Olive as a fretboard wood?

but what about all the other reindeer? ("Olive, the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names", hehe)

(Edit: subbed to find out, sounds interesting, and there's a Marusczcyk Frog in my future, too.)

 

I've researched it a bit, seems like it's a soft wood, and not very stable. Maybe Adrian stabilizes it somehow (other than seasoning it)? I'd just steer for a non-figured wood, so to have the least chance of problems and random fretboard hardness/softness spots (birdseye maple, white/royal ebony, zebrawood, pale moon ebony, spalted anything, etc).

 

I don't think it's soft, but it is known to have poor stability.

 

Right, more to do with the stability factor. I've started to really like ebony, as both of my basses have it now. Figure if you just put some board conditioner on maybe a couple or so times, permanently (that stuff is one-and-done), it's best of both all worlds...stiff, smooth, pretty, and maintenance-free.

 

I've dealt with olive but not in the context of a fretboard.
Olive trees don't grow straight at all or very tall. The former means you get lots of wild figure, but the wilder it gets the more problematic it is to work. The latter means it would be very difficult to get clear boards long enough for a fretboard. I would consider it fairly hard, but also question its stability.

 

MTD uses it often...

 

Carbon rods would be embedded in the neck, not the fretboard, so it wouldn't make any difference to the fretboard. Stability in this case refers to warpage or shrinkage, often relative to temperature and humidity changes. Not what you want in a fretboard.

As a figured top, not a fretboard. Aesthetics vs function.

 

These all have pistachio boards.

 

Gawd, those are gorgeous!

 

That's a little nutty, no?

 

I use it to handle knives and other hard-use tools. It is hard as heck. It is a little resistant to glue, but the biggest issue for me is the weight, which runs pretty high.

 

Don't be concerned about the sound, when it comes to being on a solidbody instrument. It doesn't really matter. A bunch of people say it does, but it doesn't. What matters, are feel and then looks. I love the smooth feel of ebony!

 

In my builds I use ebony, maple, wenge and rosewood. There is definitely a difference in tone. Ebony has a greater clarity than rosewood. Very stable as well. Wenge is best if you want growl. It has a cool aggresive tone. Wyn basses and Michael tobias both have great basses and will testify to the effect of the fingerboard wood on your tone. Titanium rods are also very nice for long term stabilty.

 

Olive Wood - Characteristics, Types and Uses

 

[QUOTE="bgartist, post: 25009142, member: 38802"
These all have pistachio boards.[/QUOTE]
I think my post was off track. The OP was asking about olive boards. Somehow I saw pistachio. Sorry for the derail.

 

It's an uncommon fretboard wood, not something I would choose.