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Well guys, thanks to everyone's help I have pretty much finished designing my guitar (except that pesky headstock) and am currently writing out my plan of attack and order of operations. I have decided to use a zebrawood freeboard and have a few questions.

I hear that it's not as hard as maple so I was curious if it was ok to leave the fretboard unfinished or should I finish it for durability. As far as finishes go, if I have to, I was looking into an epoxy finish. Are there any other ways to go to harden up the fretboard? If I decide to use epoxy, what brands do you guys recommend? Should I do it before cutting the fret slots or after? I'd rather do the finishing and fret cutting before I actually attach it to the neck. Any advice as far as that goes? What is the process like? One more question would be is it possible to stain the zebrawood before the epoxy is applied? I want to darken up the lighter areas just a tad. If so, what stains should I stay away from and which kinds will work before an epoxy finish?

As always, thank you guys in advance for any assistance provided. This board has been invaluable thus far.

I'm not sure that "hardening" a fretboard would produce good results. I would reccomend simply using a hard wood to begin with. If you like contrasting stripes you could use bocote which makes a great fretboard, or even cocobolo.

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Janka hardness for Zebrawood is higher than hard maple, and just under Wenge.

It also tests hard maple harder than cocobolo. I'm not convinced on that one.

Plus hardness alone doesn't mean it's gonna make a good fretboard.

I will say I've never tried to use zebrawood as a fretboard, I'm sure you could use it, but I've picked up plenty of samples at woodshops and it doesn't feel like a good fretboard material to me. Just my opinion.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

I'm using bocote for my binding right now, it seems plenty hard and it looks almost exactly like zebrawood (although I think it will turn dark over time).

here's a pic

I'm asking because over on a bass forum there's a lot of talk of people defretting their basses and using an epoxy to coat the board to make it harder and resistant to damage. If you guys think the zebrawood will hold up just fine without it, I'll just avoid the extra steps all together. Or should I scrap the zebrawood idea all together?

I thought people only did that for fretless basses. I don't think epoxy is really all that hard, but I guess it's fine for the purpose. If nothing else you can make your fretboard nice and shiny.

If you are doing a fretless bass, I recommend using Lignum Vitae for the fretboard.

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I'd expect zebrawood to be about like Indian rosewood for a fretboard as far as hardness and durability go. I would finish it or eliminate it from contention for a different reason though. It stinks. I mean that literally: it smells like a wet dog.

Really? I haven't noticed any smell on mine. I wonder if it only stinks when you're actually working with it. What type of finish would you recommend?

It only smells when you're working it.

You may find CA would prove harder wearing than epoxy and have better penetration also...or you could see if Larry Davies of Gallery Hardwoods is still doing his acrylized FBs..excellent process and product, air is sucked out via vacuum and then acrylic is forced in under pressure....clever Larry.

Cheers

Kim

Totally acceptable fretboard material.

I built an entire guitar out of Zebra wood. I think it smells like a mixture between chocolate and horse manure.

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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

the zebra wood i have is quite fibrous and open grained; i wouldn't use it as a fret board without finishing it, or the lighter stripes will become filthy

I always figured that they called it that because it smelled like Zebra poop. Honestly, it's one of the worst smelling woods to work I've ever used.

Another thing I was going to say about zebrawood is that you need to get a piece with the straightest, most consistent grain possible if you want to make a fretboard board with it. It has a tendency to change directions randomly. I learned that while carving a zebrawood neck. My spokeshave would be going just fine and then it would just stop and I would have to come at it from the opposite direction (or a diagonal direction) and that's the only way I could keep it from chattering. An erratic wood that Zebrawood is.

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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

Zebrawood makes great fretboards, almost the same density and stability as indian rosewood. Just use good quartersawn, straight grained stock. A good finish for it is tung oil, it penetrates deep into the wood and hardens it from within. This would also keep it from getting grimy.

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