Ebony Boards - Once you've had black, can YOU go back ????

[Dizzy]

So I've been playing by DDII BFR JP almost exlusively lately (man I love that guitar)

This morning I got the Cherry Burst BFR JP out and it was a bit weird.

(CB BFR shown next to my standard DDII JP - highlights different boards)

Now the CB does have a particularly blonde RW board, which compliments the CB finish awesomely,
so I got the BBB BFR JP off the wall and gave IT a go.

Ok - a bit less weird, but still not quite right.

My reaction to the the combination of visual / mental image & different feel surprised me a bit,
as I've always just found it easy to go between guitars.

I definitely enjoyed the extra "bite" the ebony added to the sound too.

So it occurred to me that it's been 4 years since I consistently played an ebony boarded guitar, and that it is actually a real preference for me.

REALLY can't wait to get the ebony boarded BB BFR now !!

 

[fogman]

interesting

 

[ScoobySteve]

I started on ebony as I started on classical guitar, but any well conditioned RW feels just as lovely to me.

Brown is actually my favorite color, and I do agree, as much as some don't want to admit it, that the visual contrast the color of the wood creates, has an affect on your preference for it. DDII was so successful to me (despite never owning one) because ebony looked so much more balanced than RW on it.

But I do agree with your point. The moment you have two levels of perception (in this cause the visual aesthetic, and the feel associated with the different woods) working in tandem with each other, you have much more precise levels of recognition.

 

[Mephistofes]

I started out with having 3 guitars with rosewood, but when I got my BC Rich (which has an ebony board) it felt really smooth and had a lot of bite so harmonics would come out of it easily. Ebony is one of the main reasons I went with JPX. The ebony on the JPX is really tight grained and looks fantastic with it. So I prefer the look, the sound and the feel of the ebony fretboard (though the board on the JPX feels a bit dry and thirsty). As a side question, can you use the ernie ball wonder wipe on the ebony board?

That's not to say that I don't like rosewood, I do. It feels very warm on the fingers and I love bending and doing vibratos with it. Very resonant. I like both a lot and would definitely like another JP but with rosewood, because sometimes I just prefer RW instead of ebony.

 

[Spudmurphy]

I played an Ebony boarded guitar nearly all my playing life and now love the feel of maple/rosewood which my EB's have. - I don't play at your "warp speed" Dizz, but I switch easily between my maple/rosewood boards.
But I have to say though that the ebony board of my Les Paul is the only thing I miss about it - cos I just don't play it anymore!!

 

[threeminutesboy]

interesting

indeed is that mean you are converted to ebony board Dizzy ? what about the All RW neck? I think you have a Luke like that (and I'm not talking about your son )

 

[cm_17]

Is the fret size the same on the DD2 and the CB?

 

[Dizzy]

indeed is that mean you are converted to ebony board Dizzy ? what about the All RW neck? I think you have a Luke like that (and I'm not talking about your son )

Hehe.

I s'pose what I really mean is that I was ALREADY an ebony board fan.

I stopped playing ebony when I started playing EBMM in 2006,
but now EBMM are doing ebony, I've realised how much I've missed it !

Now I've got the best of both worlds ! (for me)

Don't get me wrong, I still like the RW boards on all my other guitars (and all RW neck Luke), but the look / feel / sound & mental connection to ebony makes it my preference.

Is the fret size the same on the DD2 and the CB?

yes, same fret size - the ebony just seem to makes the frets looker bigger in pics due to the higher contrast.

 

[fbecir]

My first "real" guitar had an ebony board (an ESP Horizon Custom from 1987). I built 6 years ago a guitar with a luthier and this guitar has also an ebony board.

But in fact, in term of playability, it's really the same for me between ebony, maple and rosewood. In term of sound, it's hard to tell : you need to have the same guitar model in two version : one with ebony and one with rosewood boards. If I compare my ESP with my Morse, I will say that ebony sucks !

In term of visual aspect, I prefer maple.
The only bad point with ebony is that refretting is a pain in the a** : ebony can break easily so removing the old frets is a hard job.

 

[bkrumme]

I know exactly what you mean, Dizz.

