Will1717 - Posted - 02/17/2014:  21:01:25

What's every ones take on the Richlite fingerboards that Martin, Gibson and Deering are starting to use on their guitars and banjos? It seems that ebony as we've all got use too is beginning to get lots of attention at the many border crossings, and this will only probably get worse. Every shipment of banjos that we send over the border now requires the Lacey Act paperwork attached with the shipment. This is definitely going to become a hassel in the near future for musicians traveling to different countries to perform.

 I just brought in a couple of sheets of Richlite to try out and can confirm that it machines like wood and is definitely as hard or harder than ebony. The material is jet black and looks like black ebony but the question is, will the buying public accept this new material or take it as a inferior  fingerboard material?

Bill Rickard  

Paul R - Posted - 02/17/2014:  23:59:17

One of the players at our Bluegrass jam is looking for a carbon fibre guitar. A lot of people want the natural, handcrafted variety - including the fingerboard.

They may accept that it's not an inferior material, but still want a natural, traditional product. I'd probably feel that way. It's a matter of personal taste, I guess. I wonder what your clientele thinks.

As for crossing the border, will you have to convince them that it's synthetic? I may have to convince them that the fingerboard on my ancient Orpheum is dyed fruitwood. Also, when you cut, plane, or sand it, is the dust toxic?

By the way, the Slocan Ramblers were here in January. That's a great banjo that Frank Evans plays - we were talking about it after the show. He said you were reluctant to install the guitar tuners (that's how I figured it was one of yours - a couple of well-known pickers use those tuners, and it seems they have some influence!). Sorry for the poor lighting in the pics.

Edited by - Paul R on 02/18/2014 00:06:44

Davidprat - Posted - 02/18/2014:  02:18:30

Not and easy question! I'm one of those that don't like synthetic material for  musical instruments, I understand that ebony is getting problematic, but I would rather a fingerboard made from another wood than from Richlite , I read in some guitar forums that some people has some doubts about Richlite if it's strong enough, if it will last as long as ebony if has some effect in the sound of the instrument...

But this is just my opinion, and I'm sure that a lot of people will think that Richlite is the future .

I still listening music with a Reel to reel tape, riding a 1968 BMW motorcycle and playing old time music...Not a fan of all the new staff;)

Aradobanjo - Posted - 02/18/2014:  03:56:32

Hello,

What about the first re-fret job with this material? Does this mean that any re-fret requires a new fret board? This new fret board would suggest then a replaceable fret board. This would be similar to skins for name your product. 

Yet, exhausting another country's resources at any price seems is not good either. We talk about the yesteryear of banjo markets. Those markets were quite small when just the US was it. Getting product overseas then shows the few which did make the trip. Now, the internet (including this site) offers to the world a new market of over 6 billion people. Getting product overseas now is in days and to anyplace. 

As owners of fine wooden instruments, most are made of non-native species. What would it be like if makers of instruments were limited to making instruments out of native species? Would that limit the rush of foreign countries/companies buying up forests of species under the guise of "ecology" preservation (a.k.a. market preservation)?    

desert rose - Posted - 02/18/2014:  04:40:51

This stuff is EXACTLY the same as Ebanol. its a paper product impregnated with Phenolic resins

Anybody have any idea about using this I suggest asking Geoff Stelling, if you still want to try it after talking to him and his EXPERIENCE..... good luck

Scott

rudy - Posted - 02/18/2014:  06:07:16

Hi Bill,

Do pay heed to what Scott is saying, as alternative products have been tried in the past with varying degrees of success.  Someone will develop a good ebony substitute, but I'm not convinced that there's an ultimate solution yet.

I've investigated ebony alternatives a bit in the past, and procured a block of Paperstone to try out.  Paperstone is yet another of the family of phenolic-based cellulose products, and I'm sure Richlite must be very similar to it.

I don't know the exact composition or working properties of Richlite, but I'm dubious of your claim that it machines like wood.  The materials I've worked with require carbide tooling to work, and that blocks out the average home shop user, which is a large drawback for our forum members here.

