Unslotted Fingerboard for Guitar
As you probably know, in recent years the availability of high quality, old-school, style fingerboards—the kind players have come to expect on their guitars—have been harder and harder to find.
As a result, our team set out on a mission to scour the world to find sustainable stashes of the best quality fingerboards available anywhere, and now, after much searching we're proud to stock one of the finest assortments of fingerboards you'll find anywhere.
Each of our fingerboards has been kiln dried and is stable and ready for use once it's been acclimated to your shop's environment.
Minimum board dimensions:
2-3/8" x 20" x 15/64" (60.32mm x 508mm x 5.95mm)
Ebony
Our Ebony (Diospyros crassiflora) comes from West Africa and tends to be more uniformly black than we have seen from other sources, however, most African ebony is not perfectly jet black, most boards have some visible grain and occasional streaks of greys and tans. We think these visual variations offer character and enhance the aesthetics of most guitars, but if you desire a perfectly dark, jet black appearance consider using our Black Fingerboard Stain to darken the board and create the desired visual effect.
Crelicam Ebony
StewMac is extremely proud to be one of the only luthier suppliers of Crelicam Ebony (Diospyros crassiflora). This is the same species of ebony that you know and love, but each piece has been hand-selected for its gorgeous looks and exceptional feel. Each fingerboard is unique, the colors range from tans and golds, to blacks, greens and purples with a mix of variegation, light and dark lines, and even some flame. Crelicam Ebony is very hard, super smooth, and holds frets well—you'll make an excellent playing fingerboard with a boutique, one of a kind look.
Indian Rosewood
It's easy to assume that due to Indian Rosewood's (Dalbergia latifolia) low price this is a lesser quality rosewood, but nothing could be further from the truth. For decades Indian Rosewood has been the choice of boutique builders as well as major manufacturers because it is extremely stable, beautiful, and is (often) much less expensive than more exotic rosewoods. In recent years there have been wide swings in the quality of Indian Rosewood, but our team has procured sustainable sources of some of the darkest, most even and straight-grained Indian Rosewood fingerboards available anywhere.
Madagascar Rosewood, Master Grade
Madagascar Rosewood (Dalbergia baroni) is the closest commercially available substitute—in both tone and visual appearance—for Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia nigra). Our Master Grade offers strong variegation, black ink lines and color contrast from golds to browns to blacks that make many of these boards virtually undistinguishable from their Brazilian cousins.
Madagascar Rosewood
Our standard grade Madagascar Rosewood (Dalbergia baroni) fingerboards are just as high quality as the Master Grade, however, these have a more uniform, brown, straight grained appearance. These offer a more standard understated visual effect and are similar to what you would find on most vintage instruments.
Pau Ferro
In recent years Pau Ferro (Machaerium scleroxylon) fingerboards have become quite popular—especially with electric guitar builders—due to its sustainability, excellent resistance to wear and ability to hold frets like a vise. Plus, its non-porous surface makes it feel silky smooth and almost effortless to play.
Granadillo
Since all rosewoods are now part of the CITES treaty and international export is prohibited, Granadillo (Platymiscium yucatanum) has been rising in popularity among European and North American builders. It is an extremely inexpensive, dense, non-porous wood that resists wear, has a strong resonant tap-tone and glues well. Most boards range between sandy and “brick" brown and oxidizes over time to a warm dark brown patina.
Padauk
Padauk (Pterocarpus soyauxii) is an opened grained wood that is easy to machine and glue, and offers an extremely beautiful, exotic look to your next custom build. This wood is extremely popular with high end electric guitar makers and its striking pink/red color and perfectly straight grain create a stunning visual effect.
Ovangkol
Ovangkol (Guibourtia ehie) has been used for years for acoustic guitar back and side sets, but more recently it has become a popular choice for fingerboards. Similar in density to Indian rosewood Ovangkol is another suitable substitute for CITES restricted rosewoods. Most boards are light to medium brown with dark brown and black grain lines that have an exotic, refined look that makes it a great choice for custom guitar makers.
Cocobolo
Cocobolo (Dalbergia retusa) is another true rosewood that is an excellent choice for fingerboards. Freshly sanded Cocobolo often appears somewhere between orange and red, but over time it oxidizes nicely to a deep burgundy—almost black—color. Cocobolo is denser than most other rosewoods and thus wears very well, especially on guitars that will see a lot of heavy use.
Chechen
Coming from Mexico and Central America, Chechen (Metopium brownei) is sometimes referred to as Caribbean Rosewood. While not a true rosewood, it shares some of the excellent characteristics of high projection and volume. Similar to Pau Ferro, it's a hard, dense, and tight-grained wood that makes an excellent fretboard. Colors range from amber to chocolate brown with a pleasant figure.
Machiche
Another emerging Central American tonewood, Machiche (Lonchocarpus castilloi) compares favorably to Honduran Rosewood. Its excellent tap tone, high density, and easy workability have made it a new favorite for steel string and classical builders. Visually the grainlines are very similar to Honduran Rosewood, with a combination of reds, and light and dark browns. It also glues and finishes with ease.
Maple
Our ultra-hard and smooth Rock Maple (Acer saccharum) fingerboards are perfect for electric guitar builds. This North American native species works well and plays effortlessly. The maple we secured for our fingerboards is uniform in color and has that classic look and feel. The non-porous surface is easy to stain and finish in either gloss or matte for the exact feel you want.
T'zalam
Also known as Mayan or Caribbean Walnut, T'zalam or Tzalam (Lysiloma latisiliquum) has the appearance of American Walnut, but with a higher density. It's very easy to work with, and it glues and stains well. The straight, uniform grain and density are ideal for fingerboards. The medium and light brown color is complemented with subtle shades of amber and red which blend well with figuring seen in some pieces.
Katalox
Also referred to as Mexican Royal Ebony, Katalox (Swartzia cubensis) is extremely dense and smooth, perfect for fingerboards and acoustic guitar bridges. It has a rich, ringing tap tone and sands, glues, and finishes well. The deep purple, brown, and black coloring contrasts well with the cream-colored sapwood seen in some pieces. The grain can range from very uniform and straight to having dynamic movement—each piece is beautiful and unique.
As all rosewoods are now part of the CITES treaty, our Indian Rosewood, Madagascar Rosewood, and Cocobolo are not available for international export.
Important:
Ebony is usually not uniformly black. We offer Black Fingerboard Stain, as used by Gibson®, Paul Reed Smith® and other makers for darkening the streaks on ebony fingerboards, bridges and peghead overlays.
Need help calculating your fret locations?
Our online fret scale calculator can calculate any scale length you want to use. It will also give you accurate measurements for locating the bridge on your instrument.
