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I have a lot of BRZ in small lengths, fretboard length about1/4 - 5/16 X about 3", but they are all cupped. I'm not sure what is the best way to use them. I was thinking they would make nice bindings but they would almost disappear against rosewood which is my go to back and side. I'm thinking I would like to add some wbw veneer and just slice off the bindings without even trying to remove the cupping. I would them connect them with scarf joints and use Titebond III to glue them together.

My other idea is to remove the cupping and glue them into a multiple piece back.

They also would make great fretboards if I flattened them and added a piece underneath to get the thickness back.

I hate to see this beautiful wood go to waste on my shelf so there will be some BRZ in my next build.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

You can probably get away with 3/16th in thick fret boards.

You could glue them to a matching curved substrate and bind the fretboard if necessary. There are plenty of other guitars and guitar like instruments made with staved backs - Vihuela and chitarra battente to name a couple, and several more modern iterations out there.

Matching curved substrate, I never would have thought of that. Pre-radiused fretboards

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Plane the concave side flat and you'll have a pre-radiused board If it's too thin, glue a layer of mahogany or whatever to the underside and cover the edges with binding.

Actually, binding may paradoxically eliminate the need for the mahogany layer since it reduces the width, which simultaneously reduces the cup depth. Try a medium-dark binding wood with a curly maple purfling line, and taper the binding width from 1/16" at the nut to 1/8" or 5/32" at the soundhole to eat into the board width as much as possible. Assuming you increase the string-to-edge space as you move up the board, it gives a nice appearance where the strings follow the purfling line (see my avatar for a blurry example in bois de rose and purpleheart )

Or do shell purfling which cuts into the width even more.

And a tip for efficient use of rare woods: Instead of making a single cut to trim the blank down to your desired fingerboard width and being left with an odd sized scrap, cut binding-width strips off of it until you get down to the desired width. Use them on future fingerboards or ukuleles, or on guitar bodies if you don't mind having seams in places other than the centerline (or send them to me )

Dennis, you just gave me an idea to fix my current fretboard problem. I went overboard with my neck carving and got into the binding near the nut on one side. If I make the other side match and taper them, at least it will look intentional. Of course the nut width will not be to plan anymore.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I have flattened some fretboards by pressing them in heated plates. I had some heavy steel plates (maybe 1/4"??) made by a friend. Short enough to fit in the oven. I heated the plates up in the oven. I do not remember how hot, but I am sure a lot hotter than you would using for a side bending jig. I moistened the wood, wrapped it loosely in aluminum foil, threw a board between the plates, clamped the plates with a C-clamp, and put everything back in the oven. After a while I tuned off the oven and let it cool overnight. I am pretty sure this was a lot more than needed, but it worked. The boards were flat and stayed that way laying around on the bench. One of the boards was rough sawn with a considerable thicker area in the middle. That area squashed out like rubber, widened, and stayed that way.

I think BRW fingerboards these days are valuable enough to try.

Fingerboard is the most likely to try with many good ideas here. Making an acoustic guitar back would probably give you more value. I have even thought about using smaller pieces to make sides as well.

Pat

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Pat

Pat, these pieces aren't long enough for sides, although I suppose I could scar join them in the lower but where the bending is less. Thanks for you input.

_________________
Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!