Ebony vs rosewood on electrics

Jeesh... I go away for a few months to move home and workshop and come back to this train wreck...

Looks like you all are missing me more than you could possibly know...

:laughings:
 
Hiya, Mutt. How be shit? You still oiling your fretboards with the oil extracted from black rhino fat?

Come on then, give us your two penneth?
 
I don't necessarily believe that "sustainability" is good for the environment. That's my problem with the word and how hippies use it. Suppose all the ebony trees were gone. What would happen? The earth wouldn't stop turning. The environment is fine no matter what we do. It will be what it will be. We only care about the environment to the extent of us using it. All it would mean for us is that we can't have ebony fretboards or fancy knife handles anymore. Sustainability, as it's commonly used, is a selfish and self-serving idea hiding behind the charade of eco-friendliness. Let's protect the environment so we can keep raping it. So when people start throwing that term around, I'm automatically against it. I'm suspicious of people all of the sudden caring about everything.

---------- Update ----------

muttley600 said:
Jeesh... I go away for a few months to move home and workshop and come back to this train wreck...

Looks like you all are missing me more than you could possibly know...

:laughings:
Click to expand...

I didn't even know you were gone!
 
Greg_L said:
I don't necessarily believe that "sustainability" is good for the environment. That's my problem with the word and how hippies use it. Suppose all the ebony trees were gone. What would happen? The earth wouldn't stop turning. The environment is fine no matter what we do. It will be what it will be. We only care about the environment to the extent of us using it. All it would mean for us is that we can't have ebony fretboards or fancy knife handles anymore. Sustainability, as it's commonly used, is a selfish and self-serving idea hiding behind the charade of eco-friendliness. Let's protect the environment so we can keep raping it. So when people start throwing that term around, I'm automatically against it. I'm suspicious of people all of the sudden caring about everything.
Click to expand...
Sustainibility/Conservation are almost by definition controlled exploitation. If we fuck with the environment to much we gradually make the planet less habitable. For example, us not having Ebony fretboards is a minor drawback from over harvesting Ebony and means fuck all in the grand scheme of tings. In the location where it is harvested it leads to increased soil erosion, loss of habitat and flooding which is very important. These things all have knock on effects causing further problems down the road.

Most people who are actually qualified in environmental science don't just do it 'cos they love trees and don't want to see them get damanged. Its cause they realise how important trees are to us and that we have to protect them for our own benefit.
 
JDOD said:
Hiya, Mutt. How be shit? You still oiling your fretboards with the oil extracted from black rhino fat?
Click to expand...

Not unless black Rhino fat has mineral oil scented with essence of lemon in it ..

Come on then, give us your two penneth?
Click to expand...

Ok. Wont take long.

Wood does make a difference. How much depends on what wood, on what instrument, where it's used and how. The overriding factor on electrics is pickup placement, type, and what string alloy and windings you opt for. Any instrument is the sum of it's parts and some parts add more to the sum than others.

The guy in that video is an idiot with a some understanding of wave mechanics and acoustics from which he has selected certain known laws of physics but conveniently chosen to ignore a ton of others as well as draw conclusions that are incorrect. He is also wrong.

If you are worried about the tiny difference a fretboard may have on the eventual sound of an instrument you are focusing on the minutiae and will probably never truly be able to loosen up enough to play shit.

If you asked me which is best for tone purposes I'd just tell you to pick which one you like the look and feel of. If you asked me the same question of neck timber or body timber you'd get a different answer.

The issue of sustainability of timbers is a big one. If you left me to chose which one to use for you I would go with rosewood for sustainability reasons. Ebony is currently right near the top of all endangered timbers.

Gibson were guilty of breaching the CITES treaty and deserved to be punished. What they were doing was intended to give them a competitive advantage over other makers and industry's that use those woods. Anyone who uses those timbers or anything covered under CITES is oblidged to act under the terms of the agreement or face the consequences under the law in their own country. I do.

To say it's just wood is about as dumb as saying about the current VW sting that they are just cars. True they are just cars, but when compared to other cars they are different due to design and the fact that the drive and desirability are a result of them being the sum of their parts. What VW did is akin to Gibson in that they used deceit beyond the law to gain a competitive advantage.

Sustainability is a very pressing and real issue to our industry and many others. We can not be cavalier about it.

To finish I would just point out that spruce is not a hardwood..
 
