Quote:
Originally Posted by jt1
I also really like that he and you are using Rocklite. A cool material that I wish more would use.
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It is interesting stuff. When I first visited Joel’s shop, I picked an ebony fretboard and a rosewood bridge. Joel showed me some Rocklite, but at that time I wasn’t particularly interested.
I think I had the typical reaction of not wanting anything other than real wood. My attitude has changed since then. Even with the public acceptance of ebony that isn’t uniformly black, the supply is limited. But also, Rocklite isn’t just a cheap ebony knock-off. It costs about the same, it’s hard, dense, doesn’t shrink, warp or crack, characteristics that make it very good for fretboards, bridges and binding. It stands on its own merits. I think we will see more people using it.
Rocklite normally has a “pore” structure. If you look at this fretboard, it is very smooth. That is because in order to seal the dye in the maple, Joel polished it with a CA glue with the side effects of further hardening the rocklite and filling in the pores.