Ebonol or ebony ? Why ?

[nilorius]

This could be an old question and yet allready discussed, but i risk to refresh it. What do You think of Your (mainly fretless) bass fretboard. Ebonol vs ebony and why ?

[Linus27]

I have Ebony on my Jazz which is beautiful. Feels lovely to play, looks lovely and really sings. Comes up beautiful with some lemon oil as well. I also have a high gloss maple on a Precision which is also really nice. Very articulate and sings but perhaps doesn't feel as nice to play. I also have rosewood on a Precision which again is very nice but a lot less expressive but does have character. It's more subtle and warmer. Finally I have Pau Ferro on a Stingray which is probably a mix between Rosewood and Ebony. I like it but it does feel hard but it sings very nicely.

 

I've not tried Ebonal though but now I am interested.

[ezbass]

I currently have 2 fretless basses that are both ebony and I've had an Ebanol one in the past (a GWB35). Tonally, who can say? They're all different basses so have their own intrinsic tone, whether that's down to the fingerboard material, who knows, but I doubt it (YMMV)? What I will say is that Ebanol seems to mark up quicker or is, at least, more obvious (a certain greyness on the wear areas). I also have an EUB that sports a Coform 'board (whatever that is?) that works just fine too.

[Rayman]

Yeah I found the ebanol on a GWB35 marked really easily with roundwounds. Tonally I couldn’t hear the difference to an Ebony board on another bass. What I did notice was half the white fret lines started to lift out of the ebanol on the Ibanez…. I had to get them glued back in. Probably more down to poor craftsmanship than materials though.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I have an ebony board on the bitzer fretless precision I built around a brandoni body & neck, and also an ebony board on my NS-Design CR5M upright. both sound great in their own way when they are set up perfectly, but I wouldn't be put off by ebanol, engineered wood or other alternative material as long as I can set it up properly.

[Beedster]

Ebanol feels a little colder and less organic to me, ebony and maple less so, rosewood least of all. Ebony is in my opinion the preferable board with rounds and maple with flats, rosewood can be a little tame sounding and I've always felt stifles the string vibration a little 

[Chris2112]

35 minutes ago, Rayman said:

Yeah I found the ebanol on a GWB35 marked really easily with roundwounds. Tonally I couldn’t hear the difference to an Ebony board on another bass. What I did notice was half the white fret lines started to lift out of the ebanol on the Ibanez…. I had to get them glued back in. Probably more down to poor craftsmanship than materials though.

 

Nothing to do with the craftsmanship and everything to do with different materials expanding and contracting at different rates. I've heard of this happening on many lined fretless basses, even on high end handmade Pedulla Buzz and F Basses, and I doubt anyone would ever say they weren't expertly crafted.

[BlueMoon]

I think of all my fretless basses, those with ebony fingerboards give me the greatest playing satisfaction.

 

I did have a Hohner “cricket bass” once with an unlined ebanol fingerboard. Actually, with nylon-coated tapewounds on it sounded quite OK. I was surprised.

 

If I had a choice I would always go with ebony though.

[nilorius]

12 minutes ago, Chris2112 said:

 

Nothing to do with the craftsmanship and everything to do with different materials expanding and contracting at different rates. I've heard of this happening on many lined fretless basses, even on high end handmade Pedulla Buzz and F Basses, and I doubt anyone would ever say they weren't expertly crafted.

I have Ibanez GWB 1005 hand made by Sugi Japan with ebonol fretboard - 2006.year. That is my #1 bass most played and i got to glue the roundwound string marks only once, so I think ebonol is equel with ebony by the endurance. The sound - there is a difference, but that depends on each, own matter.

Edited April 27, 2023 by nilorius

[Rayman]

42 minutes ago, Chris2112 said:

 

Nothing to do with the craftsmanship and everything to do with different materials expanding and contracting at different rates. I've heard of this happening on many lined fretless basses, even on high end handmade Pedulla Buzz and F Basses, and I doubt anyone would ever say they weren't expertly crafted.

My particular example wasn’t that great in terms of craftsmanship. Maybe they’re better than they used to be, but I wasn’t impressed with mine at all.

[Waddo Soqable]

I've had at different times a couple of Kramers with Ali necks and "ebonol" boards, one was a bit chipped here and there, one of the reasons I told myself I should get rid of them was I felt ( rightly or probably wrongly ) that the ebonol would be very dodgy to repair or re-fret. 

[BigRedX]

Whatever is on the bass when I buy it.

