Alternative materials for fretless fingerboard . Ideas ?

[Matt Liebenau]

Yes... but it's in furniture I designed and built.

I still have a huge piece of it here. It ain't cheap.

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Ummm… picture of the whole piece of furniture? That’sa not gonna cut it! See… I couldn’t even tell what it was. You made me type “piece of furniture.”

 

[Grinderman]

Ummm… picture of the whole piece of furniture? That’sa not gonna cut it! See… I couldn’t even tell what it was. You made me type “piece of furniture.”

I'm not selling anything here and I value my anonymity.

//It's just a low center table.

 

[Grinderman]

@Matt Liebenau

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Some Rocklite Ebano I used on a recent build. It looks like perfectly jet black ebony in person, very convincing grain pattern to it, and it works just like real wood, maybe a little less splintery than real ebony. It looks more realistic than Ebanol/Richlite to my eyes. I got this from LMI back when they still had it in stock, been unobtanium for a while due to the Covid Effect. I assume it will eventually be available again.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

@Matt Liebenau

View attachment 4742425

I like it. Definitely worse color combinations in the world then black and yellow.

 

[Grinderman]

I like it. Definitely worse color combinations in the world then black and yellow.

For specific context in a specific project.

 

[Grinderman]

Some Rocklite Ebano I used on a recent build. It looks like perfectly jet black ebony in person, very convincing grain pattern to it, and it works just like real wood, maybe a little less splintery than real ebony. It looks more realistic than Ebanol/Richlite to my eyes. I got this from LMI back when they still had it in stock, been unobtanium for a while due to the Covid Effect. I assume it will eventually be available again.

This leads me to wonder how well Ebanol and Richlite could take or present a convincing linear grain created with a course grit abrasive, in a manner similar to making brushed aluminum.

 

[Barticus]

I presume many here have seen this before?

Nope have now

 

[Grinderman]

Depends on the grade of aluminum; some are more scratch-proof than others. Aluminum can also be anodized, which provides extra surface hardness as well as the opportunity for a range of irritatingly bright colors.

6061-T5, another hunk of material I happen to have laying around here, besides Richlite.

Rings like a bell.

 

[Grinderman]

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).View attachment 4741942

6061-T5 hard anodized, on it's own, it would be fine. Alternatively, if that's inlayed flush into another board material, like markers (dots, blocks, lines), even more positively fine.