Although there are traditionalists  that might reject the material on purely esthetic qualities, I don't think that's the largest obstacle.  The main problem with a synthetic fret board is that it heavily contributes to instability of the neck since you're bonding a non-hygroscopic surface to the neck, which does react to fluctuations in humidity levels.  Most of the complaints you'll see against the synthetic fret boards are from owners who couldn't deal with necks that became unplayable with changes in the weather, although there are also a lot of horror stories out there about delamination.

Smaller or less important surfaces might be more easily adapted to its use, and I've made some really great armrest surfaces from material that I'm very familiar with, Garolite XX opaque black.  I'm sure Garolite is very similar to Richlite, as it's an industrial board product created from cellulose and phenolic resin bonded with heat and pressure.  I have Garolite sheet in several thicknesses, as I use it to make bobbins for custom magnetic pickups, so experimenting with it for other uses is just a sideline to having it in the shop.

All of these materials would be easy fret if the slots were cut with carbide tools to a wider width than used for standard fretting and the frets anchored with epoxy.  Refretting is no problem with epoxied frets, it just requires heat to un-bond the fret.

I can tell you that Garolite XX opaque black is superior to ebony for strength and in situations where thin sections are too delicate to use, such as armrests.  It shapes and polishes beautifully and looks like the best ebony you've ever seen.

Here's an armrest shot on a banjo that's assembled for testing before being disassembled for final finishing of brass and wood components.

Edited by - rudy on 02/18/2014 06:13:15

ClayTech - Posted - 02/18/2014:  06:38:08

Here's the MSDS. Richlite is paper impregnated with phenol formaldehyde resin. After some quick research I found that PF resin is the earliest commercial resin, specifically in the form of Bakelite, which is PF resin and wood flour. The Richlite website does say that the product is easily machinable, and the MSDS lists no special toxicology beyond the regular dust irritant stuff (although I can't see how breathing a formaldehyde based resin dust could not be at least somewhat bad for you).

Arthur Hatfield - Posted - 02/18/2014:  06:53:01

If its as hard and heavy in weight as ebony I definitely would not want to use it on banjos as I dont even like ebony boards but I'm sure  rosewood will also become the same way as ebony to get. Hopefully I will be out of the building business by the time rosewood cannot be bought. I build about 20 - 1 rosewood board banjos and about the same ratio of necks with rosewood boards. I think I would choose harder pieces of walnut for fingetboards over ebony or the synthetic boards. I dont believe some of the rosewood is much if any harder than some of the walnut. I am definitely going to experiment with a walnut board sometime in the near future for wear in case this does happen. If I can ever find time to do it.  I have found experimenting  dont pay any bills or keep customers with banjos ordered very happy.

Seeders - Posted - 02/18/2014:  07:11:31

I've had these same thoughts lately when a couple of Richlite samples showed up at the shop a few weeks ago. After seeing Scott's post about the Ebanol, I think I'll be staying away from it as well. I've heard about Geoff's horror stories of having to replace most of these Ebanol boards only years later.

It is a conversation the luthier world will be having sooner than later though, especially with the high volume producers buying up most of the ebony these days and the plummeting quality all around. I enjoy using the stuff but I don't morally feel good about it. A lot of terrible things happen in and around the ebony trade and there are some excellent native alternatives, that while they are not jet black, look beautiful and will hold up to wear just as well.

I'm a huge fan of using local native woods in my banjos but I know that it doesn't always work with every project and design. Being a fairly young luthier, I'm expecting that I will not be using ebony for my entire career or that at some point it will become much like Brazilian Rosewood. One can only wait and see....

Edited by - Seeders on 02/18/2014 07:12:20

Fathand - Posted - 02/18/2014:  07:30:20

I did a fair bit of Ebanol research before I bought a Stelling. Lots of discussion on the internet. I did wind up with one made with ebony in the long run but mostly because that was what was available.

