some new beauties from the warwick custom shop

[Dani_On_The_Bass]

Two sides to this... Consumers expect ebony to be black. Companies, if they do not offer this, usually are not seen in a kind light be the consumers.

Usually it is rare to have an ebony tree with a "heart" (centre part) that is black. From documentaries I have seen, it is 1 tree in 20, meaning when the cut down the tree, if it is not black, it is left unused, to rot.

I applaud companies using everything they can (Tiger Stripe from Warwick etc). Taylor, as I recall, was also instrumental in changing people's ideas of what Ebony looked like.

Where I get a bit annoyed is with companies such as Gibson who are known to stain their white/cream Ebony wood to be black. I suppose it is avoiding waste and giving the customer what they "want". So I will put the blame on the consumer as well as the companies.

I know it is "traditional" but personally I find plain black looks boring, I much prefer the highly figured tigerstripe ebony you see, it is much more appealing visually to me. I think the fingerboard on the above Corvette looks great and knowing it is an "offcut" doesn't change that it is amazing wood can grow such patterns