all you ebony fretboard users

[Seeds]

If the Black washes off your hands easily it's most likely a dirty fretboard or the strings. If it were dye on your hands it won't come right off.

[mikeSF]

ive got at least 7 ebony boards here in the house right now and never experienced such a thing with those.

i know some makers use dye routinely, however, so that is not surprising.

 

i have also gotten to hang with several archtop luthiers and went through their wood stash only to find billets of ebony and milled fretboard blanks that were absolutely jet black right off the tree.

[DaveAronow]

 

ive got at least 7 ebony boards here in the house right now and never experienced such a thing with those. i know some makers use dye routinely, however, so that is not surprising. i have also gotten to hang with several archtop luthiers and went through their wood stash only to find billets of ebony and milled fretboard blanks that were absolutely jet black right off the tree.

 

 

Yeah, I have a local craftmen supply house that sells all kinds of figured and exotic woods, for various projects, mostly turning, but they always have a good stash of ebony boards set aside for instrument fingerboards too.

 

There are plenty of boards in those piles that are completely raw natural wood, and yet are as black as the ace of spades.

[bluefoot]

yes on my agile 3500.

[yell03]

All 4 of my Guitars have Ebony boards.

 

The only time my fingertips turn black is after playing on a freshly oiled board, like after I get my guitar professionally set-up, which I do once or twice a year.

 

After a few days of playing that stops.

 

Howard

[Jkater]

I had never heard of this on decent guitars before this thread. I guess we learn something every day...

 

Five out my seven guitars have ebony fretboards. The only two RS board are my Gibson LP and Yammie PAC. All others, SA2200, LAG, Yamaha APX9na, Larriv

[Dances w/carp]

Two falsehoods posted here so far...

 

All ebony is dyed. Not true. 'Some' ebony fingerboards are dyed.

 

Ebony can't be finished. Not true. It certainly CAN. Ebony and rosewood, when used for guitar fingerboards, usually aren't because it's a very stable wood and doesn't HAVE to be.

 

I've used various kinds of ebonys and rosewoods extensively in bow making. In this craft, bowmakers often look for ebony with the grey swirls and stripes thoughout to add character. It is just as strong and more often preferred. Most guitarists though prefer the pitch black stuff for whatever reason, so some makers dye it rather than sort through the piles. It's likely cheaper thataway.

 

With regards to finishing the exotic 'oily' woods, of all those I've finished over the years, the hardest to get good finish adhesion to is Cocobolo, and with a good quality catalyzed varnish, or epoxy-type finish, it's no problem etall. Spray a poly or something similar on it, and you'll still be waiting for it to dry two weeks later.

[BAXANDALL]

That's so funny. I was playing my Harm III last night while watching the toob and noticed my finger tips turning black. I was going to start a thread asking the same thing this morning! Small world.

 

So they're died huh? Interesting.

[B Money]

I've only owned a couple of ebony boarded guitars (Nightswan & my current Edwards) but I've never experienced any color bleed or staining.

[BAXANDALL]

I guess I'd add that my Carvin and my Hill both have ebony fingerboard but never made my finger tips black.

[Jbird]

Carvin states they do not dye their boards.

 

 

If this is true, my '84 DC160's board is the blackest, smoothest ebony board I've ever seen. It looks unnaturally smooth & black.

 

My year-old CT6 looks nice n' black, but you can see the grain in it as well

[BAXANDALL]

If this is true, my '84 DC160's board is the blackest, smoothest ebony board I've ever seen. It looks unnaturally smooth & black. My year-old CT6 looks nice n' black, but you can see the grain in it as well

 

I was taken back by the utter pitch black on my Carvin's SC90S fingerboard as well.

[NEWYORK]

Wellll,

I'm real sorry to have to be the one to tell ya.

What you got there boy is an ebonised fret board.

That is to say it ain't no genuine ebony wooded fretboard,

it's a rosewood board that's colored to look like ebony and polished smooth like ebony.

If your fretboard's losing color it's because it is colored.

And that's just about the long and the short of it.

[ihavenofish]

 

Wellll, I'm real sorry to have to be the one to tell ya. What you got there boy is an ebonised fret board. That is to say it ain't no genuine ebony wooded fretboard, it's a rosewood board that's colored to look like ebony and polished smooth like ebony. If your fretboard's losing color it's because it is colored. And that's just about the long and the short of it.

 

 

haha. unfortunately(or fortunately) none of what you said is true.

 

there are 500 species of ebony, about a dozen of which are suitible for guitars. only one is known for consistent deep black colour and it has become increasingly expensive and rare. all the others tend to be either streaky, striped, or "off black" in colour.

 

one of my agiles has an ebony board. it never made my fingers black, but it was clearly dyed. when i dressed the frets i buffed the board, and the more natural black/brown colour is showing now. still looks black from a distance, but up close you can see is got some grain.

 

only 2 guitars have made my fingers black... both undyed rosewood. it was just dirt and the strings in both cases doing it. the reason you dont often see "better" guitars doing this is because most of those are cleaned before they get to you. cheapies are boxed and tossed on a boat for 2 weeks... they get dirty.

