Ebony or rosewood- how to tell

[fett]

To the chase. How do you tell the difference between ebony and rosewood? I think I know, but I want your imput. Thanks

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: Ebony or rosewood- how to tell

Ebony is on all the cool and expensive (and therefore better) guitars. Rosewood blows because it's on the cheaper guitars. That's how you can tell. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

No, seriously now. Ebony tends to be more uniformly dark in appearance. Rosewood can be anywhere between a reddish brown to a rich dark brown that has absolutely beautiful grain.

Of course, I'm told that some guitar manufacturers like Gibson streak their rosewood to have a darker, more ebony-like appearance to them by using dyes. [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img]

[mm2002]

Re: Ebony or rosewood- how to tell

Really? Damn, I've never heard of anybody dying rosewood to make it look like ebony! [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[fett]

Re: Ebony or rosewood- how to tell

The reason I asked is I have an older JB Player fat strat that has one of the best necks I have ever felt. The board is dark black and the grain is real tight. I know the best way to test for ebony is to try a scratch with your fingernail. If you can't dent it, it's ebony. But, I really don't want to do that.

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: Ebony or rosewood- how to tell

Originally posted by mm2002:
Really? Damn, I've never heard of anybody dying rosewood to make it look like ebony! [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">HAHAHAHA, I was thinking of you when I was typing my paragraph about Gibson using dyes. [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[chemical_ali]

Re: Ebony or rosewood- how to tell

thought i'd share this tutorial on ebonizing with you guys...