Fossilized Ivory

[Scotti Adams]

...is anybody using these?....I would be interested in knowing the tonal qualities(if any) vs bone, MOP etc....heres a link to them # #http://www.gregboyd.com/ShoppingCart/ViewItem.asp?ProductCode=WalNutMandBanjo&Quant

[Scotti Adams]

...now come on guys...I know there are some of you that has this material on their mando....help a brother out..

[jessboo]

Scotti,
I have one of those on my A5G and it did make a differance on volume and clearing up some of the muddyness of the box. It helped the sound of this mandolin but when I tryed it on the elliot it didn't make any differance in the sound of it at all. My opiniane is it helps some mandolins and some it doesn't do any thing for.

[ShaneJ]

I know that Kurt Gisclair (thunderplucker on the Cafe) makes the fossil ivory bridges and sells to Greg Boyd. He might supply the nuts as well. I had one of his bridges on a previous mando, and I thought it improved the tone. Made it clearer and louder. I'm sure a nut would do the same thing, as long as you were playing an open string.

[Keith Newell]

Scotti, I just installed a fossilized ivory nut on one of the two a Styles Im finishing up today (pictures tomorrow). I did the ivory on one and bone on the other. It was the same to me in all comparisons to the bone as far as I could tell. It may have been a slight bit harder but still filed easy.
Keith
http://www.newellmandolins.com

[Michael Lewis]

Yeah, in general, ivory and fossil ivory react much like bone. Some fossil ivory can be somewhat flexible (mastodon), but the walrus material seems quite good. I like it for the appearance, as much of it is irregular in coloration orshows a 'textured' pattern.

[ShaneJ]

Scotti, after reading your title again I realize we all may be addressing the wrong topic. Apparently no one was aware that mammoth nuts turned to ivory when fossilized. Tell us more about this new material. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Fretbear]

"I'd like some mammoth nuts please....."

[Scotti Adams]

..thanks guys for your input.

[evanreilly]

I have a few Fossil Ivory saddles; some solid material and some with FI lamintated to either ebony or Carbon Fiber (thanks, Keith).
It is my favorite material for saddles. Volume, tone, projection... all of the above.
Dan Lashbrook, now in Asheville, has supplied me with some excellent Fossil Ivory blanks when he was up in Alaska.
I've also obtained material from Kurt G. in Alaska.
Rolfe Gerhardt supplied a fossilized Mastodon legbone (as opposed to tusk) saddle and nut on my newest Phoenix mandolin.

[Jim Hilburn]

I've been using mammoth ivory for the last 4 years. After some of the first posts I did on the Cafe, I was contacted by a nice guy from Wasilla AK. who was building his first mandolin. we became E-pin pals and I gave him a bit of instruction, and he sent me some nice chunks that were leftover from a friend of his who did scrimshaw work with it.
I've been using it ever since, and still have a nice big chunk.
The bad part is he's left Alaska, and probably won't be able to send more.

[oldwave maker]

Fossil walrus I got from Kurt seems a lot harder than the mastodon tusk Im hacking on, indian jewelry supply houses in albuquerque sell strips of goldlip pearl shell for 10-15 bucks a pound, good hard stuff if you like snorting pearldust, my current favorite is bisonleg, available locally since the great white hunters up the canyon dont even harvest the tongues anymore!

[Scotti Adams]

..I feel like Im on a safari..

[Lane Pryce]

I had a FWI nut and bridge on an A40.They did not do much other than clean the tone up;although note seperation was dramatically improved.I just purchased a FWI nut for my F9.It is really marbled with brown,tan and cream colors.It will look real nice with the browns on the Gibby. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif Lp

[mikeyes]

Has anyone tried tague nut for either the nut or the bridge? I was wondering if it is hard enough. Tague nuts for those of you who were wondering is a palm type of tree product used in the past to make buttons and now is used as a scrimshaw and carving material.

There is a banjo bridge (Farquar) made with inserts from this material and it seems to work well. Tague nuts are fairly cheap and available.