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Bad News: LMII is closing down.....

#101
I've bought several body and fingerboard blanks from them; picked up a number of Cocobolo blanks from them including this one:
20220917_062551.jpg

I've been pretty happy with the stuff I've gotten from them.
 
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#102
Bruce Johnson said:
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.
Click to expand...


I bought one walnut body blank from them. It was already dimensioned and coarse sanded. I don't recall the price but it seemed fair considering what was already done. They threw in a vertical grain maple fretboard blank which was good quality but guitar sized so it still sits in the garage. If you sign up on their email thing they regularly have sales.
 
#103
Bruce Johnson said:
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.
Click to expand...
Hm, I'm not finding Macassar ebony in fingerboard sizes. Where did you see it?
 
#112
tjclem said:
Has anybody used these?

Blanchard Guitars- Custom Handmade Acoustic Guitars
Click to expand...
Yes, I had a fellow insist upon my using it, and he provided it. It was a lovely piece of kit, no question. I've looked into purchasing more, but due to exchange, shipping and the higher-than-average initial price in USD, they became prohibitive shipped up here.

Another supplier of stunning craftspersonship is Allied Lutherie FlexStrong Dual-Action Truss Rods Less of a cost issue for those in the CONUS I would imagine. :thumbsup:
 
#118
tjclem said:
Yes it looks like at least $52
Click to expand...

That's actually a very reasonable price. I'd estimate it at about $8 of stainless bar stock and 1-2 hours of machine shop time. In a batch of 50, the shop time might be 30-40 minutes each. If Allied is retailing them at $52, they must be getting them from FlexStrong for $30? They aren't making much per hour on them.....

I can make that style of truss rods here in my shop, but I'd have to charge about $75 each for one-offs.

You guys should really just learn to make them up yourself, to whatever size you need. It can be done without big machinery.

Maybe I should do a tutorial thread on how to make your own DADR truss rods using hand tools? Would that be helpful?
 
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#119
Bruce Johnson said:
That's actually a very reasonable price. I'd estimate it at about $8 of stainless bar stock and 1-2 hours of machine shop time. In a batch of 50, the shop time might be 30-40 minutes each. If Allied is retailing them at $52, they must be getting them from FlexStrong for $30? They aren't making much per hour on them.....

I can make that style of truss rods here in my shop, but I'd have to charge about $75 each for one-offs.

You guys should really just learn to make them up yourself, to whatever size you need. It can be done without big machinery.

Maybe I should do a tutorial thread on how to make your own DADR truss rods using hand tools? Would that be helpful?
Click to expand...

I'd be interested in seeing that thread.
 

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