Ebony Fretboard Quality

[2bornot2bop]

it is a pickup i've come to really like for fully hollow archtops and have put one into every archtop i've ever owned (except for my new Benedetto, but that will happen).

Absolutely stunning!





what a vision Taku had:



I could not agree more. In the two archtops I've heard it installed the performance was stunning, and the natural delivery and clarity is unmatched.

A Wisconsin luthier recently modified a Heritage 575 to include that pup. What a steal those handwound KA pups are. I dig their appearance too.

[2bornot2bop]

I put a Gagnon African blackwood bridge assembly on a Golden Eagle I got from Heritage a few months back. I had it inlayed with a D'Angelico type inlay. I love it!! Here's a pic of it. Also, a couple of pics of some other bases I got from Antonio. I had them make me one in African BW with the Eagle in flight inlays so I can show it to Heritage and try to convince them to go back to a bridge base assembly more appropriate for a $7,000 guitar. I'm not quite pleased with the inlay work . . . the birds wings are spread a bit to far . . and the inlay detail could be a bit neater. But, it's just a prototye example. The other two are just a plain ebony and a canary wood. The photos aren't the best . . improper lighting. But, you'll get the drift of it. I REALLY like the ABW and now prefer it over the ebony for bridge assemblies.

the eagles aren't half bad for a prototype....practice makes perfect eagles...

is that an custom pick guard too?...the binding edge appears diffferent from standard H fare.

[jasonc]

Lmi has African Blackwood back and side sets (for flat-tops) for $675-$575. Macassar is in the neighborhood of $400. I've thought about using pen blanks from Woodcraft for my bridge experiments . They have African Blackwood in 1"x1"x6" blanks for not a lot of dough......I of course mean that I am going to get 20 year old well seasoned blanks from the African tribe who felled the tree on midnight of the solstice. Then let it sit in my tub of tone dust for another 5 years.

[hot ford coupe]

Wow, those are some beautiful guitars. Now the question I have is now that we know ABW is a great tone wood and we don't usually use it because of its expense, is there a tonal or volume advantage gained by using it? If there is no advantage to using it, I can see it being used in those high, high collector's pieces. I'd like to see the price tag on some of those guitars.

[hot ford coupe]

Hey Jason, I've gotten some of my Gabon ebony from Woodcraft. Those pen blanks make some very nice bridge saddles. Hard as hell to carve and brittle when you carve it but smooths out and polishes well with no finish additive.

[Jim Soloway]

Hey Jason, I've gotten some of my Gabon ebony from Woodcraft. Those pen blanks make some very nice bridge saddles. Hard as hell to carve and brittle when you carve it but smooths out and polishes well with no finish additive.

African Blackwood is a much friendlier wood to work with than ebony. It cuts almost like plastic with little or none of the splintering you get with ebony but it's actually very dense and stable. In additional to accessory pieces, we've used it for several fingerboards. It was very stable and lacked the extremely fast attack of ebony so the tone was a bit warmer and more complex. I suspect that used as sides and back on an acoustic would be incredible.

[Patrick2]

the eagles aren't half bad for a prototype....practice makes perfect eagles...

is that an custom pick guard too?...the binding edge appears diffferent from standard H fare.

Naw man . . . that's a Golden Eagle with a BWB bound ebony Johnny Smith pick guard. I'm a camera dummy . . . and the ISO was set way too high for the flash. Totally washed out the detail.

By the way . . . The Rose SE defintely has some "issues" with either the pups or the pots. My money is on the pots. I adjusted the neck pup so that it's much closer to the strings. It was backed off way too much. That did make quite a difference, on the positive side. However, it still sounds very sterile and inarticulate. (man .. . I just make these words up as I go along). My money is on incorrect pots being the root cause. I'm going to go with either long shaft 500K CTS Super Pots from RS Guitar Works . .. or Bourn. There's also a ground problem. I get a serious hum, until I touch the jack, plugged into the guitar input . . . then it stops. When I put the selector switch in the middle position and dial the bridge pup way back . . . the hum disappears. They act almost like P90s.?.? Oh well . . . . it's an absolutely lovely guitar, with "issues". I'll just work through the issues.

