Bob Taylor talks ebony in this great new video

[jdiggitydog]

In my job as a marketing director (who also handles PR and communications), I know the value of a great spokesperson.  Bob Taylor is pretty much a PR team's dream.  He's got great credibility, he creates a strong sense of approachability, he's great on camera, and his messaging is always well delivered.  His team really know how to use him well.  Slick job.

Forestry management is extremely important--we all know this.  Our consumer habits are still catching up with this awareness.  This video--and others--make a valuable contribution to helping us actualize our thinking.

[michaelw]

imho, this is not about marketing or PR, this is fact -
Taylor addressed the need to be able to make better use of dwindling natural resources
starting with the NT neck & concern for the environment (UV finish with much less VOCs/waste)

Taylor was the only company that decided to do something about trying to use/save
this resource, not only for their company but for other makers in the industry as well -
alternative, reclaimed & 'manufactured' woods may be completely acceptable for some, but it's
nice to know that if one would like a solid wood mahogany guitar with mahogany neck & ebony
fretboard & bridge, that it will be available for a while longer (if that means anything at all)

[Herb Hunter]

In my job as a marketing director (who also handles PR and communications), I know the value of a great spokesperson.  Bob Taylor is pretty much a PR team's dream.  He's got great credibility, he creates a strong sense of approachability, he's great on camera, and his messaging is always well delivered.  His team really know how to use him well.  Slick job.

Forestry management is extremely important--we all know this.  Our consumer habits are still catching up with this awareness.  This video--and others--make a valuable contribution to helping us actualize our thinking.

I don't agree that the video in the opening post was a "slick job", a term that tends to have a less than sincere connotation. The video simply had Bob Taylor genuinely telling the viewers about his company's efforts to ensure a renewable source of ebony and improve the lot of the laborers at the source of supply while beginning an effort to change public perception about streaked or figured ebony.


Of course, it is possible that you didn't mean, slick, in the negative sense of the term but most people are likely to interpret it that way.

[jdiggitydog]

Didn't mean slick negatively.  Interesting interpretation of my comments. 

I meant:  the info is very important and they handled it well AND the company is lucky to have such a great spokesperson.

[Mwhite6464]

I was really surprised about all the waste, too. I am glad the are using the ebony with marking in it, I like it.

[Black Beauty]

What do you guys think of what this luthier is saying - what do we know about Indian plantation Ebony:

"Good for him for stepping up and presenting an honest product rather than either dying the fretboards or lying about how/where they got it.

On the other hand, he's slightly misrepresenting the situation. He neglects to mention Indian plantation ebony (obviously not in his interests to do so) or that other smaller manufacturers have been using streaky and non-black ebony for years. I generally avoid ebony, but when I do use it, more often than not it has some non-black colouring and is never dyed.

A very good and long overdue move, but not quite leading the charge as much as he would have us believe."



please see rule #1

[gerald germany]

What do you guys think of what this luthier is saying - what do we know about Indian plantation Ebony:

"Good for him for stepping up and presenting an honest product rather than either dying the fretboards or lying about how/where they got it.

On the other hand, he's slightly misrepresenting the situation. He neglects to mention Indian plantation ebony (obviously not in his interests to do so) or that other smaller manufacturers have been using streaky and non-black ebony for years. I generally avoid ebony, but when I do use it, more often than not it has some non-black colouring and is never dyed.

A very good and long overdue move, but not quite leading the charge as much as he would have us believe."



please see rule #1

I think what he's really saying is "I wish I had done that."

[michaelw]

What do you guys think of what this luthier is saying - what do we know about Indian plantation Ebony:

"Good for him for stepping up and presenting an honest product rather than either dying the fretboards or lying about how/where they got it.

On the other hand, he's slightly misrepresenting the situation. He neglects to mention Indian plantation ebony (obviously not in his interests to do so) or that other smaller manufacturers have been using streaky and non-black ebony for years. I generally avoid ebony, but when I do use it, more often than not it has some non-black colouring and is never dyed.

A very good and long overdue move, but not quite leading the charge as much as he would have us believe."



please see rule #1

imho, it a non-issue because the person is probably misinformed about indian ebony, how difficult it is to procure legally (the only
unfinished ebony allowed to be legally exported from india is veneer), how most large scale builders have gone to using african
ebony & that there is a company that had a good amount of Indian ebony confiscated that was unfinished (too thick to be veneer)

btw, your martin d-28p is spec'd with a solid black ebony fretboard & bridge
(most likely african) & the 716ce has an ebony fretboard/bridge & bridge pins

[Fire]

He neglects to mention Indian plantation ebony (obviously not in his interests to do so)

I'm puzzled. What is a plantation ebony? Cultivated? I thought these trees take decades and decades to mature hence the rarity.

