Ebony fretboards

[Timbuck]

Just arrived today 3 excellent guitar fretboards I found on Amazon at the right price ans quality, I will get 12 soprano boards from these and enough left over for some bindings as well.
9B2F8E02-9B93-4724-A67E-A81B52E5320F by Ken Timms,

 

[Jerryc41]

Now sawn and ready for thicknessing .

That's a word you don't hear very often - "thicknessing."

 

[Timbuck]

And here they are
6BAA8E19-89D9-4606-AEF2-D2C681BF1378 by Ken Timms,

 

[AstroEd42]

Timbuck
Thats a great find. You said you will use it for bindings also. Is it Ebony? If so, is it difficult to bend.
Ed

 

[sequoia]

Timbuck
Thats a great find. You said you will use it for bindings also. Is it Ebony? If so, is it difficult to bend.
Ed

I don't know about Ken and others, but I find ebony extremely difficult to bend for bindings. I usually get a little crack right there at the waist and these are tenors. I think the key is thinning them overall and especially at the waist. I tried the repair trick with CA glue with limited success (none). Usually I ended up trashing them which is a crying shame Ebony is too rare and beautiful to be trashing. Is is almost a sin.

 

[Timbuck]

I don't know about Ken and others, but I find ebony extremely difficult to bend for bindings. I usually get a little crack right there at the waist and these are tenors. I think the key is thinning them overall and especially at the waist. I tried the repair trick with CA glue with limited success (none). Usually I ended up trashing them which is a crying shame Ebony is too rare and beautiful to be trashing. Is is almost a sin.

I can't remember it's I've ever bent ebony...I'll have go and see if it can be done...I remember Chuck saying that he bends it sometimes for bindings.

 

[sequoia]

I can bend it fine for the upper and lower bouts and it holds and takes the shape well with little spring back, it's just that final waist bend and... a little crack along the grain line. Good luck.

 

[Wildestcat]

Every picture tells a story ...

 

[mikeyb2]

This is the answer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ardN5wkHuA

 

[sequoia]

Every picture tells a story ...

View attachment 135024

Well at least I'm not the only one...

 

[Timbuck]

I just finished sanding down these ebony fretboard blanks...16 boards in total from 4 guitar blanks ... it worked out at 2.49 GBP or 3.45 USD each

As for bending ebony for bindings ... I search a few Guitar forums for tips and here is one I liked.

[FONT=&quot]One of my favorite 'tricks' for bending binding that doesn't like to bend is to thin it. I generally thin my binding to ~1.6mm and then use a matching inner 'purfling' piece at ~.6mm. This gives the visual effect of a 'wider' binding but makes manipulating tricky woods a walk in the park.[/FONT]

 

[Timbuck]

Soprano Fretboards all fretted ..believe it or not these are all Ebony even the ones that look like Rosewood...it shows how different Ebony can look.

A7F94531-D8D0-427E-BBFA-686DA808949A by Ken Timms,

 

[Ukecaster]

Oh so yummy! The fretboards look good too!

 

[ktuurna]

I have bent ebony for bindings several times. It is not so difficult.