[2bornot2bop]

Naw man . . . that's a Golden Eagle with a BWB bound ebony Johnny Smith pick guard. I'm a camera dummy . . . and the ISO was set way too high for the flash. Totally washed out the detail.

By the way . . . The Rose SE defintely has some "issues" with either the pups or the pots. My money is on the pots. I adjusted the neck pup so that it's much closer to the strings. It was backed off way too much. That did make quite a difference, on the positive side. However, it still sounds very sterile and inarticulate. (man .. . I just make these words up as I go along). My money is on incorrect pots being the root cause. I'm going to go with either long shaft 500K CTS Super Pots from RS Guitar Works . .. or Bourn. There's also a ground problem. I get a serious hum, until I touch the jack, plugged into the guitar input . . . then it stops. When I put the selector switch in the middle position and dial the bridge pup way back . . . the hum disappears. They act almost like P90s.?.? Oh well . . . . it's an absolutely lovely guitar, with "issues". I'll just work through the issues.

Well it's comforting to hear my experiences weren't so out of bounds after all...however, I didn't experience any feedback or hum issues...I wonder how much of that was due to the fact given that the room I use is my audio room which has 2 dedicated 20 amp lines that's completely independent of noise from the rest of the house circuits...you know, refer's, dryers, dishwashers and the like..us audiophiles do enjoy our clean power sources...if anyone is capable of bringing Ms. Rose to life that'd be you brother!

[edh]

2b, Ive said it before, and I'll say it again....those are some beautiful speaker cabs.

[2bornot2bop]

2b, Ive said it before, and I'll say it again....those are some beautiful speaker cabs.

Thank you! Yes, archtops aren't the only money pit!

Those are Cain & Cain Abbey's, all solid wood, hand made in the northwest by Terry Cain before he passed away. They only require 3 watts of tube amplification to fill an averaged sized room with the most natural sound.

If you think those were nice, these were equally as nice in their own right...also from a northwest wood craftsman...the baffles are Sapele wood:

[reedy]

[Reedy]>>> Would you really base your decision on purchasing an instrument based on how long or the method chosen to dry the wood?

Hiya Reedy.

The relationship of price and value (or quality) gets pretty silly at the top cost end of many markets. "Finest" can become based on some seemingly unlikely parameters.

So yeah, when one is trying to spend as much as humanly possible, it is arguably to meet some needs that have less and less to do with the sound and playability of the guitar, and more to do with personal validation of various sorts.

So yeah, the reported methods used to season wood, or conjure spirits, can very well overtake sound and playability.

[Reedy] >>> I realize that there are characteristics that do make a difference (ie bracing, or lamination vs solid wood) but in then end wouldn't you choose the one that felt and sounded the best?

I think that many players would. But many enjoy other aspects of owning guitars, and the story behind the build process can be a big part of this enjoyment.

In my opinion there is room for everyone and every sensibility in this tiny world of archtops.

Chris

Thanks Chris, Patrick and Hot Ford. You all raise good points and I think that you maybe misunderstood the point I was trying to make. I wasn't suggested that I would discount the techniques or methods used to build a guitar, more that I wouldn't use those criteria alone for making a decision about a guitar. Patrick, your points about the tone and playability of a guitar likely being directly related to how well it's built I totally get; however, I guess that because I don't have the technical understanding to fully appreciate certain building techniques (for example parallel vs X-bracing) I rely on other aspects to determine if I like a certain guitar. Granted, I'm looking at this from a player's perspective, I'm sure if I were collecting guitars I might have a totally different outlook.It is apparent thought that there is a lot of knowledge on this forum, which is great becasue I'm constantly learning new things about my archtops.

[Patrick2]

Patrick, your points about the tone and playability of a guitar likely being directly related to how well it's built I totally get; however, I guess that because I don't have the technical understanding to fully appreciate certain building techniques (for example parallel vs X-bracing) I rely on other aspects to determine if I like a certain guitar. Granted, I'm looking at this from a player's perspective, I'm sure if I were collecting guitars I might have a totally different outlook.

Count your blessings! As they say .. (who ever the hell they are) . . "sometimes, ignorance is bliss".

Seems to me like you're choosing the right guitar, for you, without any of the build related knowledge anyway. I think you're probably doing it the right way.