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I see that woodcraft has Brazilian ebony (swartzia panacoco) on sale. What is it and is it suitable for fingerboards and bridges?

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

I saw that ad too and was all set to look it up to see what it was, then I realized the blocks they offered were too small for fretboards.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

From the WWW:
"Other Uses: The bark contains a balsamic red resin[348 ]. The heartwood is a deep, dark brown with lighter, thin streaks; it is clearly demarcated from the 3 - 8cm wide band of light yellow sapwood. The texture is medium; the grain straight or slightly interlocked. The wood is very heavy; very hard; very strong; very elastic; very durable, being very resistant to fungi, dry wood borers and termites. It seasons slowly, with a high risk of checking but only a slight risk of distortion; once dry it is poorly to moderately stable in service. It is a very hard wood and has a fairly high blunting effect - stellite-tipped and tungsten carbide tools are recommended; nailing and screwing are good, but require pre-boring; gluing is poor. A high quality, very strong, durable and attractive timber, its use is limited mainly by the small size of heartwood obtained from the logs. It is used for purposes such as high class furniture, cabinet making, musical instruments of various types, turnery, sculpture, flooring, panelling, wooded goods, items such as arches that require forming; veneer etc[848 ]."

Sounds like another dark wood that is trying to market itself as an ebony substitute. It looks like it has all the good and bad qualities of ebony except it isn't truly black. If people could get over the "blackness" thing, their eyes would open to quite a number of woods that would make good bridges and fingerboards.

Bryan, now that I look at the ad again, you are right... not wide enough for fingerboards. All I saw was 18” and 24” long...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

I'm building a guitar right now with back and sides from "Brazillian Ebony". But this is apparently a different species because this had a second name of Gombiera.

This stuff I'm using is tough as nails and extremely difficult to plane or scrape. It is closer to Ipe in density and working characteristics than it is to Ebony. It's seriously heavy, and I would never want to use it for bridges. But it is so tough that it would make a long lasting fingerboard.

Edit: my friend also built a good sounding guitar from this same wood. He had a lot of side ripple issues during side bending. I didn't have any issues bending sides.

Gombeira, Brazilian ebony, and katalox seem to be closely related (Swartzia ssp.) woods with similar properties. After you run out of the commercially desirable species you start cutting whatever is left.
From the web:

Coração de negro
NOME CIENTÍFICO (AUTOR)
Swartzia leiocalycina Benth.

FAMÍLIA
LEGUMINOSAE

NOMES COMUNS
Bois Perdrix (France); Ferreol (France); Wamara (Germany); Ferreol (Germany); Zwart Parelhout (Surinam); Ijzerhart (Surinam); Gandoe (Surinam); Panacoco (French Guiana); Wamara (Guyana); Agui (Guyana); Banya (Guyana); Carrapatinho (Brazil); Gombeira (Brazil); Coração De Negro (Brazil); Ebony; Panacoco (France); British Guyana Ebony; Wamara (United Kingdom); Ironwood (United Kingdom)

Wasn't it Bob Taylor who got all the African loggers to save the not quite so black ebony because they were throwing them out since people demanded jet black wood?

It's all down to marketing. If you could convince people why they don't have to have completely black wood but still have all the benefit of ebony like wood...

People seem to choose with their eyes rather than with their ears.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com