Roasted, Caramelized, Vulcanized, Heat Treated, Torrified, call it what you want, manufacturers sure do! Heating up wood in order to change its cellular structure and reduce its moisture content is what it is, regardless of adjective! Ok, now that I have got that off my keyboard, let’s dive a little deeper.

The term Nut comes up frequently when reading about guitar specs. Every guitar has a nut, otherwise, it won’t play! The nut is that small piece of bone, plastic, graphite, etc, that keeps the strings inline on their way to the headstock. The nut is small, unassuming, definitely NOT glamorous, but is absolutely crucial to playability, tuning stability, and tone.

So, what is Ebony? With a broad focus, its considered one of the finest, most ornamental woods that money can buy. Most people think of it as a very dense, black wood that could pass as plastic from a distance. When held up close, it’s easier to see grain, and few pores depending not the direction of the cut. It’s used on any type of luxury item you can imagine, from furniture, to clocks, to frames, to carvings, to jewelry, to gun handles, to guitars! Anything that can be made from wood and is made from ebony carries a price premium compared to say Maple, Mahogany, or Rosewood. The stuff polishes up to almost a mirror shine, so seeing it as a fingerboard with some gorgeous inlays looks phenomenal over a basic rosewood and dots board.