Yeah, according to their site, LMI still has some Indian Rosewood left in 6-string bass sizes, which are about 3" wide. For cheap; $26 for 1st grade, $17 for 2nd grade. It's very nice wood. I've bought a few over the years.
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Bad News: LMII is closing down.....
- Thread starter Bruce Johnson
- Start date
Yeah, according to their site, LMI still has some Indian Rosewood left in 6-string bass sizes, which are about 3" wide. For cheap; $26 for 1st grade, $17 for 2nd grade. It's very nice wood. I've bought a few over the years.
Are there reasonably-priced sources for bass guitar-size ebony and rosewood boards other than LMII?
Options for an extended-range bass seem pretty sparse. 4-string Fender-sized boards are more readily available from various places.
I've been looking around and the low-end price for ebony seems to be in the $80-ish range for a 28"-ish x 3"-ish piece.
A 27" x 2.75" piece of Richlite is $30-ish when bought direct. Rocklite is still unobtainable.
I'm interested in ebony mostly because I'd like my first project to be fretless. Any wood with comparable compatibility is fine -- I'm not stuck on wood types or colors because I'm not far along in planning yet. CA treatment on the surface of a softer wood is always an option although I'd rather not.
Options for an extended-range bass seem pretty sparse. 4-string Fender-sized boards are more readily available from various places.
I've been looking around and the low-end price for ebony seems to be in the $80-ish range for a 28"-ish x 3"-ish piece.
A 27" x 2.75" piece of Richlite is $30-ish when bought direct. Rocklite is still unobtainable.
I'm interested in ebony mostly because I'd like my first project to be fretless. Any wood with comparable compatibility is fine -- I'm not stuck on wood types or colors because I'm not far along in planning yet. CA treatment on the surface of a softer wood is always an option although I'd rather not.
That's the big question. There are a few other companies that sell ebony, milled to fingerboard size. But their prices will be at least as high as LMI's. And they are risky. The other places don't put the knowledge and care into drying and processing ebony that LMI did.
So, you buy an $80 ebony board from a reputable supplier, cut and fit it onto your project bass, and a month later it cracks. Because it wasn't dried properly. I had this happen to six of my Scroll Basses. Three of them had been delivered to customers. All six ebony fingerboards cracked right down the middle, end to end. It cost me thousands of bucks to repair them.
Since that experience, I've had a few other ebony fingerboard blanks here that came from other sources. Jobs for other Luthiers, where they bought it and sent it to me. Many of them cracked.
In 27 years of buying ebony fingerboards from LMI, none of them ever cracked, short term or long term.
Whatever you do, don't buy a larger rough-cut board of ebony, to saw up into a bunch of fingerboards. Particularly an old one that's been sitting around for ten years. It's guaranteed to crack as soon as you start sawing it into slices. I've done that too. It sure looked like a bargain at the lumberyard. It immediately cracked so severely when I sawed it that I wasn't able to get any fingerboards out of it.
For alternatives to ebony, I recommend this long thread. We compare the various synthetic alternatives to ebony which are available these days, pros and cons.
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/rocklite-the-latest-synthetic-ebony-for-fingerboards.1311057/
That thread starts out mostly about Rocklite, which is wonderful but not currently available here in the US. Later in the thread we cover the other classic alternatives. At the end of the thread we go over several new ones which have appeared in the last few years.
Take a look at Royal Blackwood, made in England but available here in the US. It's basically Purpleheart, which has been roasted and saturated with black dye. I haven't tried it yet myself, but I may soon.
a possibility… i got some massaranduba, which is used mostly for decking. Dirt cheap, very hard and dense. Its hardness is 3190 on the Janka scale, as opposed to the 3220 of Ebony, so pretty close. It would need to be dyed to get it black, but it's a nice wood. Ipe would be another possibility, but I've never used it.
here's a pic of the massaranduba after planing . I think this piece cost $4 or $5.
I researched a few of the ebony-substitute suppliers for that thread. Most of them seem more interested in making boards for the violin family than for the guitar family. Which is a bummer.
