Lafayette, most of the pau ferro on acoustic guitars that I’ve encountered has been used for fretboards, bridges and headstock veneers. I’m sure that some builders must have used it for guitar backs and sides, but that use isn’t nearly as common as for the parts I mentioned.
As a fretboard wood, it feels no different than an Indian rosewood fretboard, at least the times I’ve had a chance to try it. The only guitar I’ve owned that I had pau ferro appointments was a Gibson WM-45 that I bought secondhand, and I didn’t even learn that the fretboard wasn’t rosewood until about a year after I bought it.
So it looked very rosewood-like, and the fretboard felt like rosewood under my hands, as well.
Hope that makes sense.
Wade Hampton Miller
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