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My brother John and I are doing a collaborative guitar, and the first effort will use strictly North American woods. The back and sides (and neck) will be walnut, the top Red Spruce. Bindings will be curly maple--won't they, BobC?
As Mom would say, we're at "sixes and sevens" trying to decide on fretboard/bridge species.
We have: Desert Ironwood and Texas ebony on hand. The enclosed photo has both pictured. The Desert Ironwood is on top, the Texas ebony is below--with African ebony in the middle for comparison.



I am afraid I do not know the species names of these woods. I am told, however, that the Tex. ebony is related to Mesquite. Both are quite hard and very heavy, and I feel certain would "out-ebony" ebony.
Can you picture either wood w/ the walnut?
Thanks,and all opinions welcomed!
Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

The color of the ironwood seems too close to walnut. I think your are going to need a little contrast so I vote for the Texas ebony.

Steve, I am just finishing up a small guitar that is made from Oklahoma grown walnut. It is for my grandson's birthday. Hope to post pics in the next week or so.

I think I would choose the Texas ebony from the picture you posted. The ironwood looks a little light to me. Unfortunately, all I had around was some EIR so I used that.

Either one would look pretty good though!Dave Rector38533.6498611111

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

I have a walnut guitar with a Madagascar Rosewood fingerboard and it is very beautiful. I was going to originally do it with ebony, but when I held up the Madrose the browns really worked nicely together.

I think the ironwood will do the same thing for you.

What is the rosette?

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

I work with Desert Ironwood quite often. It's beautiful stuff and in the applications you have in mind it should work well. It is very stable and requires no finish. All I do is sand to ~2000 grit, polish on the buffer with some aluminum oxide, then apply a single coat of hard wax. I use a car wax with some UV protection since the wood will darken with long exposure to light.

I don't know about Texas Ebony, but my experience with Mesquite is that it requires a finish to look nice.

I think if you fine sand and polish some of that Ironwood, then take it out in the sunlight, your sixes and sevens will all become perfect tens.

Just my opinion though. I'll see if I have a pic of some finished ironwood.

This is a nice set of Desert Ironwood slabs I'll be using on a knife. The bookmatch surfaces you see will be buried inside the handle. Knifemakers do things a bit backwards.

This wood has only been sanded and polished. No finish at all.Jerry Hossom38533.6634722222

Man I would kill to have a back and side set that looked like that. What beautiful figuring.

These same colors are in the Ironwood pieces Steve has shown. He just doesn't know it yet...    

Steve,

I'll have to vote for the Texas ebony, if for no other reason than the comparative symmetry of its grain. I think the careful bookmatching on most of the rest of the instrument would be "troubled" by the lopsided pattern in the ironwood.

Carlton

My own preference would be for the Texas Ebony but either one would probably work and both would look good as well. I just think the Texas ebony looks a little better.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

I voted for the Texas ebony as well. I just think it would compliment the walnut better.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

I voted it ironwood. It jumped out at me as where the ebony seems more
dull..

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Hey thanks guys. I appreciate the range of opinions and will give serious weight to them.

Brock-- the rosette will be a bit unimaginative: abalone ring with b/w/b rings.That will go with just about anything.

Jerry--that is a beautiful piece of wood. You know, as I looked at my picture I realized that the poll isn't quite fair, in that the Tx. ebony has been planed, while the Desert Ironwood is still rough from the band mill. I'm sure a lot more color is lurking behind those rough surfaces. The question then is: does one like lots of zoot on the fingerboard, or a more subdued darker look?

I'm a bit surprised that no one said, "Hey, dim wit, if a wood has Texas in the title, use it!"
But that's not part of the poll....

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

[QUOTE=Steve Kinnaird]I'm a bit surprised that no one said, "Hey, dim wit, if a wood has Texas in the title, use it!"
But that's not part of the poll....[/QUOTE]
Don't for a minute believe that I wasn't thinking about it

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

[QUOTE=Don A] [QUOTE=Steve Kinnaird]I'm a bit surprised that no one said, "Hey, dim wit, if a wood has Texas in the title, use it!"
But that's not part of the poll....[/QUOTE]
Don't for a minute believe that I wasn't thinking about it [/QUOTE]


Ok, fair enough. And tell you what, if it doesn't rain soon, I'll be able to say the Desert Ironwood came from my back yard. Last year it wouldn't stop raining. While only 12 months later.... Boy what a difference a year makes!

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Texas Ebony for Me

Hey Steve,
This is just a suggestion but a Myrtle neck with Myrtle binding would probably go sweet with the walnut.

That's timely, Brian. Attended a wedding this weekend, where the guitarist was playing a Myrtle Breedlove. Sounded fine, looked great. I've never worked with the stuff, but always wanted to. Who says we don't have enough choices here in the States? But actually, it's almost like a menu in a Chinese restaurant--so many choices start to paralyze me after a while. We'll probably stick w/ the tried and true maple. Since this will be a spec guitar, we don't want to get too far away from what the public is accustomed to. We might be pushing it a bit w/ the walnut... not to mention Texas ebony!

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I haven't built with Myrtle as of yet but after cutting, sanding and tapping on 20 or so sets I was compelled to set three sets aside for myself to build with. It seems like a dream wood....lightweight, close pores, very easy to sand, stable, strong, tap is very nice and from what I have heard it bends like butter. On the other hand it isn't too widely available and from a wood vendors perspective it is a moderate to slow seller.

Persimmon and Osage Orange are two other woods to consider. The Osage would be a BOLD contrast against the walnut so I don't know how bold you guys want to go.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Bro i sure would like to see that desert ironwood polished out like that ebony. If it has anywhere near the coloration of Jerry's set I cast my vote for the ironwood.

Tim, we still want a traditional "look", so unless the Persimmon had an unusually large amount of heart wood, it would be too light. As for Osage Orange, I love the stuff, but it's too much color--and too bright--for a fretboard. Well, at least for a traditional looking fretboard. Even though we are indulging a bit of "wood fancy", our point is to sell this thing.

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

[QUOTE=John Kinnaird] Bro i sure would like to see that desert ironwood polished out like that ebony. If it has anywhere near the coloration of Jerry's set I cast my vote for the ironwood.[/QUOTE]

You can't vote, can you???

If so, then I vote for the TX ebony!!

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com