Pearl or Abilone....how do you tell the diff??

[Hawkeyenfo]

Hey all,

 

Lost a dot from my Hummingbird bridge a while back. Ca;;ed Gibson and they were great about the service, sending a replacement dot......but, it is not like the one in my guitar (and, I don't know which is which.) I plan to call them back and wanted to find out first how to tell the two types of dots apart. I called GC and was told they only used 2 types. I'm underway with the Navy right now so, going somewhere is not an option and I emailed Gibson and they want me to send the entire guitar into their shop.....a little overkill in this case.

 

Thanks, hope someone can help me out

[Thermionik]

Abalone are large edible sea snails, their shells have a thick inner layer of nacre or mother-of-pearl.

 

Or - to put it another way.....

 

Mother of Pearl is an organic-inorganic composite material produced by certain mollusks as an inner shell layer. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent.

 

It's the very thin layers of compressed chalk crystals (called aragonite) separated by sheets of organic elastic natural polymers (chitin, lustrin, silk-like proteins) that gives it it's lustre. The sizes of the sheets/crystals is comparable to the wavelength of visible light, resulting in constructive and destructive interference of light, which gives the different colors of light reflected at different viewing angles.

 

Since each mollusc is different, and since each layer forming the Abalone forms under totally different conditions, it is incredibly variable in colour and form - from black-with-fire to white-with-rainbows and everything in between. The chances of finding two identical pieces are astronomical - it ain't going to happen. Best you can hope for is to match, by eye, for colour and form and be happy with that.

 

Which is why they need to see the neck and remaining dots.....

[albertjohn]

Abalone are large edible sea snails' date=' their shells have a thick inner layer of nacre or mother-of-pearl.

 

Or - to put it another way..........[/quote']

 

Thanks Nik.........interesting.

 

So who gets to eat the snails? With all this abalone on guitars these days, this must be a good source of food. Presumably the Chinese as that's where alot of the production is.

 

Is, then, MOP the same as abalone? I've never understood or been able to recognise the difference.

[guitarstrummer]

Abalone usually has a greenish tint to it. MOP is usually white.

[TWilson]

AJ-I'm not an expert on mollusks but I do munch a few clams and oysters whenever I can. Crustaceans are the best but I've yet to see a guitar with a Dungeness crabshell rosette. Anyway, I believe mother of pearl will have a more uniform whitish hue whereas abalone is more prone to the numerous colors present in the same piece, or more of a rainbow effect as brother Nik, the one-armed man, stated earlier. If this is confusing, I find that a tall hops and barley beverage will help you forget all about it. And, as always, Bob's your uncle.

[albertjohn]

AJ-I'm not an expert on mollusks but I do munch a few clams and oysters whenever I can. Crustaceans are the best but I've yet to see a guitar with a Dungeness crabshell rosette. Anyway' date=' I believe mother of pearl will have a more uniform whitish hue whereas abalone is more prone to the numerous colors present in the same piece, or more of a rainbow effect as brother Nik, the one-armed man, stated earlier. If this is confusing, I find that a tall hops and barley beverage will help you forget all about it. And, as always, Bob's your uncle.[/size']

 

Sound advice TW, as always, sound advice. I shall be consuming said beverage in a few short hours at The George for my friday night ration (however, this week sans rollies.) Thanks to you, Nik (we call him 5 fingers) and GS for the lesson. Without meaning to hijack the ownership of this thread, I hope Hawkeyenfo can solve his problem with this info.

[Thermionik]

Abalone is Mother of Pearl taken from the Abalone shell.

 

Mother of Pearl is the nacre of several mollusc shells of which Abalone is but one.

 

(and, albertjohn, Abalone flesh is eaten in most coastal regions where it exists)

 

Mother of Pearl (like the pearl which arises from it under certain circumstances) comes in shades from white to black, through greys, creams, yellows, rose-pink, lavender-blue, greens and most shades inbetween.

