Lutherie

Making Matters: Making fingerboards green

2020-12-15T04:47:00

MattersMain

With speculation rife that ebony might soon be added to the CITES index of forbidden woods, Alan Beavitt shares his method for creating a fingerboard using veneers rather than full blocks of the wood

Ebony is the heartwood of various tropical trees, and it takes around 80 years of growth to produce a log of useful dimensions. It is apparent that ebony is being used – especially by instrument makers – faster than it grows, and it is very likely that a CITES ban or restriction on its use will be enforced in the not too distant future…

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