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Thread: thickness of (and source for) ebony veneer for back of peghead

  1. #26

    Default Re: thickness of (and source for) ebony veneer for back of peghea

    I always figured it was pretty much impossible to slice black ebony veneer.
    Difficult, but not impossible. I bought black ebony sliced veneer from Constantine's in the 1970's. It was about 0.025" thick.
    They also offered sawn ebony veneer on occasion, as well as sawn aromatic red cedar and Brazilian kingwood. These were cut on a thin kerf circular saw, the same way Martin's BR was cut.
    John

  2. #27
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    Default Re: thickness of (and source for) ebony veneer for back of peghea

    The cost of the ebony veneer is just that, a cost. If you want a particular visual or structural result that demands ebony then you use it, and pay for it. So what if most of it goes into black saw dust, you get the veneer you need. That is what we do with materials and what makes instruments cost a bit more than they would otherwise.

    Now, if your goal is to make instruments without "wasting" anything (like black sawdust) then either buy parts that are pre made (but the manufacturer that made the parts made the sawdust), or go dig into the local land fill to find materials that have already been used.

  3. #28
    Registered User sunburst's Avatar
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    Default Re: thickness of (and source for) ebony veneer for back of peghea

    Micheal, ebony trees are scarce. That's reason enough for me to not want to turn most of the wood into dust and to seek sliced ebony veneers. There's no saw kerf and little waste when the manufacturer cut's the veneers that way.

  4. #29

    Default Re: thickness of (and source for) ebony veneer for back of peghea

    I can usually get some fairly black ebony boards at either Woodcraft or Rockler in Denver, but still it's usually pretty streaky. I had a piece that I felt would work for the back of peghead overlay and decided to make my own.
    I had just finished 2 mandolins where I used fiberboard and finally decided I didn't really like it.
    So I re-sawed a thin piece and right away it turned into a potato chip. The hold-down rollers on the sander just won't keep it flat enough to get a consistant thickness when your going for this kind of thin so I thought I could use some carpet tape to hold it flat on a board while I sent it through the drum sander.
    Worked perfectly till it was time to try to get it off the tape. I guess I should have tried the heat gun, but I destroyed the overlay before I got it off. That's when I went looking for a new source of dyed veneer.
    It really was just too streaky anyway.

  5. #30

    Default Re: thickness of (and source for) ebony veneer for back of peghea

    Micheal, ebony trees are scarce.
    I'd say you need to be using dyed pear wood then. Zero waste for sure that way!
    Look up (to see whats comin down)

  6. #31

    Default Re: thickness of (and source for) ebony veneer for back of peghea

    I have dyed my own holly, sawn from local trees cut for firewood. Holly cut in the summer tends to get greenish-blue fungus stains in it, and it is perfect for dyeing.
    John

  7. #32

    Default Re: thickness of (and source for) ebony veneer for back of peghea

    For what it's worth, the old Gibson dyed pearwood veneers were "painted" after inlay, and the paint scraped off of the inlay. It's pretty obvious on some of the later '20's and early '30's ferns where not all of the inlay got scraped. you can see the upper most piece of inlay under a layer of "paint". I'm not sure what they used, but I suspect a black stained shellac or the Liberon black French polish might be a good place to start.

    Personally, I see no problem with using macassar for backs of pegheads, as it's easy to dye black with an alcohol based leather stain. I don't like the idea of the fiber products. Just think what a pain it would be to repair should a scroll get broken off and instead of a nice clean break, you have a fuzzy, torn edge to reglue. Might make sense on the back of an A style pegehead, but not on a traditional F.

    Good to see you on here John! For those around that don't know John Arnold, he probably has more knowledge of wood than anyone short of Bruce Hoadley... and when it comes to isntrument woods, he could "write the book"! He builds a great guitar as well.

    Lynn

  8. #33
    Registered User j. condino's Avatar
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    Default Re: thickness of (and source for) ebony veneer for back of peghea

    Here is an example of what Lynn is talking about. It is a 1927 F4 with the factory dyed black pearwood (over the top of the original spec two layers of natural), that was "painted" black over the inlay and then scraped.

    j.
    www.condino.com
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