Just curious. I've got ebony buttons on my 'D' box. I love 'em. I know back in the day, wooden buttons were on quite a few accordions. Wondered if anybody still uses them, if they like them, and why you don't see that any more. I know the down side of maple would be wearing off the finish and looking rather nasty, but the ebony needs no finish, and it has a wonderful warmness that my plastic and metal buttoned boxes don't have. I know this is all sunjective, but what all yall think? (Yes, I live in NJ. but my family is Carolina back to Colonial days, so I can say that).

Steve

Steve, did you turn your own ebony or did you find some dowel stock? I had looked for ebony dowel but couldnt find them so I made some buttons out of maple dowel and colored them black with dyed epoxy. Have no idea how that'll work, but wanted to try it out. If it dont I'll rip them off and put something else.

I found the simplest way was to cut up an ebony guitar bridge blank into squares, then turn in on my lathe. Could have done it chucked in a drill press, but it would have been a lot more time consuming.
But again, you don't see many wooden buttons any more. Wondered if there was a practical reason for that, or it just became a traditional look with either pearoid or metal.
Seve

Did you put any kind of clear coat on it, or just left it au naturel? Boy that ebony is some kinda hard stuff. I like the idea of wood buttons, but havent ever seen it, much less played on some.

Ebony, and rosewood for that matter, don't need a finish. Much like a guitar fretboard or a fiddle fingerboard, final buffing with steel wool, and it'll shine like your first love

Steve

Ebony and rosewood are notorious for drying out and cracking ( Claud will verify this )

Every Guitar manufacturer/builder has their own way to "oil" the boards during construction


If you read any of the guitar discussion group postings such as Acoustic Guitar Magazine

cracking of fingerboards is quite common and cleaning/oiling boards is a frequent topic

Yes, that true, but that's conditioning the wood. I was only talking about getting a nice polish without a finish. I know some fiddle makers that buff with rouge to a super gloss finish, but it looks like plastic and (dare I say it) Chinese Red Screamerish.
Steve

Agreed but then we must take that one step further and reccomend

"conditioning" rosewood or ebony buttons


think about Strat and Tele fingerboards..

maple vs rosewood and how differently they are treated

Ed Poullard told me a guy gave him some Mammoth Ivory to make buttons from. It turned really nice and they looked fabulous.

Stability of the wood seems to be the issue...whether it is prone to dry and crack etc. Mesquite might work well. Has a nice color and grain.

Most!!! wooden buttons tend to get sticky after extended use.

It's a pleasure to play on an accordion with ebony buttons with convex mother-of-pearl or abalone (the real thing) centers. No problems of stickiness, and a very warm feel. Gaillard used to make boxes with this kind of buttons -- now he is using plastic.
-Andy

Try Lignum Vitae

How about using faux ivory,like the Tagua nur for the buttons.

Very very hard, and looks like ivory.

Uncanny!!!!!.

If it's the look of ivory you want.

Any jeweller with a miniature lathe should be able to turn a few.

See link in # 1 link.

C.

try this link,# 1, sorry.

C.