 

Abalone - sometimes paua (New Zealand) looks almost opal-like with its rich colours running from rich blue-green to pale pink, all in irridescent swirls and loops. It has the richest and widest variation in colour and in pattern of all Mother-of-Pearls. The colour/pattern depends on the specific mollusc, the water and climate prevalent during its formation and the age of the mollusc from which it was harvesred.

 

White Mother-of-Pearl tends to be from sea oysters, and from the shell 'lip', where the colour tends towards white, cream or golden.

 

There is also black lip Mother-of-Pearl - which comes in patchy white through to dark brown or dark grey.

 

Naturally occuring pink Mother-of-Pearl is rare and not often seen.

 

The most widely recognised Mother-of-Pearl however is the sandy-yellow or pink, through greens and blues, to rich lavender, violet and purple of the Abalone shell.

[jefleppard]

must be a huge, and mostly overlooked, industry. the amount of shell required to provide rosettes and inlays just for the world's guitars must be staggering. and once harvested, how is it refined, milled or processed to suit its purpose?

[Thermionik]

I've seen workshops in Cairo and various places in India where young lads sort, grade and cut up the shells and other kids then cut to basic shapes. I am told similar factories thrive in China, Japan and innumerable other places. They cut to shape to suit the shell pieces and the cut shell is then sold on to manufacturers of decorative items like jewellery, box, cabinet and furniture makers for decoration and (I am guessing here) luthier's suppliers.

 

I get mine from decorative boxes and the like - and cut out bits as needed to replace dots and inlays etc.

[Hawkeyenfo]

Ahhhh haa! Thanks for all of the great information! I now know more than I probably ever need to know about Abilone!! Guess that there isn;t much of a problem to solve, just have to find another dot that's close or, jut get 2 more and replce them both! Now, where's my beverage!

[Guest]

And then there is abalam....

 

Sheets of abalone interlayered with epoxy. Also widely used in guitar encrusting work. :-)

 

Fred

[albertjohn]

This week's avatar prize is shared by Cunk and TW. Good work chaps.

 

Cunk, your's is particularly relevant to me at the moment.

 

TW, Denmark St could do with a make over and a good flood might be a place to start. JT and I will be mostly wearing a stout pair of wellingtons each, the next time we visit.

[Johnt]

 

TW' date=' Denmark St could do with a make over and a good flood might be a place to start. JT and I will be mostly wearing a stout pair of wellingtons each, the next time we visit.[/quote']

 

Thanks for that thought AJ.

 

I used to enjoy fly fishing for Salmon but since we moved to the East coast there are none over here to fish for.

 

I still have two sets of chest waders, what size are your feet, we might be better wading through all the C**p in Denmark Street in a pair each!

 

How the tak doing?

[Thermionik]

Hawkeyenfo - its abalone, not abilone.

 

shrimer - I though abalam was the King of Hell..... but blow me down - there it is - kinda like plywood but made from shell, supplied by some guy called Chuck Erikson to luthiers all over the world. This is just the best forum for learning stuff. My thanks shrimer, that was a real 'Guitar Fact', and well worth knowing.....

[albertjohn]

 

 

How the tak doing?

 

Will be playing it tonight at a party but haven't seen it for a week 'cause Robbie's been performing his magic on it. He says it's a sweetie but needs a new nut - a bit like myself?

[Thermionik]

Johnt, it might not be salmon (as you know - what I know about fishing could be writ large on a single trout scale.....) but my old mate James, when not poaching trout or pheasant, used to fly fish on Bewl Water. This was back in the seventies/eighties when we both lived over that way - and so it is probably a housing estate now, but I thought I would mention it, since it is fairly near you and might help keep your hand in (or whatever the fisherman type expression might be!).

 

I don't know why - but Montanna smacks of fishing, so you might consider:-

 

http://www.aa-fishing.com/mt/montana-salmon-fishing.html

 

on the homecoming thingy.