Edited April 27, 2023 by BigRedX

[WinterMute]

I had a Squire Jazz with an ebanol board, it was ok, didn't have any issues with it, I had an Ebony board on a Wal Pro 1 which I liked a lot, smoother to the touch but it cut up a little more than the Ebanol with round wound strings.

 

I now have an epoxied rosewood defretted SR5 which is lovely, and I had Alan fit an acrylic infused lava bubinga board to my ACG 5 string, which is absolutely perfect, combines the smoothness of ebony with the toughness of both the ebanol and the epoxy coated board.

 

I can't say I can hear much difference with the amount of processing I use, but the feel definitely changes between woods.

 

 

[ezbass]

2 hours ago, Beedster said:

Ebanol feels a little colder and less organic

That's a good description, not that it affected my playing of the bass, I actually miss that one. 

 

7 minutes ago, WinterMute said:

Alan fit an acrylic infused lava bubinga board to my ACG 5

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'd like to see a photo of that.

Edited April 27, 2023 by ezbass

[TheGreek]

1 hour ago, BlueMoon said:

I think of all my fretless basses, those with ebony fingerboards give me the greatest playing satisfaction.

 

I did have a Hohner “cricket bass” once with an unlined ebanol fingerboard. Actually, with nylon-coated tapewounds on it sounded quite OK. I was surprised.

 

If I had a choice I would always go with ebony though.

 

Had the same as my second or third bass. I didn't know much back then but even so I knew that I didn't like it - despite trying to Emperors Clothes it. 

My other bass at the time was a Thunder 1A which I didn't play for over a year.  When I eventually did I realised how horrid the the ebonol board sounded.

 

The ebony board on my Jaydee,  on the other hand,  always felt and sounded immense.

[Musicman666]

i have gone through ebony quite easily with rounds, never tried ebonol but i am a big fan of the phenolic fingerboard, seems hard to even mark much less to wear down and great for fretless. 

[dclaassen]

I started on a maple board, then rosewood, then ebony. In almost all situations. I prefer the feel and tone of ebony

[neepheid]

So, eboner for ebonol or not?

[Boodang]

My 3 fretless basses; 

1. The Sei has ebony

2. The Squier has ebonol

3. Custom Viccars has rosewood

 

The rosewood has softer tones. The ebony has a harder tone, if you crank the treble you can slap with it. The ebonol is great for those glissandos. 

My favourite is the ebonol. Glassy smooth.

[oldslapper]

I like the look of a maple unlined fretless board.

I prefer the feel of ebony board.

I have had rosewood boarded fretless , but can’t remember what they felt like.

 

I can’t tell the difference in how they all sound though. But that’s because my ears are shot.  
 

So, in summary, I'm of no help whatsoever. Move on…. 

[uk_lefty]

My Kramer has rosewood and that has the least "mwaaaah", you have to really work to get it. I now have a Harley Benton with a laurel board and that has an ok amount of "mwaaaah". I've had an ebony boarded Warwick and that was "mwaaaah"-tastic. If the edges of the fingerboard (it can't be a fretboard on a fretless, surely?) weren't razor sharp I may have kept it on because it just had that 80s fretless tone in spades.

[ezbass]

36 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

If the edges of the fingerboard (it can't be a fretboard on a fretless, surely?) weren't razor sharp I may have kept it on...

I remember that on my Ebanol 'boarded GWB35. When I (you) say razor sharp, I mean decidedly unrounded. It was OK TBH, I just had one those I'm only going to play 4 string phases, which, to my credit, is still continuing some 8 years in.

[White Cloud]

It's so subjective given that ebony is wood at the end of the day: No two pieces will be identical regards hardness/tone etc. 

 

Ebanol is obviously much more consistent and is an excellent alternative of sorts.

 

For me, ebony is my optimal fingerboard for the reasons already stated!

[ezbass]

4 minutes ago, White Cloud said:

It's so subjective given that ebony is wood at the end of the day: No two pieces will be identical regards hardness/tone etc. 

You make a good point. The ebony on my Rob Allen and Maruszczyk are like chalk and cheese (he said overstating the case massively for effect).

[nilorius]

56 minutes ago, ezbass said:

I remember that on my Ebanol 'boarded GWB35. When I (you) say razor sharp, I mean decidedly unrounded. It was OK TBH, I just had one those I'm only going to play 4 string phases, which, to my credit, is still continuing some 8 years in.

What is TBH ?