pao ferro or african blackwood?

They're both great tone woods, which I think is one of the best references for good cue wood. African Blackwood has been used for pianos, clarinets, oboes, guitars, etc for years. Pau Ferro has also been used extensively for music instruments. Often used for guitar fretboards, backs & sides.. Stevie Ray Vaughn's signature Strat had a pau ferro fret board.
Ebony, East Indian Rosewood, Fiddleback Maple, Brazilian Rosewood... all great tone woods & traditional musical instument materials. No coincidence.
 
African Blackwood is my faovrite wood due to the; Hit, tone, turnability, color, stability. It realy is amazing the first time tuning this wood down and how silky smooth it cuts. It almost cuts like wax but is as hard as ebony.
 
You are putting up 2 of the most stable, solid, and consistant hitting woods there are. As was already said a lot of these woods are used in instruments. I only buy instrument grade african blackwood, and one of my current projects is coring high figured birdseye and tiger maple with Pau ferro. Pau ferro is Known by some cuemakers to be "Dream Wood" for it's great hit and stability.

Can't go wrong either way,
 
Pau Ferro will produce a little livelier hit than African Blackwood. The Blackwood hit will be more like Ebony. Pau Ferro will hit more like lighter weight Rosewoods do, to give you some referrence points.
 
mdavis228 said:
They're both great tone woods, which I think is one of the best references for good cue wood. African Blackwood has been used for pianos, clarinets, oboes, guitars, etc for years. Pau Ferro has also been used extensively for music instruments. Often used for guitar fretboards, backs & sides.. Stevie Ray Vaughn's signature Strat had a pau ferro fret board.
Ebony, East Indian Rosewood, Fiddleback Maple, Brazilian Rosewood... all great tone woods & traditional musical instument materials. No coincidence.
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Very true post! Blackwood is fast taking the place of ebony due to hardness, color variations in ebony and its tone characteristics. Blackwood would provide and hard stiffer hit with less feedback.
Pao Ferro, though not really a rosewood, has taking plack of Brazilian and other rosewood for its tonal qualities in instrument making. It is softer though not a whole lot than African blackwood. Its hit will be a bit softer with more feedback.
 
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