Need help identifying fret board wood

[guitarsmith]

Rosewood or ebony?

I received my Precision guitar kit, unfortunately it appears have a couple issues.

#1 My flame top is not really a flame top There is a very slight flame, not mutch more than you would see with a plain top.

#2 It also appears the board wood is rosewood. My only comparison I have is my old Charvel Model 4 for wood comparison. How can I really tell?

I contacted Phil to see if he sent the wrong kit. I should hear back soon.

Here is what I was expecting:

Here is what I received. It really looks like an honest mistake of shipping the wrong guitar kit I do hope.

thoughts?

 

[River]

Definitely not ebony.

 

[Freddy G]

Rosewood. And I like the flames. Try wiping some naphtha on the maple to get a better idea of what it will look like under finish.

edit...oops, I thought the first pic was what you actually have. Yeah, that's a very mild flame on yours.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Yep, certainly rosewood. Definitely not flamed top.

 

[cmjohnson]

Looks like an Indian Rosewood fingerboard. Flame can hide until it's clearcoated, but that looks like not much flame under the best of circumstances. I would not accept that if I'd ordered it with a highly flamed top as advertised.

What COULD be done is you could buy a top set you really like from an ebay seller, or other online vendor, and send it to the kit maker and have him use that for your kit's top. It's likely that they'll be happy to do that for you.

 

[guitarsmith]

Yeah I thought it was, but I have never owned a Ebony neck guitar, so I only can go from what I see around online etc. I use Pau Ferro on my main axe.

I rubbed some naphtha on the body and the flame didn't pronounce like I hoped. Just on the visible areas on the photo which was disappointing. Phil seems like a really nice person from the conversations I have had with him, so I'm pretty sure it was just an oversight. Stewmac forgot my DYEs even though it was on the package invoice today as well. So thats another thing to deal with. Like they say - better to have the issues all at once than spread out over days.

I am so type A I can not get past the comparison and I did pay for the ebony neck so looks like shipping back to Canada and another few weeks of waiting.

{update}

Phil wrote back and said he would swap out the kit, looks like it was just one of those derps that happen here and there. Just waiting for a return label now. That guy is fast on email response time! 30 minutes.

 

[Zack]

Id send it back if i ordered a flametop

 

[guitarsmith]

Yeah it was just an honest mistake, It appears I was sent a plain top kit with rosewood board. Phil responded very quickly within 30 minutes and said he would begin the process of getting the right top for this together. Just waiting for the return shipping label to be sent so it is not on my dime.

Though I am disappointed I can not start the building process this week, I did look at the quality of this kit, and it is actually far better than my expectations. From some of the reviews I have read I was expecting a great kit, but holy cow this thing knocks it out of the park!

The inlays are very precise, the fretwork and binding was better than even some nicer guitars I have seen recently. I chose to get a chambered body and it was very light, not sure how I actually feel about the chambered bodies. Headstock is well made, however the shape is a bit strange if you compare it to any LP. The only real flaw I found (besides it was not a flame top and ebony neck) was a very large glue deposit on the top near the mortis that will need a good steaming to get off before finishing.

I packed everything up, but I did notice that the neck tennon had the angle cut and the mortis on the body was straight and it had a contour attachment surface not just flat which was unique. and they fit together incredibly tight with zero gap. I am half tempted to unpack and look at this again to confirm that the angle is actually there and not in my imagination.

I am building a blog site right now to document the entire process of a complete ignorant person like myself building my first kit. This will be fun and hopefully incredibly detailed.

Overall seeing the quality of the incorrect kit just makes it harder to wait for a new one to arrive. I suppose it could be a while as I am not sure if Phil has the flame top wood for the caps yet. The anticipation is making me feel like a kid again.

 

[guitarsmith]

thanks for the replies, I have seen some ebony boards that are not really all that dark, so I just needed to confirm I was not looking to hard at the obvious. but damn! That rosewood neck is really beautiful - compared to my Charvel neck there it looks like a museum piece, however the Charvel has about 25 years of wear and tear. The inlays in comparison are perfect where the Charvels look like a 2 year olds coloring book.

 

[closed_PaulSlack]

I liked that plain top.

 

[guitarsmith]

I liked that plain top.

Its a nice top for certain, I just happened to have ordered the flame maple with the ebony board. If it had a bit more flame on both sides i would have considered keeping the body, however since the necks and bodies are matched that probably would have made the fitting less than perfect.

Kit is on its way back to Canada today, it will make someone really happy for sure.