WENGE FRETBOARD??

[Gordon Bellerose]

Wenge is a quite porous wood as I understand it.
Can it be used for a fretboard? If so, what process needs to happen to fill and finish it?

[Eric Schmitt]

Wenge should be fine as a fingerboard and I believe it is naturally oily and wouldn't require a finish.

[Dennis Duross]

None of the wenge I've used has been oily in the least.

[Dan Pennington]

I agree that it's not oily.
But it might be too splintery.

[Eric Schmitt]

I may be mistaken as I haven't worked with it yet, just have a few pieces laying around in my collection. All the literature I've read on wenge says its slightly oily, not oily like cocobolo or anything but not completely lacking in natural oil... somewhere more in the middle. Either way if you go look at warmoth's site it's listed as useable for fretboards and doesn't require a finish.

[Randy Roberts]

If it were me, I would pore-fill it with, and seal it with CA.
I've not used it as a fingerboard, but what handling of it I've done has usually left me swearing at the splinters. They tend to be long and go deep. Left as bare wood on a fingerboard, I don't picture it making you any friends, but a coat of thin CA I would expect would stick the buggers down nicely.

When I think oily, I think resins, I think BRW, Cocobolo, etc. I've not run across oily wenge myself.

[Paul Rhoney]

I've seen lots of guys use it as a fretboard wood with good results. My shop mate Doug Kauer uses it exclusively.

[Gordon Bellerose]

I've seen lots of guys use it as a fretboard wood with good results. My shop mate Doug Kauer uses it exclusively.

Is there anything special that he does to treat it?
Or can it be used with just a coat of oil?

[Dave Weir]

I've made a couple guitars with a one piece wenge neck and fret board. It was a little splintery and seemed more dry than oily. I finished with several coats of my standard linseed oil/shellac/denatured alcohol blend. It didn't really fill in the grain, but seemed like it was sealed up good and left it with a nice texture, smooth and porous at the same time. I liked the finish product a lot, but didn't really like working with it.

[Paul Rhoney]

Is there anything special that he does to treat it?
Or can it be used with just a coat of oil?

No, nothing special at all. A little linseed oil when it's done and that's it.

[Brad Heinzen]

I use wenge for bridges on CGs. It glues and takes finishes just fine with no special treatment at all. I only use tight-grained, rifty stuff, and it's quite easy to work. The splinters can be really annoying, but the material itself isn't that splintery. I've never tried it for fingerboards, but I've had no issues using it for bridges.

[David King]

It's one of the most stable woods you can use for a fingerboard. I love it from fretless bass, the sound really opens up and blossoms but round wound strings would probably grind it down sooner than some other woods. I would not try to use it flat sawn unless you have frets.

[Gordon Bellerose]

Thanks for all your replies.
I saw a chunk at my local wood supplier, and I was thinking that with a coat of oil, it might almost be as dark as Ebony.
I did some reading and found that it is indeed "splintery". Also the dust is toxic, so a mask and gloves are a must.
The splintery part is what concerned me the most for a fretboard. If it dries out, do the splinters start to poke their head out?

[Clay Schaeffer]

I've used it for dulcimer fretboards. Once it is sanded and glued in place it doesn't seem to be splintery. I had some quartersawed stuff and when it was oiled it turned jet black.