No wonder it's heavy. Is that kind of ebony the same weight/kg as regular all black ebony?
All-black ebony isn't really "regular"; it's actually pretty rare - and the only way to tell what color it is is the cut down the tree. For hundreds of years, everybody demanded pure black ebony, so most of the world's ebony supply was cut down & left to rot for having figuring.
This is why ebony is becoming endangered.
But Bob Taylor (of Taylor Guitars fame) has been working hard to change that; he bought the biggest ebony forest & the mill in it, started using figured ebony in his instruments, and lobbies other makers to use it as well.
Which is assuming Been's beauty is actual African ebony, which I don't know. It could be Maccassar ebony - which is an Asian species, and is actually denser than African ebony.
Could you weigh in on what yours is, Mr. Down?
[edit to say "Oops; he beat me to the post"]
Peter
