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Ebony fingerboard vs. rosewood

#101
One Drop said:
What a beauty! What is that bass?
Click to expand...

Hey One Drop

It actually seems a little strange. It's apparently a Roger Giffin, as you can see if you scroll a ways here:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Yet, when you follow the link to the Giffin site I can't find any deets on this model. Must have been a custom one off - and with the reputation ebony has as brittle, easily chipped and generally hard to work with - he probably isn't too excited to try another one. Believe me, there are a number of reasons why you don't see ebony tops!

Builder to the stars is Roger Giffin as excerpted from the Guitar Aficionado article linked below. Lots of folks don't realize that the Gibson's and Fender's a lot of their heroes were playing, were not Gibson's or Fender's at all, but Roger Giffin replicas:

"Giffin’s client list is likely the most impressive in the business, as it includes British legends like Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, David Gilmour, Mark Knopfler, Jimmy Page, and Pete Townshend and American icons like Neal Schon, Slash, Eddie Van Halen, and Joe Walsh. Since Giffin first went into business in the late Sixties, his services have been sought by many more famous players, including Hank Marvin, Dave Edmunds, Steve Hackett, Andy Summers, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, George Harrison, Brian Setzer, Elliott Easton, Steve Stevens, and Jerry Cantrell.

Some of Giffin’s most notable instruments include a pair of “Blackie” Stratocaster replicas he built for Eric Clapton in the mid Eighties, six of Pete Townshend’s Tele-style guitars that were his main instruments during the Eighties, and an exact reproduction of Jimmy Page’s “Number One” 1958 Gibson Les Paul, which Page dubbed “Number Three” and used onstage as a backup. He also built a three-pickup Les Paul Custom for Peter Frampton after Frampton lost his original, an unusual headless guitar with a 19-inch scale for David Gilmour, a non-cutaway hollowbody Les Paul for Malcolm Young, and a pair of custom hollowbody 12-string guitars for Eddie Van Halen. Giffin collaborated with Steinberger and Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford to build the prototype Steinberger M Series model, and when he was working for the Gibson Custom Shop he made the prototype of the Les Paul Florentine model."

More here: Roger Giffin’s Custom Guitars Have Helped Rock Icons Fulfill Their Dreams « Guitar Aficionado

I love the doghair finish Roger did on this mahogany:

DHBind2.jpg
 
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#102
BassHappy said:
Hey One Drop

It actually seems a little strange. It's apparently a Roger Giffin, as you can see if you scroll a ways here:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Yet, when you follow the link to the Giffin site I can't find any deets on this model. Must have been a custom one off - and with the reputation ebony has as brittle, easily chipped and generally hard to work with - he probably isn't too excited to try another one. Believe me, there are a number of reasons why you don't see ebony tops!

Builder to the stars is Roger Giffin as excerpted from the Guitar Aficionado article linked below. Lots of folks don't realize that the Gibson's and Fender's a lot of their heroes were playing, were not Gibson's or Fender's at all, but Roger Giffin replicas:

"Giffin’s client list is likely the most impressive in the business, as it includes British legends like Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, David Gilmour, Mark Knopfler, Jimmy Page, and Pete Townshend and American icons like Neal Schon, Slash, Eddie Van Halen, and Joe Walsh. Since Giffin first went into business in the late Sixties, his services have been sought by many more famous players, including Hank Marvin, Dave Edmunds, Steve Hackett, Andy Summers, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, George Harrison, Brian Setzer, Elliott Easton, Steve Stevens, and Jerry Cantrell.

Some of Giffin’s most notable instruments include a pair of “Blackie” Stratocaster replicas he built for Eric Clapton in the mid Eighties, six of Pete Townshend’s Tele-style guitars that were his main instruments during the Eighties, and an exact reproduction of Jimmy Page’s “Number One” 1958 Gibson Les Paul, which Page dubbed “Number Three” and used onstage as a backup. He also built a three-pickup Les Paul Custom for Peter Frampton after Frampton lost his original, an unusual headless guitar with a 19-inch scale for David Gilmour, a non-cutaway hollowbody Les Paul for Malcolm Young, and a pair of custom hollowbody 12-string guitars for Eddie Van Halen. Giffin collaborated with Steinberger and Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford to build the prototype Steinberger M Series model, and when he was working for the Gibson Custom Shop he made the prototype of the Les Paul Florentine model."

More here: Roger Giffin’s Custom Guitars Have Helped Rock Icons Fulfill Their Dreams « Guitar Aficionado

I love the doghair finish Roger did on this mahogany:

View attachment 621657
Click to expand...

Amazing stuff, thanks!
 
#106
I've gone through a lot of really nice basses, and currently have four that are all ebony fingerboard (2 fretted, 2 fretless). In my hands it is articulate without gank. Primarily finger style but also with a pick, palm mute, slap, and any other technique that will work. Typically i find rosewood is just a bit too warm for my taste but ymmv.
 
#109
I personally like the look of Ebony way more than Rosewood.
Rosewood looks a bit dull in comparison to Ebony, it is also usually darker, almost black, depending on the specific sub species.

Both are relatively dark woods, but in their function as tonewoods they are pretty far apart, Rosewood tends to emphasis more lows, accommodating for warmer kind of tones, where Ebony, that also is much harder than Rosewood, emphasis more high frequency content, accommodating a brighter snappier tone, in that way it functions more like maple, even if both a bit harder and a bit brighter than even that.
 

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