It seems paper is wood in another form and using resin is an attempt to turn it back into a wood like material. I hear that ebanol makes good fretless fingerboards and can be found on electric basses. The problem I heard about with ebanol is if you are out in the sun and the fingerboard warms up your neck might expand and hump because of pressure against the frets. My understanding is that Stelling got one batch of bad ebanol and replaced those fingerboards. If you are buying a 35 year old Stelling and it has not had problems yet, It is unlikely to have them later.

There are other varieties of wood besides ebony that make good fingerboards and there is black dye available too if you want the black look. I have made a couple fingerboards from Ash for example. Ash is being cut down in droves because of the Ash Borer even before the trees are affected. I was given some of this, the rest of the full cord pile of sawn lumber was sent off to be used as firewood.  It makes decent Rims, Necks and Fingerboards. I am sure there are dozens of other examples of alternate woods.

Fathand - Posted - 02/18/2014:  07:46:13

Anyone remember the aluminum fingerboards on Applause (by Ovation) guitars?

banjobart - Posted - 02/18/2014:  07:57:10

I tried the paper based phenolic (ebanol, ebonite) in 1976-1977 for a dozen instruments. I got the idea from Charles Fox at his school. Phenolic cost twice what ebony did back then. The fingerboards are still working perfectly, one is on my electric guitar right here. Friends in town have others I made still giving good service. No one would ever know the phenolic fingerboard is not ebony unless they are told or they dig into it with a chisel or burn it.

rudy - Posted - 02/18/2014:  08:05:38

quote:

---

Originally posted by banjobart

I tried the paper based phenolic (ebanol, ebonite) in 1976-1977 for a dozen instruments. I got the idea from Charles Fox at his school. Phenolic cost twice what ebony did back then. The fingerboards are still working perfectly, one is on my electric guitar right here. Friends in town have others I made still giving good service. No one would ever know the phenolic fingerboard is not ebony unless they are told or they dig into it with a chisel or burn it.

---

What was your decision process when evaluating not to use it?

It's about 25% of the cost of a good ebony board at present and looks much better.

Rizo - Posted - 02/18/2014:  08:39:51

I'm a curmudgeon, so I want wood, but I'm not so stubborn that I don't see the sense in using something other than ebony. Is there a local, or at least N. American wood you'd use, Bill?

I know people use persimmon and similar, but of course it's not black, which upsets a different manner of curmudgeon. 

Ken LeVan - Posted - 02/18/2014:  08:51:03

I am not a fan of those synthetic fingerboard materials (or carbon fiber, except for neck reinforcement, for that matter).

I don't think you have we make the leap from ebony all the way to synthetics i.e. "if ebony is not legally available, then I'm going to use synthetics".

There are all kinds of wood that are perfectly good or fingerboards, and I'm sure there are folks trying to figure out how to grow them in plantations, like they do with teak.

There are many members of the dalbergia genus (rosewood) throughout the world. It is a legume and to the best of my knowledge, many species are not endangered, most are excellent for fingerboards.

There are non-endangered species throughout the world that are used for flooring that are dark colored and hard.

All the old PW Gibson fingerboards were 1/8" thick. Does anyone but me make 1/8" fingerboards nowadays? The common fingerboard blanks, at 3/26" are half-again as thick as they need to be.  just using thinner material can conserve resources (demand-side economics).

As for Martin, they are beginning to use American species for guitars, like cherry, experimenting with fingerboards, and are trying to break away from the old "only ebony and rosewood are acceptable" syndrome.   I believe the future of musical instruments lies in that direction.

I watched a long video of a couple of guitar guys exhaustively comparing and talking about various mahogany and rosewood Martin D-18s D-28s D-35s. with 2 and 3 piece backs.  Honestly, I wanted to stop watching and put on my high rubber boots. Then just as an idiot check, I played a couple of  youtubes of Clarence White playing his mahogany D-18.

We are fortunate that banjos only need a small piece of wood for the fingerboard, and exotics are not really needed for top-notch necks and rims.