[Edward]

What do you guys think of what this luthier is saying - what do we know about Indian plantation Ebony:

"Good for him for stepping up and presenting an honest product rather than either dying the fretboards or lying about how/where they got it.

On the other hand, he's slightly misrepresenting the situation. He neglects to mention Indian plantation ebony (obviously not in his interests to do so) or that other smaller manufacturers have been using streaky and non-black ebony for years. I generally avoid ebony, but when I do use it, more often than not it has some non-black colouring and is never dyed.

A very good and long overdue move, but not quite leading the charge as much as he would have us believe."

please see rule #1

On the first part, I agree.  Dying ebony is standard practice among low-rung makes. Everyone knows this.  You didn't really believe that instruments running well north of  $1.5K shared the same ebony boards as one a third the cost made in China?  And of course, the maker is going to advertise "ebony" since that sounds like he's offering the same "good stuff" ...well technically, he is so as to avoid suit, but dying streaked ebony solid black allows him to "play with the big boys" at a fraction of the cost.  This luthier is correct in that no one markets the "dyed" part of this equation for obvious reasons.

Where I disagree is the latter part of the post.  The key here is "scale."  If this luthier is a builder, even one of the "notable" hand builders, he cannot possible compare his need for ebony with that of a major world-supplier of guitars.  Sorry, but to suggest that Bob is not "leading the charge as much as he would have us believe" rings too much like sour grapes.  To say Taylor is a major force in the industry understates the obvious.  What Bob and Co are doing very much leads the charge.  Witness the deafening silence of other marques to date on this issue of dwindling ebony and the monumental waste that was the norm.  Until someone "exposes" Bob's vidoeo as an "Inconvenient Truth"-like propagandist scam, I will very much believe what Bob states and take him for his word.  That's not fanboy talk; that's loyalty based on this guy's experience thus far.

Edward

[pieterh]

I applaud this stance and have full respect for what Bob's trying to do.

What's more, my wife had a maple Baby Taylor with a fretboard similar in colour to Cindy's first picture. In the end it wasn't the right guitar for her, but the subtle vanilla striping made it attractively individual, similar to how the uneven bearclaw on my 414 makes my guitar stand out:)

[Iplay2]

I think what makes this a true innovation for Taylor is Bob's attempt to change a worldwide mindset.  Everyone knows that for years manufacturers have used streaked ebony on their cheap guitars.  They just dye it black.  Bob is stepping out of the box and saying that this streaked ebony is just as good as the solid black stuff.  It is going to be a hard pill to swallow for a lot of “traditionalists”, but it is the future. 

Now, I doubt we will see any 900 or Presentation series come off the production line that aren’t solid black, but I could be very wrong.  It will be interesting to see if Bob makes it the luck of the draw for all his guitars.

[Edward]

I think what makes this a true innovation for Taylor is Bob's attempt to change a worldwide mindset.  ...Bob is stepping out of the box and saying that this streaked ebony is just as good as the solid black stuff.  It is going to be a hard pill to swallow for a lot of “traditionalists”, but it is the future. ...

Yup, agree 100%.  But as with so many other things, from body shape, to electronics, to neck design, Taylor has radically changed the landscape of the acoustic guitar.  I KNOW there were many folks waiting to see them sink into obscurity decades back ...afterall, Taylor was like all those "traditional" guitars.  LOL, isn't it ironic that it is this very point that has made them the powerhouse they are today; that with each innovation they have brought to market, we have seen/read detractors ...only to witness Taylor continue to thrive. 

...Now, I doubt we will see any 900 or Presentation series come off the production line that aren’t solid black, but I could be very wrong.  It will be interesting to see if Bob makes it the luck of the draw for all his guitars.

I'd bet that the company will set aside the choice pieces for the 900s and BTOs to come.  While Bob is attempting to change how the public "views" ebony, he knows that those wanting to spend the bigger bucks will expect the (ahem) "good stuff." 

Edward

[andyi5]

Excellent video - good on Bob Taylor.

Incidently, don't know if it's just my imagination but I feel I'm already seeing more variation in the ebony colouring in the newer guitars coming into the stores compared to a year ago. Last week I got my hands on a mahogany GSmini for the first time (lovely!)... it had some quite pronounced streaking in both the bridge and fretboard, more than I've seen before. Maybe it's already making it's way through...

[ebick]

Is it not safe to say that if Bob's company, which represents 75% of the Ebony purchase, is going to use the "B" grade wood, then there would be no need to cut down any more trees for the foreseeable future?  If they cut down 10 trees to find 1 grade A, and then leave those 9 grade B ones laying there.....are they not just laying there waiting to be harvested?  Not just in Camaroon, but would there not also be tons laying in the forests of Madagascar?