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2011 Fingerboard Woods


B.Can

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Hi;

 

I'm curious about the fingerboard woods and laminating issues on 2011 series, i have a 2011 les paul studio alpine white with gold hw with a serial "10771032" and i'm curious is it ebony or not (ricihite or something else). Also i'm planning to purchase a 2011 HB traditional the guitar looks and feels nice but i'm not sure the finger board is laminated or not.

 

I'll be glad if experienced users help.

 

Thanks

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Hi;

 

...I have a 2011 les paul studio alpine white with gold hw with a serial "10771032" and I'm curious is it ebony or not...

 

Thanks

 

Hello!

 

Since Your guitar was made in March 2011, I assume it's either rosewood or baked maple.

 

Best wishes... Bence

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Its Rosewood. Baked Maple wasn't introduced until after the Lacey Raid on 24th August 2011 as a subsitute while Gibson tried to continue production of their guitars

 

From September 2011 till mid 2012 when the Case was closed Gibson used a few different fretboards including Richlite & Granadillo. Rosewood was used but it was layered to get arround the ruling during this time...

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I love my Baked Maple board it the best I ever owned in a fretboard .

I love it a hundred times more than ebony I had one right there beside to compare.

 

This I find very interesting!

 

My own experience is with Fender Rosewood, Fender Maple, and the Gibson Rosewood and Gibson Ebony. I vastly prefer the Gibson Ebony so far, but like the Gibson Rosewood. I was always under the impression that the Bakes Maple might either dry-out & possibly deteriorate faster or it was simply the fastest fix for the confiscated Rosewood stock taken by Fedzilla in the raid on Gibson and that it wasn't neccessarily a good quality replacement for the Rosewood...

 

I'd love to know more about peoples experiences with the Baked Maple and what they think of it...

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I have 2 guitars, with "baked" (Torrified) Maple fingerboards. I LOVE them, both!

One is my '61 (Satin finish) SG reissue, and the other one, is my Gibson LP "Custom

Classic" Gold Top! Both play incredibly well, sustain for as long as you want, and

are comfortable feeling, as well. They did add a bit of "brightness" to the overall

tone, of each guitar. But, not so much you cannot compensate (if you want/need to)

by EQ settings on one's amp. As to longevity? Other manufacturers, and in other

applications, have used the Torrified Maple, for decades, prior to Gibson's adopting

it. Like anything else, if it's done correctly, there's no reason for concern.

 

CB

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I think the maple sounds great. I just think people just have expectations of Gibson.

 

The Richlite is extremely dependable and should be easier and cleaner to re-fret. That said I didn't like the way it played. It was slightly faster and I just couldn't stop sliding past notes. I probably would have adjusted but swapping guitars kept creating the same noticeable issue.

 

I don't know about the maple lasting, probably no different than any other maple board.

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I think the maple sounds great. I just think people just have expectations of Gibson.

 

The Richlite is extremely dependable and should be easier and cleaner to re-fret. That said I didn't like the way it played. It was slightly faster and I just couldn't stop sliding past notes. I probably would have adjusted but swapping guitars kept creating the same noticeable issue.

 

I don't know about the maple lasting, probably no different than any other maple board.

 

I often wonder about sanding, the Richlite a bit, to increase "drag" so as to cure that

"slippery" feeling. Although, I'd think one would get used to it, after awhile. [unsure]

 

CB

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Hello!

 

Of course, we all know baked maple was a temporary feature on Gibsons.

 

Without going into rosewood-over-ebony-or-maple debate, all I can say, if Gibson dyed the baked maple black and never told You what it is, You would've never noticed any difference between it and the ebony. I love ebony, so I love baked maple - that's how simple it is.

 

HPIM4317_zpsb2940cf5.jpg

 

Cheers... Bence

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We were really lucky to get these Custom Classics Bence. Mine is the best Les Paul I ever owned.

 

Hello Donny!

 

Sure we are. If it wasn't sold for the half of the price of a real Custom, just to introduce baked maple fingerboard to the public, I would never been able to have such a beautiful guitar.

 

...and the L6S too. It's a metal monster!

 

Cheers... Bence

 

P.S.: I hope the weather got better there! Take care, especially when You are driving!