Roll Player - Posted - 02/18/2014:  09:34:23

There's an Australian company that's developed a material that sounds interesting. They claim it's made of only cellulose and water but can be made as hard and durable as ebony, might be useful for a variety of luthier purposes. Heres the link: zeoform.com/material/characteristics/

rudy - Posted - 02/18/2014:  09:44:31

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ken LeVan

I am not a fan of those synthetic fingerboard materials (or carbon fiber, except for neck reinforcement, for that matter).

I don't think you have we make the leap from ebony all the way to synthetics i.e. "if ebony is not legally available, then I'm going to use synthetics".

There are all kinds of wood that are perfectly good or fingerboards, and I'm sure there are folks trying to figure out how to grow them in plantations, like they do with teak.

There are many members of the dalbergia genus (rosewood) throughout the world. It is a legume and to the best of my knowledge, many species are not endangered, most are excellent for fingerboards.

There are non-endangered species throughout the world that are used for flooring that are dark colored and hard.

All the old PW Gibson fingerboards were 1/8" thick. Does anyone but me make 1/8" fingerboards nowadays? The common fingerboard blanks, at 3/26" are half-again as thick as they need to be.  just using thinner material can conserve resources (demand-side economics).

As for Martin, they are beginning to use American species for guitars, like cherry, experimenting with fingerboards, and are trying to break away from the old "only ebony and rosewood are acceptable" syndrome.   I believe the future of musical instruments lies in that direction.

I watched a long video of a couple of guitar guys exhaustively comparing and talking about various mahogany and rosewood Martin D-18s D-28s D-35s. with 2 and 3 piece backs.  Honestly, I wanted to stop watching and put on my high rubber boots. Then just as an idiot check, I played a couple of  youtubes of Clarence White playing his mahogany D-18.

We are fortunate that banjos only need a small piece of wood for the fingerboard, and exotics are not really needed for top-notch necks and rims. 

---

My blanks are most often 3/8" plus in rough thickness, and it does pain me a bit to plane away all that excess thickness.  If I re-saw then there's not enough material to dimension to my preferred 3/16" thickness. If I'm careful I can re-saw enough to obtain peg head overlays from my board blanks.

Outside of the practicality issue, I really love the look of a pure black board, especially if it has pearl inlays.  The bottom line of all this is when the economics of ebony outweigh what folks are willing to pay for it then a manufacturer will come along with a suitable substitute.  I have been meaning to do some test boards using Garolite when time permits.  It's also over $100 for the carbide slitting blade for my fret saw, and I'm cheap.

The only reason why I'd consider the phenolic is because I make exclusively non-adjustable necks, so any effects from material disparity wouldn't be an issue for me.  Maybe I'll do a board on the new Ashborn-style neck I'm working on.

Burghauser - Posted - 02/18/2014:  15:03:46

Personally, the thing I find so attractive about the banjo is that it’s a simple folk instrument—it was innovated by resourceful people with available materials. If ebony is no longer viable, then it only makes sense that we work with what we’ve got. As it happens, the idea of posh, foreign, tropical wood always struck me as rather out-of-place in a banjo.

banjobart - Posted - 02/18/2014:  15:47:44

I buy ebony fingerboards in a quality of 100-500 per order. I shop the wholesalers and get the best price. I can buy green (cheaper) and air dry it here for one-two years. I have to keep a year ahead on most wood, materials and hardware anyway to avoid shortages.

David Cunningham - Posted - 02/18/2014:  15:52:30

Then there is Katalox.  lmii.com/products/mostly-wood/...gerboards.  It's used by both Martin and Gibson for fretboards.

Clockwork John - Posted - 02/18/2014:  16:31:12

Back around Thanksgiving I picked up a Martin guitar with a Richlite fretboard and Stratabond neck. So far, I'm happy with it. I think the combination of a synthetic fretboard and a laminate neck will reduce, if not eliminate, many of the temperature and humidity related issues that have been associated with these materials in the past.

