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Ebonol softer than wood?

Temcat

Temcat

Feb 16, 2007
1,015
429
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
#1
So I brought my friend's Squier VM modified fretless that needed fretboard repair to my luthier who'd never seen ebonol fretboards before. He carefully applied epoxy at one small damaged spot and sanded it down to see how the material reacts. He then said it all was surely repairable but the material was even softer than wood - he didn't say which wood and I didn't ask, but I suppose he must have included rosewood in what he meant, because otherwise it wouldn't make sense to choose such a generic word.

What is your experience with ebonol? Did you too find it softer than some or most popular types of wood?
 
#4
Lownote38 said:
It's not wood. It's basically compressed cardboard. REALLY compressed cardboard. The spot he repairs will be harder than the rest for sure. Ebonol is definitely not as resistant to damage as rosewood or ebony in my experience.
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It's not just paper, there's a phenolic resin involved that is similar to epoxy. The paper and resin combo is cured under heat and pressure to make a hard composite.
 
#5
Major Softie said:
I believe Ebanol is actually harder than most all woods, but hardness is not the same thing as abrasion resistance. Hardness is it's resistance to being depressed by impact. So, how easy Ebanol is sanded or worn down by strings is not the same thing as its "hardness."
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Sorry but hardness is resistance to abrasion. What you are talking about is compressive strength.
 
#7
RSBBass said:
Sorry but hardness is resistance to abrasion. What you are talking about is compressive strength.
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Sorry. You are mistaken. How does a durometer measure hardness? By the depth of an indentation.

BUT!!!!!

After a little research, I see that we are BOTH wrong, as the Mohs scale of hardness measures abrasion resistance, while the Durometer scale of hardness measures indentation. Apparently there is ALSO a third scale as well. Hardness is separated in to the categories of scratch hardness, indentation hardness, and rebound hardness.

So, we're both wrong.

BUT!!!!!

We're both also right. :hyper:
 
#13
Major Softie said:
Sorry. You are mistaken. How does a durometer measure hardness? By the depth of an indentation.

BUT!!!!!

After a little research, I see that we are BOTH wrong, as the Mohs scale of hardness measures abrasion resistance, while the Durometer scale of hardness measures indentation. Apparently there is ALSO a third scale as well. Hardness is separated in to the categories of scratch hardness, indentation hardness, and rebound hardness.

So, we're both wrong.

BUT!!!!!

We're both also right. :hyper:
Click to expand...

Cool to know. I am a geologist so I went with the Moh's scale as the basis for my comments.
 

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