I used an oversized guitar bridge blank, cut it into squares and turned it on my lathe. Then shaped the free end, polished it with steel wool and cut off the proper length. Then shaped, polished and cut nine more times. It does have a very warm feel under the fingers. Rosewood would work as well, but ebony polishes to to really nice gloss.
Steve
Ebony's not that bad to work with. Every now and then, you'll come across a pin knot that you can't see, and you might tear the wood. Violin fingerboards are graded not just by color, but also by grain and percentage of pin kmots. The better the grade, the easier it is to work.
I did make the flappers out of ebony. Weight was not an issue, but because of the density, it's prone to a lot of clankity clank, so the felt has to be increased to quiet that down to normal.
Steve