So far, no complaints, but we'll see how it holds up over the next few years.

bjango53 - Posted - 02/19/2014:  00:14:11

That stuff is HARD, took me about 10 x longer to inlay a fairly simple design than it would have in ebony

Never agin  

rudy - Posted - 02/19/2014:  04:22:49

quote:

---

Originally posted by bjango53

That stuff is HARD, took me about 10 x longer to inlay a fairly simple design than it would have in ebony

Never agin  

---

Hence the necessity for carbide tooling.

twelvefret - Posted - 02/19/2014:  04:26:05

quote:

---

Originally posted by Rizo

I'm a curmudgeon, so I want wood, but I'm not so stubborn that I don't see the sense in using something other than ebony. Is there a local, or at least N. American wood you'd use, Bill?

 

I know people use persimmon and similar, but of course it's not black, which upsets a different manner of curmudgeon. 

---

Or Maple, it has been used for electric guitars. I have read that baroque violin makers use maple with an ebony veneer. I also like striped ebony.

rudy - Posted - 02/19/2014:  04:27:58

quote:

---

Originally posted by Roll Player

There's an Australian company that's developed a material that sounds interesting. They claim it's made of only cellulose and water but can be made as hard and durable as ebony, might be useful for a variety of luthier purposes. Heres the link: zeoform.com/material/characteristics/

---

Interesting if not obtuse website.

If you dig into the history section the material is basically a permutation derived from a process patented over 100 years ago.  Their contribution is marketing the product in a pelletized form that is easily distributed worldwide.  The gallery products look very much like Bakelite and celluloid. 

rudy - Posted - 02/19/2014:  04:32:29

quote:

---

Originally posted by twelvefret

quote:

---

Originally posted by Rizo

I'm a curmudgeon, so I want wood, but I'm not so stubborn that I don't see the sense in using something other than ebony. Is there a local, or at least N. American wood you'd use, Bill?

 I know people use persimmon and similar, but of course it's not black, which upsets a different manner of curmudgeon. 

---

Or Maple, it has been used for electric guitars. I have read that baroque violin makers use maple with an ebony veneer. I also like striped ebony.

---

I've made a few instruments with a 3/32" overlay veneer of ebony to double what I can cut from a blank.  It works but has other disadvantages such as being too thin at the side for position marker installation, etc.

guitarman8491 - Posted - 02/19/2014:  05:18:31

I have used persimmon (white ebony) for finger boards for a number of instruments. I ebonize it black with Fiebings die. Years ago friend's uncle had a saw mill in Arkansas and sent a truck load up. He gave me about 200 BF. At that time I was making reproduction 17th and 18th century furniture and had little use for it. When I started building instruments eight years ago, I realized I had a good alternative FB wood. Like ebony, it is hard on the tools.

Helix - Posted - 02/19/2014:  05:27:16

Bill: how does the material wear over time. I think it was answered up above.

I like your inquisitiveness: how about paper? Uh Huh. Those of us who failed to be informed about the need to request luthier's privileges when we order multiple items and giving you free advertising, well, the amount of paper that arrives with your product is a national resource for your country.

For better results, I suggest you look into paper.

Aradobanjo - Posted - 02/19/2014:  06:37:26

Hello, 

The spec doc states that Richlites and Alkali do not mix. Ph of 7 is not good. 

twelvefret - Posted - 02/19/2014:  09:29:11

quote:

---

Originally posted by rudy

quote:

---

Originally posted by twelvefret

quote:

---

Originally posted by Rizo

I'm a curmudgeon, so I want wood, but I'm not so stubborn that I don't see the sense in using something other than ebony. Is there a local, or at least N. American wood you'd use, Bill?

 I know people use persimmon and similar, but of course it's not black, which upsets a different manner of curmudgeon. 

---

Or Maple, it has been used for electric guitars. I have read that baroque violin makers use maple with an ebony veneer. I also like striped ebony.