Greg_L said:
I'm that guy that didn't even know you were gone.
Click to expand...

lol.. I'm sure if I searched hard enough I could find you in some thread or other proclaiming the up and downside of the Mutt...

Oh wait. I just did... "I loves me some mutt but..."...

It must be your age catching up on you..;)
 
2005-chevrolet-cavalier-base_100030859_m.jpg


I think this Cavalier would look nice in ebony...:)
 
JDOD said:
I've no idea. I'm not into wood as such, just guitars and I've heard that Spruce is running out. This true?
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No. Spruce is about the most sustainable of all the timbers we use. Decent close grain straight grain old growth spruce is getting harder to find and more expensive though..

Softwood is a gymnosperm. Softwood and hardwood can be misleading terms. Spruce and pine are the most commonly understood and known gymnosperms. Yew however is much denser and harder but is also a gymnosperm. Balsa on the other hand is a hardwood or an angiosperm. The classification has to do with how they produce seeds and propergate and nothing to do with how hard the timber product is..
 
Sorry, I was just asking a question. Didn't mean to start a war. But I guess I should know that it seems to be inevitable here.

Btw, I wasn't obsessing over the minutia of the difference in fretboard wood. I was asking whether or not the difference was minutia or something that I should be concerned about.
 
muttley600 said:
No. Spruce is about the most sustainable of all the timbers we use. Decent close grain straight grain old growth spruce is getting harder to find and more expensive though..

Softwood is a gymnosperm. Softwood and hardwood can be misleading terms. Spruce and pine are the most commonly understood and known gymnosperms. Yew however is much denser and harder but is also a gymnosperm. Balsa on the other hand is a hardwood or an angiosperm. The classification has to do with how they produce seeds and propergate and nothing to do with how hard the timber product is..
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Yeah, I think that's what I meant. I was reading about a certain type of spruce running out - Sitka Spruce. Is that rare now?

---------- Update ----------

notCardio said:
Sorry, I was just asking a question. Didn't mean to start a war. But I guess I should know that it seems to be inevitable here.

Btw, I wasn't obsessing over the minutia of the difference in fretboard wood. I was asking whether or not the difference was minutia or something that I should be concerned about.
Click to expand...

Not a war - its an interesting discussion!
 
notCardio said:
Sorry, I was just asking a question. Didn't mean to start a war. But I guess I should know that it seems to be inevitable here.

Btw, I wasn't obsessing over the minutia of the difference in fretboard wood. I was asking whether or not the difference was minutia or something that I should be concerned about.
Click to expand...

The answer is no, dont worry about it other than what feel and look you prefer unless you have a strong ethical reason to not chose ebony. To much other stuff going on to be of consequence.

I have reduced the amount of ebony I use for exactly those reasons. I prefer the look and feel of rosewood and I am concerned that the over farming of ebony in unstable areas of Africa is having a negative impact on both the ecology and economy of the regions in which it grows. It's also nicer to work with which is a plus.
 
BroKen_H said:
So softwood comes from being naked, and hardwood comes from being covered...seems counter-intuitive...
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Kind of. Hardwoods are the fruity ones or with nuts.. Softwoods are all seed shedders. The other way you can pretty much but not always classify them is by leaf type and deciduous vs evergreen. There are a few exceptions to this though....
 
JDOD said:
Sustainibility/Conservation are almost by definition controlled exploitation. If we fuck with the environment to much we gradually make the planet less habitable. For example, us not having Ebony fretboards is a minor drawback from over harvesting Ebony and means fuck all in the grand scheme of tings. In the location where it is harvested it leads to increased soil erosion, loss of habitat and flooding which is very important. These things all have knock on effects causing further problems down the road.

Most people who are actually qualified in environmental science don't just do it 'cos they love trees and don't want to see them get damanged. Its cause they realise how important trees are to us and that we have to protect them for our own benefit.
Click to expand...

I don't disagree with that on matters that matter. Saving ebony for fretboards just doesn't matter.
 
muttley600 said:
lol.. I'm sure if I searched hard enough I could find you in some thread or other proclaiming the up and downside of the Mutt...

Oh wait. I just did... "I loves me some mutt but..."...

It must be your age catching up on you..;)
Click to expand...

Lol. You actually searched for it! Goddamn you're sensitive. :laughings:
 
You're gonna fucking HATE the new rules they dropped on us. They're written specifically for guys like you and me. You know, guys that are right and don't care about hiding it.
 
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