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While I've never seen one, I'd like to try to use burl-figured (name the species) wood on a head plate and for a fingerboard. Any idea as to what I need to be looking for? Or where?

Thanks!

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Peter Havriluk

I love burls, especially maple and walnut. Hard to find, though. I snagged a good slice of maple from Hibdon maybe 10 years ago, but all I have for walnut is a sliced veneer sheet.

I'd recommend looking for a 1/8" thick slice rather than a full fingerboard sized piece. Glue it to a backing board and cover up the edges with binding. If it's not long enough, you can use multiple pieces and hide the joints between frets. Saturate it with CA glue to harden and dirt-proof it.

I used a maple burl headplate on one of my harp ukuleles.

As Dennis pointed out, burl may not be tough enough for a fingerboard but as he said, you can toughen it up with CA. The other problem is, it is hard to find fingerboard size pieces of burled wood.

An alternative would be "quilted, birdseye maple" which is almost as crazy grained as burl, hard and tough enough for a fingerboard and available at lengths suitable for fingerboards and necks, etc.

Just mentioned this place to Bill and they have some fine examples of what I was thinking about for you.

Have a look -

https://www.curlymaplewood.com/BMTB-109-1-1316x19-34-Quilted-Birdseye-Hard-Maple-Turning-Square_p_15445.html

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Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

Burls are by nature unstable, but CA takes care of that really well. I'd recommend saturating with the CA before gluing to the headstock - keeps you from having pieces chipping off, etc., and makes it easier to work with. This was Amboinia burl and ebony. Many burls to choose from.

gilmerwood.com

off and on they have instrument billets of camphor or amboyna burl...nice HUGE chunks of this wood

I can make no comment about it's suitability for any specific purpose...sure can be pretty though

I have quite a bit of maple burl I sliced up years ago. Large enough for head plates. Let me know if you want any for the price of shipping. I’ll take a pic when I find it.

Hey Peter,
If you want to try Manzanita burl, I've got sliced pieces you can use whole or butterfly. Milled with the grain so not as porous as endgrain. It is an eight inch diameter burl (I've got a bunch more) and like Dennis said you could glue pieces to a backing to create a fretboard and bind it with Manzanita. I've got a bunch of fretboard sized pieces of Manzanita I've been using on several recent builds, you've probably seen them on Acoustic Guitar Construction Forum . Also pieces I've used for binding on the body, fretboards, headstocks and soundholes. It bends pretty easily. If you want to try some let me know and we can work out the shipping.

Manzanita might be one of the few burls I would consider for a fingerboard. Most burls are too soft and unless hardened with some sort of penetrating resin would wear quickly. Having an irregular grain, Manzanita may be a bit "twisty", but I have only worked with small pieces, so others may know better how it is.