Looks like Allied Luthierie stocks Royal Blackwood, but only in guitar sizes. I wonder if they could be encouraged to stock larger boards as well. They do have some rosewood and cocobolo boards sized for bass.
I'm bummed about Rocklite, only did one bass with it, very nice material, machines like wood, but jet black. I hope Covid didn't permanently kill production.
I grabbed a couple richlite fingerboards from LMI just now, along with some Pau Ferro. Ive never used the Richlite, I'm curious to see how i like it.
- Jun 6, 2004
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- Owner and builder Clementbass
Plus 1 on Ipe. I've used it with success for several fingerboards. It is hard but has a lot of silicon content so will dull blades. I've also used it in necks.
- Jun 6, 2004
- 6,354
- 547
- 66
- Disclosures
- Owner and builder Clementbass
Yes I used their truss rods for years I just used my last one for 34- 35 scale necks.
Apparently, several of the staff members from LMII have been hired by.......wait for it....Stew-Mac. I think that's good news. Hopefully, Stew-Mac will pick up and start offering some of the popular LMII products like the glue and their truss rods.
We should write to Stew-Mac, and tell them that we are interested in the LMII Yellow Luthier's Glue and the LMII-style truss rods. Let's let them know.
We should write to Stew-Mac, and tell them that we are interested in the LMII Yellow Luthier's Glue and the LMII-style truss rods. Let's let them know.
Ended up getting 2 royal blackwood FB's, A richlite FB and a couple of Pau Ferro boards; should keep me supplied for a while 
We're open for business here, doing custom fingerboard radiusing and slotting. The new improved fixtures and machine upgrades aren't done yet, but will be in about a month. For now, we'll use the same old methods that have worked for many years. The new machines will just make it faster and more efficient. I'll be doing most of the jobs myself initially, but then Jeremy will be helping as needed.
We'll see how things go this year. As I've said before, I'm not trying to build this up into a big chunk of business. I've already got plenty going on here. I'm doing this to help out small Luthiers, to fill in for the closing of LMII. I welcome and encourage someone else to step up and start a side business machining fingerboards. I'll help with advice.
Lonnybass, I'll PM you right now.
To anyone else interested in this service, you are welcome to PM me. Per TalkBass guidelines, we're not going to openly talk prices or make business deals here.
Doing a little bit of searching online for other sources of ebony fingerboard blanks:
There's a place selling on ebay called Exotic Wood Zone. They are apparently in St Louis, and they have a supply of fingerboard blanks in exotic woods. Not cheap. But it appears that they know somewhat what they are doing in preparing and storing fingerboard blanks. Macassar ebony bass size are $40, Gaboon ebony are $70.
Search "fingerboard ebony bass".
I don't know anything else about them. Has anyone bought from them?
Edit:
Here's their own web site:
Buy Exotic Woods | Best Lumber Dealers in USA
Wow! They are a full serious Luthier lumber company, a competitor to LMII. I don't think I've heard of them before. They've been in business about 10 years, supplying exotic woods to musical instrument manufacturers. They have the sources, do their own milling and drying, and have a warehouse full of stock. Okay, that gives them some credibility.
I'd say that they are now my first choice as a new source for ebony. fingerboard blanks.
There's a place selling on ebay called Exotic Wood Zone. They are apparently in St Louis, and they have a supply of fingerboard blanks in exotic woods. Not cheap. But it appears that they know somewhat what they are doing in preparing and storing fingerboard blanks. Macassar ebony bass size are $40, Gaboon ebony are $70.
Search "fingerboard ebony bass".
I don't know anything else about them. Has anyone bought from them?
Edit:
Here's their own web site:
Buy Exotic Woods | Best Lumber Dealers in USA
Wow! They are a full serious Luthier lumber company, a competitor to LMII. I don't think I've heard of them before. They've been in business about 10 years, supplying exotic woods to musical instrument manufacturers. They have the sources, do their own milling and drying, and have a warehouse full of stock. Okay, that gives them some credibility.
I'd say that they are now my first choice as a new source for ebony. fingerboard blanks.
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