Good Morning. I introduced myself in the "introduction" spot as a woodworker who is a terrible Go player but who wants to make Go boards. I have a lot of questions, and I'm trying to educate myself.

I'd like first to ask about Goban woods. I understand that the best traditional boards are made of Kaya and to a lesser extent Katsura. Those woods aside, for serious Go players who aren't playing on a Kaya Goban, is the yellowish Kaya color important? When players sit down to play, is the color aesthetic important or will any light color do? (assuming a similar hardness and texture to Kaya).

Thank you for any and all information.

I think you will find the answer to this question is a matter of taste. As long as there is enough contrast between the black stones/lines and the white stones and the tone of the wood you are in safe territory. I personally prefer something that tends more toward the reds or browns in the wood, but like I said, it is solely a matter of taste.
I have refinished an old board, though never made one from scratch. The lines usually end up being the big challenge.

To me, the color aesthetic isn't so important. It doesn't even have to be light for me; e.g., I love playing on a bamboo Go board, which is darker in tone. Like uglyboxer said, it's all a matter of taste.

my favorite board (I don't own one) so far is the Purpleheart board made by Carol Dufour
http://www.usgo.org/CD2003/reviews/purp ... 031020.htm

this is the only photo I can find online:
http://chiyodad.blogspot.com/2006/02/ma ... keley.html

Thank you so much for the feedback. I'm surprised! I was expecting everyone to say that they only like boards that look just like the most expensive yellowish Kaya ones (I'm not a big fan of yellow-ish woods or yellow-ish finishes). I'm also surprised that people don't mind dark boards--it's definitely harder to see the lines.

Interesting that xed_over likes the Purpleheart one. I used some Purpleheart in a project just last week. It's very expensive and very difficult to work with . That purple color will darken with age, but it is beautiful.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scatcat/se ... 110252492/

Sea Witch, it might also be interesting for you to take a look at these links:
http://senseis.xmp.net/?path=MakingYour ... erialGoban
http://tchan001.wordpress.com/2010/06/1 ... equipment/
http://tchan001.wordpress.com/2010/05/3 ... ble-goban/

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http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

I think to most go players, the sound that the stone makes on the wood is probably the most important aesthetic dimension of the goban. I, of course, am a complete philistine who is just happy to hear the click of wood rather than plastic or paper, but people talk as though the sounds that some woods make are more pleasing.

I'm very much in the camp that prefers lighter or yellower woods. I find dark boards with hard to see lines relatively unpleasant to play on.

Thank you quantumf. Personally I'm having some vision issues right now, and I would have a lot of difficulty seeing the lines without a big contrast, so I wouldn't make dark boards. Any wood is going to get darker with age anyway especially if it gets a lot of sunlight.

Thank you tchan001 for the links. I am familiar with the sensei's library but I did not know the other links.

Thank you jts. This brings to mind my next question. I'm wondering if I should continue in this thread or start a new one for each question?

Re: the "click" sound

Can someone explain to me in detail how much of the underneath is hollowed out on a traditional Goban?

Read http://senseis.xmp.net/?GobanSelfMade

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http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

> Re: the "click" sound
Can someone explain to me in detail how much of the underneath is hollowed out on a traditional Goban?<

Regardless of the theories or "facts" presented anywhere in any discussion on the topic, I can tell you, as an experienced woodworker, removing less than 1-4% of the mass of a huge block of wood will have no discernible effect on the sound transmission properties of the remaining 96-99% of the mass. None that you can hear.

The hollow space does not exist to contain the bodily fluids of an obsequious kibitzer, either.

The purpose or symbolism of the pyramid carved into the bottom of some traditional Japanese go boards remains a charming mystery.

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David Bogie, Boise ID
I play go, I ride a recumbent, of course I use Macintosh.

That's me. That's my board. I did not know that Chiyo had gotten one.
Cool.

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David Bogie, Boise ID
I play go, I ride a recumbent, of course I use Macintosh.

yeah, I knew it was yours and knew you're from Idaho, but had forgotten your [user]name

And I like the purple clamstones even better than the board

If the wood is really dark, why not paint white grid lines?
And then you'd probably might want different colored stones also, instead of the traditional black and white.

such as: http://www.algorithmicartisan.com/gostones/index.html
or: http://www.6brothers.com/detail.php?c_c ... 0_10000022

Wow, those are spectacular! I didn't know that existed. I figured who would want to play on a high contrast board--I thought there was some mystique about the Kaya color, the black lines, the white and black stones. Those semi-precious stones are beautiful. I bet some of them might chip easily though. The good news is my vision should be fine soon. I'm waiting for cataract surgery.....In Canada you can wait a while for something like that.

I am also more carpenter than go enthusiast, and I recently made this one:

http://www.lifein19x19.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=61051#p61051

and I just realized that those are terrible pictures. Let me know if you have any questions.