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Regarding fingerboards or lack there of

Long story skip below if impatient ;)

I've got a production run going to cut costs and hopefully make better gits.

Hardwood is getting hard to source, especially small pieces. So I visited the one place in town that has it in stock.

Unfortunately the smallest boards I could find were 15/16" x 6"x 8-9 feet. I bought one red maple and one 'rustic (aka knotty) walnut for $25 each. (the good walnut is $50).

I don't have a shop so a friend of mine sliced them up into a bunch of 15/16 and 3/8" strips. From there I can hand saw down lengths that I need. This also gets my cost to the same or less than the pre-cut poplar from Home Despot (including compensation for friends work)

So far so good. But the few I built before were using 3/4" necks with a 1/4 fingerboard. (poplar and holding up well... my bass has rosewood fingerboard, much harder so extra support)

Now with the 15/16th neck + a 1/4 fingerboard I feel the necks might be getting thick. They are harder wood than the poplar and I'm laminating pieces together (various oak and walnut thicknesses and trying to get best grain alignment).

I'm not concerned about strength now but thickness. This also means that they are a little wider (approx 1/4") than the 1.5" poplar pieces I was using.

========So the question is:::

How important does everyone feel an actual finger board is. I know they are great for hiding truss rods (which I'm not using). They also dress things up a bit and make gits look pretty.

They also can strengthen and hide the neck scarf joint which I plan on adding to all of them.

I do plan on adding frets to most of them. I have two concert uke's and a strum stick in progress and many more blanks to glue up.

Of course replacing a messed up fret board could be done without replacing the entire neck. But the rosewood finger boards I ordered cost as much as the neck itself anyway. So it wouldn't be cheaper, maybe slightly easier, I just need to be careful.

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a laminated neck could look cool under the strings. The tops will be finished nice and are hardwood so I don't think string wear is really an issue.

Personally I'm fine with it, curious what everyone else thinks though.

Would it seem unfinished? I know it's CBG's and there is no wrong way...but people do have opinions.

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Another option is to have friend split the 15/16" necks I have into two 3/8" pieces and add the 1/4 fingerboards. Then is 5/8" hardwood neck too thin? Not strong/stiff enough?

Or have him plane the necks down to 3/4... I'm really trying to have him do as little as possible. I want them to be MY creations and buying him beer or building him instruments can get expensive.

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Permalink Reply by Murdoc_420 on April 7, 2016 at 1:07pm

Might have the check that. I've bought basswood chunks for carving before but didn't look for fingerboard stock.

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Permalink Reply by Murdoc_420 on April 9, 2016 at 10:41am

They had some nice thin cherry that would be good for side walls on dulcitars. But the 24" pieces where 3/16", really thin for fingerboards.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Woods on April 7, 2016 at 5:28pm

I have made several gits without fingerboards. Both fretted and fretless. Both your oak and walnut will do fine.

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Permalink Reply by Fomhorach on April 7, 2016 at 9:15pm

My current build has a hand carved rounded neck built from two laminated prices of red wood. It's fretboard was placed right onto the neck.
The tricky part was knowing if I messed up the fretboard the time I put into the neck carving would have been for nothing.

As for wood.. I collect some bits together and it's the wood that depicts the size shape and ultimately the guitar type. What I mean is that my last builds have been 4 stringed and have enough lengths left to make a small scale instrument (probably a ukulele) but my next bits of wood might suit 3 strings better. If I have a decent box it will be a guitar but it might be a canjo. Just depends on what's there.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on April 7, 2016 at 10:01pm

I prefer to use 1" x 2"(actually 3/4" x 1 1/2") Red Oak for my necks and then add a 1/4" x 2" Red Oak fingerboard with or without frets. And I always put in a trussrod. Red Oak offers a bright tone like Maple.

I have used Poplar and Pine in the past. Pine was a mistake even with a trussrod, but Poplar is okay.

3 string CBG's have less string tension and you can get away with using softer woods, without using a trussrod or separate fingerboard piece in most cases. Adding a 4th string can be the last straw in many cases due to the extra stress, so I build mine not to fail rather than probably won't fail.

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Permalink Reply by Rick Alexander on April 8, 2016 at 6:29am

Hey Mordoc,

I'm pro fingerboards for several reasons, but the big ones are that they really beef up the neck. Not only does it strengthen the neck considerably, it's more comfortable in your hands. I'll post a picture of one with a fretboard next to one of my first ones, without a fretboard.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on April 8, 2016 at 8:57am

The reasons I always use a trussrod in a neck:

1. No matter what type wood or how many pieces glued together, wood strength can vary greatly from piece to piece. So this piece of Oak can be weaker than that piece of Oak.

2. Trussrods also keep the neck from curving to the side and lessens the chance for twisting.

Will there be a problem with this neck? Maybe, maybe not. I personally would rather have the extra assurance that it won't happen.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on April 8, 2016 at 9:10am

A non-adjustable trussrod can be made out of a steel square rod, round rod or a small piece of flat bar. You can cut a channel in the neck with a router or use a drill and finish with hammer and chisel. But it is important that the bottom of the channel is flat and the same depth all the way and that the rod is straight. You can glue the rod in place or wrap with cloth and stuff it in and glue the finger board on top and your done.

Adjustable trussrods require a little more planning and work to be able to get to the adjustment, but it's not that hard.

Like I said before, 3 stringer most likely doesn't need one depending on material and construction, but I would use a trussrod on 4 strings and up and anything over 26" scale.