiffness. |
12-29-2005, 10:33 PM
| | Registered User
Karl Thompson, Builder (Formerly Fat Karl) | | Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Stevens Point, WI | | Quote: |
Originally Posted by tjclem Counting on the neck, not the fingerboard, for stiffness. | Don't! The fingerboard is a considerable factor in the thickness of a neck. Besides strengthening the neck, the fingerboard also contributes a lot to the tone of the instrument. An acrylized spalted board might be alright, but a mirror coat isn't going to do as a substitute.  |
12-30-2005, 12:56 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: lower mid Sweden | | Quote: |
Originally Posted by Fat Karl Don't! The fingerboard is a considerable factor in the thickness of a neck. Besides strengthening the neck, the fingerboard also contributes a lot to the tone of the instrument. An acrylized spalted board might be alright, but a mirror coat isn't going to do as a substitute. | Exactly.
Just keep off using degraded/damaged wood except for body tops. Spalted=fungus damage.
__________________
For better and for worse, 'til Kingdom comes. www.suburban.se Quote:
Originally Posted by Basschair
See what happens when you don't check out the FAQ section and use the search function?
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12-30-2005, 06:13 AM
| | Registered User
Owner and builder Clementbass | | Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Central Florida | | | If a fingerboard is epoxy coated it is the coating you are hearing not the wood underneath. It doesn't matter if it is balsa or wenge. The stiffness is another factor though.......t |
12-30-2005, 07:19 AM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Central Southern Massachusetts | | | Personally I would prefer a consistent, solid-grained piece of wood vs. a varied, essentially diseased /rotting wood as a fingerboard when it comes to the rigors of holding up to the tension of a trussrod constantly pushing the underside.
perhaps, you could use a robust, close grained wood as the fingerboard, and top that with a spalted veneer (is such a thing available / possible?) and then topcoat that? You'd get the look while maintaining structural integrity...and an end result of more predictable, consistent tone?
Mon |
12-30-2005, 09:24 PM
| | Registered User
Owner and builder Clementbass | | Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Central Florida | | | perhaps, you could use a robust, close grained wood as the fingerboard, and top that with a spalted veneer (is such a thing available / possible?) and then topcoat that? You'd get the look while maintaining structural integrity...and an end result of more predictable, consistent tone?
Mon
Not a bad idea I might try using a 1/8" slice of Ipe under it.....t |
12-30-2005, 11:54 PM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: near detroit...uh | | | it.....
its hard to lump all spalted woods into one basket.
spalted maple is far different that spalted harwoods like
ebonies and rosewoods. like brazilian rosewood with spalted sapwood , roscoe and his spalted purpleheart and spalted cocbolo is very dense and wouldnt require any acrylic stabilization.
maybe if gards around he can enlighten us about how the spalted purpleheart holds up over time.
I have seen older roscoes and the spalted purpleheart has held up very well.
and rosewoods and ebonies are even more dense than that.
I would be so brave as to say any spalted maple fingerbaord should be vacuum stabilized with acrylic.
Todd |
12-31-2005, 01:30 AM
|  | Registered User
Endorsing artist: Brubaker Guitars | | Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: Gaithersburg, Md | | | By all means, don't.
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12-31-2005, 07:51 AM
| | Registered User
Owner and builder Clementbass | | Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Central Florida | | | very nice! |
12-31-2005, 09:54 AM
| | TalkBass Pro
Owner: FBB Bass Works | | Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Maryland | | | The spalted purpleheart and rosewoods are a little different than spalted maple. These woods get a little bit of blackline in the sapwood, but they are very decay resistant and so the wood does not degrade as readily nor does the decay become as extensive since it is generally limited to the sapwood. Maple is very susceptible to spalt and decay and the spalted maple offered for sale is as often badly degraded as it is not.
It's all interesting to look at and as always it comes down to the individual piece and how it is treated. The fingerboard is very important structurally and if it's fretted has the additional role of holding on to the frets. You owe it to yourself to put your fingerboards under heavy scrutiny before pressing them into service.
I do like the idea of laminating a thin layer of spalted maple onto ipe, then hitting it with Mirror Coat if you have your heart set on a non-stabilized, spalted maple fingerboard.
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owner: FBB Bass Works
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12-31-2005, 10:35 AM
| | Registered User
Endorsing artist: Brubaker Guitars | | Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: Gaithersburg, Md | | | Thanks, tjclem. Happy to tell you that what you described is what Kevin Brubaker did… and it works very well. He built a one piece Maple neck, put an ~1/8” layer of Ebony on it and then about then same thickness of Spalted Maple. The entire bass has a gloss finish. The pictured bass is now over three years old and has been extremely stable. I keep the action very low low and it rarely requires a truss rod tweak and the fretwork has been free of any issues.
The bass is constructed with a very piece of Ash and overall has a super Ash/Maple vibe. |
12-31-2005, 03:01 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Baltimore, MD | | | I've got a spalted maple fb bass (no pics unfortunately yet) - wenge/bubinga neck, black korina body, thumbish clone. No stabilty or functional problems at all with the FB, but I gave it about 2 years to make sure the wood was ready (spalted,dried,treated,dried,finished,cured,etc). |
12-31-2005, 06:03 PM
| | Registered User
Karl Thompson, Builder (Formerly Fat Karl) | | Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Stevens Point, WI | | Quote: |
Originally Posted by tjclem If a fingerboard is epoxy coated it is the coating you are hearing not the wood underneath. It doesn't matter if it is balsa or wenge. The stiffness is another factor though.......t | Oh, so then it makes no difference what wood you use, as long as it's coated with something? So a bass made of balsa will sound just like a bass made of mahogany as long as they both have a laquer finish?  just a minor point. |
12-31-2005, 06:16 PM
| | Registered User
Owner and builder Clementbass | | Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Central Florida | | "fingerboard is epoxy coated"  | | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | | | | 
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