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Gibson Guitar Wood Type Question


MrAwesome

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How come Custom shop Gibson guitars are made with the best wood, and most expensive wood, yet they have alot of those woody circles and wood lines all over the body, and makes it look kinda messy

 

 

examples

these are 1960 Gibson Custom 50th Anniversary Standards

 

http://www.themusiczoo.com/images/2-24-10/50th_Anniversary_60_Les_Paul_Pilot_Run_V1_HCS_PP_V1_17_1.jpg

 

http://1484.bz/shibuya/item/image/31/312157200-00089/4.jpg

 

unlike the Gibson USA shop ones or the more modern 2007-2008 models which is still really good wood, not the best in shop compared to the Custom wood but theres dont have all those crazy wood line designs all over the wood, I don't get it doesnt it look nicer with out all those crazy wood lines all over over the guitar? which would you perfer and what looks nicer too you?

 

example

2007 USA standard

http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn303/mrbluestrings/2007%20Gibson%20Les%20Paul%20Standard/?action=view&current=100_0788.jpg

 

2008 standard

http://www.rainbowguitars.com/imagesproduct/gb/gblpstdhsch1-xl-02.jpg

 

Im talking about the wood it self not the flame top

 

Im not talking about the flame top, Im talking about the wood it self

 

look at the USA shop

2008 wood (not the flame just the wood, no wood designs at all)

http://www.rainbowguitars.com/image...hsch1-xl-02.jpg

 

compare it too a

 

Custom Shop which has alot more detail

http://1484.bz/shibuya/item/image/3...200-00089/4.jpg

 

soo the wood with detail from the custom shop is better wood? would you say it looks better or the same?

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How come Custom shop Gibson guitars are made with the best wood, and most expensive wood, yet they have alot of those woody circles and wood lines all over the body, and makes it look kinda messy

 

unlike the Gibson USA shop ones or the more modern 2007-2008 models which is still really good wood, not the best in shop compared to the Custom wood but theres dont have all those crazy wood line designs all over the wood, I don't get it doesnt it look nicer with out all those crazy wood lines all over over the guitar? which would you perfer and what looks nicer too you?

 

Im talking about the wood it self not the flame top

 

Im not talking about the flame top, Im talking about the wood it self

 

look at the USA shop - 2008 wood (not the flame just the wood, no wood designs at all)

 

soo the wood with detail from the custom shop is better wood? would you say it looks better or the same?

 

I'd say I very much like a lot of those kinda messy "woody circles and wood lines" and "crazy wood line designs".

 

P.

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My favourite luthier Gordon Smith purposely uses up all offcuts for reasons of conservation

 

And the ability to produce handmade great sounding guitars at a reasonable price

 

Which have great character and often look beautiful....

 

V

 

:-({|=

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Here's my Trad Plus. Looks every bit as good as a custom shop at a fraction of the price.

The top is supposed to be AA grade maple. Looks AAA to me, but that's all subjective.

 

DSC01308.jpg

 

All guitars are made out of tree wood. There are interviews in the 40th Annual

Les Paul Book that discuss even back in the 70's Gibson would use whatever wood

was available. There are so many varieties within the mahagony and maple families

across the different continents. Or the wood grain and densities are very close to

these that they get the label of mahagony and maple.

 

Let your ears decide which one sounds better, your hands decide which one feels

better and your eyes decide which one looks better. Of course your wallet gets

a vote too and maybe your wife. [rolleyes]

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How come Custom shop Gibson guitars are made with the best wood, and most expensive wood, yet they have alot of those woody circles and wood lines all over the body, and makes it look kinda messy ... Im talking about the wood it self not the flame top

soo the wood with detail from the custom shop is better wood? would you say it looks better or the same?

 

You are talking about two separate but related aspects of wood grain: 1) Graining - this is the part of the wood that makes the darker lines in the wood - the grain is from the tree rings. 2) Figuring - this term refers to grain distortions in the wood that create visible shapes that usually aren't part of the normal graining - curl (aka curly, flamed or fiddleback), quilted, bird's eye, spalted, blister, burl, and dimple (a few examples).

 

The play between the graining and figuring can vary - some wood has graining but not figuring, some wood has the graining more visible than the figuring lighter, some wood has the figuring more visible than the grainging, and some wood has the graining and figuring at about the same visibililty.

 

The grade of the wood is a way of defining how much figuring a piece of wood has: grade A has very little and grade AAAAA is the highest leve of figuring, fully and tightly figured to the edge with no bare spots. Figuring doesn't have anything to do with the graining.

 

Now some, like yourself, prefer the graning to be less visible, and some like to see the play between the graining and the figuring. Some don't like figuring at all. It's a matter of taste.

 

You can check out some Gibson figuring grades here - http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/64719-les-paul-standard-premium-plus/page__p__877188#entry877188

 

 

 

 

 

Here's my Trad Plus. ... The top is supposed to be AA grade maple. Looks AAA to me, but that's all subjective. ...

 

Looks AA to me - the figuring runs out between the center and the edges. AAA would have hardly any run out spots.

 

Here's a AAA graded by Gibson -

LPflametopsm.jpg

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How come Custom shop Gibson guitars are made with the best wood, and most expensive wood, yet they have alot of those woody circles and wood lines all over the body, and makes it look kinda messy

Look at all the vintage bursts here and notice how many, if not most, "look kind of messy." http://www.burstserial.com/

You should also read up on the various ways of cutting wood because that also explains a lot. There's a great Les Paul book called "Beauty of the Burst" that explains the differences between quarter sawn, rift sawn, etc.

 

The ones that you describe as nicer are ugly/boring to me with little/no character.

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