Marbled looking Ebony on New Martins??

[baseball]

I have been shopping for a new 18 series Martin, so I have been looking at a lot of them.

I noticed in Gruhns this morning that on some Martins, the Ebony board is kind of Marbled..
an example would be this d18 for sale on our craigslist ; https://nashville.craigslist.org/msg...484848828.html

it is not confined to any particular price.. I saw a lot on a CEO-7 and some on a custom shop Sinker OM18. ... The only common link is that they are all NEW. None of my old guitars have marbling that pronounced

Does that compromise the hardness in any way, or is it just a cosmetic thing??

I remember there was a SCGC OM with Ebony back and sides for sale in the classifieds an the listing said it split and was repaired. I couldn't help noticing the split was right where the Ebony was lighter...

So..anybody got the skinny on this?
Thanks

[jmjohnson]

Apparently they are using a different ebony...

From UMGF...

Just got word from Martin. There are several considerations including availability, waste, practicality of staining large areas, and I'm sure other things. What we're seeing here is Gaboon/African ebony. They decided to use the wood as it is, stripes and all. (I suspect it would be difficult to hide large streaks of brown and make it look even in color.). The streaked ebony can be used up through Style 35. Style 4X+ will get black ebony.

and...

George Gruhn covered this topic in one of his weekly Friday Q&A zoom conversations. I think it might have been the 4/15 session (if not 4/15, then within the last month).

I can't recall all of the details surrounding the conversation, but essentially it focused on the increasing difficulty in obtaining uniformly-colored ebony in today's wood market and Martin's decision to build guitars that have more color variation with fingerboards and bridges. He mentioned that other manufactures started doing this first, and now Martin has followed suit. If I recall correctly, he mentions that the market in general is accepting of it.

My new 000 has a couple patches on neck and bridge that are rosewood looking in color. An OM-42 was as black as always.

[Marcury]

There a number of different species of ebony and most if they are fully black are only that way in the heartwood. Many of the completely black fingerboards we're used to have been treated with aniline dye to give them the consistent black we've come to expect. Bob Taylor is the one major manufacturer who has gone on record for years that the true black ebony is becoming scarcer and has been using it un-dyed.

I had a fretless bass with an un-dyed Macassar ebony board and it was equal to any black ebony I've ever played.

[Mycroft]

To add to Marcuary's response, over the years a huge amount of perfectly serviceable ebony was left to rot because it was not pure black. They can not tell if the wood is going to be black or have brown or streaks until the tree is felled and split.

Bob Taylor, to his credit, realized how wasteful this was and began using undyed ebony some years ago on Taylors, but other builders have been doing so for years. Jean Larrivee and Richard Hoover, for example. I've a friend with a high-end Webber from around 2000 with Brazilian back and sides and a bearclaw top that has streaky ebony for the fretboard and bridge. I've a Larrivee parlour from around 2005 that has while streaks running the length of the fretboard and headstock overlay. One of my McAlisters and my Dunn Weissenborn have a little brown splotch on the fretboards.

It is a little jarring at first, if one is used to all black fingerboards. But it doesn't take long to see the beauty in the inperfection.

Good for Martin for getting on board.

[Sponserv]

Count me as one who actually prefers the streaky ebony.

[Godfather]

……………..Bob Taylor is the one major manufacturer who has gone on record for years that the true black ebony is becoming scarcer and has been using it un-dyed.


In 2011 Bob Taylor started the ebony project in Cameroon Africa.
Here is a link to one of the stories about this venture. He has transformed
the ebony industry and the local economy.

https://www.taylorguitars.com/ebony/...ing-a-sawmill/

[JayBee1404]

Originally Posted by Sponserv

Count me as one who actually prefers the streaky ebony.

Count me as one too! I would very much prefer un-dyed striped ebony to ebony that’s only perfectly black because it's been faked with black dye.

[TDavis]

My new Martin 00-18 has the new “streaked” ebony fretboard & bridge. I think it’s uniquely beautiful.

(Glamour shots from Sweetwater)

[phil0021]

I ordered my SC13e a little over a year ago
from Maury's hoping for a streaked ebony. My hope was realized.

[nootis]

Like others have said, pure black ebony, as desirable as it was, just isn't as available as it used to be. It is becoming more and more common to see "imperfect" ebony featured on all types of guitars. Some builders (I've only seen boutique builders use it) have turned to Richlite. Richlite looks a lot like natural black ebony and has similar density and woodworking properties. It is a great substitute for eco-minded people that still prefer the black ebony look. It is basically made out of compressed paper but is also is heat/moisture resistant and extremely durable. With that said, I actually don't mind having "streaky" ebony as evidence of my student built (by me) Kinnaird and a baritone that Joel Stehr build for me a while ago...

[baseball]

Appreciate the responses... at TDavis.. that is really pretty. some of the ones I looked at today had a LOT more marbling than that...and variation between poplar looking green to Reddish the way yours is.

[DrVonnegut]

This is super interesting and sheds light on my own new D18! It has a streak in the fretboard, and one tiny spot on the bridge just south of the saddle where there is lightness. I didn’t mind at all, and it sounds so good I didn’t ask any questions, but it’s great to know. Thanks to all who have shared!

[Skarsaune]

My ‘21 Fender Acoustasonic Tele also has a streaked ebony fretboard. I really like the look, myself.

[donlyn]

My 2014 Taylor 818e sitka over rosewood Grand Orchestra has a noticeably streaked ebony fretboard along its length, and I love the way it looks. It also has a wooden diagonally streaked rosewood pickguard and I love that too.

Not a fan of bearclaw though. Avoid that as much as possible.

Don
.

[Wellington]

I 100% prefer streaked if I have a preference, my LL16 has streaked and I think it's beautiful. However I'm one of those people that really don't care at all the material or grain of a fretboard; rosewood, ebony, maple, walnut, richlite...