rosewood vs ebony

[drew_half_empty]

Re: rosewood vs ebony

once again lew, you have more information than anyone else on the planet

please, never quit the board

ever

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: rosewood vs ebony

once again lew, you have more information than anyone else on the planet

please, never quit the board

ever

Thanks...but I just make all this stuff up! :laugh2:

 

[B2D]

Re: rosewood vs ebony

I think Brazilian Rosewood is the most textured and complex sounding. Ebony is very pure and clear and elegant sounding. Indian Rosewood is similar to Brazilian but brighter and less complex sounding...doesn't have the wonderful midrange complexity of Brazilian. Lew

Now I've heard of good tonal descriptions and I've heard of having good ears but THIS...

Sir, this is going in your file. Couldn't have said it better.

And while we're on the subject I don't like Indian Rosewood very much because I've had experiences with it drying out too quickly and developing a "chalky" feel. Brazilian seems to retain trace natural oils better and thus doesn't dry out as easy and feels better.

 

[JeffB]

Re: rosewood vs ebony

Ebony is def very pretty..but I have had 2 guitars (a LP custom, and a custom shop LP standard w/ ebony board), where the ebony board cracked. One guitar was used so I cannot really speak for it's care previosly, but the other was new.

So I'm a little leery of it myself...but I think Lew's description of "elegant" for sound is spot-on. It''s bright not but not punchy in your face bright like Maple. It's a very smooth high frequency..it cuts without sounding overbearing. Kind of like presence controls on an amp kept at lower settings, whereas maple is more like the treble control.

it's early..I'm not making sense

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: rosewood vs ebony

On my LP custom I really loved the feel of the ebony. It was silky smooth and, as it was put earlier, was snappy. There was an urgent sound in the attack. On my buddy's soloist it's the same story. I really dig the feel, look, and sound. Right now I've got 4 guitars with different types or grades of rosewood. My 64 Gibson's (very dark it looks almost like ebony) my Heritage's (almost as dark as the Gibson's) my strat's (lighter but still a warm brown color) and my Godin LG's (lightest color, and dryest feeling, if that makes sense). From Lew's descriptions my guess is that my old 330 is Brazillian and maybe my Heritage is as well, whereas my strat and LG are both Indian.

As long as you put a bit of conditioning, lem, or polishing oil on the fingerboard I don't think you'll have problems weather-wise.

Luke