[TWilson]

Hey, Nik, you mean one of these? Oregon is much closer to the ocean than Montana so the fish aren't as tired out when you hook 'em. Although hooking a salmon is slightly more difficult than getting Johnt to attack the bait!

[Johnt]

Hey' date=' Nik, you mean one of these? Oregon is much closer to the ocean than Montana so the fish aren't as tired out when you hook 'em. Although hooking a salmon is slightly more difficult than getting Johnt to attack the bait!

[img'][/img]

 

Oh my!

 

Listen I vil sey zis onlee wonce

 

I am impressed

 

What d'ya use

 

Dynamite?

[Johnt]

Johnt' date=' it might not be salmon (as you know - what I know about fishing could be writ large on a single trout scale.....) but my old mate James, when not poaching trout or pheasant, used to fly fish on [b']Bewl Water[/b]. This was back in the seventies/eighties when we both lived over that way - and so it is probably a housing estate now, but I thought I would mention it, since it is fairly near you and might help keep your hand in (or whatever the fisherman type expression might be!).

 

I don't know why - but Montanna smacks of fishing, so you might consider:-

 

http://www.aa-fishing.com/mt/montana-salmon-fishing.html

 

on the homecoming thingy.

 

No if Bewl Water were a housing estate then London would be thirsty. Still there and full of stocked trout waiting to be caught by sad executives on a corporate day ( how do I get an invite)

 

It isn't the same as wading up to your waist at 5.00 in the dawning, casting a fly surrounded by your *** butts on the water (will wait for language differences to emerge!)

[jefleppard]

Hey' date=' Nik, you mean one of these? Oregon is much closer to the ocean than Montana so the fish aren't as tired out when you hook 'em. Although hooking a salmon is slightly more difficult than getting Johnt to attack the bait!

[img'][/img]

 

nice catch! i hope you gave it back to the guy that caught it after the photo op!:)

[onewilyfool]

My Gibson Firebird, has BOTH in the fret markers......but I'm not sure which is which....lol.....here's a pic:

 

 

[Thermionik]

.

.

 

The lower part of the flames (rich irridescence) is Abalone sourced Mother of Pearl.

The tips of the flames (white pearly sheen) is (probably) White Lip Mother of Pearl.

.

[TWilson]

Johnt- I used this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cunkhead-What I did with it after I caught it: filleted, cut into apopropriate size chunks, placed in "Alaska Guides" brine mix in fridge over night, placed on the racks of my smoker with chunks of water-soaked alder to create a smokey enviornment, smoked, then ate!!!

[TommyK]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abelone

 

They're kind of like a half a clam. They're shell resembles an army helmet. They use their one foot to attache itself to rocks. Unlike bivalves that take in sea water and filter it for food, by opening it's two shells, the Abelone has holes in it's shells to take in and expel sea water.

 

And as was said before abelone used for guit tar bling has more blues and greens in it. Abelone does come in different colors... see above link.

[Thermionik]

Excellent information TommyK, but I keep harping on about the spelling ( I know, tedious.....)

580k hits of which:

Abilone 0.6%

Abelone 19.3%

Abalone 80.1%

 

Websters Dictionary:

Main Entry: abalone

Function: noun

Etymology: American Spanish abulón, from Rumsen (American Indian language of Monterey Bay, California) aulon

Date: 1850

 

Oxford Dictionary:

abalone

noun an edible mollusc with an ear-shaped shell lined with mother-of-pearl.

ORIGIN from an American Indian language

 

Collins Dictionary:

abalone

Noun

an edible sea creature with a shell lined with mother-of-pearl

 

Encarta Dictionary:

abalone

noun

shellfish with pearly shell: an edible invertebrate ocean animal that breathes through holes in its ear-shaped shell. The pearly interior of the shell is used for making jewelry. Genus Haliotis.

[Mid-19th century. Via American Spanish abulón< Shoshonean aulun]