TinyBabyBrandon Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 So there I was, tiny baby Brandon, crawling inside the guitar center on sunset blvd in beautiful tinsle town, USA and what did I happen to stumble upon? Of all things a boatload of Gibson Midtowns! Well, by a boat load I mean three, so there were 2 customs and one standard with the bigsby. Now I had been a wee bitty curious about these puppies and I was much obliged to sit down and try a couple and see what they sounded like. I was also diaper deep in a nice convo with one of the dudes working there and we were talking about the richlite finger boards of the custom. I said, yeah, weird that they the put the rosewood on the standard and not the custom, I mean richlite? You might as well put throw a biohazard symbol on the guitar or at least one of those radioactive plutonium signs. Most people are not going to be buying a gibby custom with a richlite board, or at least I'M not. They should've gone rosewood across the board (no pun intended). That's when the steeze got swampy. Guitar Center man puts his hand on my shoulder and gives me the serious eyes, licks his chaffed and ragged lips and goes, hold on to your pants BRO, but the standard ain't no rosewood! Holy snaps! I jumped back three inches (pretty good for a pre bi-pedal tiny tot) and nearly sausage slapped this joker right back into the break room, but lo and behold, friends, as I gazed upon said fretboard my eyes grew to saucers and my mouth went dry. I could not deny that it looked EXACTLY like the custom board, just a tad lighter and with NO GRAIN IN SIGHT! Now the sign on the guitar said rosewood and so does the gibby website, but once your eyes are opened like that to the TRUTH all reality becomes a distorted kaleidoscope of ax wielding clowns and twisted faces of make up smeared pee wee pageant mothers. I haven't been the same since and I am straight calling out Gibson, my one true love, of outright lying! What I saw was NOT rosewood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JellyWheat Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 So there I was, tiny baby Brandon, crawling inside the guitar center on sunset blvd in beautiful tinsle town, USA and what did I happen to stumble upon? Of all things a boatload of Gibson Midtowns! Well, by a boat load I mean three, so there were 2 customs and one standard with the bigsby. Now I had been a wee bitty curious about these puppies and I was much obliged to sit down and try a couple and see what they sounded like. I was also diaper deep in a nice convo with one of the dudes working there and we were talking about the richlite finger boards of the custom. I said, yeah, weird that they the put the rosewood on the standard and not the custom, I mean richlite? You might as well put throw a biohazard symbol on the guitar or at least one of those radioactive plutonium signs. Most people are not going to be buying a gibby custom with a richlite board, or at least I'M not. They should've gone rosewood across the board (no pun intended). That's when the steeze got swampy. Guitar Center man puts his hand on my shoulder and gives me the serious eyes, licks his chaffed and ragged lips and goes, hold on to your pants BRO, but the standard ain't no rosewood! Holy snaps! I jumped back three inches (pretty good for a pre bi-pedal tiny tot) and nearly sausage slapped this joker right back into the break room, but lo and behold, friends, as I gazed upon said fretboard my eyes grew to saucers and my mouth went dry. I could not deny that it looked EXACTLY like the custom board, just a tad lighter and with NO GRAIN IN SIGHT! Now the sign on the guitar said rosewood and so does the gibby website, but once your eyes are opened like that to the TRUTH all reality becomes a distorted kaleidoscope of ax wielding clowns and twisted faces of make up smeared pee wee pageant mothers. I haven't been the same since and I am straight calling out Gibson, my one true love, of outright lying! What I saw was NOT rosewood. Yes, I also prefer a rosewood board! J/W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sofaplayer Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 The Gibson website says 'Rosewood or Richlite'. Maybe they'll switch to rosewood as soon as they're allowed to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budglo Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 The Bigsby was the dealbreaker for me .I chose Richlite over the bigsby .Nothing wrong with the Richlite board. Nice to have choices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JellyWheat Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 The Bigsby was the dealbreaker for me .I chose Richlite over the bigsby .Nothing wrong with the Richlite board. Nice to have choices. I have ovned several guitars with "Richlite"-type boards over the years, and to me, they play and sound just fine. The only minor gripe I have is that the material can become quite shiny in the most-played positions, and the gloss needs to be knocked down from time to time. But good ebony has similar characteristics, so I suppose this is not really a fault, per se. My $0.02/YMMV J/W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TinyBabyBrandon Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 I have ovned several guitars with "Richlite" -type boards over the years, and to me, they play and sound just find. The only minor gripe I have is that the material can become quite shiny in the most-played positions, and the gloss needs to be knocked down from time to time. But good ebony has similar characteristics, so I suppose this is not really a fault, per se. My $0.02/YMMV J/W I'm with you Jelly. I've been watching the richlite threads since the Midtown's come out, and honestly while it's something that I would not prefer, I suppose it would be a decent option to have. But call me a purist, I will ALWAYS choose wood. To me it's just the stuff that a guitar is made of. And anyway I was really commenting on the fact that the board was being touted as a rosewood board when it was, in fact, richlite, but I guess they switched it up on the website now. Holy moley, folks, it looks like Gibson is in some trouble. Which is rough for all of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincentw Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 The initial run had Rosewood. Some Midtowns were built and shipped with Rosewood boards. Then the raid occurred. Both models were spec'd for Richlite after the raid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JellyWheat Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I'm with you Jelly. I've been watching the richlite threads since the Midtown's come out, and honestly while it's something that I would not prefer, I suppose it would be a decent option to have. But call me a purist, I will ALWAYS choose wood. To me it's just the stuff that a guitar is made of. And anyway I was really commenting on the fact that the board was being touted as a rosewood board when it was, in fact, richlite, but I guess they switched it up on the website now. Holy moley, folks, it looks like Gibson is in some trouble. Which is rough for all of us. I was mostly yanking your chain with the 5-word post after all the good prose you writ, there, BabyBrandon! [ The Devil makes me do such things late at night, or when nobody replies to a post!] Regards, J/W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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