Spotted Gum fingerboard

[Daniel]

I have a buyer that wants all Australian wood. I have been collecting some spotted gum to play with but I don't know if I can trust it for a fingerboard on a steel string. Has anyone had long term good results with it?

[kiwigeo]

I've always used desert woods for fretboards.

[Mark McLean]

Regarding hardness, spotted gum has a Janka hardness score of 11kN, which is not as hard as ebony (14), but it is harder than rosewood (8) and maple (6.4), so it could probably do the job. Among Australian natives, gidgee is harder (16) and so is ironbark (14). Of all of them gidgee is my favourite fingerboard material for its looks and hardness. Spotted gum is a bit lighter in colour which might not be so attractive, but it depends on the rest of your colour scheme I guess.

[Daniel]

The hardness info is very useful

Some of my concern is related to grain structure. I think that Maton were using Ironbark fingerboards for a while back in the 60s. (At least I was told it was Ironbark.) The fingerboards developed holes under the most used spots (like D on the B string). I had come to the conclusion that it was probably the large fiber structure in the wood that allowed bits of it to get pulled out by the strings. I haven't heard any other theories on the problem yet although I suppose Maton might have one.

[lamanoditrento]

I’ve really been enjoying supple jack (native desert wood) but terribly allergic to it and have to make sure I’m well masked when dealing with it