Ever used Zebra wood?

I just picked up a piece of Zebra wood thinking it would make interesting back and sides. does anyone have experience with it. How does it bend? How does it sound? Is the dust toxic and something to worry about. appreciate your input
Brian GRiffin

its not an uncommon wood for building ukes. plenty outb there. it ebnds like butter and sounds even sweeter , though not as sweet as say..Koa or mahogany or mango etc)

Briangriffinukuleles said:

I just picked up a piece of Zebra wood thinking it would make interesting back and sides. does anyone have experience with it. How does it bend? How does it sound? Is the dust toxic and something to worry about. appreciate your input
Brian GRiffin

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It bends well and sounds great. Sometimes it can be a little cracky along the dark grain lines so don't flex the plates too much.

I will probably get some heat for this, but I like the sound better than mahogany, koa, or mango.

Thanks guys

thanks for sharing your experience. I think I will go back and buy some more. AT 13 bucks a board foot I think I will pick up enough for a few ukes.
no mention of it's toxicity. does that mean it was not a problem for you?
Brian

after building 2 sopranos ad a concert,im still here kicking and breathing so youre good (im also a medical professional )

Briangriffinukuleles said:

thanks for sharing your experience. I think I will go back and buy some more. AT 13 bucks a board foot I think I will pick up enough for a few ukes.
no mention of it's toxicity. does that mean it was not a problem for you?
Brian

Click to expand...

If you search on eBay for "zebra wood ukulele" you will find quite a lot of them having cracks.
I know nothing about zebra wood except seeing it in a local lumber store (that carries all kinds of fancy woods)/
The eBay listings gave me the impression that it cracks very easily,

Zebrawood is not known to be super stable. It often has grain moving all different directions inside, which causes different shrinkage rates in adjacent locations, causing openings. With careful selection you should be ok. Watch the grain! Internal tension is also common with this wood for the same reason. I am very cautious about using zebrawood. It also is very sensitive to climatic change, (probably also due to the potential for differences in grain characteristics throughout a given board) I have dried it, milled it flat, watched it move, and then watched it move back. my 2 cents... I have had more than one 'fatal' problem with this wood, in learning about it.

As for toxicity, I treat all wood dust as toxic, though some are noticeably worse. All should be respected.

I had a piece for the top of a les paul guitar that it's moister content read 6%. 3/4" thick. after gluing it to the mahog body and carving it the archtop down followed by a couple moist days it twisted itself free of the glue and cracked. Never seen anything like it. Love the look and I've heard instruments with it and they sound great but that was a miserable experience

So it's no coincidence that eBay lists many zebra wood ukulele with cracks on them.