Ebony

[gnoll]

It seems to me like ebony boards can vary in how problematic they are. Some are pretty temperamental with fret sprout, cracking, and an unstable neck. But some are quite fine.

What are your experiences with different ebony board guitars?

I'm thinking maybe it has to do with how much the wood was dried before being turned into a fretboard. Or just different qualities of the pieces of wood maybe.

 

[wiretap]

Most of my current guitars have ebony boards, and I’ve owned at least 10-15 over the years with ebony boards and never had any real issues with them. Got one that has some very small cracks, but I’m not even sure if they’re cracks or just grain, didn’t pay attention to the before.

All of them have been bound, so maybe that’s a difference as far as your fret sprout issue goes but yeah, never been a problem for me.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

I'm thinking maybe it has to do with how much the wood was dried before being turned into a fretboard. Or just different qualities of the pieces of wood maybe.

Pretty much.

 

[SalsaWood]

Definitely has something to do with variances in water content after construction. I have a PME board with a very, very, very small split. It's inconsequential, but an easy enough fix. Ebony fretboards can be repaired in most cases, it just sucks.

I use a very small bit of lemon oil once a year on all my fretboards. I don't think it avoids much in severe cases, but the oil does seem to keep things stable enough by moving in where water otherwise would. Also really cleans up a fretboard, just don't get it on your finish and don't use too much.

 

[Surveyor 777]

I have several guitars with ebony boards - maybe 10 (?) - never had a problem with any of them.

 

[Pingu]

Most of my ebony boards end up with a little fret sprout. But so do most of my other boards too as it's very dry and drafty in my home.
I've had hairline cracks form on a couple ebony boards, interestingly enough it always seems to happen in the first couple years of ownership.
Never had any big problems caused by ebony specifically.
As far as 'jet black' ebony boards go though, I'm now a Richlite convert.

 

[Briz]

My only bad experience with ebony fretboard is with a Schecter KM-7 MK-III Artist L that I just returned not too long ago. Not sure if it was the ebony responding to changes in climate or damage during shipment due to the ill-fitting case. Never had a problem, otherwise.

 

[wiretap]

My only bad experience with ebony fretboard is with a Schecter KM-7 MK-III Artist L that I just returned not too long ago. Not sure if it was the ebony responding to changes in climate or damage during shipment due to the ill-fitting case. Never had a problem, otherwise.

Oof! That looks more like tooling marks / poor QC than the fault of the board, to me.

 

[Briz]

Oof! That looks more like tooling marks / poor QC than the fault of the board, to me.

Supposedly it didn't ship like that. I received pics before shipment. But yeah, who knows?

 

[wiretap]

Supposedly it didn't ship like that. I received pics before shipment. But yeah, who knows?

Weird, must’ve taken quite the knock if so.

 

[tedtan]

Oof! That looks more like tooling marks / poor QC than the fault of the board, to me.

Agreed. Tooling marks and possibly strings rubbing on the fretboard during shipping.

 

[SalsaWood]

Sanding scuffs can end up looking like that if not done in the proper direction, or if they use an orbital for final but that doesn't look like such is the case. Could also be minor spalting in the wood.

 

[Sermo Lupi]

I've owned plenty of guitars with ebony fingerboards (even one with a solid one-piece ebony neck) and I've never experienced any significant problems. Without getting into the weeds about specific species of ebony and rosewood, some general observations:

Fret sprout can happen to any wood, and has more to do with how the wood was seasoned prior to working with it, and how similar that seasoning climate was to the guitar's final destination. Fret sprout is a relatively easy fix, so I wouldn't let it affect my choice of fretboard wood.

As for cracking, ebony is harder and more prone to splintering and cracking than rosewood. I've never experienced it on any of my guitars, and there's thousands of 200+ year-old stringed instruments with perfect ebony, so I'm not sure this is a concern worth having beyond knowing it can occur and how to fix it. In the rare event the ebony does chip or crack, it is more seamlessly repaired than most other woods owing to its smoothness and more uniform colour (even with the variegated stuff we're getting now).

Woods in the ebony family are desired for their closed-pore grain and hard-wearing properties. Woods in the rosewood family are a bit different in that regard, being open-pore and somewhat less durable to finger wear. I like both and own both, but there's so much more variation with species and grades of rosewood than ebony. The low grades of rosewood that have shipped on import guitars in past decades are probably why rosewood gets a bad rap relative to ebony.

Ebony is not more maintenance-prone than rosewood, in my experience. Fretboards should only be oiled rarely regardless of species, around once a year. Keeping your guitars in a temperature and humidity-controlled environment will prevent more issues than oiling will.

Anyone who says they can hear a difference is crazy.

 

[budda]

Ive had two ebony boards and one richlite. Artist V and lpc for ebony - no issues. Richlite on my Martin acoustic - no issues.

Im all for richlite for peace of mind on maintenance. The Martin gets used very infrequently and travels the most (lessons).