Cracked ebony fretboard SL2H

[Tmoran]

to be honest I dont think the ebony boards on alot of jacksons are true ebony. Ive seen many boards that the dye didnt take in some spots and its rosewood. True ebony is much denser and lacks those voids. Ill try and get some pictures up of the difference. If it is ebony they are using Its not of the greatest quality or its a subspecies that isnt the true ebony that is sought after in guitar making. Many woods are called ebony or rosewood and technically dont classify as either.

[Learn Guitars]

Many woods are called ebony or rosewood and technically dont classify as either.

Do you have one specific example?

[Tmoran]

Do you have one specific example?

Its hard to give examples when guitar companies only list the material as ebony even when it is clearly not. I really have no idea what wood they are trying to pass as rosewood or ebony. But some ebony is not ebony and its happened with rosewood as well. Many times the term rose wood and ebony are used as generic titles to describe the color of a particular wood rather than it being related to the species of wood.

Here is a little information on the subject.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebony
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosewood

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

to be honest I dont think the ebony boards on alot of jacksons are true ebony. Ive seen many boards that the dye didnt take in some spots and its rosewood.

It's true they are not "premium" Ebony, where there are no grain lines and no light-colored sections.

However the difference between Rosewood and Ebony isn't the color, and Jackson Ebony fretboards are not Rosewood. They are Ebony.

[Tmoran]

ive seen ebony with mineral lines and lighter sections and actually I prefer a little of that in the mix rather than the jet black. And im not even stating that i know for a fact jackson is miss representing the wood they use. Im just saying that it has happened in the past with alot of companies. Ebony and rosewood are generic terms sometimes applied to certain woods simply because their appearance closely resembles true ebony or true rosewood. Here is a picture of why I think some jackson boards may not be true ebony. I know color isnt the best determining factor but the grain on this board is more characteristic of what ive seen in indian rosewood and you can see where the dye didnt take. Its not the normal tan color you see in mineral striping of ebony but a reddish brown that you see more in indian rosewood. all four of my guitars have ebony boards and an unfinished neck that is ebony. They have a much tighter grain with no voids. I cant say for sure that the company didnt use a grain filler on the boards but it doesnt appear that they did. the first three pictures are my KV2 board and the last two are from an unfinished neck. The grain on my unfinished neck is the same as my other 3 ebony board guitars. And if you look even though its got color the grain is completely different from the jackson. Im not an expert by any stretch of the imagination but ive never seen true ebony look like my jackson board. Plus my guitar is an 08 model and I dont know what the specs were back then. I havent seen any USA jacksons newer than that to compare.

[Learn Guitars]

Many times the term rose wood and ebony are used as generic titles to describe the color of a particular wood rather than it being related to the species of wood.

I see where you are coming from now.

[lynchfan6]

I noticed that on my 1992 Washburn N4...the ebony board is smooth as glass, nearly no grain at all. Also, on the 1997 DK1 I used
to own, the ebony was like that too. Finally, on my '07 SL2H, it has a lot of grain just like on these pictures. So ,yeah,,it sure
looks different. It stood out to me right away when I got this SL2H.....

[Tmoran]

and you know what i dont care what a company uses for a fretboard wood just as long as its represented fairly. One example of wood mystery is prs stating that one of their guitars has a neck made of "select dalbergia" Ok great.... Which one? their are over twenty subspecies in that genus so how do we know exactly what wood it is? In the end I dont care what a guitar is made of just as long as there is no beating around the bush about it.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Yep, these days most Ebony has streaks. The TOP QUALITY Ebony is nearly pure jet black and then the lesser choice stuff has some streaks in it. And then, I remember Rosewood having very little grain pores and being a very nice fretboard wood back in the 80's/90's but today, most of it looks like something you'd use to clean a toilet (a sponge.) Good wood is hard to come by, and the "lesser choice" stuff is what you are seeing for sure in Ebony and to some degree on Rosewood fingerboards too.

For the "light spots" in Ebony, I get this when I buy Warmoth necks, I can pay extra for premium Ebony that is jet black (not dyed) or I can get Ebony that has those dark reddish stripes in it like what you show. And they tell me the specific species of wood I'm getting (Diospyros melanoxylon for their standard Ebony and Diospyros celebica or "Macassar Ebony") - but just like some pieces of maple will have birdseye or flame figuring in it, and others don't, you don't always get the same exact results from the same species of wood.

All of it has some grain lines in it these days that I have seen. I know what you guys are saying about "old" ebony with no grain lines, no stripes, etc. That stuff is pretty much all gone from what I understand; you aren't going to see that in any "regular production" guitars these days. I believe that was Gaboon Ebony.

[lynchfan6]

Also, my 1996 Gibson Les Paul Classic has a rosewood board that could almost pass as ebony......so smooth and streak-free with little to no grains and DARK. Of course, this was back when Gibson had different owners and before they started hacking away at the Classic model to make it stop taking away from the standard, like the changes they made to the classic post-2000.

[68stang]

I had a luthier look at the finger board on my SL2H and he believes the ebony is from Africa. He said the ebony from Africa has a large open grain and the tighter grain on my 70's Les Paul is from South America.