Fretboard wood prices

[chilisfan16]

For my new bass, i'm trying to decide between rosewood and ebony. Which would be more expensive? And by how much?

Thanks guys!

[Dom in Dorset]

A quick look at timber prices at my local wood turning shop shows little difference. There are however several typesv of rosewood some of wich may be more expensive.

[Chris2112]

Typically ebony will be more expensive. I recall some discussion between luthiers over how it was becoming more and more difficult to get ebony blanks of sufficient length and quality for making fretboards. I would expect this to be reflected in the price, it is typically considered a premium wood unlike Indian Rosewood.

If you're buying Indian Rosewood blanks it should be about as cheap as exotic hardwoods will get. Brazilian rosewood will cost more, and coco bolo and bocote are sometimes sold as rosewood, though they'll be significantly more expensive than bog standard Indian Rosewood.

[fonzoooroo]

The darker and more consistant the ebony, the dearer it is (for reasons mentioned above) In the region of £8-10 buys you a lesser rosewood/exotic hardwood/stripey ebony blank. There's nothing wrong with any of these options! A good ebony blank (utterly black, straight grain etc) will cost anywhere up to and including £30. There are still some bargains out there though!

The only things to watch out for with a lower cost ebony blank are waves in the grain going up and down from the playing surface and knots. Both are EVIL to plane, as even the sharpest of planes with teh most tightly adjusted of mouths thends to tear the grain out on the "downhill" grain.

Just be thankful you're not thinking about double bass fingerboards!

[chilisfan16]

Haha, thanks guys for the help. I've just been wondering whether to get my new bongo 6 with ebony or not, as i think it would suit my tone better than rosewood, but i wasn't sure of the price.