Pau Ferro users?

zepp76

Are there any longish term users of Pau Ferro fretboards here? I'm interested in a Strat that comes with a Pau Ferro fretboard and just wondered what they were like in use? How does it feel compared to rosewood? Is there much wear after long term use? Thank you for your time.

sw67

My St Blues has a pau ferro fret board. Feels just like rosewood - no wear and it probably harder than rosewood.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/vTCqEqY.jpg[/img]

earwighoney

zepp76 said:

Are there any longish term users of Pau Ferro fretboards here? I'm interested in a Strat that comes with a Pau Ferro fretboard and just wondered what they were like in use? How does it feel compared to rosewood? Is there much wear after long term use? Thank you for your time.

Pau Ferro is harder and heavier than Indian RW and will wear out slower.  

In terms of feel, I think it is somewhere between Indian RW and Ebony.  

Elwood

zepp76 said:

Are there any longish term users of Pau Ferro fretboards here? I'm interested in a Strat that comes with a Pau Ferro fretboard and just wondered what they were like in use? How does it feel compared to rosewood? Is there much wear after long term use? Thank you for your time.

I've got a Pau Ferro board on a Jaden Rose - it feels nicer that RW imho and has a tighter grain. I like it because it's like a mix of rosewood and maple - with a more interesting grain.

Generally i'd regard it as a more desirable FB material than RW. 

WezV

I think most would never notice the difference.   Pau ferro/Santos rosewood is often a redder colour and a bit paler, but they are very similar woods.

its been used in place of Indian on some fenders for years, often as a cheaper substitute except when they want it to be a marketable feature.

Blueingreen

I have a Suhr Classic with a Pau Ferro board.  It has  a slightly different feel from rosewood, somewhere between rosewood and ebony.  I tend to think of it as  an upgrade on rosewood but in truth I doubt there's any significant practical difference in playability or sound.

It has a lighter colour than most rw which also means the  bits that have darkened with use are slightly more noticeable than with a rw guitar. It doesn't look dirty, there's just nicely contrasting shades of brown. It's subtle and I think it adds to its visual appeal.

richardhomer

Blueingreen said:

I have a Suhr Classic with a Pau Ferro board.  It has  a slightly different feel from rosewood, somewhere between rosewood and ebony.  I tend to think of it as  an upgrade on rosewood but in truth I doubt there's any significant practical difference in playability or sound.

It has a lighter colour than most rw which also means the  bits that have darkened with use are slightly more noticeable than with a rw guitar. It doesn't look dirty, there's just nicely contrasting shades of brown. It's subtle and I think it adds to its visual appeal.

Yes - I had a Suhr with Pau Ferro - this is exactly my experience too.

thomasross20

I definitely notice the difference - better than rosewood and almost as nice as ebony.

WezV

you know, i actually used it on my first guitar build way back in 2003 ish

I chose it because it was the cheapest of the dark fretboard woods.  £6 for santos rosewood, £8 for indian, £10 for ebony.


Its still in good supply so shouldn't be an expensive option but is now often priced between indian and ebony

here is a pic of the colour variation of 1st grade pau ferro from lmii

WezV

or 2 more from LMII that most would not be able to tell from rosewood.   The right one is about as dark as it gets

Funkfingers

zepp76 said:

Are there any longish term users of Pau Ferro fretboards here? I'm interested in a Strat that comes with a Pau Ferro fretboard and just wondered what they were like in use? How does it feel compared to rosewood? Is there much wear after long term use? Thank you for your time.

The fingerboard of my fretless Stingray bass guitar is Pau Ferro. It must be approaching twenty five years old. The outer windings of roundwound strings have made tiny, angled bites in the wood surface.

By comparison, on the maple neck/fingerboard of my factory fretless Fender Precision Bass, identical strings have left ruts in which you could plant potatoes. (Okay. I may be exaggerating a little bit.)

GSPBASSES

WezV said:

you know, i actually used it on my first guitar build way back in 2003 ish

I chose it because it was the cheapest of the dark fretboard woods.  £6 for santos rosewood, £8 for indian, £10 for ebony.


Its still in good supply so shouldn't be an expensive option but is now often priced between indian and ebony

here is a pic of the colour variation of 1st grade pau ferro from lmii

I wish it was that price now, I ordered some about five years ago  they were just under £10 each, I just put in an order for 100 and it's going to cost me over £1500, but using this is far easier than all the rubbish we have to do export rosewood. Even rosewood fingerboard prices gone through the roof, mainly because the big exporters from India are not letting anything out the country at the moment. I've had 200 on order since January no sign of coming yet, I think I'm down to my last 50 so hope they turn up soon. 

earwighoney

GSPBASSES said:

 I wish it was that price now, I ordered some about five years ago  they were just under £10 each, I just put in an order for 100 and it's going to cost me over £1500, but using this is far easier than all the rubbish we have to do export rosewood. Even rosewood fingerboard prices gone through the roof, mainly because the big exporters from India are not letting anything out the country at the moment. I've had 200 on order since January no sign of coming yet, I think I'm down to my last 50 so hope they turn up soon. 

Pau Ferro will only become more and more expensive. 

It has a fairly small growing region and isn't plantation growth as well.  With Fender buying up stocks I can't see the supply being able to absorb the increased demand without price going through the roof.  

Pete24v

I have it on my Warmoth Cabronita, can't say it feels any different to any previous rosewood fingerboard that i've played on. Mine isn't as hard feeling as ebony, so i'd agree with other as it's somewhere between rosewood and ebony feel wise.

olafgarten

I think eventually we are going to have to move away from wood completely in guitars. There are too many supply problems.

I imagine that in the next 50 years we will reach a point where real wood in guitars will be reserved for ultra high end Luthier built instruments, and all of the instruments from 2017 will have inflated prices due to the fact. 

Jez6345789

My 89 PRS Maple top CE has it as fingerboard seems to do the job just fine and nice grain. 

Probably cost PRS a quid back in the day