Ebony as a body wood

[bucknaked31]

Re: Ebony as a body wood

Ebony is gonna suck as a body wood, plus it can't be painted... the grain is so tight, you'll never get traditional paint to stick... you may be able to get polyester to stick, but you'd have to scuff it up pretty bad so a clearcoat finish would be out of the question. Back in the day, Schecter offered ebony as a body wood, but it cost 4 times as much as a regular body (it requires special tools to route)

[Deneb]

Re: Ebony as a body wood

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or maybe even an EMG 60 in the bridge, something that may "darken" the tone a little bit.


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The 60 is the brightest pup EMG makes. It's great as a neck pup, but I wouldn't use it in the bridge. From their site, "While the EMG-60 still features the close aperture coils loaded with ceramic magnets for the brightest attack of any of our many humbucking models, this pickup also packs plenty of output with both clarity and cut through high end. The EMG-60 is incredible for rhythm guitar as metal and extreme players have discovered. James Hetfield's signature ESP models use EMG-60's because their distinctive crunch sets any rhythm player apart in the mix of a band that pumps a lot of mid-range from the stage."

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I don't use EMG's, and for whatever stupid reason, I figured the 60 was a dark pickup.

I stand corrected.

[Ozz666]

Re: Ebony as a body wood

If that's anything close to African Bubinga then stay away. I had a friend who had a custom made of Bubinga and that was the absolute heaviest (weight-wise) guitar I've ever played...to the point where it's uncomfortable with it strapped on.

- Joel

[Jacksonite]

Re: Ebony as a body wood

why dont you make a veneer top out of it instead, then you will get the beauty of it without the wieght. put it on a alder body and maybe the brightness will brighten the alder or even a m'hgny body to give it a really unique spectrum? I dont know I am just making some random suggestions that I dont even know would work or not...make the top thick enough to get sound quality out of it, if that is something that can be done...

[discordant]

Re: Ebony as a body wood

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why dont you make a veneer top out of it instead, then you will get the beauty of it without the wieght. put it on a alder body and maybe the brightness will brighten the alder or even a m'hgny body to give it a really unique spectrum? I dont know I am just making some random suggestions that I dont even know would work or not...make the top thick enough to get sound quality out of it, if that is something that can be done...

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+1 that's what i would do, if it is possible.

[xenophobe]

Re: Ebony as a body wood

It's going to be heavy and brittle. Don't drop it. You might find the body in several pieces....

[VulfgangPfuck]

Re: Ebony as a body wood

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why dont you make a veneer top out of it instead, then you will get the beauty of it without the wieght. put it on a alder body and maybe the brightness will brighten the alder or even a m'hgny body to give it a really unique spectrum? I dont know I am just making some random suggestions that I dont even know would work or not...make the top thick enough to get sound quality out of it, if that is something that can be done...

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+1 that's what i would do, if it is possible.

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+2...that actually is a good suggestion (from a builder's standpoint) I've seen that done with really nice results!

[quiksilver]

Re: Ebony as a body wood

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If that's anything close to African Bubinga then stay away. I had a friend who had a custom made of Bubinga and that was the absolute heaviest (weight-wise) guitar I've ever played...to the point where it's uncomfortable with it strapped on.
- Joel

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[img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] That's a drag. I was actually thinking of getting my next Warmoth body in Bubinga. Guess it's good I read this first, though!

[JACKSONFREAK]

Re: Ebony as a body wood

Warwick makes basses out of Bubinga and Ovankol. Yeah i know its a bass. But stillthose woods are used and sounds pretty damn good. Not everybody can use Alder, Basswood, Ash. etc. I'm still thinking of doing it as an experiment if nothing else. It may not even cost me anything after all but thats still being dicussed.
Gil

[metallicarocks]

Re: Ebony as a body wood

Heavy guitars aren't so bad. There's a few at the guitar shop here that the owner built that are made of all sorts of crazy woods. Black locus was extremely heavy, but was possible to strap on. He has a few made out of oak too. They definitely have a unique sound to them, but perhaps to unique. The pickups didn't seem to pick up. Perhaps it's got a lot to do with how they were positioned.

What would be the possibilty of maybe mounting the pickups on something else? This probably defeats the purpose, but it may help it to stay out of the 20Khz region on the PA.

Just throwing out a few sporatic ideas here that I've heard in the guitar shop. I've never built one myself, but perhaps I could spark somebody's imagination.

[Julian]

Re: Ebony as a body wood

Sounds like a cool Idea, and Cheap.
Go for it