Working with Wenge?

[grisezd]

Hello all,

I just ordered a Warmoth short scale body in ash and am nearly ready to order a 32in wenge neck, probably with an ebony fretless fb. I chose wenge mostly as I enjoy the feel of it while playing. Per Warmoth's woods descriptions I think it has the tone characteristic I'm going for which is very lucky for me!

I plan to trim some of the pointyness off of the "Warhead" headstock, not so much for a Fender look but to just get rid of the points! Points don't seem to match anything else about a jazz bass, so off they go.

I've never worked with wenge. I understand it's quite hard on tools for one thing. So, is this going to be difficult to cut? And once cut will it still have the "vein"y look of the rest of the piece? Is there something other than simply sanding I'll need to do to finish the cut area?

And while I'm here a quick finish question for the ash body. I plan to use water-based analine dye to get a black finish I can feel the grain through. I want to top that off with tung oil. Should I use any grain filler before the dye? I don't want a silky finish, I'd be quite happy if it had texture in the way that the wenge does.

Thanks,
Dennis

 

[timbob1986]

I have the same concern, so I searcinged and this is the only post I could find. I want to build a wenge fretboard at some point in the near future and I am interested in learning about how the wenge reacts to being routed. It looks like it would splinter easily but it also seems very tough. Does anyone have experience with wenge that could answer the question?

 

[FBB Custom]

It does splinter easily, and it is tough. Grain is often interlocked. Be careful when routing against the grain. Take small passes and climb cut when appropriate. There are lots of threads here where wenge is discussed. Search for "wenge splinters" and I bet you will get a bunch of hits.

 

[Hopkins]

I wouldn't say its difficult to work with, but the splinters hurt.

 

[HaMMerHeD]

The only way to not get splinters when working with wenge is to not work with wenge.

That said, it has a very smooth texture when finish-sanded, and after it's there, you'll have a hard time believing it was ever splintery. The scars should keep that relatively fresh though. It does maintain something of an open-grain "veiny" look, but it isn't as pronounced as it is before sanding. If you wet-sand with something like tung oil, the dust will fill the pores, and give you a very smooth finished surface.

 

[butcher]

I have had a couple of Cort Artist basses with a wenge neck. Great feel and they did have an open pore feel yet very smooth at the same time.

Why not just do the Wenge fingerboard as well?? I think the fretless one I had was wenge/wenge. I used Fender nylon tapewounds on it and it sounded great.