Bob Taylor on the future of Ebony

davismanLV

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I saw this link from over on AGF. I think Bob Taylor is a swell guy and I like his leadership. The resources are finite..... and we act as if they're not. Great link, thanks for posting it, Dave.
 

Scratch

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Great video. Makes sense... And get ready for future premiums on vintage black ebony guitars...
 

Dr. Spivey

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It does make sense. I know a family in northern Michigan that owns a couple thousand acres of forest. They harvest the wood in a sustainable manner. Managing the forest is simple. Managing the buyers is not. :wink:
 

valleyguy

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Great post, thanks.

Got to hand it to Taylor for what they'r3e doing. Obvious question I had, why not just stain the light parts dark?
 

dreadnut

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Cha-ching! There goes the value of instruments with black ebony, as well as the price of pure black ebony.

Looks like Bob Taylor's got a corner on the market, that's for sure. But he speaks the truth and it's a good plan for all involved.

Some years from now people will be admiring the beautiful colorations of ebony in their instruments.
 

fronobulax

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Not sure I believe that Cameroon is the only viable source but I will note that at LMG II Guild folks discussed woods and explicitly said that they were going to offer striated ebony because the solid ebony was becoming difficult to obtain.
 

Ridgemont

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I find his authoritative approach to addressing our irresponsibility very refreshing.
 

Ridgemont

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fronobulax said:
Not sure I believe that Cameroon is the only viable source but I will note that at LMG II Guild folks discussed woods and explicitly said that they were going to offer striated ebony because the solid ebony was becoming difficult to obtain.
Bob Taylor mentioned Cameroon as being the only place to legally export the wood. There very well could be other places that harvest viable amounts, but remain illegal to export.
 

geoguy

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What a cool guy . . . Mr. Taylor seems to be an eminently likeable & responsible person.
 

adorshki

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Ridgemont said:
fronobulax said:
Not sure I believe that Cameroon is the only viable source but I will note that at LMG II Guild folks discussed woods and explicitly said that they were going to offer striated ebony because the solid ebony was becoming difficult to obtain.
Bob Taylor mentioned Cameroon as being the only place to legally export the wood. There very well could be other places that harvest viable amounts, but remain illegal to export.
Without going back and re-reading the "Gibson's Woes" thread to refresh my memory, I'm pretty darn sure that the outfit that was handling Gibson's wood importing was a major source. Back then I went to their web site to "look around", and they had already listed their ebony fretboard blanks as "limited to existing stocks only". Sorry I forget what their name was, but apparently a pretty significant source of luthier materials, and reading between the lines I saw it as a confirmation of what was mentioned in the Gibson thread, that ebony was already "no longer available", while the source of Gibson's woes in that thread was "rosewood".
I also recall reading that yes, the ebonies that are now available are not as desirable as the traditional real dark real hard ebony.
Somebody else mentioned staining. Would I want my ebony stained? As a purist, probably not, I'd probably see it as an attemmpt to make it look like was something it wasn't.
This also reminds me of something else that occurred to me recently, that Guild at least (I don't follow the "other guys" that closely)' is still offering "all wood" guitars. The purist and traditionalist in me cringes at some of things Martin has done recently with composite necks and inorganic fretboards. It's just a personal thing. Their efforts to create instruments from "sustainable and alternative materials" are entirely laudable.
But like somebody else mentioned, I keep hearing a "ka-ching" on the value of all wood instruments everytime a new scarcity of material pops up. 8)
 

ArchtopAnimal

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Hasn't brown and stiped wood been stained black for years now ? Many an ebony bridge that I flip , is brown underneath.
A solid-black fingerboard looks miles better than non-uniform colour . I wonder if they're really going to stick with this
ethos and supply whatever they pick up , or there'll be an up-charge for all black ; a.k.a. we're ethical , but for a price
we'll forget it .
 

dapmdave

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ArchtopAnimal said:
Hasn't brown and stiped wood been stained black for years now ? Many an ebony bridge that I flip , is brown underneath.
A solid-black fingerboard looks miles better than non-uniform colour . I wonder if they're really going to stick with this
ethos and supply whatever they pick up , or there'll be an up-charge for all black ; a.k.a. we're ethical , but for a price
we'll forget it .

I'd think we'll see lots of creative solutions. A lot of Gibsons now come with baked maple fingerboards.

Dave :D
 

Bill Ashton

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Dave, thanks for posting this, I had intented to but other things got in the way, LOL

I think its great he made the command decision to use all the trees. My H & D has blonde streaks in its fretboard and tr cover, and she looks just fine. Perhaps on a violin, not so much? Anyway, if its the tonewood we are after, we can live with it.

I too remember the ebony issue being brought up during LMG II. I'll take the real thing instead of the synthetic materials, thank you (that said, the original Composite Acoustics guitars do sound really good)...
 

Geo

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I've never been a big fan of Taylor guitars but I have great respect for their owner and his approch to guitar building. :wink:

I think the multi-color ebony will look nice on a bridge or fretboard. 8)

Also, think I will focus on buying guitars with black ebony fretboards now, before they get too expensive for my budget. :lol:

Great video Tom!!! Thanks for sharing!!!

George
 

gregsguitars

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ArchtopAnimal said:
Hasn't brown and stiped wood been stained black for years now ? Many an ebony bridge that I flip , is brown underneath.
A solid-black fingerboard looks miles better than non-uniform colour . I wonder if they're really going to stick with this
ethos and supply whatever they pick up , or there'll be an up-charge for all black ; a.k.a. we're ethical , but for a price
we'll forget it .
It's been a common practice (staining ) Ebony to darken it or make it a more solid black for years as far as I know.
 

SFIV1967

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Bob Taylor wrote in the latest Wood & Steel (summer 2012):
"Black ebony won’t disappear, but over time you may start to see less of it.
We plan to use it more selectively, most likely on guitars that have more inlay detail, like the 600 through Presentation Series.
On some custom guitars, we may not want to add any inlays at all, as Mother Nature will have supplied the artistic touches.
In the end, we understand that people’s aesthetic preferences are subjective.
We also understand that, in the interest of preserving a sustainable supply of ebony, the trees get a say in the design process."

Ralf
 

wileypickett

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Dying the wood makes it rot, says Taylor.

For every four ebony trees that are cut down in the Cameroon, only one is black, the other three are striated. Unfortunately you can only tell which are which AFTER you cut them down.

Before Taylor arrived in the Cameroon, the three trees that weren't black were just left lying on the ground, because the perception was that builders didn't want striated ebony.

Taylor was, understandably, horrified at the waste. He's met with a number of builders, Martin and Guild among them, who agree with him. He will be supplying those companies with ebony, so you will see striated fingerboards on Guilds.

Cover story in the current Wood & Steel, the freebie Taylor quarterly you can pick up at any store that stocks Taylor guitars.
 
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