Custom Fretboard Options and Considerations
The fretboard is where all of the action takes place, so it has to look great and play smooth. Jay’s go-to custom fretboard wood is ebony, though he has worked with a variety of woods from snakewood and Granadillo to Indian Rosewood. When you are working up your design for your Lichty custom guitar or ukulele, he will go over all of the fretboard considerations with you.
Beyond the type of wood, the choices include:
- Type of binding – Binding is included on all instruments though you can opt not to have it.
- Purfling or no purfling?
- Standard Mother-of-Pearl fretboard markers or something different?
- Custom inlay? – Do you envision something simple or perhaps something way elaborate by inlay masters like Craig Lavin or Harvey Leach
- For a guitar – Will it be a standard scale fretboard or multi-scale?
- For a ukulele – All Lichty custom fretboards have a radius though occasionally someone opts not to have this.
- And while most of Jay’s instruments have nickel fretboard wire, copper alloy is one of several other options.
What do some of these variations look like? We’ve featured examples in the gallery below.
Gallery of Custom Fretboard Options
We invite you to learn more about all of the options available:
