ebony

[pianoguyy]

I don't know why this popped into my head tonight instead of any time during the previous twenty years.
I am a player. I never got into woods and pickups and what not. I either like a unit or i don't.


I think i just had a revelation.
Does my 87soloist, the one that's scalloped, have an ebony fret board?
Other than color (rosewood can be dyed), how can i tell?
Its fairly dark and smooth the way a Google search says.
What else?

[Sharkfin]

Take a good photo of it and post it up.

[BLOOD SPLATTER]

Is your 87' Soloist a Custom or Student model??


& yes a pic would help!!

[toejam]

Fairly dark and smooth means nothing, as rosewood can also fall under that category. A lot of ebony is actually streaked and usually dyed by most manufacturers anyway. Post a pic.

[Chad]

Compared to rosewood, ebony has a very tight grain, has a much harder feel, and is usually darker in color (whether natural or dyed).

[j2379]

Brazilian rosewood can be as tight grained as ebony but usually it's not BLACK and I don't know of any builders that dye Brazilian RW.

[asix]

Ebony has a very tight grain and it looks almost flat. Rose wood will have some indents as part of the grain.

[FunkyApocalypse]

Ebony is tight grain with streaks usually.

[Jack The Riffer]

Grain-wise and hardness-wise think of Ebony as Black Maple.

[RR05xx]

In my experience, good quality rosewood can look almost like ebony, except the grain will not be quite as dark, tight and flat. I have had ESP guitars (and still own one that my local luthier says he is sure is ebony but which almost looks like rosewood which leads my to believe its rosewood that was dyed because it does not have streaks. That said, 80s gibsons and jacksons tend to have very tight, black flat fretboards that are usually never appear to be anything other that ebony - some look almost plastic until you look real close. While these could have been dyed I guess, they never seem like it to me because they do not seem to have a real thick finish on the fret boards like a fender tends to do to keep the dye from rubbing off eith use. I understand that restrictions in the import of ebony in the last 10 years have contributed to the influx of guitars with ebony that looks more heavily streaked or rosewood-like almost.

That said, if your guitar has shark fins and a blacker looking board, then it is almost certainly ebony unless someone custom ordered the guitar with rosewood (which in Jackson land is possible if not probable).

Close up decent color pic would help if you are stil wondering.

[lepard]

Recommended watching for everything you need to know about ebony in today's guitar market. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anCGvfsBoFY

[Sharkfin]

I've seen that video before, and I think it's noble what Bob is doing. However something comes to mind. Even if there were blond streaks or you had a straight blond ebony board; couldn't the ebony just be dyed jet black? I think that is fairly common in guitar building, right?

[pianoguyy]

My pc took a dump on me, so i can't tell what these pictures look like larger than 4.5". I hope they look ok.

[Force]

Certainly looks like ebony, can hardly see any grain at all.

[Hellbat]

That is ebony, unless that is the worst camera in the world.