Blair Thomas Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 I recently purchased a 2013 LPJ and my friend noticed that the fretboard looks like it’s two pieces(laminated). Can anyone clarify. I’ve never know Gibson to do this and I’m aware this model is a budget build. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 Curious. I've never seen this before either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Bill Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 Yeah, it looks like they put the finger board over a piece of rosewood! Very odd, but I think it looks pretty cool myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbluesplayer Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 I think they were doing laminated fretboards sometime during the "Not smart enough to be a crook" era. Something about finished vs unfinished rosewood blanks, 6mm vs. 12 mm thickneses & getting around some of the regulations they were just caught breaking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 (edited) Laminated fretboards are not unusual from any of the big three American makers. Not finishing a laminated fretboard so it doesn't look like a laminated fretboard, well that's probably unique to our hosts. rct Edited August 23, 2021 by rct 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 Yes they did this for a couple of years after the famous government raid... Its all they had. Probably either that or stop production so they went with that till the Rosewood situation was sorted out... From what I remember it did put a lot of people off buying them.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eracer_Team Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 If you look close You can see the same grain of the top fretboard through the dark stain. I think they just dark stained the fretboard to sort of make it look like dark binding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blair Thomas Posted August 23, 2021 Author Share Posted August 23, 2021 8 minutes ago, Eracer_Team said: If you look close You can see the same grain of the top fretboard through the dark stain. I think they just dark stained the fretboard to sort of make it look like dark binding See. This is why I posted it. To me it looks like the grain is going different ways. I also can’t see the grain crossing the different colours. So idk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 5 minutes ago, Blair Thomas said: See. This is why I posted it. To me it looks like the grain is going different ways. I also can’t see the grain crossing the different colours. So idk. That is done on purpose to make it stronger.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blair Thomas Posted August 23, 2021 Author Share Posted August 23, 2021 35 minutes ago, Rabs said: That is done on purpose to make it stronger.. Yeah I’m aware they do this for joining 2 pieces of wood. I’ve just never come across this on any guitar I’ve bought Gibson or Fender and this is my 7th Gibson Les Paul! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 Just now, Blair Thomas said: Yeah I’m aware they do this for joining 2 pieces of wood. I’ve just never come across this on any guitar I’ve bought Gibson or Fender and this is my 7th Gibson Les Paul! Yes it is a bit odd... I was on here at the time they were doing this and remember a lot of people didnt like the idea of it.. BUT I never actually heard any complaints about things going wrong or any other issues apart from it looks a bit odd.. As said above, I dont think they had much choice at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blair Thomas Posted August 23, 2021 Author Share Posted August 23, 2021 3 minutes ago, Rabs said: Yes it is a bit odd... I was on here at the time they were doing this and remember a lot of people didnt like the idea of it.. BUT I never actually heard any complaints about things going wrong or any other issues apart from it looks a bit odd.. As said above, I dont think they had much choice at the time. Yeah I’ve got a Custom Classic with the baked maple which was made when they had all the ebony seized during 2010/11. I always get “lovely dark ebony on your custom”. 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 Just now, Blair Thomas said: Yeah I’ve got a Custom Classic with the baked maple which was made when they had all the ebony seized during 2010/11. I always get “lovely dark ebony on your custom”. 😂 Yeah I also had one with baked maple.. It was the Firebird non reverse studio (with 3 coil tapped P90s.. I actually really liked the baked maple, thought it was a really good substitute.. Didnt keep that one though, didnt really get on with the neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 (edited) Actually I still have a picture of it.. I remember it being far smoother than rosewood (which it would do as maple is a closed grain wood).. Edited August 23, 2021 by Rabs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blair Thomas Posted August 23, 2021 Author Share Posted August 23, 2021 14 minutes ago, Rabs said: Actually I still have a picture of it.. I remember it being far smoother than rosewood (which it would do as maple is a closed grain wood).. That’s lovely! Really digging the more vintage looking Gibson's. My first which was a studio, I put EMGs in it and took it to music college everyday for 4 years. So it’s seen some action. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 (edited) From what I remember they also used Granadilo which I never tried but it looked ok too.. Edited August 23, 2021 by Rabs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 As confirmed by the fingerboard on my 2011 ES-335 w/P90s, Gibson still had a stock of ebony at that time. But 2012 is when they began scrambling for rosewood & ebony substitutes, as they were indeed very low on rosewood & ebony all but disappeared. Along with laminated rosewood fingerboards, there were some acoustics made with laminated rosewood bridges. And then of course they also used baked maple as mentioned above, which I have on a 2012 LP Special & really like - it's a first rate alternative. This era didn't last too long, as even during the latter part of 2012, solid rosewood fingerboards & bridges were returning to many models (again, confirmed by my 2012 J-185). But your 2013 LPJ would make it appear that Gibson extended the practice for a longer period of time on some of their lower priced models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaicho8888 Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 Yeah... I remember and forgot about that two layer rosewood during difficult sourcing of rosewood. It's suppose to be more stable; but the method was short lived. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 (edited) On 8/23/2021 at 8:21 AM, Blair Thomas said: I recently purchased a 2013 LPJ and my friend noticed that the fretboard looks like it’s two pieces(laminated). Can anyone clarify. I’ve never know Gibson to do this and I’m aware this model is a budget build. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The grain on the fretboard and the stained part are the same. The wood under is obviously Hog. I think they just stained that strip. May have been done after purchasing it. Edited June 1, 2023 by Sgt. Pepper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted June 2, 2023 Share Posted June 2, 2023 On 8/23/2021 at 6:55 PM, Rabs said: Yeah I also had one with baked maple.. It was the Firebird non reverse studio (with 3 coil tapped P90s.. I actually really liked the baked maple, thought it was a really good substitute.. Didnt keep that one though, didnt really get on with the neck. My 339 has baked ( Gibson : 'torrefied' ) maple. Its a nice firm surface that I like a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinch Posted June 3, 2023 Share Posted June 3, 2023 On 8/23/2021 at 8:23 PM, Rabs said: From what I remember they also used Granadilo which I never tried but it looked ok too.. It's not bad. It looks drier than it is - it darkens if you play it a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparquelito Posted June 4, 2023 Share Posted June 4, 2023 Looks great to me. And for the record, Gibson wasn't raided over illegal rosewood. They were the victims of an unjust political vendetta, plain and simple. Anybody who argues otherwise is being naive.🤨 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparquelito Posted June 4, 2023 Share Posted June 4, 2023 54 minutes ago, Farnsbarns said: With the rosewood, yes, but don't forget that at about the same time they got found out using illegally logged ebony from Madagascar as well. One of their supply directors visited to find out about it and wrote to one of his counterparts to say there is no white market, it's grey at best and some is very black market. They ignored him and carried on buying it. Anyone who thinks Gibson where entirely innocent over the CITES debacle is even more naive. The motives behind the riad were clearly political but Gibson had certainly made some questionable decisions which made them vulnerable to it. Okay then sir. I stand corrected. And thanks for clarifying. But thank God things have gotten better in this country, and we don't have any such political nonsense going on from our federal law enforcement agencies anymore.😀 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted June 4, 2023 Share Posted June 4, 2023 (edited) 11 hours ago, sparquelito said: Looks great to me. And for the record, Gibson wasn't raided over illegal rosewood. They were the victims of an unjust political vendetta, plain and simple. Anybody who argues otherwise is being naive.🤨 The Dept Of Fish and Wildlife didn’t raid Gibson for being good samaratin’s for illegally handing out free lunches. They did cause Gibson was doing illegal stuff with wood importation. Any one who doesn’t believe it is naive. Edited June 4, 2023 by Sgt. Pepper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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