fretboard/bridge woods

[Ryan Mazzocco]

Tom Thiel, at Northwind Tonewood, has been deeveloping a process to dye persimmon fingerboards black all the way through. I'm working on one now, and it sure is black! The main issue at the moment is cost: they run about the same as a regular ebony fingerboard, so there's not much incentive to use the persimmon, except, of course, that it's a domestic wood. The dynamics there may change.

Al, I talked to Tom today and I'm excited about getting some of that persimmon when it becomes available. This may be what I'm looking for. Could post a picture of what you had? thanks.

[David King]

I have a persimmon board and it's very soft wood, nothing like the other ebonies.

[Bob Gramann]

I have been experimenting with Persimmon as a fretboard wood. It seems hard enough but it moves a lot more (along its length) with weather changes than the Macassar ebony that I prefer. I bought a tree worth of Persimmon last fall. I have yet to make any finger boards with the wood from the new tree, but I'm hoping that it is more stable than the first wood I got. I have a guitar in the works with back and sides from the new tree. I have made one guitar with an Osage Orange fingerboard. That one is stable.

[Alan Carruth]

Bob Gramman wrote:
"I have been experimenting with Persimmon as a fretboard wood. It seems hard enough but it moves a lot more (along its length) with weather changes than the Macassar ebony that I prefer. "

I have not seen that with the persimmon I've gotten, from two different sources. How was yours dried?

[Bob Gramann]

Mine was kiln dried, then air dried in my shop (40% humidity) for more than a year at near final dimension before I used it. I'm very happy to hear that yours doesn't move much along its length. The next time I use a persimmon board, I'll use it from the new tree (both kiln and shop dried) and hope for better results. Thank you for your data.

[Gilbert Fredrickson]

Richlite.