k31scout
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
|
Post by k31scout on Jan 15, 2019 18:37:14 GMT
I said I'd check back in to let you all know how my 450+ Blackwood fret board is holding up.
I heat my house with wood and the humidity is a constant 20% and the wife likes the temp approaching 80F. That's very hard on fret boards and acoustic bodies but it is what it is. There is not a humidifier
on Earth that can compete with wood heat. Anyway, the Blackwood is fine. No frets popping up from shrinkage. No sharp ends like I get on my Seagull acoustic. The guitar stays in tune very well, more so than my Fender and acoustic. I bought my 450+ this past August so it's a newish one. I know it's new because I had to wait 8 weeks for new stock to come in. I really like the guitar and for the money it's astoundingly good. In my experience there is no reason to fear Blackwood.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2019 20:22:14 GMT
Cheers for the follow up! Nice to know this as they might have fixed the issue or got better at the factories to make it more "solid". My experience with Blackwood was terrible! Never experienced that before but this Blackwood was on the HB Traveler Spruce guitar which might be from a totally different factory. Once again thanks for the update!
|
|
k31scout
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
|
Post by k31scout on Jan 15, 2019 21:32:37 GMT
Your welcome CheDaPapa. I remember your experience and I was worried mine would be similar. Of course they could change, batch to batch but lets hope not.
|
|
3,457 posts
|
Post by LeoThunder on Jan 18, 2019 6:06:08 GMT
My Blackwooded SC-450 Plus isn't moving either. It will take until September to have it go through a year cycle, so I'll keep watching.
|
|
|
Post by pickyplayer on Jan 20, 2019 18:40:41 GMT
Are they using the actual African Blackwood or is it that new compressed Pine that's dyed black?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2019 19:13:08 GMT
Are they using the actual African Blackwood or is it that new compressed Pine that's dyed black? It was never the African one! Its the new PINE stuff!
|
|
|
Post by blindwilly3fingers on Jan 20, 2019 19:50:04 GMT
Are they using the actual African Blackwood or is it that new compressed Pine that's dyed black? It was never the African one! Its the new PINE stuff! Blackwood Tek is the fancy name for pine that has undergone torrefication (fancy name for wood that had been baked/cooked/burnt) and possibly other weird and wonderful processes? There are lots of species of pine I belive it comes from around 110 different trees or shrubs (I maybe wrong). It is split into 2 subgenera (again I maybe wrong) these are: 1. Strobus (soft pines) 2. Pinus (hard pines) Yes I did say Pinus and hard, I also think whoever gave hard pine the title Pinus must have had a sense of humour! If you are wondering what I am waffling about or even why I am waffling? I can only offer the excuse of being bored ****less on a cold Sunday evening and have little else to do. 🙄
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2019 20:07:09 GMT
I can only offer the excuse of being bored ****less on a cold Sunday evening and have little else to do. 🙄 If bored give this one a shot! Fantastic concert with a few B-side songs etc ... I watched it yesterday and am watching it now again
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2019 20:13:29 GMT
BTW, dont get me wrong. I'm known on this forum as someone who really dislikes Blackwood (Pine) as a fretboard material as the one I had on my HB Traveler Spruce guitar was VERY unstable. When I receieved the guitar all frets were leveled and no frets sticked out. Then after a few months I suddenly had so many unleved frets that I had many dead spots and many fret ends were sticking out (also being sharp).
I do love the idea od sustainable woods being used. Im all for that but please use wood that is stable enough to keep the frets in place. Maybe they have changed the way of preparing these woods now and maybe my experience belongs to the past.
|
|
|
Post by pickyplayer on Jan 20, 2019 20:16:41 GMT
I would much rather take a chance with the Blackwood Tek fingerboard than the Richlite alternative. I would want stainless steel frets though, just to avoid any possible refretting issues in the future. It will be interesting to see how these new materials will stand the test of time.
I do think that some of the new processes show interesting promise in delivering more consistently performing instruments. Molecular stability is generally a good thing for guitar components!
|
|
|
Post by blindwilly3fingers on Jan 20, 2019 20:27:47 GMT
I would much prefer a traditional fretboard wood to either Blackwood Tek or roseacer. Although the roseacer on my acoustic guitar is very dark, black almost looks a bit similar to an ebony fretboard and appears perfectly fine.
Unfortunately the cites rules have ****ed up our chances of that on import guitars. I read that the amount of these endangered woods that is used for guitar in not really the problem. Apparently it is the construction of furniture that rapidly consuming these woods. I find this very unlikely as finding any proper wood at IKEA is as rare as rocking horse ****.
|
|
|
Post by pickyplayer on Jan 20, 2019 21:52:02 GMT
Yes - the Chinese market was the culprit that caused the prohibitive CITES regulations because of the overuse of rare species in their furniture industry. Guitar demands are actually pretty minimal - one tree makes a lot of fingerboards and veneer. Kind of like one misbehaving student getting the whole class grounded.
There are some other interesting species available. I'd really like to try a Granadillo fingerboard and a few others. Pau Ferro works great - I've had a Strat neck with that for about 15 years and it's still wonderful.
My main point is that, while there are several decent or even superior wood choices out there, I also like the idea of an optimized wood with the ultimate sustain - and sustainability. When that objective is unquestionably achieved, I'll welcome it gladly on newer cutting edge instruments. I do wish that they would reserve the more conventional woods for the "classic" guitar models though. I don't want an import Epiphone Melody Maker with a Rosewood or Ebony fingerboard if it means the USA Les Paul models have to switch to Richlite, which I'm really suspicious of for long term usage.
Save the good stuff for the classics and experiment with the new models. Just a few years ago, anything less than Ivory was inferior for nuts and saddles. Now we have lots of great, even better alternatives.
Hopefully, your bad experience with the Blackwood Tek fingerboard is a thing of the past. If not, it won't last....
|
|
k31scout
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
|
Post by k31scout on Jan 24, 2019 16:55:00 GMT
If I have any problems I'll check back in. Although it's a "pine" wood, I tried to dent it with my thumb nail and it wouldn't dent so it's very hard by some "Tek" process.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2019 18:39:03 GMT
In case some start having issues with this Blackwood material its VERY important to complain to Thomann about it, and we could even send an emal to Lasse from Harley Benton. So keep reporting folks! Positive or negative.
|
|