Every time I go into the music room to play, I pick up my Amethyst BFR because it was my #1 for so long. But it feels weird now for some reason. The only difference really is the rosewood vs. the ebony on the stealth. So now I find myself playing the Stealth more than anything, followed by the JPX 7...and I hardly play the amethyst any more.

On the 6 string side, it's been all about the JPX and the 25th. I haven't touched the rosewood neck JP for quite a while.

For some reason the rosewood feels "softer" under my fingers. It doesn't respond to touch the same as ebony. and then there's the maple on my 25th. It feels "harder" than the rosewood or ebony.

 

[TheShreddinHand]

As far as visuals go, putting fretboard conditioner on my rosewood boards really darkens them. Not sure if that'll help you from a visual standpoint. I personally do like both rosewood and ebony but like the 'feel' of rosewood more.

-Eric

 

[austin]

Ebony feels better than rosewood to me and looks waaaay better. All my guitars would have ebony boards if it were up to me (of my 5 current keepers 3 have ebony and 2 have rosewood), but as long as it's not maple, I can live with it

-Austin

 

[threeminutesboy]

ok one naive question sorry : "if ebony is that good, why most of the guitars come with rw ?"

is that a matter of cost? sound? availability of the wood?
why for instance, Luke when he joined EBMM did not get an ebony fretboard while it was what he was playing with his valley art signature (the cherry one, and the robot one)?

I'm just curious and want to understand, I have played mainly rw guitars but it's true I liked the feel of my yamaha SG2000 ebony fretboard

But when I have tried the Koa Luke with ebony fretboard I was not truly comfortable

 

[Roubster]

I on the other hand prefer rosewood. I really like the look of a nice slab and the grain of the wood. The slab I got on my LUKE looks so nice and even...I do prefer the darker rosewood boards though, and I have been lucky to have those on all 3 Balls. I have no issues with ebony, and I do agree that it looks better on certain models with darker colors.

 

[Cameron Himself]

ok one naive question sorry : "if ebony is that good, why most of the guitars come with rw ?"

is that a matter of cost? sound? availability of the wood?
why for instance, Luke when he joined EBMM did not get an ebony fretboard while it was what he was playing with his valley art signature (the cherry one, and the robot one)?

I'm just curious and want to understand, I have played mainly rw guitars but it's true I liked the feel of my yamaha SG2000 ebony fretboard

But when I have tried the Koa Luke with ebony fretboard I was not truly comfortable

I would say all three of the above (cost, availability, sound) plus aesthetics.

Some people say ebony is a much nicer fretboard material, but really I think it is totally a personal opinion thing. I prefer maple for some guitars and rosewood for others. I personally prefer the look of maple, but I think a Les Paul would look silly with it.

 

[straycat113]

I really think it is just a bit of a mental thing. I have guitars with all three type boards and rosewood has always been my favorite. I personally never cared for maple until I played an unfinished neck for the first time which was my first EBMM EVH. I guess because of it not being finished gave it more of a RW neck feel. Ebony is great for guys who like to shred like you DIZ lol as it is harder, and you do not need as much pressure to sound a note. But if you switch guitars for a pretty good length of time it is only natural that when you come back even to your #1 it is going to feel a bit strange for awhile at first.

Anything that makes you think about it can play with your head. It is like first learning how to alternate pick, it used to really give me a headache, until I realized that if I mixed some economy picking in a run without thinking what was the difference, as long as I got it right and did not have to think about it. Another example would be watching some guys play and they ask you if you want to jam and then hand you a guitar you are not familiar with. For some reason I always landed on my feet okay, because I never really thought about the guitar I thought about playing well. Yet when it was over a lot of times I would think I would never buy one of these.lol

 

[browndog]

I suppose I’m glad that I’ve never played an ebony board so I don’t know what I’m missing.

I’ve had the odd rosewood neck but I love my maple.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

On any given day I may lean more towards rosewood or ebony fretboards, and generally wind up on the rosewood side. Maple is far down my list

 

[Smellybum]

I hear very different tones from the 3 boards, I worked part time in a music shop in the 90's turned out I was allergic to ebony, but hopingit was just a chemical added to the G****N finish -

Would very much like to explore an EBMM with an Ebony board. - And REALLY CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGER till my HH AL shows up with an all rosewood neck - think that's going to be a different tone again.

 

[Dizzy]

Maple is far down my list

Mine too.