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CITES: Fender pivoting to non-black Ebony, will it change things for Gibson, too?

jb_abides

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NOTE: this isn't posted in Fender pub, it's NOT meant to be about Fender, or advertise their Elite Series

Please take a look -
https://www.fender.com/articles/tech-talk/fenders-new-fretboards-what-is-ebony

I believe this is the first big move by a major electric guitar manufacturer socializing the market in accepting non-black Ebony on higher-end product lines. Will it catch on?

Can you see yourself buying a Gibson with Ebony that's not "pure black" in appearance where it's used today, or more appropriately, over Richlite? :hmm

Just wanted to throw that out there... I kinda like it, and would be OK with it on Customs.

:salude
 

J T

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Sure, why not?

Rosewood has streaks in it. Ebony doesn't have pores like rosewood. How much of a difference does it make in sound and feel?

So many people want their rosewood fretboards to be dark almost black anyway and consider it desireable.

Streaky ebony
 

TheArchitect

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Sure, why not?

Rosewood has streaks in it. Ebony doesn't have pores like rosewood. How much of a difference does it make in sound and feel?

So many people want their rosewood fretboards to be dark almost black anyway and consider it desireable.

Streaky ebony
This ebony isn't black though...you know.. But this one goes to eleven...
 

J.D.

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I'm perfectly fine with it.

It's unfinished wood and could possibly be dyed.
 

jrgtr42

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I happen to like the look of ebony, both the all-black and the streaky. Each one gives a different look to a guitar. I think the streaky would look good with a natural finish guitar. All-black does have a more-upscale sort of look to it.
I also think the streaky gives a more unique look - more of a fingerprint, rather than dyed.
 

Big Al

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Gibson used it on The Paul & The SG and others in the 70's.
 

Uncle Gary

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In the long run it won't matter. Ebony is likely only a year or two away from being added to CITES.
 

jb_abides

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In the long run it won't matter. Ebony is likely only a year or two away from being added to CITES.

Really, even the streaky stock? Hmmm. Maybe they oughta stockpile now...?

Thanks for all the replies thus far :salude
 

Zentar

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I had a Big Baby Taylor with light Ebony fingerboard. Functionally and tonally it did the job perfectly. All my high end Taylors have dark black Ebony. The Black Ebony is the same functionally and tonally.

I would like to know why you can't stain the light colored Ebony to Black? Does light Ebony not retain the stain?
If you could stain light Ebony to a consistant solid black I doubt anyone would ever complain.

I don't think anyone could close their eyes and tell the difference between light and dark ebony by sound or feel. I have to wonder if we aren't already buying stained black ebony and we don't know itt?
 

Bob Womack

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Bob Taylor of Taylor Guitars journeyed to Camaroon to discover the state of ebony in the last source country in the world. We've logged out all the other sources one-by-one. Our method was to log off a country until they had no more ebony and then move to another. After watching the harvesting process, Bob decided to buy the largest ebonymill in the country that supplies about 80% of the worlds ebony. Then he sat down and asked the harvesters and workers how their life was. They told him it was terrible. They were only paid pennies for the pure black wood. He asked how they knew a tree was pure black? They replied that they had to cut down a tree in order to find out. He asked how many ebony trees the had to be cut down to yield one usable log? They said TEN. Ten trees had to be cut down and dragged miles out of the bush to the road, trucked out, and then milled to discover whether they had a good log. All that labor and all those trees and they only were paid for a maximum of a tenth. As the supply lessened, the workers had to drack the logs further and further out of the bush. And at the mill, 90% of the wood went to waste. For the workers it was only a bare subsistence existence.

For both humanitarian and environmental reasons Bob made the decision on the spot that there in the last source country for ebony, things had to change. His first move was to tell them he would pay them the same price for black ebony and streaked ebony. His next move was to begin paying the workers on U.S. standards. His last move was to tell the rest of the industry and consumers that we can no longer afford to live the way we used to, using only the pure black ebony. So changes are going to happen and perhaps the supply of ebony won't dry up. But the supply will now include both streaked and pure woods and the pure woods will fetch a premium price. It is just the way it has to be if we want to continue to have ebony at all.

MORE


Bob
 

jb_abides

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He asked how many ebony trees the had to be cut down to yield one usable log? They said TEN. Ten trees had to be cut down and dragged miles out of the bush to the road, trucked out, and then milled to discover whether they had a good log. All that labor and all those trees and they only were paid for a maximum of a tenth. As the supply lessened, the workers had to drack the logs further and further out of the bush. And at the mill, 90% of the wood went to waste. For the workers it was only a bare subsistence existence.

Wonder what happened to the other 9? Hope there's a reservoir of streaky somewhere, not wasted!

I've been to the Taylor factory and saw the wood library. It's impressive :salude
 

TM1

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Yeah, Bob Taylor's heart is certainly in the right place. I could care less if my Ebony is polka dotted. As long as it's not that Richlite crap Gibson has been so fond of using.
 
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