Ebony fretboard

gspears

gspears

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I am planning on using a W. African ebony fretboard and head stock veneer for an upcoming build. I ordered the ebony from LMII. I have not received them yet, but I had questions about staining the fretboard. I have seen many ukuleles with very dark black fret boards and headstock veneers. The ebony I purchased looks a lot less black in the photos. Is it common to stain the fretboard or veneer? Any thoughts on the pros and cons would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Greg
 
i wouldnt say its a common practice ( im an amature builder) but ive used the ebonizing dye stew-mac sells and theyre alright..i usually allow 2 days for it to dry after application as its an oil base. a local cabinet maker in my area gave me a cool tip of diluting the bugger with alcohol to speed up drying time. it does what it says on the bottle so i was satisfied.

gspears said:
I am planning on using a W. African ebony fretboard and head stock veneer for an upcoming build. I ordered the ebony from LMII. I have not received them yet, but I had questions about staining the fretboard. I have seen many ukuleles with very dark black fret boards and headstock veneers. The ebony I purchased looks a lot less black in the photos. Is it common to stain the fretboard or veneer? Any thoughts on the pros and cons would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Greg
Click to expand...
 
West African Ebony, or what is sold most commonly as West African Ebony, is mostly just plain pretty, even with some grey streaking. Personally, I would leave it, it will grow on you. If you want a pure black fretboard, pick one up from Gilmer Wood, the Malagasy Ebony. Penetration of dye into West African Ebony is not going to be very deep, and right at your fingers. It may dye well, I have not tried. For the labor, time, questions, cost of dye, hassle, buy another, pure black fret board, and pass the one you have on to someone who will use it, if you are not going to.

I love the grey streaking.
 
I've used the Fiebings leather dye, available at any local shoe shop, for fretboards. I've even used it on boards that have been fretted with position dots without a problem. Once you do it, you'll have to continue that maintenance every so often. I know a guy that will heat his boards to dehydrate them a bit then rehydrate them in the stain to get it to take. Not sure if it actually works or not. I too like the natural look of the grain.
 
The trouble with a pure dead black wood is that it looks like pure dead black wood, which is also a great way to describe black plastic.

I like my wood to be 'woody', with grain, lines and swirl- just as long as it remains stable wood.

African ebony is not as stable as some other (and more interesting) ebonies such as Macassar ebony.-----
http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/acoustic/features/woods/body-woods/macassar-ebony

I really like African Blackwood, which is very black, beautiful contrasting sapwood if you want it with a fantastic tap, as it is a Dalbergia (Rosewood). My latest headstock is cut from some small off cuts i got cheap- slab saw on purpose to bring out the amazing grain. See pics) Other pic of rose inlay is also African blackwood, just very black, kinda boring without the inlay me thinks.


dreadnaught.jpg
Gatsby small.jpg
Gatsby (2) small.jpg
Gatsby (4) small2.jpg
 
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I visited last weekend with Tom Thiel of Northwinds Tonewood at the Woodstock Luthiers Show. Due to the rapidly rising cost of Gabon ebony, he has developed a proprietary process to ebonize persimmon in a way that shows the grain and penetrates throughout the board, not just on the surface as with most dyes. Definitely worth checking out.
 
The "proprietary process" is more than likely vacuum impregnating the wood with a dye. And the dying of fingerboards is actually a very old and pretty common trick.
 
Why do people love to see the natural unnatural? I no longer use or even look for 'perfect' wood. It's a pretty pointless endevour. I prefer it to look as God intended it :)
 
This is just my opinion, but I love the way ebony looks when it is not black. I think it has a lot more character than flat black wood.
I think Macassar ebony is just the prettiest stuff ever!

~Fred
 
The pore structure of the West African, the way it wears/ polishes, is prettier than the Malagasy or Indian Ebony, IMO. Probably, others will have a different opinion. One big missing factor in 'West African', 'Indian', 'Madagascar', etc.. is 'genus species'.... the Latin name. I think there are about 5 different species sold as Macassar, even though one may come up as 'the definition' for Macassar, more often than the others. Macassar is also of a different Genus than most of the other 'Ebonies'.

The dying probably is done in a vacuum, the process I know uses a vacuum pump, probably the same one that powers your vacuum press, or maybe vacuum jigs, and a 2 chambered, valved, vacuum chamber. The wood is placed in the vacuum chamber, evacuated, the valve opened for the dye to flow into the chamber with the wood, the vacuum released, then the chamber pressurized, and the dye even pushed further into the wood.
 
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Thanks for all the feedback. I am a hobby builder, so I am unfamiliar with the issues I raised in this thread. I will receive my W. African ebony headstock veneer and fretboard tomorrow. I will match it up with the Koa set I have set aside for it.
 
Received the ebony fret board and headstock veneer today. I am very happy with it. The color is dark and uniform with a very light and fine streak of grey through it. After seeing this wood, I will not be staining it. It looks great! It looks very different then the stock photos I ordered from. Thanks for all your help.

Greg
 
Don't forget that it will look different with finish than raw. Before any staining....Sand it smooth and wet it with mineral spirits to see how it will look finished.
I always like a few brown or gray streaks in ebony anyway. Looks like real wood
 
Occasionally I come across perfectly black ebony. When I do, cool. I use it. But you would not believe how many people ask me, "is that headstock is painted?" "No. I do not paint my ukuleles. It is black wood called ebony. It is a little bit more expensive and harder to come by than paint. Which is part of why this is fifteen hundred dollar ukulele." This is one of the reasons I have come to prefer wood-looking wood.
 
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