fretboard wood

[keith]

last week i stopped at guitar center to play the ramirez 1a they have there (major league bummer though--someone stole the nut :evil: ). as i was leaving the store i could not help but to look at the plethora of electric guitars some of which were several thousand dollars. i noticed a distinct absence of ebony fretboards on most of the electric guitars--and acoustic steel string guitars. it got me wondering and here is the question:

if classical strings are comparatively less destructive to wood in the application of force by fingers against a fretboard, why do classical guitars use a dense hardwood such as ebony whereas electric guitars and many acoustic guitars use a less dense hardwood such as maple and rosewood? one would thing repeated episodes of steel against wood would wear out fretboard much faster than nylon against ebony.

as a related question: is ebony really "tougher" than rosewood? or is the use of ebony a custom employed by luthiers that has been handed down over the ages?

[NGiorgio]

From Custom Guitars, by Stringletter Publishing, Understanding Tonewoods section, pg. 121. Necks, fretboards, and bridges.

Ebony, the traditional fingerboard material found on violins, classical guitars and high-end steel strings, has the lowest velocity of sound of all the woods commomly used in lutherie and has definite damping characteristics. This may not prove to be much of a problem for large-bodied guitars made out of red spruce or Brazilian rosewood, but it may be something to consider when designing smaller guitars, particularly those using some of the less resonant woods for tops and backs.

[Dimitri]

There's also the issue of density. Ebony is one of the densest woods in the world, so it will wear out less quickly from playing.

If you spend over $1,500 on a modern guitar, it should come with an ebony fretboard, otherwise, don't waste your time. Unless there's something about that particular instrument that really appeals to you for some reason.

Dimitri

[NewLuthier]

The other aspect of it is that ebony isn't nearly as good as it used to be. It's not nearly as dense as it used to be, and is insanely expensive for a good completely black and dense piece. I work with violin family instruments for a living and most of it is pretty poor. I don't think there's a large enough difference between it and rosewood to really make a call on the quality of a guitar based on the material of the fretboard (as long as it's still a decent wood).

[classicalmark]

Greetings friends,
I understand that some makers actually have to dye their ebony black.
Is this true?
Respectfully,
Mark

[TheEvan]

When I was in Tanzania last summer, we stopped by the little square in Dar es Salaam where a cadre of well-known carvers do their work & ply their trade. There were disconcerting quantities of large ebony logs, many over 12' diameter. Out of which they were carving the long shafts of intertwined figures in the African tradition. God, all the ebony chips laying about! It was all I could do not to run about shouting "stop" and confiscating their valuable logs...

[Rex]

I played the same steel string guitar for 20 years. The frets wore and the saddle wore and the bridge pins needed replaced and eventually the tuners wore out and needed replaced, but the rosewood fretboard looked like new after 20 years. I think your strings should never touch the fretboard.

[NewLuthier]

mark, yes many people do, and it's not a horrible thing to do in my opinion. As long as it's decent quality, the color isn't significant. Violin pegs and fingerboards are desireably completely black, but ebony is so stripey for the most part, some luthiers are using it for backs and sides!

[TheEvan]

But that striped stuff, though ebony, is a different species. it's Macassar ebony.