Persimmon bridge and finger board

[David Houchens]

Well I finally got the both ready for the next A. Gonna leave them natural color on this one.

[David Houchens]

It just came to mind that I had the bridge in another thread. Sorry for the sorta double post.

[tree]

I likee!

I have a soft spot in my heart for persimmons (and persimmon pudding) anyway. Love the use of native species for instruments, too.

[billhay4]

Nice. Are you going to oil it?
Bill

[Charles E.]

Very cool! It looks like it might be a "ghost" mandolin.

[Jeff Hildreth]

Good enough for golf club heads... good enough for mandolin parts..

Same family as ebony.

[David Houchens]

Its gonna look different for certain. I'm not sure what I'll use for the peghead. Might have to be persimmon as well. Might go blonde on the finish so its not such a contrast. Its hard for me to picture some things without seeing them.
Bill, do you mean a finishing oil?

[Marty Jacobson]

I think contrast is good... personally I'd go with a dark finish so the unusual light bridge and fretboard show up nicely. But a monochromatic light instrument would be cool, too.
The only problem with a light fretboard is the pores tend to fill up with any dust from fret leveling and polishing, no matter how carefully you mask. It seems like there's always some gray or black gunk that gets in there. When I do light wood inlays in a fretboard, I use thin CA or some other clear, robust pore filler.

[David Houchens]

I was hoping on masking taking care of the fret work. Maybe ought to rethink it. This A is my "test" mandolin of sorts that was to be made easy to get back inside for alterations. Hoping to use this one for experimenting with the different woods as well.

[bruce.b]

Pisgah Banjo Co's standard fingerboard is persimmon. I think they look great. You could get ideas from looking at banjos on their website and perhaps even ask them about any problems and workarounds.

http://pisgahbanjos.com

[David Houchens]

bruce.b, thanks. I think I met someone from pisgah banjos at clifftop last year. I didn't make it there this year. Might have been a dealer of their's also. I will check them out again.