Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm looking to put a fingerless fingerboard on a bass I'm making out of purpleheart with a maple through-neck. I see alot of different species on LMI, but I'm wondering what specie you guys think would look best with maple and purpleheart. ( note: I have no problems with abnormal colors or interesting grain patterns)

You mean fretless? Go with ebony.

_________________
Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Ditto what Howard said - a purple heart bass would look great with a black fret board.

I could be thinking way too deeply into this, but I will already have the color contrast b/w the PH and the maple I'm wondering if adding a second contrast b/w the maple and ebony will detract from the overall visual appeal.

Save yourself some trouble and do an integral maple fingerboard as Fender does. Fretless would be even less work. I think it would add interest.

You'd get the best durability out of an acrylized wood fretboard from Larry Davis is my experiences with acrylic are a good reference.

_________________
Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

I've been thinking of a design whose visual interest would be the lack of visual interest. I'd like to make an electric all monochrome, in purpleheart or bloodwood or something along those lines. Just one solid color throughout. So i'm voting for purpleheart fingerboard.

Darrin

You'd better hollow it out or invest in some 'roids

If you want an 'all-something' you can carry then the domestics (cherry, walnut, maple) or mahogany are a lot lighter than 'the colour woods' (bloodwood, purpleheart, padouk, etc)

_________________
Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

I recommended ebony for the way it wears. Roundwound strings will chew up most woods on a fretless bass.

_________________
Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

I remember seeing primer gray Les Pauls on top of the pops. I THING it was the Human League in about 1981.....

they looked.......



ICK!!

_________________
My soundclick xx luthier blog xx luthier soundclick

Howard, as usual, is the voice of reason. Listen to Howard (good basic rule of guitar building).

Colin

_________________
I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

How about snakewood.

its probably the toughest fingerboard and as such is popular with fretless bass makers for that very reason.

otherwise go with ebony, black contrast,s well with all woods and as howard says it will resist wear from the strings allmost as well as snakewood.
add some black elsewhere on the guitar (maybe black chrome hardware) and it will tie in nicely.

purpleheart will wear pretty quickly and suck up finger jam like a sponge if used for a fingerboard giving it dull grey apearance after time.
combine that with oxidisation and you end up with a disapointing fingerboard.

The great thing about ebony is that it just gets blacker with time and goes with anything.

african blackwood or malaysian black may be other options.
cocobolo also works well for fretless basses but may not tie with your color scheam.

Joel.

Katalox is also super hard and can have beautiful color and grain patterns. I agree that a fingerboard for a fretless has to be chosen more strictly but from my very limited exposure to katalox it would be a contender I think.

_________________
Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

I plan to get some flat wound strings similar to the ones I have on my current frettless, so wear won't be as big an issue. my hardware has to be chrome cause I'm cannibalizing an old bass of mine for parts and its hardware is chrome.

I'm also open to an alternate thru neck wood that would offer sufficient stregnth but tie the PH with a Cocobolo frettboard into an appealing color scheme.

-just a thought could cherry be a possible thru neck wood b/c I have the idea of using it to bridge the colorscheme gap b/w the PH body and a bloodwood frettboard-

Try pricing snakewood that big, it makes the finest Ebony look like a huge bargain.
Since you will be using flat wound strings ,a nice purple slab of EI Rosewood would give a nice round tone and not cost too much. Zircote is also a fine choice,if you want to go for a faster brighter attack.
Alternate woods for neck through might be Wenge or Padouk.
Both are stiff enough with CF reinforcement to lessen dead spots.
Wenge with purpleheart stringers and an Zircote FB,oh yeah!
Padouk w/ Cocobolo FB would also be nice.
Good luck Enjoy your build.

_________________
How long is that in luthyears?