Gabon Ebony Quality/Look

Get_A_Grip

Get_A_Grip

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I have a general question regarding the quality/look of a Gabon Ebony cue. If you were to buy a $2000.00+ cue made of Gabon Ebony (with inlays)...would you expect the ebony forearm to be completely jet black...or would you expect some streaks of brown in it?

I don't have a lot of experience with high-end custom cues...and was just wondering what to expect from Gabon Ebony. I know that it can have some natural brown streaks in it. But is it an expectation that a $2000+ cue would have no large brown streaks in it--that it would be a near perfect jet-black piece? Thanks.
 
Contact Rick and Richard Phillippi in Maryland. Their contact number can be found online.
 
mine is black,and any other i've seen is black, and i have read that pure black is the highest quality gaboon.
 
Well gaboon ebony is black and macassar ebony is usually the kind of ebony with brown streaks in it............
 
i have had a Ebony on Ivory Blud b4, and its Macassar Ebony hence u get the streaks. Macassar is not really inferior tp Gaboon u know. They are just different wood but many tend to associate jet black as Gaboon ebony and expect that all ebony be jet black which is further from the truth.
So if a seller sells a Ebony on Ebony cue, he has no wrong if its macassar or ebony. Just like u cant expect all rosewood to be Brazillian.
 
Generally, Gabon is coal black, but I have a high end stick that definitely has a noticeable grain. At first, I was a little taken back, but now it's really grown on me. It isn't your Macassar ebony either. I have a few Macassar ebony sticks (used to see a lot of that type in old Palmers). I will say though at three feet, you can't see the grain in the Gabon... I learned that if I want a completely black stick, I need to make sure the cuemaker understands what I'm asking for.

Steve
 
Get_A_Grip said:
I have a general question regarding the quality/look of a Gabon Ebony cue. If you were to buy a $2000.00+ cue made of Gabon Ebony (with inlays)...would you expect the ebony forearm to be completely jet black...or would you expect some streaks of brown in it?
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I do not want to be a SMART ASS but Gabon Ebony is Wood, and Wood has grain.

I would not mind seeing some Grain, and a Little Brownish color. As if I wanted Plastic Look of NO GRAIN I would not have asked for Gabon Ebony.
 :cool:
 
Get_A_Grip said:
I have a general question regarding the quality/look of a Gabon Ebony cue. If you were to buy a $2000.00+ cue made of Gabon Ebony (with inlays)...would you expect the ebony forearm to be completely jet black...or would you expect some streaks of brown in it?

I don't have a lot of experience with high-end custom cues...and was just wondering what to expect from Gabon Ebony. I know that it can have some natural brown streaks in it. But is it an expectation that a $2000+ cue would have no large brown streaks in it--that it would be a near perfect jet-black piece? Thanks.
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I like it both ways, depends on the cue. A lot of cue makers stain (dye) the ebony anyway to hide the brown coloration - just to avoid such questions by customers.

Sometimes the streaked wood looks more like wood and the jet black with clear looks like black plastic. Grain and color can add character to a design.

Why don't you post a pic and show us?

Chris
 
TATE said:
I like it both ways, depends on the cue. A lot of cue makers stain (dye) the ebony anyway to hide the brown coloration - just to avoid such questions by customers.

Sometimes the streaked wood looks more like wood and the jet black with clear looks like black plastic. Grain and color can add character to a design.

Why don't you post a pic and show us?

Chris
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I actually decided not to go with the cue. I don't have a good picture that shows the brown color. The brown grain didn't bother me, but there was one solid brown streak about 1.5 inches long and an 1/8" wide--and was the only one on the cue. That streak bothered me because it stuck out like a sore thumb. It turns out that there were other workmanship issues with the cue as well (points not lining up exactly, etc.)...so I just decided it wasn't for me. I didn't expect the brown color in the forearm because it was described at jet-black Gabon ebony... Since I'm not sure how Gabon ebony generally looks, I thought I would ask around... Thanks for the replies though.
 
