The Future of Ebony

[Nightbat]

Oh hey, I'm not so ignorant to think ebony grows on trees ( )
but those true martyrs of the enviroment would simply say "Sorry I stopped using it"

Nobody is banning or boycotting shit as long as there's money to be made from it

[lerxstcat]

i could care less because i don't mind rosewood!! i, too, found the video to have an air of "smugness". in all, he is correct about the environmental aspects. cutting down that many trees to get a log of black wood is not good. it will be interesting to see what DOES happen with ebony over the next few years...

I think he also made his decision to use the colored ebony because he now has 75% of the market on the last legally obtainable source of ebony, which he is also reselling to the other companies, and why run out of that resource in 1/10 of the time he could otherwise? Think of all the precut logs already lying on the forest floor that he can just go in and harvest now! He was a bit smug in his "I've made a decision for the world" statement, but that's fine. I actually already have enough guitars with ebony boards, and as MarkD said, I like rosewood too, and even maple! In fact I am on more of a maple kick at the moment.

[Whoopu2]

The B-Grade ebony actually does look nice on that acoustic, but could you imagine USA Jacksons with it? Hideous...

IF Taylor really does supply most other companies with ebony, I think we're gonna see price hikes across the board.

[Evol]

could you imagine USA Jacksons with it? Hideous...

I

I don't know about that. If anything they'll be all unique, instead of the cookie-cutter black. Seems like one day there will be no choice anyhow.

[sully]

I'm smelling a price hike in Taylor guitars [IMG]file:///C:\Users\JSULLI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\ 01\clip_image001.gif[/IMG]

I don’t, considering the supply of ebony is increasing.

Hmmmm.... Transcibed between the lines " I am keeping all the good ebony for my company. You all get the shit stuff scraps I do not want. If you want the good stuff, you will need to pay a price that will make your guitar prices unobtainable.....take that bitches!!! " -Lou

Believe what you want, I guess; I don’t see it that way. Besides, it’s not technically “the good stuff.”

The B-Grade ebony actually does look nice on that acoustic, but could you imagine USA Jacksons with it? Hideous... ].

I’m sure that manufacturers will still continue to dye ebony. Taylor is just saying that they’re not, and instead are trying to socialize what ebony currently looks like.

The whole price hike theory doesn’t go with the supply and demand model. Besides, ebony has generally been an upcharge for guitars as it is.

I tell ya, the dark stuff is expensive as hell; my local wood supplier has a Gaboon ebony block that’s about 19” long by 3” wide, by about 3” tall. You could probably get a handful of fretboards from it for the $400 price tag.

As someone who builds guitars, I like what he’s doing.

[Shawn Lutz]

hey at least it is still ebony Gibson is using Richlite in place of ebony....

[Animus]

Well the reason I like black ebony is because it's non-distracting and clean so it's not necessarily just a aesthetic thing. The pale moon ebony would look awesome I think but it might be too "loud" for me.

[sully]

Well the reason I like black ebony is because it's non-distracting and clean so it's not necessarily just a aesthetic thing.

that's totally an aesthetic thing! I completely get what you're saying though!

The thing you have to remember though, is that manufacturers are still going to continue to dye ebony.

[Animus]

that's totally an aesthetic thing! I completely get what you're saying though!

The thing you have to remember though, is that manufacturers are still going to continue to dye ebony.

You know what I mean. :-)

[Whoopu2]

I don't know I just keep getting the impression this is like oil: "There's plenty enough of it but we're going to gouge the price anyway because we're in the position to do so and there's nothing you can do about it."

I havn't been on this earth all that long, but if I've learned one thing.. it's: never trust a salesman. Now that he has a near-monopoly on ebony, he seems to be trying to sell flawed ebony for the same price as what black ebony used to go for, and sell black ebony for even more.

If Taylor truly believed in the environmental sob story he pitched, he wouldn't even be in the business.

[Axegrinder87]

All the more reason for maple boards

[Nimitz]

This is what I thought of when I read the thread topic...

[LouSiffer]

Now that Ebony gives me wood!! Think I willprint this, tape on the wifes back and do her.-Lou

[sully]

Was at the wood shop yesterday and saw this stack of Maccassar ebony and thought of this thread. This is what most of the ebony that’s available really looks like (granted, there's an instagram filter on the pic, but you get the idea). This isn’t the stuff that Mr. Taylor was referring to when he was talking about the B grade ebony that they leave on the ground. This is below Gaboon ebony, but above the stuff left on the ground (Gaboon/Gabon ebony is currently considered the high end stuff. It’s super black, and was what I was referring to when I mentioned seeing a slab of it for $400 at the wood shop).

You can see the streaks very clearly. This stuff is $75 a board foot, and the slabs that you see in the pic are mostly around or just under one board foot. I looked at a few of the boards and figured I could get 3-4 fretboards out of one of them and be happy with it.



Sully

[Hellbat]

I would LOVE a fingerboard made from that ebony personally.