Rosewood on Mexis

thegummy

WezV said:

It's a good point.  I have picked through stacks of PF and dark isn't rare.  Rosewood looking isn't rare either.  Light rosewood isn't rare either.  There is plenty of cross over

Like i said earlier it does seem like fenders PF is often paler.  That's why I added the pics of actual Fenders to show darker PF is still possible on them.  I think the search for a dark board PF fender may drive you crazy though.

Worth remembering thst at one time pre-1930 jet black ebony was the only choice for boards on stringed instrument.  Shortages led to the introduction of BRW on guitars.  Then shortages of that led to EIR becoming the norm.

I'm not going to argue with people's aesthetic choices.   

The common dislike of paler boards will lead to factories staining the wood they have...and that's a perfectly viable solution too.  First thing I did on my Indian laurel boarded Squier

How common is staining on pao ferro or rosewood guitar fretboards?

If it didn't have any downsides, I'd be totally happy with a stained board if it looked the way I wanted. Maybe some purists would think it was trying to fake that the wood was different but for me it's just looks.

WezV

I don't think it's that common on pau ferro, but I think more indian rosewood or sonokeling is being evened out. 

With any ebony board you see these days, it's it's jet black all over the chances are it's been stained.

I have nothing against using a bit of stain if I'm sure the wood is structurally sound.    It's an aesthetic choice.  

gusman2x

Not so easy to tell from pics (mainly because of light rosewood), but pau ferro seems to have a much tighter, and dryer seeming look and feel in person. 

As as an aside, my pau ferro strat has one of the best playing fretboards I’ve ever had. 

tony99

RaymondLin said:

I like streaking 

RW on Mex Strat

is that your road worn strat raymond?

RaymondLin

tony99 said:

RaymondLin said:

I like streaking 

RW on Mex Strat

is that your road worn strat raymond?

Yup!

rlw

If people want dark fretboards of a consistent nature maybe they should consider Richlite.  Oh wait.....

ThePrettyDamned

Has anyone ever had a dyed maple board?

I was just looking at my jazzmaster, which has a 1 piece flamed neck. It's a cheapo neck but actually really rather excellent, well rounded fret ends and not skinny but not fat. I was thinking it would look pretty cool stained in a black, blue, red etc dye to really show off the flame. As it is, it has a tinted lacquer (which is what gives it away as a cheapo - it's a pretty thick, glossy poly in a not-very-vintage orangey yellow tint). 

@WezV have you ever done a coloured maple board? Would seem to be a good answer for those who want a super hard board that's also dark and consistently grained - the lacquer gives you the super smooth feel that dried rosewood may not without some conditioning. 

WezV

I'm actually about to do a fretless maple board bass rework.  One of the requests was to make the board dark.   The big issue there is wear through as the colours are so different... It's not so much an issue when just making rosewood darker or more consistent.   It's likely going  to get an epoxy top coat  though, so I don't expect wear to be an issue for a while

PhilKing

One of my favourite fingerboards is Kingwood.  I don't know much about the varieties of rosewood, but Warmoth were offering it as an option.  This is what I was able to find:
Considered a true rosewood in the Dalbergia genus, Kingwood is among the densest (and probably strongest) of all the rosewoods. There is very little mechanical data available on Kingwood, though given its weight, and its relation to other rosewoods, it’s likely to be extremely stiff, strong, and stable.
I had mine fretted with stainless steel frets too and the neck is Goncalo Alves, so it has good attack to the notes.  It has BK pickups, a Boss bridge and Slowhand neck.  The body is a Musikraft.

gavin_axecaster

ThePrettyDamned said:

Has anyone ever had a dyed maple board?

I was just looking at my jazzmaster, which has a 1 piece flamed neck. It's a cheapo neck but actually really rather excellent, well rounded fret ends and not skinny but not fat. I was thinking it would look pretty cool stained in a black, blue, red etc dye to really show off the flame. As it is, it has a tinted lacquer (which is what gives it away as a cheapo - it's a pretty thick, glossy poly in a not-very-vintage orangey yellow tint). 

@WezV have you ever done a coloured maple board? Would seem to be a good answer for those who want a super hard board that's also dark and consistently grained - the lacquer gives you the super smooth feel that dried rosewood may not without some conditioning. 

Check out some Trussarts for some dyed/stained flamed maple necks.

http://www.jamestrussart.com/gallery.php?id=6

BlueStrat

A lot of players love figured maple tops but loathe any kind of figuring in rw / pf boards. I think it looks really good myself