les paul traditional 2013 maple top

[R.B]

Hello, I bought a used 2013 Les Paul traditional. According to her spec, the top should be in AA grade, but I noticed that the maple looked different, like AAA+/AAA. I've included pictures and I'd be happy to know what do you thing about it.

Thank's, Ran.

[MichaelT]

That looks like an AAA top to me. That's what they're advertising the 2017 Standard T tops as and this is mine, which is similar to yours:

 

 

It looks like you have your warranty and inspection card. What does it say?

[R.B]

That looks like an AAA top to me. That's what they're advertising the 2017 Standard T tops as and this is mine, which is similar to yours

 

It looks like you have your warranty and inspection card. What does it say?

The card have not information about the top or the specs

[Pesh]

The card have not information about the top or the specs

 

You'll quite often find they won't advertise this too much. Wood grading isn't a universal thing; one sawmill may say 'x' while another says 'y'. It's one of things that could use generalisation, but for the time being the 'AAA' or whatever would be Gibson's opinion, as matched to their self-set standardisation. That said; internally this system should be the same, so comparing to other Gibson models should give you an idea on where their head is.

 

Usually wood grading is based on the presence of knots and imperfections in the grain and / or structure. I can only speculate that when they're adding additional characters to make it 'AA', 'AAA' or 'AAA+' and so on; that it is this internal system to match against the quality of the figuring, in terms of woods like maple. The higher the grade (the more letters), the tighter and more uniformed the grain and flame / quilt / whatever will be.