Rosewood/Ebony Alternatives

Schnozz

So what does everybody think of the new Rosewood/Ebony alternatives on the market now?

Has anyone had experience of the Fingerboards like Indian Laurel, Caribbean Rosewood, African Panga Panga etc? How did it sound and what was the grain like?

Also, who has tried Richlite?

Considering I used to avoid Pau Ferro in the past, I think I would just go for Maple or maybe Wenge, but Ebony was always my personal favourite.

Rabs

Have you seen the Rocklite alternatives?

Ebano and Sundari..   An Ebony and Rosewood substitute

https://www.rocklite.co.uk/

octatonic

I have ziricote fingerboards on two of my Andersons.
I like the feel.

soma1975

Rabs said:

Ebano

Caffeine_Vampire

I had a guitar with Richlite. Honestly couldn’t understand all the drama. 

imalrightjack

octatonic said:

I have ziricote fingerboards on two of my Anderson’s.
I like the feel.

Yup. Love it on my DGT. 

sawyer

Butter?

Whitecat

Macassar ebony is nice. Ziricote is also very good but not terribly money-saving. 

Can’t go wrong with good ol’ maple where available...

jaymenon

On a strat neck from Musikraft - I have a Brazilian Walnut fingerboard - reclaimed from the Coney Island Boardwalk. Looks and feels rather lovely...

Kalimna

Am I correct in thinking that Richlite, whilst a perfectly good substitute when fresh, might cause problems delaminating/chipping when it comes time to refret?

Otherwise, I'm all for alternative woods. On my home-builds, Ive used -
laburnum (lovely feel, took frets well, interesting colour, Scottish)
ziricote (need to redo fretboard gluing, but so far very nice)
purpleheart (great colour that will darken, a bit splintery, lovely feel)
bubinga (as for purpleheart though less splintery)

I also have a Brook acoustic with an 'anjan' fingerboard - dark, speckledy grain, beautiful feel. And my Baileys acoustic build has a snakewood 'board - hardly a cheap option, a bitch to work, hard as nails, utterly stunning.

Waiting in the pile I have a variety of Aussie wood 'boards - mulga/minnerichi/myall - all lovely shades of brown and probably harder than reinforced diamond, as is the Aussie wood way.

Adam 

octatonic

Whitecat said:

Macassar ebony is nice. Ziricote is also very good but not terribly money-saving. 

Can’t go wrong with good ol’ maple where available...

I have Macassar ebony on a couple guitars.
It can chip when refretting, but you just need to be careful and willing to fill.

Whitecat

octatonic said:

Whitecat said:

Macassar ebony is nice. Ziricote is also very good but not terribly money-saving. 

Can’t go wrong with good ol’ maple where available...

I have Macassar ebony on a couple guitars.
It can chip when refretting, but you just need to be careful and willing to fill.

Interesting! Have one electric and one acoustic with it and refretting those is probably in the distant future but it's good to know.

StormshadowGuitars

I have Richlite on a demo guitar and unless you tell someone its Richlite hardly anyone notices, "Lovely Ebony board" gets mentioned a lot............ most people can't tell.
It's pretty good but It can chip a bit on refretting, 

Rocklite on the other hand, I have just built 5 necks from the Rosewood & Ebony variants and next week they'll be refretted for the 4th and final time with Jescar 6000 equivalent Stainless wire. They don't chip, the frets re-seat lovely and don't move no need for glue either. 
Sound great too!!

Although we'll still continue to use other woods. 

stickyfiddle

jaymenon said:

On a strat neck from Musikraft - I have a Brazilian Walnut fingerboard - reclaimed from the Coney Island Boardwalk. Looks and feels rather lovely...

Same here. Lovely bit of wood, sounds a cross between maple and rosewood to my ears.

Bennyboy-UK

How hard do you actually really need to be grinding the strings in between the frets to have any 'feel' of the fretboard wood one way or another?

...as for sound one way or another - I'm filing that with brass nuts for more sustain.

And off down the rabbit hole we go

merciful-evans

I have Brauna Preto on a PRS CE24. This is old reclaimed wood (100 years +). Its similar to rosewood though its supposed to be harder. Its ok.

I like ebony. I don't much like rosewood. I have worn out 2 rosewood fingerboards.

I imagine Ritchlite to be good. I have a similar material on a Hagstrom Deuce. Hagstrom call their version 'resinator. Its hard and a nice feeling playing surface.

Maple is good too. I prefer the baked or 'torrefied' maple. Its heat treated to remove nearly all the moisture, then re-hydrated to a usable condition. Because of this it doesnt need the heavy lacquer applied.

Kittyfrisk

Haven't tried Richlite, but my Epiphone Spotlight has an Ebonol fretboard. Wearing well, feeling smooth, just like ebony.
My traditional corksniffer side says noooooo, but it's actually OK 

LKV_Jazzmaster

I have a Richlite board on my Les Paul HP2 and I f**cken love it! Beautiful dark colour and feels great under the finger tips. 

[Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/SPXqtb4.jpg)

Ive also had a grandillo board on a Gibson SG and liked that as well. 

The Pau Ferro on the new Fender's however I'm not a fan of, they feel 'scratchy' to me.

crunchman

Funny, years ago, I'm sure I remember Pau Ferro being marketed as an exotic option on an expensive Stevie Ray signature Strat by Fender.

Zoolooter

jaymenon said:

On a strat neck from Musikraft - I have a Brazilian Walnut fingerboard - reclaimed from the Coney Island Boardwalk. Looks and feels rather lovely...

+ 1

I have the same slab of nostalgia on a Tele neck.