Alternative fingerboard material.

D

Darg1911

New member
Just posting this cause I thought it was interesting.

This probably isn't new to some of you but it's new to me. Blackwood Tek. A type of pine (pinus radiata) grown in New Zealand goes through a pretty cool process to create fretboards. It's kiln dried, treated (and colored) under pressure, dried again, treated under pressure again and then highly compressed in a hot press.
Apparently Harley Benton is using it and so is Reverend and, I'm sure, others. I suppose it's going to become more common. I've never seen it in person but it looks good in online photos. It's made either black like ebony or red/brown like Rosewood. It appears to be far cheaper than both and also cheaper than "Richlite". Maybe most importantly, besides being cheaper ... it isn't subject to CITES regs.

Check out the Reverend guitars site. The couple of models I checked out are listing Blackwood Tek as the fretboard material. But they still had some of the older photos up with rosewood boards as well. Stark contrast because the Blackwood Tek boards were black.

If any of the builders here, or any other members have some experience with this stuff, please post. I'd be interested to get actual, hands on opinions.

For anyone interested, here is a link to the manufacturers site.

https://www.madinter.com/corporate/blackwood-tek/index.html
 
Re: Alternative fingerboard material.

That's interesting - thanks for sharing.

I knew that Reverend was using this wood product, but hadn't bothered to look further, mostly because of a trust in Reverend's quality. That brand knows what it's doing.

While I prefer traditional rosewood (Indian, I guess, I don't think I've played any Brazilian), I'm very open to alternative woods and methods in guitars. Richlite, baked this or that, etc. - it's all cool so long as the result is good.

It's interesting that the marketing page compared Blackwood Tek to both ebony and rosewood, because I think of those as very different woods, with nothing in common except dark coloration.
 
Re: Alternative fingerboard material.

Never heard of it, but I am all for alternative materials for all parts of a guitar, as long as it sounds/feels good.
 
Re: Alternative fingerboard material.

Not an entirely new technology here, but the use of "organic" resins from agricultural waste is cool and long overdue.

I can see this type of product being great for parts like fingerboards, which I feel can benefit from the added density and structural stability. We used to rely on plastics and graphite/carbon fiber products for this purpose, so it's nice to see something made out of wood that is arguably more sustainable than naturally dense wood products such as Ebony.
 
Re: Alternative fingerboard material.

I have an old violin and the fretboard is supposedly pear wood. It's feel is very close to ebony and can be dyed to match ebony.
 
Re: Alternative fingerboard material.

I own a tenor recorder made of pear, and it sounds great!
 
Re: Alternative fingerboard material.

We talk about new fingerboard materials (including black tek) many times over on the OLF. It's all good.
 
Re: Alternative fingerboard material.

I have 0 issues with alternate materials. If it is comfortable I will probably like it.
 
Re: Alternative fingerboard material.

Sounds like it is a long process there. I assume the colouring is to make it uniform.

I wonder if it will have any market, given there are woods coming into the average player's radar that need nothing but being sawn to be ready.
 
Re: Alternative fingerboard material.

AlexR said:
Sounds like it is a long process there. I assume the colouring is to make it uniform.

I wonder if it will have any market, given there are woods coming into the average player's radar that need nothing but being sawn to be ready.
Click to expand...

Seeing that it's pine, the coloring is actually to color it.

Looks like Reverend is using it extensively already.
 
Re: Alternative fingerboard material.

^ I guess people would see the pine grain too obviously if it wasn't......unless its a composite construction like the Hagstom 'wood' that is used for their fretboards.
 
Re: Alternative fingerboard material.

AlexR said:
^ I guess people would see the pine grain too obviously if it wasn't......unless its a composite construction like the Hagstom 'wood' that is used for their fretboards.
Click to expand...

The black dyed boards hide the grain better than the red/brown dyed boards. But you can still see some grain, even with the black dyed boards. It really doesn't look bad though, IMO.

Here's a link to the products page with good photos (and prices when you hover over the individual pieces). https://www.madinter.com/blackwood-tek.html
 
Re: Alternative fingerboard material.

Can this not be made in larger pieces? I wonder how it would be for a full body?
 
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