Changing Fretboard

[gdae85]

Question:
"How much would you expect to pay for changing the fretboard of your Flatiron Festival F (new radiused 9.5", standard frets and MOP dot inlay with scooped ext)?"

That is, if you had that mandolin ... how much would you expect Bob the luthier to charge you? Just try to provide me with a ballpark figure ... nothing precise.

Thanks

[Michael Lewis]

In my shop you would be looking at about $500. It really depends on how much time the finish touch up takes. With binding you can add even more.

[John Flynn]

You also may be able to have the current fretboard radiused, depending on the configuration of your instrument. It would involve a complete refret, with some extra work on sanding in the fretboard. I got a bid on having that done at $250 for an unbound fretboard, from a luthier that I have experience with and who I trust implicitly.

[Big Joe]

Replacing a fretboard in our shop will cost from 500 - 700 smackers depending upon what all is involved.

[Bandersnatch Reverb]

You can also have the inlay installed after its re-radiused.

Just re-radiusing the fretboard is not a huge deal during a refret. Its some work, but not terrible. The scallop is what it is. Only dots on the inlay, not terrible either, assuming the current fretboard has dots.

[Rob Grant]

Question for Michael and Joe:
With the quote of $500-700 (USD)would you be actually forming and slotting the board or would you use a separately purchased, pre-slotted board?

[Big Joe]

If we can use the current board we would just radius that one and then refret unless you specified a different board. Sometimes you must use a new board. We would evaluate the instrument when it is in our hands and then let you know our recommendation with an exact price for the job. We don't like surprises more than anyone else.

[Michael Lewis]

A radius, scoop, and refret on the existing board would be about $375. Whether the original board could be used would depend on how thick it is. The request was for replacing the fingerboard, that is what I quoted. I cut my own boards. That reminds me to get some more ebony, as my current supply will be used up in a couple years. I like the woods to be well dried by the time they get put into service.

[Keith Newell]

Michael, where do you get your ebony? I am in need of some very soon.
Keith Newell

[Rob Grant]

Anybody tried what the market calls "red ebony?" It's not a traditional color for boards, but it's a stable, beautiful alternative and has a hard waxy feel. Locally (FNQ,Au) we call it "Cooktown Ironwood" (Erythrophleum chlorostachys). I've been using it for boards and headstock veneers for the last few years. Its a tropical Legume and it grows within fifty kilometers of where I live.

[sunburst]

Anybody tried what the market calls "red ebony?"
Never heard of it. Where could I get it? got any pictures?

[Michael Lewis]

Keith, I have been getting ebony from Gallery Hardwoods, now in Eugene OR. Any supplier should be OK, just get good stuff(quarter sawn, black, fine grain, etc.) and look out for deep checking. I usually resaw it to usable size and stack and sticker it for a good while before cutting fingerboards or bridges out of it.

There is a fingerboard wood called "red bean" that was used on early Dobros. It is very fine grain and hard, and polished very well. I don't know what it really is, just heard it referred to as "red bean". It is the color of uncooked red beans, and just about as hard.

[Philip Halcomb]

Just have it refretted and ask the repairman (that hopefully is experienced) to radius the fret board. A refret usually runs between 150-200 depending on if your mando has binding on the fingerboard...

[Rob Grant]

Sunburst and Michael,
Checked for the website here in Oz that was trying to market "red ebony." Seems the site is no longer availiable.
Anyway, here's a photo of a "raw" billet and a fretboard on a mandola I built several years ago. I cut and mill my own billets from trees which I find pushed over by council road works.
We actually have a true black ebony (Diospyros) that grows in the nearby dry country, but the trees generally don't produce a large enough "black pipe" to be usable.

[sunburst]

Thanks Bob. That's nice looking wood.
We have a Diospyros here too: Persimon. It's usually a small tree, and seldom produces black wood, but I'm always on the lookout.

[Rob Grant]

For interest, here's the URL of a local drum maker that uses Cooktown Ironwood for drum bodies. His site gives a bit more info on the timber itself...
http://www.spiritdrums.com/snare/timber.html

Rob.