Bound Fretboard Question

[scamp]

Starting to do my first bound fretboard. I like the look of an ebony fretboard with ebony binding and a veneer purfling layer sandwiched in between. The purfling I would like to use is a died Koto wood veneer. Koto has a Janka hardness number of 940 which is relatively soft. As a comparison, hard maple is 1450 and ebony is something like 3100. My question is.... do I need to worry about the durability of the purfling strip on a fretboard? The purfling is about 2 mm from the edge of the fret board and the strings ( high and low E ) are only about 1/8 or 3 mm. The purfling is about .02 inches thick and the high E string is about .01 inches in diameter. Seems like you could see substantial wear on the purfling. I was thinking you could soak the purfling strip in CA glue and then sand it down flush again to make it more durable. Anybody out there have an opinion??

Thanks

[TEETERFAN]

That seems like a good strategy, at least to me. You could have to reapply some CA if you have to level sand after your glue up.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Interesting question. I've never even thought about the hardness of the purfling material.
I've used the typical fiber and dyed wood purflings on my fretboard and as far as I know this has never been a problem
The wood purflings are generally dyed and natural maple but the fiber, well it's fiber of some sort and is not particularly hard.
What I always for with an ebony board is cut a strip off both sides which become the binding. Glued back on and you can't tell that it's not solid. Thin maple strips make a beautiful contrast purfling here.
Personally I don't think you need to worry about it as long as it's not cardboard. 😁

[tippie53]

your plan will be fine, I do suggest you seal the neck as the CA can stain the neck if you get any spilled

[scamp]

Thanks a lot guys. It is interesting to me that no one really talks about it. They talk about how important it is to use hardwoods for the fretboard for durability but I can’t find any info on the purfling on bound boards which is essentially right under two of the strings. I suspect it never is really a problem because whatever glue is used adds significant hardness to a 0.02 inch thick veneer ( even fiber ). Again… thanks for your thoughts on this.

[scamp]

Thanks a lot guys. It is interesting to me that no one really talks about it. They talk about how important it is to use hardwoods for the fretboard for durability but I can’t find any info on the purfling on bound boards which is essentially right under two of the strings. I suspect it never is really a problem because whatever glue is used adds significant hardness to a 0.02 inch thick veneer ( even fiber ). Again… thanks for your thoughts on this.