Official Luthiers Forum!

When you folks use ebony in a laminated neck, where do you find strips wide enough? To do a neck, you'd need it to be nearly 4" wide and 30" long, wouldn't you? Do you resaw your own or is there a supplier for this?

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

I've never used ebony for that purpose. Haven't seen a lot that wide. I suppose it could be found.

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

You could use Macassar Ebony. It is easy to find in those widths. My local wood dealer always has a bunch of it on hand.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

I bought a board of it on ebay (gaboon) and sweet talked BobC into cutting it up for me.

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

What about the boards wood dealers use to cut out bass fingerboard blanks?

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Joe Breault
Merrimack, NH
Perpetual novice

Ron,
Most people use dyed wood-the best I have found is dyed costello (boxwood).
I get mine from ceartainlywood.com
I have jet black gaboon ebony that I would cut for you if you like-but it is expensive.
Brad

I have done it using Gaboon ebony I picked up from Tropical Exotic Hardwoods of Latin America in Carlsbad, California, and then resawed myself. http://www.anexotichardwood.com/ If you can get down there, they have an incredible selection of Cocobolo --- imagine a small warehouse full of the stuff.

If you decide to go with Gaboon ebony, it looks great, but be forewarned that it really likes to crack as it dries. They slosh a really thick coat of wax or something all over it to keep it in one piece. I found the best approach was to glue it up in the neck as soon as I resawed it, and then let the neck sit for a couple months to make sure it didn't pull itself apart. Happily, it worked great.

I can find it locally at a number of places, especially gabon. It's a bit pricy but it works great and I cut it down myself...

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

I've got a board of gaboon ebony 9" wide. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. It has some nice fine grey stripes. Has anyone used it for back sides?

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

[QUOTE=Bobc] I've got a board of gaboon ebony 9" wide. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. It has some nice fine grey stripes. Has anyone used it for back sides?[/QUOTE]
Bob, I saw a set at Grant Goltz's house that he had cut for himself, but have not yet seen a guitar made from it. Should make a beautiful body though.

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Thanks for the feedback, fellows. I have three necks started now, so it is in my future. Brad, I'll keep you in mind.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Thanks Dennis. Thats what I thought. It shouldn't be much differant than other ebonies.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

If you make a neck with a scarfed peghead and a stacked heel you can use thinner stuff. You can make the whole neck from a 1" thick piece of wood, if you can live with the stacked heel. It ain't so bad- if I glue up a 3" or a 4" neck blank I can get 3 or 4 necks from it. It conserves wood...and other woods like rosewood or walnut look good in the center.

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Mark Swanson
Swanson Guitars
http://www.MarkSwansonMusic.com