Finger/Fretboards - Rosewood vs Ebony question for electric guitars?

racman

Over the last decade or so one has seen more and more acoustic guitars in the mid to upper price bracket using Ebony as a fingerboard material. It appears that mid to lower price point acoustic guitars still use some form of rosewood (they claim it is at least).

My question is: why don't more electric guitars get made with Ebony fretboards - what are the pros and cons of Ebony vs Rosewood on Electric guitars?

AlanRatcliffe

Ebony is the brightest sounding board wood (what maple is to rosewood, ebony is to maple). One of the hardest wearing woods and like rosewood doesn't require a finish. The downside is it's hard to find pieces big enough for boards and needs more thorough curing than rosewood, so it's expensive. It's good to brighten up an all mahogany guitar, but can be a bit shrill on a brighter guitar (like a maple neck ash bodied electric).

As I've said before, my favourite board wood is pao ferro - sounds like maple, looks like rosewood and wears like ebony - the best features of each of the other common woods.

singemonkey

The way I understand it is that Western stringed instruments used ebony fretboards. Rosewood was a cheap substitute. That's why Gibson's high end electrics in the '50s - like the L5 and the Les Paul Custom - used ebony, while the lower priced guitars - like the Les Paul Standard - used rosewood. I guess people have come to appreciate the characteristics of rosewood now, but I think I'd still have an ebony board put on a custom made electric.

Ray

Any thoughts on using Richlite more? I certainly have thoughts on it as I think we are chopping down too many indigenous trees maybe not for guitars but for all sorts of things but ja, Richlite is a synthetic and Martin is using it on cheaper models. I suspect it is only on cheaper models becasue the big $ buyer just doesnt want to see it on his guitar. A review I read in guitarist reckons "chances are, if you werent told you'd assume it was ebony".

And that brings on a hijack: anyone know where to get Stratabond her in SA. That is a wood laminate that is used for a few things amongst others for rifle stocks and Martin using it for necks on some of their cheaper guitars as well. Some people say it is much more stable than mahogany. For me it is a bargain if it saves on the tree hey. I've been thinking about a build with mimimum use of solid wood. Maybe even a completely synthetic top.

Bob

I have a ESP Eclipse with an ebony fretboard and it is honestly my favourite thing about the guitar. Only thing that scares me is the stories I've heard about cracked fingerboards, has anybody had any expierence with this?

singemonkey

Buck wrote: I have a ESP Eclipse with an ebony fretboard and it is honestly my favourite thing about the guitar. Only thing that scares me is the stories I've heard about cracked fingerboards, has anybody had any expierence with this?

Nope. Pretty rare isn't it?

Bob

I certainly hope so. I'm still paranoid about the effects of air-conditioners, going from 42deg to 25deg can't be good for the wood. I normally have to re-tune after 15min because the pitch goes up as the temp decreases.

AlanRatcliffe

Don't worry - as long as it's not exposed to extremely dry conditions for long periods it isn't a problem. All the available stock is 20 years or more old so is pretty well cured by now (proper black ebony has been protected for decades).

Bob

Good to hear ?