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Alternative materials for fretless fingerboard . Ideas ?

johnh89

johnh89

Jan 25, 2020
798
2,070
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Kent UK
#1
I have a spare neck that is going to be converted to a fretless , headless . Last fretless conversion that I posted on here I used a richlite board which was my choice for this latest neck , but before I pull the trigger , I thought I would open it up for any ideas .

I have considered english oak , ash or various other hardwoods . Also glass , polished aluminium , stainless or ceramic . I am open to any ideas , however off the wall .

Over to you , the hive minds of TB for some ideas .
 
#6
Having done a bit of DIY Micarta, I would be tempted to go that route myself. Things to watch out for are dry spots in fabric layers and over-clamping the uncured billet which has the potential to squeeze out the epoxy and starve the lamination leading to... well, delamination!

From a purely aesthetic perspective, I really don't care for the garish color choices in the video posted above, and would be tempted to go for a more understated color pallet of blacks, greys, browns, greens, etc. Additionally, the "raindrop" pattern used in the video is a bit distracting (to me and my ADD...) hey! Squirrel! A simple wave pattern could (relatively) easily be carved into a top and bottom plate by hand and provide a little "movement" in the lam.

Hmm... now I've got myself considering this!:roflmao:
 
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#7
Here’s what I’m using, carbon fiber
8FBBBDA9-F37E-447C-A3B6-08260980A6BB.jpeg
 
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#8
I'll toss out a goofy idea that just might work:

Make the fingerboard from a good hardwood, like ebony or whatever. Then inlay strips of metal following the string paths, but offset maybe 1/4" to the bass side. When you play normally, you are on the ebony. But bend a little bit, and you push the string over onto the metal. Metallic slide guitar sound, when you want it.

A few technical issues, but I think it could work.
 
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#9
This would probably be a terrible idea for a fretless board, but I always thought it would be interesting to do one like Danny Gatton's black pearloid Telecaster. I've never found a very good picture, but it looks like the entire board is surfaced with blocks of black and white pearloid.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
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#11
johnh89 said:
I knew you would all come up with some off the wall ideas . Thanks all and keep 'em coming . It seems that I have some more research to do .
Click to expand...

Are you trying to do something interesting with the sound, or do just want it to be decorative and crazy looking? What is your goal?
 
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#13
johnh89 said:
Not particularly looking for crazy aesthetics . Its all about the sound . I am happy to be the grey man in the background .
Click to expand...

If you really want to do a metal fingerboard, I recommend making it from aluminum, then polishing it and having it chrome plated at an auto plating place. There are some engineering problems, but it's workable. I did an aluminum fingerboard guitar for a customer like that many years back, and it worked.

A metal fingerboard fretless bass? Meh, in my opinion. Not worth the trouble. Put a chrome slide on your finger to get almost the same effect. And, to me, that sound isn't very interesting or useful. Maybe it is to you.
 
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#14
Bruce Johnson said:
If you really want to do a metal fingerboard, I recommend making it from aluminum, then polishing it and having it chrome plated at an auto plating place. There are some engineering problems, but it's workable. I did an aluminum fingerboard guitar for a customer like that many years back, and it worked.

A metal fingerboard fretless bass? Meh, in my opinion. Not worth the trouble. Put a chrome slide on your finger to get almost the same effect. And, to me, that sound isn't very interesting or useful. Maybe it is to you.
Click to expand...

Think I may agree with your thoughts on that .
 
#16
If you want something a bit different, try Gidgee!

it’s a slow growing Australian outback timber (a distant relative of Hawaiian Koa) that is rated as the third hardest timber in the world.

I used to use it for fingerboards as it’s super stable once dry, looks really nice (the ringed variety can be super figured) but gave up because it destroys saw blades…

It’s hard enough that you wouldn’t have to coat it in epoxy.
 
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#18
I wouldn’t think aluminum would hold up to string wear long. It would have to be coated with something.
I think Bois d’arc would make a good fingerboard and look quite unique; sort of orange after being exposed for a while. It’s quite hard for North American woods at 2610 on the Janka Hardness scale. For comparison, here are a few other North American wood Janka hardness ratings;
Hickory, Pecan - 1,820
Hard Maple - 1,450
White Oak - 1,360
Beech - 1,300
Red Oak - 1,290
Yellow Birch - 1,260
Green Ash - 1,200
Black Walnut - 1,010

Here is a pic of sealed bois d’arc (Bow Wood when translated to English).
upload_2022-7-6_19-47-47.jpeg
 
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#19
Everyone is always trying to make fretless boards “harder”.
Why not try the opposite and make it out of something softer?
Sure you might need to do a little dressing during every few string changes, but the sound might be very warm, gentle and sweet.
 
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