Large Pale Moon Ebony Fingerboard Sourcing

[StringPluckery]

Gentledudes. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to look for pale moon ebony for a fretboard that is a minimum of 26" long and 3.5" wide? Along with searching a bunch of online supplier sites I've also reached out to a few online and local suppliers with no luck as of yet. I can find stock long enough, but not also wide enough. I'm tracking on the import/export things that have been going on with this species. Just hoping someone might know something.

 

[Asdrael]

Hi,

I see you are located in the US. However, if you are looking for large quantities and it is your last resort, you might think about ordering from the EU?

Espen has what you are looking for: HERE
They call it "Royal White Ebony". The variation between pieces is so high that they only sell it with picture and exact measurements per piece. From my experience with the shop, very good communication and service. (Located in Germany).

Maderas Barber also has it: HERE
They call it "Exotic Ebony". In their case, you can pay a few bucks extra for them to take a picture of a few pieces and ask for specific dimensions. I have no experience with them. (Located in Portugal I think).


Hope that helps!

 

[StringPluckery]

Thanks for the suggestions. I thought Maderas Barber might be it until I saw shipping would be over $100 for a single board.

 

[Lemonbaby]

You might want to check with Madinter, they're Taylor's partner on the Crelicam Ebony mill. If they can't get it, it doesn't exist.

 

[narad]

For the good of the luthiery world, let's just pretend like there's no more pale moon ebony out there.

 

[_MonSTeR_]

For the good of the luthiery world, let's just pretend like there's no more pale moon ebony out there.

Maybe it could have run off with poplar burl, never to be heard from again?

 

[StringPluckery]

I'd be okay without poplar burl. Pale moon ebony is pretty tasty when done right.

 

[Asdrael]

For the good of the luthiery world, let's just pretend like there's no more pale moon ebony out there.

I still find a very nice quality piece to be beautiful when done properly.

Never seen a type of wood that looks more like post-taco bell toilet paper roll when it's not AAA quality tho.

 

[CanserDYI]

I'd be okay without poplar burl. Pale moon ebony is pretty tasty when done right.

It's only good if there is zero, I mean zero, other bling on the guitar. It has to be the star of the show, or it's tacky IMHO.

 

[KR250]

It's only good if there is zero, I mean zero, other bling on the guitar. It has to be the star of the show, or it's tacky IMHO.

100% this.

OP, I've only been able to source a few oversized boards and they've been really hard to find and very expensive. How many are you looking for?

 

[Sermo Lupi]

I actually don't mind Pale Moon Ebony, but its similarity to white chocolate (which is not real chocolate) has taken its toll on my perceptions of its quality

 

[StringPluckery]

100% this.

OP, I've only been able to source a few oversized boards and they've been really hard to find and very expensive. How many are you looking for?

Just one.

 

[Omzig]

Thanks for the suggestions. I thought Maderas Barber might be it until I saw shipping would be over $100 for a single board.

Shipping came in at $8.95 for me here in the UK are you sure your were reading it right? i did get a window saying "spend $101 more for free shipping"

man @ $1.65 a pop the defetive boards might be worth a pop ebony is easy to dust fill worm holes!

 

[Asdrael]

Shipping came in at $8.95 for me here in the UK are you sure your were reading it right? i did get a window saying "spend $101 more for free shipping"

man @ $1.65 a pop the defetive boards might be worth a pop ebony is easy to dust fill worm holes!

Maderas often has good deals but the "defective" boards are great. Order a few and you'll get an endless supply of wood to make cavity covers / headstock veneers.

 

[StringPluckery]

Shipping came in at $8.95 for me here in the UK are you sure your were reading it right? i did get a window saying "spend $101 more for free shipping"

man @ $1.65 a pop the defetive boards might be worth a pop ebony is easy to dust fill worm holes!

I'm in the US so that might be the issue. I just went through the checkout process again to verify that I'm not making things up and it came out to the price of the board plus $104.53 for shipping.

 

[StringPluckery]

If I can find two boards that aren't wide enough, but work well together I might join them and come up with an inlay design that splits the boards horizontally to keep attention off of the seem.

 

[Omzig]

I'm in the US so that might be the issue. I just went through the checkout process again to verify that I'm not making things up and it came out to the price of the board plus $104.53 for shipping.

Wow that's a bit mad! which board are you looking at? i might be ordering some defective" boards this weekend,i can look at shipping it on from the UK for you im pretty sure it wouldn't be $100 to just ship a board on UK-US.

 

[StringPluckery]

I'm not crazy about any of the boards I see listed currently. Some of the photos for the defective boards look good, but I'm not certain how that works. Have you used their "choose by picture" option before? If I can find the right board/s I'll definitely take you up on that offer. It's awfully kind of you.

 

[Asdrael]

Not sure why you went straight for Maderas, as Espen also has a nice list: https://shop.espen.de/en/Tonewood-A...que-pieces-141/&language=en&cPath=2_16_23_141

In any way, I also looked at potentially being the middle man, but between actual shipping costs, paperwork and taxes, I would be saving you at best 10€...

 

[StringPluckery]

I checked out Espen, as well. Prices came out to be about the same. Product and shipping prices were essentially swapped.