Almost none of the Big Corporate Guitar companies use  Ebony fretboards anymore.  

The cost of ebony can be  very expensive! especially when compared to cheap Indian rosewood which is cheaper than dirt and will suffice in most cases when the customers are ill informed.

 Why large corporately owned companies Don't Use Ebony Fingerboards.

1,   Price Prohibitive.  Good Quality Jet Black Gaboon Ebony like Ed Roman uses costs upwards of 25 to 30 times more than Rosewood.  Rosewood fingerboards can cost as little as 30 cents each. Ed Roman has paid as high as $35.00 for premium jet black ebony.  That's 3 times what even Brazilian Rosewood costs.

2,   Hard To Work With. It has a severe blunting effect on cutters.  In leveling out the board a reduced angle of at least 20 degrees is absolutely required. Also it requires an increase in shoe & pressure bars to prevent wood from riding or chattering on the cutters.

3,   Limited Shelf Life.  Ebony is highly resistant to any preservative treatment. It can also warp and be totally useless.

4,   Damages Easily (Only During Construction.)  I have to be careful how I write this one. Someone could read it and miss the point entirely. Ebony is easily damaged during construction but once the guitar is built Ebony is far Stronger, Stiffer & Much More Stable.

Even though almost any type of Ebony is 10 times stronger than any type of Rosewood and helps stabilize and strengthen the neck it will crack under the pressure of the new automatic fretting machines which slam all of the frets down hard into the fingerboard. This means that Ebony fingerboards should be fretted by hand and therefore require hours of labor that the major companies do not want to pay for.

An interesting note. I am writing this 12/17/05 at 11.00 PM PST.  About 3 hours ago myself and my shop foreman Alan Dreher went out to see Robert Schimmel at the Monte Carlo.  I mentioned to him that I was writing an article about Rosewood versus Ebony. I asked him if he had anything to contribute. He mentioned a couple of minor points and then he said something to me that really hit home.  He told me that Brian one of our Inlay artists was working on a neck earlier today and he had an accident with the dremel. He had ruined a fingerboard, not just any fingerboard. This fingerboard was one that we were doing a winged serpent $3,000.00 inlay to.  To make a long sad story short, The fingerboard was kaput and the inlay job was almost done. This was going to cost me about $1,200.00 out of pocket, We could salvage all the cut pieces of, Abalone, MOP, Recon Stone & Sterling Silver but all the labor was out the window.  Ouch !!! 

I had a brief moment of clarity as I realized if we had been doing this job on a Rosewood board the whole job could have been salvaged for about $50.00 in labor. I had another brief moment of clarity as the realization set in that this had never happened to me before. I briefly sympathized with the beancounters for about 3 seconds.  Don't worry I'm still not switching to Rosewood !!!

5,   Planned Obsolescence.  I might be reaching a little here: Theoretically you could wear out a Rosewood fingerboard, thus needing a replacement fingerboard and new fretjob.  Or maybe just go out and buy another guitar.  Ebony is so much stronger than Rosewood that it might actually prevent you from breaking your neck if you should drop the guitar.  Planned Obsolescence has always been a real concern of any major corporation. No one likes to talk about it but let's face it.  If they built it too well, people would keep them forever, and never need to buy a new one.   Ebony has less movement during use than Rosewood so it will also prevent a lot of neck warping.  Corporate Business 101 reads like the Ferengi rules of acquisition.

 6,    Inlay Work Cost.   Remember the bean counters at these large corporations watch everything like a hawk.  Being more brittle than Rosewood, Ebony requires a much more skilled person to do inlay work than rosewood.  (More Skilled Usually Transfers into Higher Paid)  

Benefits Of Using Ebony

1, Ebony is much harder and polishes up beautifully so that the neck feels smooth and slick.  It's much harder and therefore you can get a better percussive tone when doing two hand tapping and hammer on's or playing without a pick.

2, Ebony reduces finger fatigue.  If you play for hours your fingers will appreciate the smoothness. It's barely noticeable but the smoothness makes it so that you can play longer without getting sore fingers. 

3, Cosmetically Beautiful,  The Jet Black Ebony contrasts nicely with the binding and/or inlay material, also it effectively hides any filler for a much cleaner look.

4, Ebony is much stronger and much more stable. It helps keep your neck straighter and also protects it from breaking.

Below is an old article I wrote back in 2001

Why Won't PRS Use Ebony Fingerboards On Their Guitars?

It really rankles me that PRS refuses to offer Ebony fingerboards. I mean what's the deal, I thought PRS was supposed to be a Premium High End Guitar?   Well Excuuuse Meeee!!!  Ok there is a reason and here it is:

Since most people don't know, I must first state the fact that PRS is an entirely machine made guitar.

"PRS Guitars Are Entirely Machine Made" 

got that... are you sure?

Ed Roman's Theory of Ebontivity...

Ok, because when the next time you are in a Sam Ash Store or most Guitar Centers, the 17 year old commissioned salesboy automaton will more than likely tell you it is entirely hand made with violins playing in the background.

That's BS to the tenth power!!! He's not lying, he's just ignorant. Ok, enough bashing of ignorant salespeople and on with the show.

I want to say I personally know several extremely knowledgeable people who work at Guitar Center & Sam Ash. Sadly for the consumer these people are not the ones usually in the guitar department. There are of course exceptions !!!!

If you use an automated fret installation system that rams the frets down into the fingerboard there is a very good chance you will split the ebony. In fact I have seen it done at the old PBC Guitar shop in Pennsylvania when they were Ghost Building all of the Ibanez USA guitars back in the mid 90's.

Consequently, I don't think that PRS will be doing any Ebony fretboards now or in the future. They are concentrating more on automation than on hand building.

When I took the tour of the Jackson factory, I saw a custom made machine for pressing the frets in, but they were hand installing each one when I was there. They have semi automated it and therefore they have achieved an intelligent balance between hand made and robotic made.

All of the small builders are installing and hand fitting frets one at a time. This process makes it very easy to do Ebony fingerboards, This gives the hand builder the definite edge.

Ebony is a great wood for fingerboard. It costs much more than Rosewood but on many guitars I like it better. There are a couple of oddball exceptions however .

Ebony on a Les Paul style guitar is not the preferred fingerboard. The guitar just does not sound like a Les Paul when there is an Ebony fingerboard. Zack Wylde, Peter Frampton, & Ace Frehley to name a few use Ebony fretboards on Les Paul's but their sound is not the true Les Paul sound. Those guitars are custom made by third party builders for the most part.

Ebony sounds great on a guitar with a long neck, it's more percussive, as long as you don't have a real hard wood body like solid Maple or solid Bubinga it makes for a great tonal combination.

Good tone is derived from combining different woods.

We hang up fingerboards, & body woods and tap them for resonance and pitch. Most small hand builders will at least attempt to marry the different woods together sometimes in thirds, fifths or in unison pitch. I am sure Paul Reed Smith was doing that in the first 2 to 3 years they were building their guitars. I am positive they are not doing it today.

None of the Big Corporate Guitar companies use  ebony fingerboards anymore.  

The cost of ebony can be  very expensive compared to rosewood which is cheaper than dirt and will suffice in most cases where the customers are not informed.