. . . Thank you! I would be using dyed maple if the project didn't explicitly call for ebony - certainly would resolve a number of issues.
Not sure you know this or the "write up person" project knows this or not . . . but "ebony wood" is not a specific species. It is a more of a color. There are several species around the world that have ebony colors, as well as other colors in them. In general but not always, ebony is oily in addition to being very dense. One African ebony wood is not oily and I "think" it is "African Blackwood", but not sure. Some persimmon trees have the dense oily black (ebony) wood, but most don't. The reason that I wrote that ebony is not a specific species is that most black woods that people call ebony is not persimmon, and yet persimmon has ebony. All the different ebonies are not necessarily related in species at all.
I wrote this because people who request ebony usually think it is a specific species, but rather is a multiplicity of species with a black color. I was once asked to make a bowl out of "ebony". I told them how EXPENSIVE it would be and they replied "I just want a black bowl." I got a blank of hard rock maple, and dyed it under vacuum and then pressure (and time), and waxed it well. That was just want they wanted.
