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Check out this Mac. Ebony that I picked up in my travels this past week.....

Wow! Gimme some of that!

But it doesn't look like any maccassar ebony I've ever seen....Don Williams38570.3876388889

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Where the heck where you travelling?

[QUOTE=Don Williams] Wow! Gimme some of that!

But it doesn't look like any maccassar ebony I've ever seen....[/QUOTE]

That's what I said. The person that I bought it from, however, travels the world, pics and buys the trees and is as reliable of a source as you can find. If he tells me that it is Macassar Ebony then I believe it. I have spoken to someone that I fully trust who would know and he didn't question it at all.

[QUOTE=FrankC] Where the heck where you travelling?[/QUOTE]

I could tell you, but then I would have to....

So how thick are those boards Brian? They look on the smallish side?

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Hi Brian,

there are many types of ebony from that part of the world and the terminology is sometimes confusing. However, having now been to Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philipines, trekked the trails and seen the sawmills, I've managed to piece together that:

Macassar ebony actually refers to a striped ebony from 1 particular island in the Philipines.

Striped ebony is a generic name for ebonies of that appearance.

Malaysian Blackwood is a name relatively recently coined to market a species of true ebony- it sounds a lot nicer than ebony- which it's called in asia. I've managed to secure a source of it different to Allied's, but I'm still trying to verify the legality of the operation.

The wood you bought looks more like Malaysian Blackwood type ebony to me, but I may easily be wrong. In anycase, it's great looking stuff.

Warmest Regards,
Terence
www.goodacoustics.com

Thanks for the info Terence! I always like to learn.

Don,
The backs will turn out at 7 1/2" wide X 21" to 24" long and the sides will be 6" X 40" long.

OK, the more I research the more I am inclined to believe that this is Malaysian Blackwood. Does anybody out there have any input on this?? It isn't reacting to climate changes the way Macassar Ebony usually does. Shawn, Steve?? It is hard to question the people that I got it from but I would think that we can all make a mistake.....I don't know. Has anyone out there ever seen M.E. that has this look?Brian Hawkins38570.8414351852

I have seen it with all of those colors in but usually with narrower stripes. Not that I am any sort of expert on Maccasar Ebony.

It's unusual if it's Macassar. The thing that throws me is that the light color tends to orange/yellow. Macassar usually has more gray in the lighter color. Obviously the color balance of your photo might throw that off. Also, it doesn't have the distinctive banding of Macassar.

I'm not familiar enough with Malaysian Blackwood to say that's it, but I am sufficiently familiar with Macassar Ebony to say that's peculiar.Jerry Hossom38570.9138078704

Brian,
If you need an expert opinion on Malaysian Blackwood, you need to contact Jeffrey Yong. Who lives in Kuala Lampur, Maylasia!
Let me hunt around for his address....

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Ok, got it.

http://www.gimmusic.com/

He's got a barn full of Maylasian Blackwood, as well as other goodies. Plus, he's just a fine guy. Tell him "Hi" for me!

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Steve,
That is excellent!!! Thank you, I will contact him right away!!

Thanks Steve, Jeff said that he thinks it is MB, he was very helpful. I am going to contact the owner of the place that I got it from and see if there was some kind if mistake.....not that I would take it back

It looks like an asian ebony, similar to one I have seen that was marketed as "golden ebony". If I remember it correctly J.H. Monteath used to bring it in from Indonesia. There are a bunch of poorly classified and researched species of ebony that are really nice, when you come across them. You can often find them mixed with shipments of macassar if you have a nearby exotic wood dealer.

Here is some anecdotal information I got from Jeffrey Wong.

Malaysian Blackwood is called that in Malaysia because many of the locals consider the trees to have evil spirits and the ghosts of the departed and will not cut them.

Malaysian Blackwood is a close relative to Macassar Ebony but is probably a few different ebonies species or even self hybridized in the forest.

When Jeffrey Wong brought back and side sets to sell at the 2004 GAL conference, he brought three different distinct woods, all similar and definitely related but different. One looked redder than the others, one looked a greenish cast and the other was a more brownish grey. They ranged from rather light, some looking similar to Ziricote and others were very dark, looking like a redder BRW.

I have built two classicals with it and it is definitely an ebony, it is similar to Maccassar but heavier and with a higher resin content. The tap tone is a little more like BRW than ebony and sounds similar to African Blackwood. As it is getting almost impossible to get good African Blackwood sets, I will be using Malaysian Blackwood as it looks like BRW but has a sound more like African Blackwood.

I really like it and will buy more but because the color and pattern are so variable, you really have to see the set you are buying. If you look under back and side sets for MB on Allied's site you dont get to pick sets. If on the other hand you go to weekly specials where they list one of a kind sets, there is usually a couple MB sets.
      

Thanks Shawn.

Hi Shawn,

strangely enough when I have handled and played guitars from MB, they sound very much like macassar to me with a slightly better bass end whereas African Blackwood has a better treble in addition to the better bass end.

But because my experience has been exclusively with steel strings, I'm not sure it really applies to the classicals. but I can tell you it's a great looking wood.

Another little gems is that the fruit from the trees are related to pessimoms- except these have a distinct chocolately flavor to them. Very odd but still tastes great! Probably why my missus hates to see them cut down- chocolate fruit....

Warmest Regards,
Terence
www.goodacoustics.com