Gabon ebony is generally the solid jet black you see in most highend cues, but even it can have a light spot or two....it is wood, after all. Madagascar ebony tends toward a often chocolate color with streaks of black, lots of natural grain and character to the wood. I find it is just as beautiful as the Gabon, IMHO.

Lisa
 
Like several others above, I personally like character in the grain of the wood of a cue. "Some" brown or lighter streaking is fine, and identifies the cue as unique, as long as it doesn't detract from the rest of the design.

I have a cue with a forearm built by Joel Hercek when he was still working with Mr. Spain. One point has a very subtle, small streak in the ebony and I think it adds to the specialness (is that a word? :rolleyes: ) of the cue. To be honest, it took his expert eyes to notice it in the first place. And, I checked it pretty closely.

Every piece of wood is unique and I love it when a cue maker works with that uniqueness as part of the design. Otherwise, like Chris said, you could use plastic to get perfect color.

FWIW, I also feel the same about "snow white" shafts. Give me a heavier (4+ oz) shaft any day. I don't care if it's pink. Ok, maybe not pink. :p
 
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ScottR said:
Like several others above, I personally like character in the grain of the wood of a cue. "Some" brown or lighter streaking is fine, and identifies the cue as unique, as long as it doesn't detract from the rest of the design.

I have a cue with a forearm built by Joel Hercek when he was still working with Mr. Spain. One point has a very subtle, small streak in the ebony and I think it adds to the specialness (is that a word? :rolleyes: ) of the cue. To be honest, it took his expert eyes to notice it in the first place. And, I checked it pretty closely.

Every piece of wood is unique and I love it when a cue maker works with that uniqueness as part of the design. Otherwise, like Chris said, you could use plastic to get perfect color.

FWIW, I also feel the same about "snow white" shafts. Give me a heavier (4+ oz) shaft any day. I don't care if it's pink. Ok, maybe not pink. :p
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You are right on Scott, as many of the other posters are, but I would like to interject a few thoughts. Solid black ebony is and always will be used. Yes, you can use plastic to get a perfect black color, but plastic isn't wood. It would not be the same cue, it would not weigh the same, balance the same, hit the same, and hold up the same.

Whether a cue that has ebony will be brown, black with some streaking, solid black should be discussed with the cuemaker ahead of time and agreed upon. Yes, wood does have grain, and I like wood to show grain also, but sometimes when using ebony in a cue you would rather not see the grain. When used as points that have inlays, or sleeves that have inlays, it is often mostly as a canvas with a contrast for the inlays. Even when it is solid black, many times holding it up close to the light closely reveals some nice colors.

I have a great cue with solid black ebony points and sleeve with matching inlays in the points and sleeve. If the ebony showed grain, the inlays would look different. The points in my cue are in a great piece of lightly stained birds eye maple front. Sometimes too much varying grain in cue woods matched up together takes away from each other, and the overal appearance can be affected. I know I am agreeing with you here Scott, because of your statement "as long as it doesn't detract from the rest of the design", so I don't want you to think I am disagreeing with you...just my thoughts. The solid black ebony in the front of my cue is a better match than ebony showing grain. Also, if you take a light close to the ebony and inspect it, it is not truly black. In my cue there are actually some wonderful red hues. But at 3 feet in normal light it is solid black. That tells me that just because you have a solid black ebony in a cue, it isn't necessarily colored, and it still is a beautiful piece of wood if really inspected. Actually, I am fortunate enough to have some jet black ebony squares like this where upon close inspection with light, there are some wonderful red hues here and there.

Don't discount ebony with brown streaks (gaboon ebony can be streaked, as well as madagascar, asian, etc... not just macassar) as a great looking cue wood, but also don't discount the use of solid jet black ebony in cues as simply a fancy and say you might as well use plastic.


Kelly
 
Update from Cuemaker

Just to provide an update on a response that I got from the cuemaker on the brown streaks in the ebony for the cue that I purchased, but decided to send back. He said that it's completely normal and that he does not like solid jet-black ebony.

He actually chooses ebony with some character, that shows the brown grain/streaks. That happens to be that cuemakers preference. For me, I felt that the overall look of the colored inlays into the ebony would have looked much better if the forearm was jet-black.

To each his own I guess.
 
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