Purple Heart for fret board?

TimberG

thinking of building a maple neck with Purple Heart fret board, guitar will be a P90 TC anyone got any experience of working with it 

Paul_C

I've got a part-made bass neck and f/board made from purple heart, my abiding memory (not touched it for a while) is that it's very hard.

WezV

I used a rather dull looking piece for a fretboard replacement on an old archtop. I stained it black though.

Its a good fretboard wood, definitely hard.    It sits  between brazilian and indian rosewood in terms of hardness, slightly heavier than either of those

TimberG

Yeah have read that it's hard to machine I tried to wood turn some about a year ago and earned up wearing it I have also heard that you must finish it pretty quickly in order to retain the colour would an oil finish be ok or would it have to be lacquer 

WezV

Oil is fine, but it will turn brown quicker.

i have had some which was very purple, and stayed that way

FelineGuitars

Not tried it myself but it is a hard wood.

TimberG

Thanks guys think I may end up lacquering it in order to seal it in 

WezV

judge the piece you have.  if its a vibrant purple in its raw state it will probably be fine with nothing

Most of the stuff I have had has had hints of grey and burgundy along with the purple.  It starts very grey when freshsawn.  for a long time i assumed people must be staining it to get the rich purple.   Then I got a bit which was a deep consistent royal purple all the way through

loo at these flooring examples, one consistent, one not so much

TimberG

Wow what was the bottom one finished with it's really vibrant

WezV

Don't know, just some random pics to show how purple heart can vary.  I suspect the wood used for the bottom one was always more vibrant.