Official Luthiers Forum!

anyone got a good line on snakewood?

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Virgil,
If I can't find any through a web search, what I will then do is go on ebay and find the guy with the biggest board of whatever select species I am after, and message them and ask if they have something in the dimensions I am after, I typically get it and it's a pretty good price.

Here you go, a big ole board that can be resawn and made into many fingerboards or scarfed and made into necks.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SALE-Nice-Exoti ... _500wt_922

Virgil is looking for snakewood not lacewood.

Try Gilmerwood.com

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I'm outside looking in, just farther from the window than most.

Nice link Mike! Like the pricing too - WAY cheaper than what I have seen on ebay - I am actually going to be buying some soon to use for a really strange inlay on build # 3 - thanks soooo much!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Yep, Gilmer's got lots of great hard-to-find stuff. Get one of those bois de rose headplates for inlay material while you're at it. Gorgeous dark purple color.

There have been some ridiculously low prices on snakewood in the classifieds here, but sadly I procrastinated a bit and only got an acoustic bridge blank, when I could have had a fingerboard and headplate too But you could put up a WTB and see if anybody has a headplate they can part with, if that's all you need for the inlay.

Looking forward to seeing what you have planned

That's the first time I heard of "bois de rose", but took a look at it on their site - REALLY nice grain/color and I can see some uses for it - thanks again!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

It is awesome stuff alright, but take note that after a while (a few months/maybe a bit more) it oxidizes to all but jet black. Think eggplant. With strings and frets most people would not notice it is not ebony. The density is like most rosewoods, I measured from 800 to 1000Kg/m3. It is oily but glues well and has a nice smell (somewhat resembles olives).

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Build log

Geeee. what a coincidence - I was just thinking the other day to paint the back of the neck and all of the Mahogany "Eggplant Purple" - which was a color of a ZZ Top car "Cadzilla" I remember seeing back in the 80's! I was thinking of an ebony fretboard - do you think it would mix in to much and not be noticed after a while?

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Here are a couple pics: fresh planed face of a fingerboard, next to a partly oxidized side. The other pic is the other, fully darkened face of the same FB between two ebony FBs.
The darkening is not only surface deep, it can go down for a couple mm. Thin sets completely lose the color (that side is just planed but still dark) while a thick FB might only retain a core of red. The fresh color is quite intense.
The grain is very similar to regular Madagascar rosewood and can also have the same ink lines, but the smell (and color of course) is different and has more oil.

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Build log

Holy color-changing trick Batman!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar