Natural ebony brown streak?

[JohnM2001]

Do you think this is natural ebony brown streaking on the D-03, or water damage or something/



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If a natural streak, I've never seen it that bad on a fingerboard edge.  Rather unsightly IMO.
If that was mine, I think I'd hit that edge with a q-tip soaked with black ebony dye.   I don't mind the streaking on the top of fingerboard, but really looks more like a defect on the side like that. YMMV.

[ronmac]

That looks natural to me, and not unnattractive IMHO.

Good wood, like people, has character. I'll take natural any day over cosmetic or surgical enhancement of either.  :WNK>

[rwnyc]

I agrree with ronmac -I like the unique character it gives the guitar. :GRN>

[mazareth]

My L03 has a very streaky fretboard and bridge. I too like the fact that Larrivee doesn't dye it's woods. I've read here and elsewhere that as high grade ebony becomes scarcer, wood that's not as aethetically pleasing will be showing up on guitars--not to mention manmade materials. Micarta anyone?!?!?  :WNK>

For me it's all about the sound. I don't care about wavey grained spruce, wormholes or any of that. If the guitar's a tone monster and woods are stable, I truly don't care about the looks.

[flaggerphil]

I agree...I think it's natural and it gives that particular guitar a little flavor all it's own.

[Ratishna]

The true beauty of the wood shines through.  Remember that bearclaw in a top used to mean 'throw away that spruce' but not any more.  In the future how a wood looks will be secondary to 'whew, I'm so glad I was able to get some ebony' as well as for other species.

E. Shoaf

[Finalannsa]

I agree, let the defects shine through.  I had a Martin OMC-16WE with a Micarta fretboard.  It was a nice sounding guitar but I couldn't get over it being "plastic".  I'd rather have wood with character than plastic which is void of character.

Finalannsa

[Peter Cree]

i like it alot.  No defect in the wood.

A black perma-marker would do it for you.

[HangFire]

I agrree with ronmac -I like the unique character it gives the guitar. :GRN>

ditto :GRN>

[Ratishna]

My point was that what used to be considered a defect is now considered a selling point (bear claw).  Same could well happen with streaky ebony.

E. Shoaf

[D4ve]

ditto :GRN>

Me too

[-CM-]

I like striped ebony. Here's a pic of a fretboard of a Martin I used to have:

[dcarey]

Personally, I'd rather see the streaks than find out it's been dyed.
I have a couple of guitars with striped ebony on the headstock....nice reddish striping...looks very good in my opinion.

Dan

[inspector13]

The stripes are in no way a defect (MHO). It is the personality of the wood. I believe it complements the Blackwood of my OM. LOVE IT!!! Sorry for the quality of the picture.

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[heartwood]

One more vote for the natural beauty of this wood.  This is a lot of streaking but that makes it even more uncommon. I would leave it "as is" if given the choice.

Michael

[JohnM2001]

I believe that this guitar top is Engelmann, which they used occasionally back in 98-2000 on a very few 03 models.  My OM-03W has the same type of Eng. top, you can tell by the distinctive yellowish color.  A guy I met online did a tour of Larrivee back then, and was told at the factory (I think by Matthew) that lower grade Eng. was sometimes used on 03 tops back then.  They used whatever they had handy at the time, he was told, and occasionally that was Engelmann spruce.    

[oneeyedjack]

I believe that this guitar top is Engelmann, which they used occasionally back in 98-2000 on a very few 03 models.  My OM-03W has the same type of Eng. top, you can tell by the distinctive yellowish color.      

I always thought that Engelmann was characterized by nearly white color

[JohnM2001]

I always thought that Engelmann was characterized by nearly white color

All the new ones I've seen in shops (usually Taylor 500 or 900 series) always had the distinctive yellowish color, and unlike spruce, did not change that much over time, retaining that yellow color. 

[mazareth]

I played and early 90s C09K (Vancouver made) this past fall. The top was very closed grained and that buttery yellow color. Between the Englemann and the Koa this was a very chimey sounding guitar--perfect for fingerpicking.