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Its Rosewood. Baked Maple wasn't introduced until after the Lacey Raid on 24th August 2011 as a subsitute while Gibson tried to continue production of their guitars

 

From September 2011 till mid 2012 when the Case was closed Gibson used a few different fretboards including Richlite & Granadillo. Rosewood was used but it was layered to get arround the ruling during this time...

 

Mine, according to the serial number per the Gibson website, says my guitar is a 2011. And it's definitely baked maple.

 

 

This I find very interesting!

 

I'd love to know more about peoples experiences with the Baked Maple and what they think of it...

 

 

I have a baked maple board and as others have said,, I absolutely love it.

I have always preferred ebony. And as Bence said, the feel of the 2 is very close.

 

I agree with Donny. It's one of the nicest boards I have played. I think they should continue it.

 

They are easily identifiable. There is no debating this board from a rosewood board from looking at them.

They look nothing alike.

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Don't own any guitar featuring an ebony fretboard, just know a few by checking them out. There are rosewood and maple boards on Gibsons and other guitars and basses, baked maple and Richlite on Gibson guitars and basses in my arsenal.

 

Maple seems brighter sounding to me than rosewood, with more midrange and sleeker lows. At least for my feel and hearing, baked maple has even more bite than maple, perhaps due to torrifying, perhaps for being unfinished. Richlite has a hard, dry tone, and I think it is closest to ebony for both touch and sound.

 

After all, I have to say I love all my fretboards for just working as they do, and don't have any complaints. They all seem to be hard wearing and conveniently playable.

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It snaps better than ebony I really get a good picture running through overdriven amps.

I have now for the first time in 9 les pauls owned some new fretboard woods.

My Signature has Granadillo it sounds very warm airy and gives the guitar an almost unique hollow body sound. I simply will never part with this compared to the 4 other rosewood Les Pauls it is superior.

Now the baked maple it is hard and the snap it has is like ebony only better it does look like rosewood on my Custom Classic but I dyed it using the leather dye.

It looks so real no one can tell unless I tell them. There again I had 3 ebony fretboards prior and one at the time I got it to compare. I do oil both but they are just wood like the others but better.

I really like the Custom Classic I would buy a hundred of them before a fake formica richlite fretboard.

Your right dude. Baked maple on my 2011 gibson les paul classic i used to have was a much nicer and more harmonically rich compared to my rosewood fretboards on my gibson les paul standards. Of course this i opinionated, however people who say baked maple is terrible are dead wrong, they are just too used to other types, it is def a superior fretboard.

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  • 2 months later...

So, according to this (below) I can assume that my guitar has a rosewood fingerboard, right?

 

042914114029.png

 

I would assume it's rosewood since the torrefied maple did not start until the raid in August 2011.

 

Post some close up pics of the fret board if you can with light reflecting off the board. Rosewood will have visable pores in the wood and the maple will have very few, and they'll be small since maple is so dense.

 

Regardless, though, either fret board will be awesome!

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I would assume it's rosewood since the torrefied maple did not start until the raid in August 2011.

 

Post some close up pics of the fret board if you can with light reflecting off the board. Rosewood will have visable pores in the wood and the maple will have very few, and they'll be small since maple is so dense.

 

Regardless, though, either fret board will be awesome!

 

IMG_0087.jpg

 

IMG_0086.jpg

 

IMG_0085.jpg

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Hi;

 

I'm curious about the fingerboard woods and laminating issues on 2011 series, i have a 2011 les paul studio alpine white with gold hw with a serial "10771032" and i'm curious is it ebony or not (ricihite or something else). Also i'm planning to purchase a 2011 HB traditional the guitar looks and feels nice but i'm not sure the finger board is laminated or not.

 

I'll be glad if experienced users help.

 

Thanks

 

I've got a Studio from 2011 with the baked maple fretboard. It's got a slicker, stiffer feel than rosewood, I think like the 'pores' in maple are tighter. It seems to be ageing comfortably with lemon oil. I would have rather had rosewood, but the tradeoff during the rosewood ban (2011) was to include Burstbucker Pro's on the Studio with baked maple fretboard. I think that was a great value tradeoff.

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