Mike's Oud Forums

Ebony Veneer to Cover Fingerboard - Dumb Idea?

MoH - 10-16-2020 at 12:50 PM

I've had some buzzing from various positions on my oud for a while now, including the typical F on D strings and C on A strings. I sanded the fingerboard down, and the buzzing is reduced, but it's still somewhat audible at those positions.

I'm concerned about sanding it down more, since the actual rosewood is only about 1-1.5 mm thick. I've read that some people have covered their fingerboards with epoxy or crazy glue, but this seems easy to mess up, and it might apparently alter the sound of the oud.

So, I'm considering just getting a sheet of ebony veneer (like this: https://www.veneersupplies.com/products/AAA-Quartersawn-Ebony-Macass... ), slapping it on the fingerboard, and applying some sort of finish to make it more durable. It's about 0.6 mm thick, so I'd raise the nut a little bit to compensate.

To me, this seems simple enough, but I haven't heard of it being done on ouds, and I've never worked with veneer. What do you guys think?

Jody Stecher - 10-16-2020 at 01:04 PM

Quote: Originally posted by MoH  
I've had some buzzing from various positions on my oud for a while now, including the typical F on D strings and C on A strings. I sanded the fingerboard down, and the buzzing is reduced, but it's still somewhat audible at those positions.

I'm concerned about sanding it down more, since the actual rosewood is only about 1-1.5 mm thick. I've read that some people have covered their fingerboards with epoxy or crazy glue, but this seems easy to mess up, and it might apparently alter the sound of the oud.

So, I'm considering just getting a sheet of ebony veneer (like this: https://www.veneersupplies.com/products/AAA-Quartersawn-Ebony-Macass... ), slapping it on the fingerboard, and applying some sort of finish to make it more durable. It's about 0.6 mm thick, so I'd raise the nut a little bit to compensate.

To me, this seems simple enough, but I haven't heard of it being done on ouds, and I've never worked with veneer. What do you guys think?


The first thing I would do is wait for the weather to change. Sometimes that's all that's needed to cure buzzes.

Brian Prunka - 10-20-2020 at 01:05 PM

My concern would be that if the fingerboard is uneven enough to cause buzzing, then that unevenness would come through the veneer as well, so you wouldn't fix the problem. In addition, the veneer may not itself be perfectly smooth–the purpose of these veneers is not to provide a finished fingerboard.
Ebony is typically more resilient than rosewood, so it may help slow further degradation, but overall this sounds like something a luthier should deal with to avoid making things worse and to have a more long-term solution.

SamirCanada - 10-21-2020 at 02:45 AM

Issa bad idea. Veneer is not that's stable with humidity but also because of the way it's sliced it won't actually be that hard. It will damage

The CA glue refinish is a better idea if you are confident in what you are doing. Don't use crazy glue. There are special types of glues for this. Starbond is a good brand.

You can also replace the fingerboard with and Ebony one. Just remove the old one.

paulO - 10-21-2020 at 02:36 PM

Dear MoH - listen to the previous voices of reason :) !! Either have a luthier repair/resurface the fingerboard, or replace the fingerboard - or you could as Jody said, wait for the weather to change....yes way ! Good luck.

Regards - Paul

MoH - 10-21-2020 at 04:56 PM

Thanks for all the replies guys. I guess the answer to my original question is: Yes, definitely a dumb idea.