Backwood tek fingerboards

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Blackwood tek is a technologically modified wood used in fingerboards as a substitute for rosewood or ebony. I was wondering what opinions people have on it.

 

I believe epiphone 60s thunderbirds now have Indian laurel fingerboards, but the earlier ones, which were called the vintage pro thunderbird, had fingerboards made from Blackwood tek. Other companies such as reverend also use blackwood tek for fingerboards.

 

Blackwood tek starts off as a specific type of pine, Pinus radiata, and it is taken through through 'a technological process that uses natural products, without plastics or other petroleum derivatives.' This involves dye, resin, heat, and compression to make a much denser material than the original wood.

 

The resultant material has the appearance and properties of rosewood or ebony. The fingerboards on my vintage pro thunderbirds look like a nice dark piece of rosewood - ie much better looking than a swirly cheap looking piece of Indian laurel, and I cannot see any downsides in using this for fingerboards.

Edited April 13, 2022 by Jean-Luc Pickguard

[Cato]

I think the problem with things like richlite, ebanol and presumably Blackwood is that bassists (and guitarists for that matter) tend to be deeply traditional.

 

Personally I'd take, say richlite over pau ferro because I'm not keen on the orangeyness of a lot of pau ferro boards, but then I don't believe in tonewood (not looking for a debate here)  and I already have a bass with a graphite board.

 

I think for a lot of players anything that isn't traditional wood, preferably ebony, rosewood or maple, is a deal breaker.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I think richlite is made from layers of paper soaked in resin & compressed. The fingerboard of my Little Martin acoustic is richlite,as is the bridge, but he body is HPL printed to look like koa, and the neck is thin strips of laminated spruce. These guitars get a lot of hate from some quarters but I really like mine. I was wondering more about peoples opinions on Blackwood tek, which unlike richlite can pass for rosewood or ebony visually.

 

I think bass players are probably more willing to use instruments using non-traditional materials than guitarists - how often do you see someone playing a carbon fibre guitar? I’m sure status sell a lot more basses than guitars.

[Lfalex v1.1]

It wouldn't put me off.

If an instrument feels/sounds good and can be set up to play well,  that's (more or less) enough for me. 

I've owned basses with Phenolic,  Maple, Rosewood, Ebony, Pau Ferro and Wenge 'boards. All I've discovered is that I don't seem to be that  great a fan of Maple.

 

 

Edited April 14, 2022 by Lfalex v1.1
Don't ask me why. I can't seem to put my finger on it

[Boodang]

It looks an interesting product. Apparently has a low moisture content so presumably quite stable. There might be resistance to non traditional products in guitars but in an era where sustainability is an issue it's good to see an innovative product like this.

[dclaassen]

It all depends on the feel. I love ebony boards, so if it can mimic that, then I am in.

[tauzero]

Hadn't heard of it before but I'd be willing to try it and to buy it if it seemed OK.

[BigRedX]

You don't really feel the fingerboard (and the strings certainly don't touch it unless you are pressing them down with superhuman strength) on a fretted instrument, so as long as it looks good to me I wouldn't have a problem with it.

[Boodang]

53 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

You don't really feel the fingerboard (and the strings certainly don't touch it unless you are pressing them down with superhuman strength) on a fretted instrument, so as long as it looks good to me I wouldn't have a problem with it.

Might be interesting to try as a fretless though.