Pau Ferro fretboards

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SpiderWars

SpiderWars

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Do you like them or not and why? Never played one that I know of and I'm thinking of getting a new neck with one. The descriptions sure make it seem like a great fretboard wood.
 
If you like the way it looks, then go for it. It might feel different under your finger. It's a tiny bit harder and litter smoother than rosewood. Kinda between rosewood and ebony. But I doubt that will affect your playing (or the sound of the guitar).
 
I had a Suhr Modern with a pau ferro board. It was as smooth as any ebony board I've played. Seemed pretty comparable tonally. Maybe a hair less snap, but definitely much more like ebony in tone than it is to rosewood.
 
I have one on an older Charvel and it feels like rosewood to me - it's quite 'open' in the grain, rather than the super tight of ebony. That said, I have had a couple of pau ferro necks and those feel awesome, super smooth and speedy..
 
It feels like ebony and sounds somewhere between rosewood and ebony. I like it because it still looks traditional. I have it on my suhr modern frost.
 
Mine is super tight and smooth depends on the quality i suppose.
 
I had one on a Suhr custom build, I didn't care for it, ended up swapping it for a all maple neck/board
 
Thanks for input. The comments here reinforce what I had read and hoped were the qualities of Pau Ferro boards. That is; closer to ebony in sound (but not as bright) and somewhere in-between ebony/rosewood in feel. Seems like it's a: 'sounds close to maple, looks close to rosewood, feels close to ebony' sort of thing.

The guitar is a Warmoth that I orig put a Maple/Brazilian Rosewood neck on but wasn't crazy for the back profile or CBS headstock so I wore the frets down and then just gave it to a friend that owns a very small guitar/amp repair shop. It now has an Allparts maple/maple neck but it just feels OK and this guitar looks better with a dark fretboard...and I've worn a spot up around the tenth fret (apparently I play everything there :doh:).
 
Ha I have the same thing with maple boards. I can tell the positions I default to.

I'll just echo everyone else. It's smoother than a lot of rosewood but not as smooth as some ebony IME. I have no idea how it sounds. The guitars I've had without sounded great but who knows if that was the fretboard.

It's also supposed to be very stiff and hard, good qualities for avoiding dead spots.
 
Feel free to correct me if i'm wrong anyone, but i believe Pau Ferro pretty much is Rosewood. Think it's all in the same family but not as good as high quality Rosewoods are.
 
Jaek-Chi":2sygmrhw said:
Feel free to correct me if i'm wrong anyone, but i believe Pau Ferro pretty much is Rosewood. Think it's all in the same family but not as good as high quality Rosewoods are.
Click to expand...

This is from The Wood Database:

Pau Ferro is a wood of many names, and is sometimes called Morado: and because the wood is so similar in appearance and working properties to rosewood, it is also sometimes referred to as Bolivian or Santos Rosewood. The wood has been used in various capacities as a substitute for the endangered Brazilian Rosewood. Although the wood is not technically in the Dalbergia genus, it’s in a closely-related genus (Machaerium), and contains the same sensitizing compounds found in rosewoods—about as close to a true rosewood as a wood can get without actually being a Dalbergia species.
 
I've talked with both John Suhr and Tom Anderson about it. They think it's definitely different from at least the typical rosewood used for electric guitars. Stiffer, heavier. Which can be good or bad depending on what you want.

Suhr thought a solid pau ferro neck gives a very good chance of a guitar with no dead spots because it's so stiff. Tom largely agreed, but refuses to make a solid pau ferro neck because he says he can't find neck blanks to his standards (apparently he can't find them without grain runout).
 
I specifically wanted a piece that was dark, not highly figured, and whatever figure there was to be smooth/uniform. I like the 'business' part of the guitar to not be too busy with wood figuring (or fancy inlays for that matter). I didn't want the really light colors, big streaks or lines, and no weird designs/splotches/etc. They have a feature now where you can pick the actual piece of wood (they have photos) and of all the Pau Ferro boards they showed only one fit that description. And now the wait. :aww:
 
SpiderWars":2955lyjs said:
Jaek-Chi":2955lyjs said:
Feel free to correct me if i'm wrong anyone, but i believe Pau Ferro pretty much is Rosewood. Think it's all in the same family but not as good as high quality Rosewoods are.
Click to expand...

This is from The Wood Database:

Pau Ferro is a wood of many names, and is sometimes called Morado: and because the wood is so similar in appearance and working properties to rosewood, it is also sometimes referred to as Bolivian or Santos Rosewood. The wood has been used in various capacities as a substitute for the endangered Brazilian Rosewood. Although the wood is not technically in the Dalbergia genus, it’s in a closely-related genus (Machaerium), and contains the same sensitizing compounds found in rosewoods—about as close to a true rosewood as a wood can get without actually being a Dalbergia species.
Click to expand...

Well there you go :) haha
 
Love mine. It does appear to be a stiffer, harder, denser rosewood.

suhr4.JPG
 
When I ordered my custom Suhr I specified a Pau Ferro fretboard. I have a couple guitars with Pau Ferro and it is my favorite fretboard wood. Not as open and grainy as non-Brazilian rosewood, but still maintains a classic look. The fretboard I got was even (if not particularly interesting) and uniform.

Still my favorite fretboard wood.
 
dfrattaroli":yy1okyb1 said:
Love mine. It does appear to be a stiffer, harder, denser rosewood.

suhr4.JPG
Click to expand...


I think i have told you this before but i love the color and the top on that guitar let me know if you ever want to sell it to me!
 
Got it today. Unfortunately UPS seems to have lost the new pickguard so it'll have to wait. I like the color/figure of the Pau Ferro and the edge of the neck/fret ends feel really good. Quartersawn maple, Wolfgang profile, 6150 Stainless frets, vintage tint.


Hard to photo but it's way more smooth than Rosewood. There are occasional tiny gaps.
 
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