Sandberg Fumed Oak fingerboards

[dannybuoy]

Checking out their configurator earlier and I noticed they now offer 'fumed oak' as a fingerboard material. Has anybody ever seen one of these in the flesh?

Edited May 12, 2018 by dannybuoy

[Cuzzie]

Not in the flesh but they have been an option for a while now.

All about getting around Rosewood CITES.

If I remember Hölger speaking about it correctly it sits between Rosewood and Ebony in how it sounds, I may be wrong though.

Thumbs up to Sandberg though, a truly great company

[lemmywinks]

Looks great, hopefully manufacturers will start using more adventurous fingerboard woods with the issue surrounding rosewood, the fixation on rosewood/maple (or ebony if you're posh) is a bit boring. Some of the nicest fretboards I've used have been wenge, pau ferro and ebanol and they all looked great too.

Edited May 12, 2018 by lemmywinks

[dannybuoy]

This is what I’ve been messing about with. The fumed oak almost looks like a charcoal grey in the pics which would go well with the finish!

[Skybone]

Fumed oak?

How do they get the oak to be annoyed?

I assume that it's their take on "baked maple"?

[dannybuoy]

Apparently it's nothing unique to Sandberg having been used for furniture and flooring for years, but perhaps the first instance of it being used for guitars/basses.

[xgsjx]

Oooh.  I didn't know Sandberg had a configurator.

Just had a play about & made this..>



Anyone know if the prices include a 1/2 decent case?

[Cuzzie]

You specify a case, butvthe gig bag which I think is included is more than up to the task

[xgsjx]

Cheers.  That's given me more to look at.  As if choosing wasn't hard enough!  

[ead]

This is the only pic I've seen of a bass with the new oak 'board:

[Cuzzie]

I’ve had the old sandberg gig bag semi hard case, and also seems mayes new one.

Nig old pockets too, typically well designed German stuff, as you would expect from Sandberg which is bloody brilliant, and I am very biased, but it’s still true!

[Grahambythesea]

Fumed oak? Sounds like they’re making it from old Chardonnay barrels 😜

[dannybuoy]

Ammonia is used in the process, not quite as drinkable as Chardonnay!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonia_fuming

There's quite a range of colours the process can produce though, hence my interest in seeing some examples out in the wild! For example:

 

[ead]

Have you tried contacting Sandberg to see if they have a colour standard for it?  The one in the pic I posted looks quite like the lighter colour.  I think the bass was at NAMM last year

[xgsjx]

Looking at the pics of basses above, it looks like the fumed oak could be anywhere between both.  The first pic looks like your top pic & the last one looks the same as the lower pic.
The other one (not my post, that's ebony) looks like it's in between.

[DBerriff]

The Great British Bass Lounge has one in. The pictures on the Facebook page show more of the fingerboard than those on the website (at the time of posting).

[Opticaleye]

I noticed a while ago that the fumed oak option has been removed from the configurator and been replaced with birdseye maple. Not sure why.

[Cuzzie]

not sure, but in practice it is probably still there having heard Hölger speak about it.

 

Last approximate count there would be something like 30,000 different options available, they may still happen, but the website may either not reflect or be under transition and not keep unto date with chops and changes.