Official Luthiers Forum!

So when I was at my local hardware store the other day, picking up some things that I needed, I did what I always did, went straight to their wood selection. They didn't have much of anything, but they did have this piece of maple (or what I assume is maple) that had some incredible birdseye on it. If I didn't have other things that I needed to do I would have picked it up.

So today I am hoping that I will go back and it will still be there. My only concern is that since it appears it was sawed out to be a piece of wood that you were supposed to layout on your deck, not a piece of wood to become a fingerboard. I am assuming then that it is flatsawn, not quartersawn. Now still being new to the guitar building world, and more specifically the world of guitar woods, is was wondering if a flatsawn fingerboard would be acceptable. From the looks of it, I could get at least 8 fingerboards out of it, if I resawed it correctly.

Anyone have the answer? Is a flatsawn fingerboard structurally sound or no? I would certainly sell a few fingerboards that I don't keep, or even better, use Luthier Auctions to sell them!

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-Rob Eckert
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Rob,
Birdsey Maple is usually flatsawn, at least that is the orientaion that shows the figure best(usually density of the eyes increase as you get closer to the center of the tree, but you also get into darker heartwood). Birdsey Maple is used for necks and fingerboards.

Birdseye has to be flatsawn, as the eyes are radial .. on the quarter, you cut thru the side of the eyes and it looks like curl ...

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Thanks! I guess you do learn something new everyday!

So when I got there and looked more closely, it was actually pine, so I'm assuming that it is far to soft to be a fingerboard, am I right? I still got it, I figured that I will use it for the tops of some carts I am building soon for the shop. At least it will be nice to look at.

Thanks again.

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-Rob Eckert
Ann Arbor, Michigan