---

I've made a few instruments with a 3/32" overlay veneer of ebony to double what I can cut from a blank.  It works but has other disadvantages such as being too thin at the side for position marker installation, etc.

---

Could you not use the maple portion for position markers?

Mike Ramsey used stripped ebony on my Student model probably because it was a lesser priced banjo, but I like the contrasting colors. I suspect that there is more stripped used and it has been colored. Recently, I was remodeling a chin rest to suit my face and soon discovered a light tan streak emerging. It's beautiful to me.

rudy - Posted - 02/19/2014:  10:20:17

quote:

---

Originally posted by twelvefret

quote:

---

Originally posted by rudy

quote:

---

Originally posted by twelvefret

quote:

---

Originally posted by Rizo

I'm a curmudgeon, so I want wood, but I'm not so stubborn that I don't see the sense in using something other than ebony. Is there a local, or at least N. American wood you'd use, Bill?

 I know people use persimmon and similar, but of course it's not black, which upsets a different manner of curmudgeon. 

---

Or Maple, it has been used for electric guitars. I have read that baroque violin makers use maple with an ebony veneer. I also like striped ebony.

---

I've made a few instruments with a 3/32" overlay veneer of ebony to double what I can cut from a blank.  It works but has other disadvantages such as being too thin at the side for position marker installation, etc.

---

Could you not use the maple portion for position markers?

Mike Ramsey used stripped ebony on my Student model probably because it was a lesser priced banjo, but I like the contrasting colors. I suspect that there is more stripped used and it has been colored. Recently, I was remodeling a chin rest to suit my face and soon discovered a light tan streak emerging. It's beautiful to me. 

---

You could, but it would look really odd.  I actually did a walnut neck that way with small MOP markers and really disliked the look.

About the only way you'll get a perfectly black board today is if it's dyed.

Streaking is quite normal in ebony of all types, and many boards also have small pinholes that are filled.  Mineral streaking is often addressed with acetic acid to nutralize the streak and that's most likely what you uncovered when you were sanding your chin rest.  I prefer leaving mineral streaking unless there's some reason why it's unattractive on a particular instrument.

Rizo - Posted - 02/20/2014:  09:39:17

I really like the streaked ebony. Very striking. 

zac987 - Posted - 02/20/2014:  19:01:43

I'm getting a Pisgah banjo with a Richlite fingerboard. I play quite frequently, as in every single day, so I'll let you guys know if it deteriorates over time.

Will1717 - Posted - 02/20/2014:  19:45:05

Deering Banjo recently announced that they were going to start using Richlite for fingerboards on their Boston model banjo. They have a great article in regards to why they're going to use Richlite plus the extensive testing that they went through to test how Richlite will perform over the long term. This article can be found at  deeringbanjos.com/blogs/deerin...ton-banjo.

It's interesting that Martin and Gibson are also now offering Richlite fingerboards on some of they're guitar models. I wonder if this is a bit of green hype to help sell they're instruments, or do they know something that we don't know as of yet??

I have to admit that I personally prefer to use real ebony, and the slight figuring or brown streaks common in ebony to day actually looks just fine to my eye, plus somewhat personalizes each instrument. I recently purchase two large sheets of Richlite and cut and fretted a couple of these fretboards to see for myself how this material will perform next to ebony. I have to admit that these fingerboards look pretty good and it's very difficult to see the difference between these boards and real black high quality ebony fingerboards.  To get them from 1/4" thickness down to my standard 3/16" thick fingerboards I had to thickness sand down to the thickness required. To my amazement they thickness sanded with no effort what so ever, plus routed on our cnc router with ease. They basically machined the same as real ebony wood. Other than being a die hard advocate of real wood I'm starting to think that this material just may be worth keeping in the hip pocket just incase ebony goes the same way as Brazilian Rosewood.

Bill Rickard   

Helix - Posted - 02/21/2014:  01:22:47

I have seen warehouses of Ebony clarinet blanks, they are already cut.

I'm sorry if some people would have trouble understanding this: Richlite ain't got no soul, no fibrous connection, no way to remember the signal because the molecules are not connected the same. OK?

