Mixed Ebony Guitars

[Chistopher]

In an effort to be more environmentally friendly, Taylor is being less wasteful with ebony, leading to their new "mixed ebony" guitars

 

[Mincer]

If guitarists weren't so uppity about the woods, they wouldn't have to do this. There are lots of great fingerboard options out there.

 

[ICTGoober]

Part of the problem is guitar buyers were TAUGHT to be uppity by all the advertising over the decades touting the superior qualities of one wood over another. Remember the Gibson ads from 100 years ago? ONLY a GIBSON is good enough....

 

[Mincer]

Part of the problem is guitar buyers were TAUGHT to be uppity by all the advertising over the decades touting the superior qualities of one wood over another. Remember the Gibson ads from 100 years ago? ONLY a GIBSON is good enough....

Oh yeah, and they fell for it. And they will defend playing a 12 lb LP as it is the only way to rock, dude.

 

[Chistopher]

And heaven forbid you weight relief a guitar...

I swear some people see think it's a cost cutting measure.

 

[Mincer]

And heaven forbid you weight relief a guitar...

I swear some people see think it's a cost cutting measure.

They think it is anti-rock n roll, too.

 

[Coma]

Oh yeah, and they fell for it. And they will defend playing a 12 lb LP as it is the only way to rock, dude.

Didn't Gibson use synthetic materials for a few years when CITES was in full swing? Rich lite or something. I wonder if those guitars are cheaper on the 2nd hand market now compared to ones with actual Rosewood and Ebony fingerboards.

EDIT: That video is 13 years old. I wonder how all that planned out. Can't say I've seen a ton of guitars with mixed colour Ebony fretboards. Then again, I haven't really been frequenting stores a lot lately.

 

[Ashurbanipal]

I don't know if anyone's got anything on snobbiness in the classical world, heh - rosewood back/sides or else it's a harder sell (I'm generalising but it is the broad trend). There was a research project done on this around 10y ago in Europe (https://leonardo-guitar-research.com/), to see whether people could actually distinguish between tropical and non tropical woods in a blind test - tldr: no.

It's also possible that some manufacturers are dyeing any ebony that has colour, given the market propensity towards perfect blackness. This in itself is an olde worlde tradition in cabinetmaking - when you couldn't get ebony, you paint what you got black . In the guitar world, the Red Special is perhaps the most famous example of this.

For me, fingerboard wood is about looks/feel. In structural terms it adds stiffness to the neck. How much it contributes to sound, especially in an electric guitar, I couldn't say.

Yes, Gibson used richlite and baked maple more prolifically during those CITES years. These days, the likes of Strandberg, Schecter and Ibanez continue to use the former in some models.

 

[Mincer]

Richlite works really well for fingerboards, with no detectible 'grain', so there is no drag at all. I like scalloped fretboards so whatever I use is probably just cosmetic- I never touch it.

 

[Chistopher]

EDIT: That video is 13 years old. I wonder how all that planned out. Can't say I've seen a ton of guitars with mixed colour Ebony fretboards. Then again, I haven't really been frequenting stores a lot lately.

Yeah, but it seems like they've really been stepping up the philosophy in recent weeks and months, so I did some digging.

 

[GuitarStv]

I think some of the striped ebony can look really beautiful:

 

[jeremy]

i agree 100% and thats a great example right there

 

[Mincer]

That is indeed awesome striped ebony! Usually, though, it isn't as nice as that, and there is no real reason to choose the plainer version over a different wood.

 

[Chistopher]

Here's an example of what I mean. This piece of wood would have otherwise been scrap.

 

[idsnowdog]

I have seen luthiers use pearwood instead of ebony for repairs. Pearwood is also used for violin fingerboards. It has a similar feel and it takes dye well. The issue with it is the dye wears off after years of use.

 

[Mincer]

I have seen luthiers use pearwood instead of ebony for repairs. Pearwood is also used for violin fingerboards. It has a similar feel and it takes dye well. The issue with it is the dye wears off after years of use.

I have an tenor recorder made of pearwood.