Bob Taylor - The Future of Ebony

[Helldunkel]

Saw this video last day and thought that maybe you guys might find this interesting to watch because this is important news that everybody must be aware about

Respect to mister Bob Taylor for having taken this decision

website information:
http://www.taylorguitars.com/about/sustainable-ebony

video:

 

[Zap]

I found that to be very interesting. I've never played or seen ebony up close, but I can tell you that if I were to buy a guitar, I would much rather have real, spotted ebony, than baked maple, granadillo, or Richlite. Leaving all the B grade would behind because of its appearance is insanity.

 

[King Crimson]

He's full of shit. I personally have more than 500lbs of aged Madagascar ebony - perfect for the best finger board (acoustic or electric guitar) you could ever want. And it is abundant throughout.

Nice marketing ploy from a rambling confused idiot and company that might as well make their ridiculously over priced guitars out of balsa wood - no tone, no oomph, no projection, same with Martin.

I apologize for the "blurry" full screen shots.

 

[Helldunkel]

He's full of shit. I personally have more than 500lbs of aged Madagascar ebony - perfect for the best finger board (acoustic or electric guitar) you could ever want. And it is abundant throughout.

He is so full of shit that Madagascar Ebony is classified as vulnerable by the IUCN and that importation in no longer permitted.

Nice marketing ploy from a rambling confused idiot and company that might as well make their ridiculously over priced guitars out of balsa wood - no tone, no oomph, no projection, same with Martin.

Such a rambling confused idiot that he is now the owner of the company who is now exporting worldwide the only available legal ebony to the world (west african ebony) and if you would actually inform yourself a little bit more you would also notice that most luthier suppliers are stopping selling Madagascar Ebony, LMII is one of them, once their stock is gone, they stop...

Taking that opportunity to criticize and bashing down Taylor guitars for no reason in your post is a little and completely out of topic...

We are in 2012, be happy that somebody like Bob Taylor is taking the right decisions, this takes balls and without people like him, nobody would be there to ''try'' and stop human stupidity, someone had to take action at the source if we are to have this resource for the future and for this Bob Taylor desirves big respect....

Elephant Ivory is abundant throughout, lets keep killing elepants as much as we can untill they all die shall we?

 

[HRC51]

I've been wondering about the ebony situation since Gibson switched to Richlite. Maybe they gave up due to supply or cost. Either way, it's my fretboard material of choice. I had a guitar with figured ebony (not pure black) and I thought it was beautiful and played great. Good for you Mr Taylor.

 

[racerevlon]

I'm behind him all the way. All of the new Gibson offerings (Richlite, Obeche, Baked Maple, granadillo) feel like plastic and play like shit. I played a Suhr with a baked maple neck/fretboard and it was great. WTF Gibson?

 

[gibson08]

He's full of shit. I personally have more than 500lbs of aged Madagascar ebony - perfect for the best finger board (acoustic or electric guitar) you could ever want. And it is abundant throughout.

He is so full of shit that Madagascar Ebony is classified as vulnerable by the IUCN and that importation in no longer permitted.

Nice marketing ploy from a rambling confused idiot and company that might as well make their ridiculously over priced guitars out of balsa wood - no tone, no oomph, no projection, same with Martin.

Such a rambling confused idiot that he is now the owner of the company who is now exporting worldwide the only available legal ebony to the world (west african ebony) and if you would actually inform yourself a little bit more you would also notice that most luthier suppliers are stopping selling Madagascar Ebony, LMII is one of them, once their stock is gone, they stop...

Taking that opportunity to criticize and bashing down Taylor guitars for no reason in your post is a little and completely out of topic...

We are in 2012, be happy that somebody like Bob Taylor is taking the right decisions, this takes balls and without people like him, nobody would be there to ''try'' and stop human stupidity, someone had to take action at the source if we are to have this resource for the future and for this Bob Taylor desirves big respect....

Elephant Ivory is abundant throughout, lets keep killing elepants as much as we can untill they all die shall we?

Well put Sir, Thanks for posting this, I wish I were a "Rambling confused Idiot", maybe someday,,, A real big to Mr. Taylor, class act.

 

[IndyWS6]

Can someone summarize the contents of the video? It's 13 minutes long and, quite honestly, I didn't take the time to watch it...

 

[squank]

Can someone summarize the contents of the video? It's 13 minutes long and, quite honestly, I didn't take the time to watch it...

It's worth taking the time to watch it. Better to get the details than a summary on this issue.

 

[IndyWS6]

Can someone summarize the contents of the video? It's 13 minutes long and, quite honestly, I didn't take the time to watch it...

It's worth taking the time to watch it. Better to get the details than a summary on this issue.

Fair enough. Marked for lunch time...

 

[rupe]

No more ebony fretboards on electric guitars? The tone-gods are smiling

 

[IndyWS6]

Can someone summarize the contents of the video? It's 13 minutes long and, quite honestly, I didn't take the time to watch it...

It's worth taking the time to watch it. Better to get the details than a summary on this issue.

Fair enough. Marked for lunch time...

Ok - I watched the video...

