Is modern ebony less shiny?

[rlefty]

Hey all, it seems like the ebony on builds from back in the day was shiny, almost like it was buffed to a sheen. Modern ebony looks duller to me, like flat black with no shine. Is this just a product of the times or am I actually seeing buffed ebony and assuming it's naturally shiny.

 

[Rick]

In terms of shinyness the older wood is showing its age, it's been used.  Ebony will be around after we've shuffled off this mortal coil and our grand kids, when they are playing their gligfarbs with thought waves they'll be wondering why we were playing guitars.

 

[rlefty]

In terms of shinyness the older wood is showing its age, it's been used.  Ebony will be around after we've shuffled off this mortal coil and our grand kids, when they are playing their gligfarbs with thought waves they'll be wondering why we were playing guitars.

Not sure that's entirely accurate. I think a lot of the ebony we used to use for guitars once came from Africa, and now comes from sources in Asia. Altogether I believe it's close to endangered.

 

[swarfrat]

I think it's largely 1) oiling and 2) buffing. In today's world people tend to cut things out cosmetic steps to a minimum.

 

[PhilHill]

There's also the fact that Ebony is neither as plentiful or as cheap as it used to be. As a result the Industry in general is using sub species and cuts that they would have avoided down years ago. And ebony itself can vary widely in appearance and color. In short, it's not all totally black and dense as marble..... :headbang:

 

[NedRyerson]

In terms of shinyness the older wood is showing its age, it's been used.  Ebony will be around after we've shuffled off this mortal coil and our grand kids, when they are playing their gligfarbs with thought waves they'll be wondering why we were playing guitars.

Yeah, they said that about the theremin, and we see where that ended up!

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

Ebony needs a little bit of oil to look good.  I used the smallest amount of lemon oil rubbed on.  If you don't oil, you will start to see small cracks develop as it dries out.    The oil makes it look clear and darker.

Ebony is not all the same colour.  Most of what you see is not really black.  The ones I owned were a very dark brown that is close to black.