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I have to say that one thing I like about steelstring construction is the bound fingerboard. Fret ends are just plain ugly IMO. I would really like to try it on a flamenco and am wondering if anybody else has. It would be fine to just bind it in ebony with no contrasting strip just to hide the fret ends, but it also might be cool to add a white or other strip in there between the ebony binding and the fretboard. All you really need is that little tool that cuts the end of the tang off.
all you need is that little tool.. or a file, like in the in old days. But remember if you do a bound fret board it's more difficult to do fret jobs and someone who buys the guitar will pay extra when having work done on the board. Having a bound fret board fretted takes more time and is trickier. The person refretting it can file the fret wrong and file grooves in the binding. You see it al the time on old Les Pauls and such where the refretter did less than careful job.
And most classical/ flamenco builders are unfamiliar with the process of doing fret work on such a board. And most steel string /electric guys don't know the finer points of setting up flamenco action. So you'll have a guitar that will need a special repair man, which is fine, but a pain in the butt for the owner.
You could clip the tang and bury it in the fret slot, then burn in black shellac stick in the fret slot end and get the same look- black shellac stick and then burnishing with steel wool and french polish and you have invisible fret ends.
Aesthetically speaking a contrasting strip works well on a steel string because the end of the fretboard is squared off at the soundhole. I don't think a flamenco or classical with the pointed corners and split fret can pull off that look the same.
Aesthetically speaking a contrasting strip works well on a steel string because the end of the fretboard is squared off at the soundhole. I'm don't think a flamenco or classical with the pointed corners and split fret can pull off that look the same.
You could also cut the fret ends like you would do on a bound fretboard, but use a regular fretboard instead, and then fill in the little gaps under the fret ends with super glue and ebony dust. EDIT: just noticed Stephen basically sayd the same thing :D
I've done this a number of times and it looks similar to a bound fretboard.
I dont get the bound fretboard fretting problems everyone always talks about, I've done a lot of re-frets on bound fretboards and it takes me about 10 mins extra to cut the frettang, the rest is similar to a regular fretjob.
Players may also find it difficult to find where they are on the fingerboard. Some players use the ends as fret markers as flamencos typically don't have fret marker dots. With the bound fingerboard, you'll no longer see the fret ends. You could solve this with those fret marker dots but I think those are stupid on flamenco guitars. Just my opinion.
Stephen, good points there... I've considered the shellac stick trick and the super glue/dust trick.
Sean, you're right about that. That points towards just binding the sides of the board with no contrasting strip, but I'm not sure just having the strip on the sides would looks so bad either.
Dammit Tom, you might be right!! That would be the best reason not to do it if it's true. I'll have to see if I can test that. I feel like I could still see the end of the fret on top of the board and locate that way.
Dammit Tom, you might be right!! That would be the best reason not to do it if it's true.
Of course this depends on how a player holds his guitar. When I play in the traditional way, I end up seeing the fingerboard so it wouldnt' be a problem. However, sometimes I have the guitar in the PdL position and the neck is upright and angled away from me a bit so I use the fret ends to tell me where I'm at.
Andy, it's your project and if you ask for 10 opinions, you'll get 10 different ones. Do what YOU want to do. Personally, I think it looks cool. Players adapt. Sometimes I play in complete darkness so that I can't see the fingerboard and try to train my hands to play solely by feel and sound. Whether or not this actually helps, I don't know. The problem with needing to see the fret ends may even solely lie in the hands of the beginner or intermediate players. The badasses probably don't care.
Aesthetically speaking a contrasting strip works well on a steel string because the end of the fretboard is squared off at the soundhole. I'm don't think a flamenco or classical with the pointed corners and split fret can pull off that look the same.
Maybe, but remember many archtop builders have curves at the end of the finger board, and mandos etc. And there are ways of making that work on a classical especially if you go for a 20th fret. But in the end I don't like bound fingerboards anyway, I think they are ugly.
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