Baked Maple Fretboards

Timbuck

Timbuck

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I've read how Gibson Guitars are now using Baked Maple for some fret boards due to the Cites Law preventing them importing Rosewoods...So I've decided to have a go at a small batch to see how good they are...I have had a small success with the pallet pinewood using this method and I'm eager to have a go at Maple co's that looks more like rosewood when baked..I didn't have any in stock so I ordered a small plank from ebay...more info coming when it arrives :)
This is Baked Maple
 
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Originality is the art of concealing your sources :)
 
I suppose if you bake it until it looks like ebony you've gone too far?
 
I hope the baked maple works out Ken. I've got some maple waiting to be baked if it turns out good for you. I Googled it after I read your pallet uke thread and got lots of Gibson hits.
 
There is a supplier near me that bakes figured Maple. It is pretty stuff, I think it may bring out the figure a little on figured wood. Certainly do not need to worry about it being dry. I have only seen it baked to a caramel color. I like the look. This stuff was not Western Big Leaf Maple.
 
I think this is a great idea, and I hope we see more of this from builders.

I personally never had the love for rosewood. I have Always preferred the feel and sound of a maple fretboard.

I'd love to have a uke with a maple fretboard, and if it was baked dark, that's bonus points. :cool:
 
if it is baked correctly, there should be no problems with sanding through. The color should be consistent throughout. The stock I was working with was 4/4. I think the key is a slow bake.
 
Yes! it bakes all the way through if you don't use too thick a stock and wrap in foil to keep the heat in...You've got me thinking about Microwave now that bakes from the inside out :)
 
I tried a sample of Oak, baked in the oven:

http://www.classicalguitardelcamp.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=76551&hilit=home+cooking

I've been looking for a substitute for the usual exotics for a couple of years. The Oak can become seriously dark and although it is an open grained timber. . . so is Rosewood and that's been used as fretboard material for a few hundred years.
I've yet to use it on an actual fretboard but only because I want to see how the board reacts over the course of a year or so. I don't want returns with big splits down the length of fretboards! Commercial versions of baked wood are done under controlled heat and humidity.
 
Someone hurry up and try this!! I'm dying to find out how it works. (I'm traveling now so my oven is safe)

Maybe next we could move on to frying or grilling wood. A nice braised maple or sauteed birch would be tasty :rolleyes:
 
I have got a lot of maple. How long do you bake it? What temperature? I may even have a a maple fretboard already slotted.
 
I have some maple I was going to use as a fretboard and bridge for a walnut uke but I have a lot more maple. I think I might give this baking a go on my 2nd build. Still trying to finish up the 1st though lol. The real world keeps getting in the way of things I want to do like build ukuleles. If you bake the wood is there any shrinkage that occurs? I have one maple fretboard already cut to size and slotted. If it shrinks that won't help me much though.
 
I would think that like ebonizing, it would be a surface-only treatment. Take a log out of a fire and slice it through and the wood inside is untouched.

BTW Chuck, you are absolutely my inspiration to excel at this art we call lutherie.
 
like searing meat, hot and fast and it is cooked only on the outside.. or, like BBQ, cook it slow and steady, all the way through. There should be zero color difference.
 
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