Taking what he says at face value, I have no problem with the approach. There are only so many trees on the planet and wasting 90% of them because the wood isn't dark enough is insane. Personally, I like an ebony fretboard and, in my opinion, a little color variation and streaking can look really cool. Variations of grain and color are prized in other wood species used for bodies, tops, backs and sides, so why not on the fretboard? As long as there is no variation in hardness or wear resistance, I see no issue. Of course, some planks will be more aesthetically pleasing than others - that's the nature of wood.

My guess is that Taylor (and other guitar companies) will market the guitars with all-black ebony boards as exclusives and price them higher than those with color variations. He all but said that they would pay the same price to the loggers for the wood, regardless of color, but the all-black boards are more scarce. It would seem reasonable to expect guitars made with those boards to be more expensive.

 

[philb]

Good for him. They have to cut down 20 trees to find the proper one (black). That's very wasteful.

 

[Red_Label]

He's full of shit. I personally have more than 500lbs of aged Madagascar ebony - perfect for the best finger board (acoustic or electric guitar) you could ever want. And it is abundant throughout.

Nice marketing ploy from a rambling confused idiot and company that might as well make their ridiculously over priced guitars out of balsa wood - no tone, no oomph, no projection, same with Martin.

I apologize for the "blurry" full screen shots.

I'm no Taylor fanboy (I've got three Breedloves). But I disagree with your assessment of Bob and his guitars. They definitely lack the warmth of an old Martin and tend to be very "hi-fi" and sterile in sound. But they are built solid and well. They definitely are over-priced in my opinion. But Bob has done a HELL of a job in marketing and all of these people out there think they absolutely NEED a Taylor. That's one of the reasons I went with Breedlove. Just to do something different.

 

[ratter]

No more ebony fretboards on electric guitars? The tone-gods are smiling

LOL you read my mind. I for one won't miss ebony much. I just never really dug it, at least on electrics.

I'm compelled to take Taylor at his word though. I'm sure this is of VERY large concern to him. 500 lbs of ebony would probably supply the Taylor factory for about 3 days...

 

[Digital Jams]

No more ebony fretboards on electric guitars? The tone-gods are smiling

LOL you read my mind. I for one won't miss ebony much. I just never really dug it, at least on electrics.

I'm compelled to take Taylor at his word though. I'm sure this is of VERY large concern to him. 500 lbs of ebony would probably supply the Taylor factory for about 3 days...

Same here, I am a maple guy or rosewood depending on the guitar and style I am playing.

Gibson has not had pure black ebony for years unless you were paying 6-10K for some crazy limited. They are dyed.

About Taylor acoustics, play outstanding but they just do not have the projection and power that Martins have.

 

[squank]

He's full of shit. I personally have more than 500lbs of aged Madagascar ebony - perfect for the best finger board (acoustic or electric guitar) you could ever want. And it is abundant throughout.

Nice marketing ploy from a rambling confused idiot and company that might as well make their ridiculously over priced guitars out of balsa wood - no tone, no oomph, no projection, same with Martin.

I apologize for the "blurry" full screen shots.

I'm no Taylor fanboy (I've got three Breedloves). But I disagree with your assessment of Bob and his guitars. They definitely lack the warmth of an old Martin and tend to be very "hi-fi" and sterile in sound. But they are built solid and well. They definitely are over-priced in my opinion. But Bob has done a HELL of a job in marketing and all of these people out there think they absolutely NEED a Taylor. That's one of the reasons I went with Breedlove. Just to do something different.

I bought my Taylor because of the tone.

I wanted something bright that projected well in an ensemble, whether vocals or other instruments.

 

[Red_Label]

No more ebony fretboards on electric guitars? The tone-gods are smiling

I've got a pair of ESP Eclipses. The one with the ebony neck sounds WAY fatter and more soulful to me and the rosewood one rarely gets played.

Also, two of my Breedlove acoustics have ebony fretboards on them and they both sound superior to the one with rosewood. But I'll admit... they're both higher-end models than it is.

 

[Digital Jams]

No more ebony fretboards on electric guitars? The tone-gods are smiling

I've got a pair of ESP Eclipses. The one with the ebony neck sounds WAY fatter and more soulful to me and the rosewood one rarely gets played.

Also, two of my Breedlove acoustics have ebony fretboards on them and they both sound superior to the one with rosewood. But I'll admit... they're both higher-end models than it is.

You think the thin little piece of ebony is creating this much larger tone and not the bodies or construction?

 

[Red_Label]

No more ebony fretboards on electric guitars? The tone-gods are smiling

I've got a pair of ESP Eclipses. The one with the ebony neck sounds WAY fatter and more soulful to me and the rosewood one rarely gets played.

Also, two of my Breedlove acoustics have ebony fretboards on them and they both sound superior to the one with rosewood. But I'll admit... they're both higher-end models than it is.

You think the thin little piece of ebony is creating this much larger tone and not the bodies or construction?

Guitars are the same model. Just different color and fretboard wood. Obviously, the piece of wood used for the body on the ebony one could be a better piece of wood (and likely is). I didn't clarify my point though. It wasn't so much that ebony was superior sounding, as it was the point that you made... that the fretboard wood probably makes little difference in the overall tone of the guitar. Especially on a solid body.