Ibanez AX120 pine fretboard?

T

TheNewGuy

New member
The new 2018 version of this guitar has the specs listed and it is using a ‘treated New Zealand pine’ as a fret board.
Never thought of pine as a fretboard and it’s being sold online for $200. The colors as well are pretty intriguing.
Did some googling and reading and didn’t find a whole lot about the pine fretboard.
I like inexpensive guitars and always liked the AX body style so if anyone can shed some light on these I would love too hear anyone’s opinions.
 
Re: Ibanez AX120 pine fretboard?

All of the necks I make are 100% pine. I can get the wood for free in my backyard. Pine is fairly soft, so the truss rod gets more than its fair share of work keeping the neck straight.
 
Re: Ibanez AX120 pine fretboard?

Chistopher said:
All of the necks I make are 100% pine. I can get the wood for free in my backyard. Pine is fairly soft, so the truss rod gets more than its fair share of work keeping the neck straight.
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I did find a site explaining a little bit about how they harden it for fretboard use and am aware of it for bodies and some necks.
When I read pine fretboard I was a little intrigued as to how well it work as such and to how it would hold up long term.
 
Re: Ibanez AX120 pine fretboard?

It definitely works, but a baseball neck is almost a requirement if you don't do any hardening. That doesn't really bother me, I actually like thick necks.
 
Re: Ibanez AX120 pine fretboard?

If it's from New Zealand it must be good
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In New Zealand, this tree grows everywhere (including plantations) and is considered a weed. So..... it follows that they have a whole bunch of the stuff, and need a market for it. As for "treatment"... unless Ibanez explains it in detail, I'm going to assume that could mean anything, including various processes to make the stuff usable.
 
Re: Ibanez AX120 pine fretboard?

At work we have phenolic resin boards
That are much more durable than wood

Parker used glass phenolic fretboard

The new AZ line roasts necks in nitrogen rich chambers
That's supposed to make them more rigid

At work we roast parts in nitrogen rich chambers
But the nitrogen allows the temperature to get higher without combustion
 
Re: Ibanez AX120 pine fretboard?

ehdwuld said:
At work we have phenolic resin boards
That are much more durable than wood

Parker used glass phenolic fretboard

The new AZ line roasts necks in nitrogen rich chambers
That's supposed to make them more rigid

At work we roast parts in nitrogen rich chambers
But the nitrogen allows the temperature to get higher without combustion
Click to expand...

Well, soon as these AX models hit the market I’m getting one.
I’m no picture child for being green but the whole thing seems viable and well I done spent the better part of today looking as much up as I could find for now.
 
Re: Ibanez AX120 pine fretboard?

OK, so it's composite material made from wood chips and the "organic resin derived from agricultural waste" is probably plasticizers from crushed seed oils - sorbitol and glycerol (both are edible proteins).
 
Re: Ibanez AX120 pine fretboard?

I'm sure it's not sawdust and wood chips

But the lumber industry has been "treating " wood cor almost a century
Woolmonized and creosote impregnated woods have been around for a while
In these cases, again at a job I worked at some years ago
In these cases, the wood is placed in a vat and a vacuum is pulled
The chemicals are pulled into the cellular structure of the wood

I am sure by " treating " there is a process similar to the common wood working term

Chill dude
 
Ibanez AX120 pine fretboard?

ehdwuld said:
I'm sure it's not sawdust and wood chips

But the lumber industry has been "treating " wood cor almost a century
Woolmonized and creosote impregnated woods have been around for a while
In these cases, again at a job I worked at some years ago
In these cases, the wood is placed in a vat and a vacuum is pulled
The chemicals are pulled into the cellular structure of the wood

I am sure by " treating " there is a process similar to the common wood working term

Chill dude
Click to expand...

Sawdust and wood chips would be a little awful given the fact a fretboard works best being very dense. I always heard of pike being soft that’s what intrigued me when the added ‘Treated pine’ to the fretboard
description.
I have used maple ebony and rose wood so having a treated pine will be interesting and fun.
 
Re: Ibanez AX120 pine fretboard?

Telecasters used to have pine bodies
I'm not sure about the necks

You can put graphite rods in the neck to stiffen if necessary

I would if I were building one
 
Re: Ibanez AX120 pine fretboard?

ICTGoober said:
In New Zealand, this tree grows everywhere (including plantations) and is considered a weed. So..... it follows that they have a whole bunch of the stuff, and need a market for it. As for "treatment"... unless Ibanez explains it in detail, I'm going to assume that could mean anything, including various processes to make the stuff usable.
Click to expand...

It is not native to New Zealand and planted quite deliberately - not a weed as you suggested, Not sure about "needing a market" most is exported to Asian countries, wood products are New Zealand's third largest export earner most being Pine - Ibanez fretboards will be a very small percentage of the $5 billion industry
 
Re: Ibanez AX120 pine fretboard?

ICTGoober said:
OK, so it's composite material made from wood chips and the "organic resin derived from agricultural waste" is probably plasticizers from crushed seed oils - sorbitol and glycerol (both are edible proteins).
Click to expand...

Sorbitol and glycerol are not proteins.
 
Re: Ibanez AX120 pine fretboard?

It is not native to New Zealand and planted quite deliberately - not a weed as you suggested, Not sure about "needing a market" most is exported to Asian countries, wood products are New Zealand's third largest export earner most being Pine - Ibanez fretboards will be a very small percentage of the $5 billion industry
Click to expand...

I never said it was native to New Zealand. According to Wikipedia's entry on the actual tree - Pinus Radiata, scroll down to New Zealand to find "89 percent of the country's (NZ) plantation forests are this species" (meaning they grow it because have a place to sell the stuff), and is "considered an invasive species" - i.e.: a weed.
 
Re: Ibanez AX120 pine fretboard?

Sawdust and wood chips would be a little awful given the fact a fretboard works best being very dense
Click to expand...

Do you not understand it is a manufactured composite wood product, formed under intense heat and pressure? Many guitar companies are using such fingerboards already. The first that leaps to mind is Gibson's Richlite fingerboards - used mostly on high end guitars.
 
Re: Ibanez AX120 pine fretboard?

Most pine is soft, but yellow pine isnt. It fact, yellow pine gets harder with age
 
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