Violin models without ebony wood?

[JacksonMaberry]

24 minutes ago, ShadowStrad said:

Ebony is useful because it's such a hard wood and can take the hours of playing a violinist is able to dish out.  Is the non-ebony fingerboard as hard as ebony?  BTW...I've paid up to $300 for a high quality ebony fingerboard that's easily 30 years old.  A lot better than what's being sold on eBay.

Sonowood walnut. Not as black, but fiebings leather dye will fix that. My samples averaged 1.2g/cm³. Couldn't test the janka but it hurt when I hit myself in the face with it. Expensive, but a lot cheaper than $300 old stock FBs. Save yourself the trouble.

[ShadowStrad]

2 hours ago, JacksonMaberry said:

Sonowood walnut. Not as black, but fiebings leather dye will fix that. My samples averaged 1.2g/cm³. Couldn't test the janka but it hurt when I hit myself in the face with it. Expensive, but a lot cheaper than $300 old stock FBs. Save yourself the trouble.

Thanks for the post and also the advice.  

[pbelin]

Yes sonowood walnut is the best alternative I've used so far, some pieces are so dark that it's not obvious it's no ebony. And it's as good as the best ebony I've ever seen, if not better. 

Not very friendly with your tools though... 

Corene doesn't work for me.

[go_oa]

Looking at the list of hardness:

     Of common U,S, woods

 Hardness rank = Dogwood < Persimmon < Mesquite<Osage Orange < Live Oak.

Of these live oaw at 12.9 (Ebony is 14+) is hardest and commonest.

Further - it is infamous for not splitting.

    I suspect that it has enough tannin to blacken with a bit of iron juice.

Given the normal variability of wood, I suspect that hardness 14+ 

is found in many samples.  It is not porous in the small samples I have.

It is worth a hard look.

Osage Orange ai 12.3 is also a wonderful candidate.

 

 

[Dwight Brown]

I know Joseph Curtin is using a wooden composite for fingerboards on his Ultra Light instruments.

DLB

[Marty Kasprzyk]

The best material for resisting wear from strings is probably a thin sheet layer of polyurethane rubber.

[m.makepeace]

On 1/29/2021 at 5:16 PM, PhilipKT said:

I suggested Bois d’Arc but someone said it felt wrong, although it’s certainly hard enough to be a fingerboard, and god knows there’s plenty of Bois d’Arc around.

But it will be a long time before we run out of pernambuco that has already been harvested.

I just finished my first violin and used Bois d'Arc for the fingerboard and all the fittings! It definitely gives the instrument a unique look. Check out the thread I started yesterday for pictures

[violins88]

I am making a violin in New Zealand. I will use New Zealand wood, not ebony. 
Perhaps bone for the nut.

[baroquecello]

I'm just thinking out loud. Someone mentioned expecting to be using laminated fingerboards. Baroque fingerboards are a wedge shaped core of spruce or similar, that already has the curved surface, onto which a flat piece of ebony veneer is clamped. That is of course a labour intensive way of making a fingerboard. But shouldn't it be possible to simply glue a flat piece of ebony onto a flat piece of hardwood (maple or so), and then use that as a fingerboard in the same way une uses a modern ebony fingerboard, until in time, the ebony is planed off and the fingerboard needs replacement? One could use a much thinner strip of ebony thus reducing the amount of ebony wasted. The whole fingerboard should be similar in weight to a full ebony board. And I think it should actually have advantages regarding the strength/stiffness compared to a full ebony board, shouldn't it? So my question is actually: why is noone doing that?

edit note: I'm thinking of cellos and basses especially. There are big chunks of ebony discarded when the fingerboard needs replacement, because the fingerboard needs replacement only in order to prevent the neck deforming. I feel that is such a waste.