So I'm happy for the cost control for those manufacturers, It's not the next big thang just because somebody has a 3-D printer.

It's like an aluminum rim, it will have its followers. Be wary of flute players with fancy clothes.

rudy - Posted - 02/21/2014:  06:08:56

Richlite is also certified as Kosher.  No joke.

jay_m - Posted - 02/21/2014:  06:51:18

quote:

---

Originally posted by Burghauser

Personally, the thing I find so attractive about the banjo is that it’s a simple folk instrument—it was innovated by resourceful people with available materials. If ebony is no longer viable, then it only makes sense that we work with what we’ve got. As it happens, the idea of posh, foreign, tropical wood always struck me as rather out-of-place in a banjo.

---

i know this is veering a bit off-topic, but i 100% agree. the only thing i'm not on board with, aesthetically, is the use of one material in a banjo to simulate another material, regardless of whether its synthetic or not. this is why i cant stand the use of pegheds and things like that. on the other hand, the thing i find attractive about ebony is its blackness and not the fact that it is ebony, per-se, so whatever black material can work works.

the next dozen or so banjos i make are going to be fingerboarded with my limited supply of hophornbeam blanks. its jsut as hard and smooth as ebony. but its a light wood.

Dan Drabek - Posted - 02/21/2014:  07:56:51

Hornbeam would probably be an excellent choice if you want a light colored board. One common use is for the soles of hand planes. So you know it's a tough wood. 

DD

jay_m - Posted - 02/21/2014:  08:07:12

yeah, its excellent. the only problem is that most hophornbeam trees (ostrya virginiana) as opposed to hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana) are tiny and wont yield pieces wide enough and with straight enough grain for fingerboards. i picked up about ten blanks from a friend in vermont who harvested them himself.

perhaps genetic modification will soon yield hardwoods with whatever characteristics the markets desire.

Edited by - jay_m on 02/21/2014 08:08:19

GSCarson - Posted - 02/21/2014:  10:38:46

I think the material itself is interesting.  I like wood but am not interested in using endangered woods or wood that has been harvested well before its time.  I really like the look of pearl against a black board as others have noted, but I've also done some hop hornbeam inlays in copper which turned out nice, just a different tack. 

My question for Bart and other builders who have used this material (and similar materials like Paperstone), is what glue they've had success with.  A friend tried Paperstone and although it looks and feels great had some adhesion issues.  Be sure to really check out the glue and clamping recommendations closely if you decide to try any of these. 

Please let us know how it works out Bill.

Glenn

Seeders - Posted - 02/21/2014:  11:02:40

quote:

---

Originally posted by GSCarson

I think the material itself is interesting.  I like wood but am not interested in using endangered woods or wood that has been harvested well before its time.  I really like the look of pearl against a black board as others have noted, but I've also done some hop hornbeam inlays in copper which turned out nice, just a different tack. 

My question for Bart and other builders who have used this material (and similar materials like Paperstone), is what glue they've had success with.  A friend tried Paperstone and although it looks and feels great had some adhesion issues.  Be sure to really check out the glue and clamping recommendations closely if you decide to try any of these. 

Please let us know how it works out Bill.

Glenn

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I was just wondering the same thing, Glenn. I keep going back and forth on whether to give this stuff a fair shot as a suitable option. I like the looks and idea of it but I'd hate to see it fail over time and take that kind of hit to my business. Also, I really don't want to have to use epoxy to adhere a fingerboard. You guys are bringing me back around to doing some tests with it though. It would be nice to have a good alternative for a black fingerboard.

I'm a big fan of using local and sustainable resources but nothing beats that MOP in ebony look we all know and love. It would be nice to have a alternative material that was sustainable and didn't have so much controversy around the harvesting and importing of it. Also, maybe a little more consistency as well....

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/22/2014:  05:57:28

Bill,

To quote the heroes in OH BROTHER WHERE ART THU... " I'm with you fellers."