Official Luthiers Forum!

Well, I'm going to build a fretless bass for someone.
Gathering and figuring out what woods to use.
I have a really nice piece of EIR for the fretboard,
but I was wonering if it is hard enough to hold up on a fretless.
I could go with ebony,
if it would last longer.
Any experience with rosewood on a fretless?
A.

I've played both. Ebony is harder, but rosewood is nice, too.
Don't forget you could add a CA finish for even more wear protection.
Looks nice buffed out, too!

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I've never built anything fretless, and I'd imagine with the larger strings fretboard wear would be important to take into account. But all the rosewood I've worked with has been pretty hard stuff. can't imagine it wouldn't be OK.
Whatever you decide, I look forward to the build!

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

I had a fretless P bass some time back with a rosewood fretboard. Worked well. I kick myself for ever selling it.

Nerver built one, but have tried bunch of them. I like ebony the most. Dont really like the open-pore feeling of the rosewood, on a fretless, and I've seen some rosewood FBs worn by the string.

You still could go with a heavier rosewood, like Honduras of Madagascar, who have smaller pores, too. Or even Bloodwood, really hard and really small pores, Kingwood, cocobolo, snakewood, pernambuc, etc...

Good luck!
Francis

_________________
Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

I play fretless almost exclusively; have played both rosewood and ebony, and ebony does wear better. It has a brighter sound, whereas rosewood is a little warmer, more woody. I have heard of a couple builders swearing by bloodwood, however, and there are a few builders using rosewood on their fretless necks (Rick Turner and Rob Allen come to mind).

Ask the player if he/she will be using flatwound or tapewound strings exclusively-- if the answer is not a firm yes, then I'd go with ebony. Some fretless players (myself included) do use roundwound strings because you get a nicer growl with them, but they do chew up the fingerboard a lot faster.

Thanks all.
Here's a pic of it.
Pretty nice wood.
We'll see what gets glued on when the time comes