[DFB]

I have 2 Carvins with ebony boards and owned an LP Custom for over 20 years.

I never had my fingertips turn black.

[V-8]

And, don't forget about Ebonol -- which is synthetic ebony. Ebonol is a close relative of the material black bowling balls are made from.

 

Actually, I like Ebonol fingerboards about as much as real ebony wood fingerboards.

[benzem]

In my exp. it's not the dye(if it's been dyed) but my ebony boards are a 83' and a 77'.

But I have had many rswood boards that did that to my fingers until i cleaned the {censored} out of em'. One was so nasty it took an hour of cleaning w/guitar honey.

Next time you change strings wipe w/a white rag until nothing comes off, this is alot of buffing potentially, and you won't have dirty fingers anymore!

...from the F.B.

[NEWYORK]

 

haha. unfortunately(or fortunately) none of what you said is true. there are 500 species of ebony, about a dozen of which are suitible for guitars. only one is known for consistent deep black colour and it has become increasingly expensive and rare. all the others tend to be either streaky, striped, or "off black" in colour. one of my agiles has an ebony board. it never made my fingers black, but it was clearly dyed. when i dressed the frets i buffed the board, and the more natural black/brown colour is showing now. still looks black from a distance, but up close you can see is got some grain. only 2 guitars have made my fingers black... both undyed rosewood. it was just dirt and the strings in both cases doing it. the reason you dont often see "better" guitars doing this is because most of those are cleaned before they get to you. cheapies are boxed and tossed on a boat for 2 weeks... they get dirty.

 

 

I have an early Epi Wildkat with an "ebonised" fret board ( rosewood dyed to look like ebony ) that when new made my fingers black. Strings on or off.

I agree for nearly all guitars it's just new strings that make your fingers black not the fretboard.

This is easily proven.

So how is what I said untrue ?

[Exdeath]

Never had that problem on ebony fingerboards (or picks, like the one I'm using, for that matter). Maybe yours was really light ebony that got stained black?

[ihavenofish]

 

I have an early Epi Wildkat with an "ebonised" fret board ( rosewood dyed to look like ebony ) that when new made my fingers black. Strings on or off. I agree for nearly all guitars it's just new strings that make your fingers black not the fretboard. This is easily proven. So how is what I said untrue ?

 

 

you made a rash assumption about what the guys fretboard was made from. you dont even know what type of guitar it was.

 

im sure some guitars use ebonized boards, and indeed its possible his is, but what you said was just silly in the context of this thread.

[Exdeath]

The other thing I've noticed about ebony is that it kinda smells. I dunno, but after playing guitars with ebony fretboards my fingers just smell a bit weird.

[axegrinder]

I agree with the others that suggested this is a 'new guitar' thing or even a 'freshly levelled frets' thing. I have had fingers go black on maple board guitars. My suspicion is that after frets are dressed, strings go on and guitars are packed for shipping...without any polishing or cleaning of the playing surface. Anyone who has played an SX guitar out of the box knows what I am talking about...crusty frets.

[ihavenofish]

 

I agree with the others that suggested this is a 'new guitar' thing or even a 'freshly levelled frets' thing. I have had fingers go black on maple board guitars. My suspicion is that after frets are dressed, strings go on and guitars are packed for shipping...without any polishing or cleaning of the playing surface. Anyone who has played an SX guitar out of the box knows what I am talking about...crusty frets.

 

 

yeah, sx's tend to be rather filthy out of the box.

[NEWYORK]

 

you made a rash assumption about what the guys fretboard was made from. you dont even know what type of guitar it was. im sure some guitars use ebonized boards, and indeed its possible his is, but what you said was just silly in the context of this thread.

 

Well let's see how I might have arrived at this conclusion shall we ?

 

I assume the guitar isn't new.

I assumed the guitar hasn't had a fret level or polish

I assumed the guitar doesn't have fresh strings.

I assumed the OP already has an elemental knowledge re these guitar basics.

 

As fretboards don't bleed color that only leaves one possibility :

The fretboard has been ebonised. That is the fretboard has been colored with a stain/ dye to look like ebony just like my early model Epi Wildkat.

This can in fact impart a stain on fingers as the dye leeches out of the fretboard and was the case on the Wildkat I own.

 

Now I'm going to say something that isn't silly.....

 

"It's time for your medication!"

[ihavenofish]

Well let's see how I might have arrived at this conclusion shall we ? I assume the guitar isn't new. I assumed the guitar hasn't had a fret level or polish I assumed the guitar doesn't have fresh strings. I assumed the OP already has an elemental knowledge re these guitar basics. As fretboards don't bleed color that only leaves one possibility : The fretboard has been ebonised. That is the fretboard has been colored with a stain/ dye to look like ebony just like my early model Epi Wildkat. This can in fact impart a stain on fingers as the dye leeches out of the fretboard and was the case on the Wildkat I own. Now I'm going to say something that isn't silly..... "It's time for your medication!"

 

yes, but you ignored one fact thats been repeated throughout the thread... most REAL ebony boards are dyed black.

 

anyway