G
Greg_L
Banned
Illegally obtained ebony sounds better than sustainable ebony.
Illegally obtained ebony sounds better than sustainable ebony.
JDOD
therecordingrebels.com
Sounds tricky... will you be using exactly the same mass of glue to stick the fingerboard to the neck?
---------- Update ----------
LOL, that's 'cos its attached to the neck of Gibson guitars and you're a fanboy!
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Greg_L
Banned
I have no ebony on any of my guitars. Your custom build is more damaging to the earth than all of my guitars combined!
But if I wanted to, I'd make a guitar out of the last ebony tree on earth and use rhino tusk for the inlays.
JDOD
therecordingrebels.com
I have no ebony on any of my guitars. Your custom build is more damaging to the earth than all of my guitars combined!
But if I wanted to, I'd made a guitar out of the last ebony tree on earth and use rhino tusk for the inlays.
Wow, that's some rare-arse tusked Rhino you've got there! Never heard of that species.
Seriously though, have you not got an Ebony fretboard on any of your guitars? I kind of assumed that your Les Paul would have. Ebony does feel great as a fretboard wood.
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Greg_L
Banned
Tusk, horn, what the fuck ever.
No, no ebony. My SGs and LP have rosewood fretboards. My Hallmark Mosrite clone has rosewood. I like ebony fretboards, they do feel good, but do they feel significantly better than rosewood or maple? Not to me. Matters none to me. A lot of Gibson people lost their shit over baked maple and richlite. I couldn't care less. The baked maple didn't really look good, but it didn't feel any different to me. I'm fine with any dark fretboard material. I just don't like the look of maple.
JDOD
therecordingrebels.com
The Rosewood on my Fender feels a fuck of a lot better than the rosewood on my Ibanez - but the frets on that are so big you never really touch the board anyway. Been playing on a mate of mines custom built accoustic recently which has an ebony fretboard and it feels great although not much better than my Martin which has a Richlite fretboard, that has quite sharp edges though - I don't know whether its difficult to round off the edges on Richlite. Saying that, my Martin has a Sitka Spruce top, so that's another ecological timebomb.
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Greg_L
Banned
I think I mentioned in the other thread that to me not all rosewood is the same. I mean, that much is obvious, but how it's prepared or selected makes a huge difference in the feel. On my Mosrite clone, LP Traditional, and Angus SG, the rosewood is very smooth and tight. They feel like ebony fretboards. They're smooth and dark with very little grain showing. Very tight grain, smooth rosewood. Those are very expensive, very well built guitars. My cheaper 70s Tribute SG has rosewood that's a little rougher, a little grainier. I've since beaten it down with playing, but when I got it, I wasn't so sure about it. But I'm fine with all of them. Anything is better to me than raw maple. One day I'm gonna treat myself to a sweet ass LP Custom, and it's gonna have an ebony fretboard because that's just what they have. But that's not why I want the guitar.
JDOD
therecordingrebels.com
Dunno how much LPs cost over there. The ones that I tried over here were generally ranging between £1300 - 2000 ($2-3000). Which is a shitload of cash. My custom is around the £2K, which I thought was actually quite decent value against comparible offerings from the major brands. At that sort of price, chosing between quality maple or ebony etc has little impact on the bottom line as there are so many little items that go in to making up the price - so I went for Ebony as it feels the best.
If you were designing a custom what would you go for? I bet it wouldn't be that different to mine aside from the fact it would be LP shaped instead of tele shaped.
If you were designing a custom what would you go for? I bet it wouldn't be that different to mine aside from the fact it would be LP shaped instead of tele shaped.
Lt. Bob
Spread the Daf!
I dunno about the raw maple thing.
An unfinished maple fretboard is SO smooth ..... almost like a good ebony board.
I don't care for the way they look very much though.
An unfinished maple fretboard is SO smooth ..... almost like a good ebony board.
I don't care for the way they look very much though.
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Greg_L
Banned
My guitar would be vastly different from yours because I wouldn't care about woods, fretboard radius, or string-through-body type nonsense. Balance while sitting would not factor into the equation at all. Lol. If I were designing my own guitar, it would probably be a Mosrite shape body built exactly like a Les Paul. Besides the heel, Les Pauls are jut about perfect to me. Hell, just give me a Les Paul with a shaved heel. Like an LP Axcess without the lame ass floyd rose.
Right, that's my thoughts exactly. Maple is hard and smooth. Feels good. Looks terrible though to me.
Lt. Bob
Spread the Daf!
yeah .... especially after you play them ..... they get dirty and they look dirty.
JDOD
therecordingrebels.com
I thought you'd care about fretboard radius as its one of the main things about how a guitar feels in your hands. I completely understand you not caring about wood. But if I am designing a guitar, I want it to be beautiful - I do find natural wood very sexy indeed.
N
notCardio
I walk the line
OK, then why do you want a Custom? The only reason I want one is because that's pretty much what you have to get to get the ebony fretboard. What is it about a Custom that appeals to you?
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Greg_L
Banned
To be honest, fretboard radius matters very little to me. I know I don't like the wide flat shred necks on cheesy shred guitars, but anything in the "normal" Fender/Gibson radius range is fine with me. I'm more sensitive to the neck shape on the back than I am the fretboard radius. The wood doesn't matter to me because I'm just gonna have it painted anyway. Fuck wood grain. That shit's for furniture.
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Greg_L
Banned
They're functionally no better than any other Les Paul. I like Customs for the meaningless visual appeal. They're like the Cadillac of Les Pauls. I looooove the headstock inlays and binding. I love the back body binding. They just look classy. And none of it has anything to do with playability or sound. I know this. I don't care. I DON'T like the gold hardware. I'd want a Classic Custom or a traditional Custom with chrome/nickel hardware. No gold.
JDOD
therecordingrebels.com
haha, as much as you take the piss out of me for liking good quality natural pieces of wood you like fancy binding! See, I don't like binding at all, I'd rather have a guitar with no binding. Les Pauls without binding look cool.
I agree on the gold hardware - its hanging. Black nickel/rhuthenium for me.
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Greg_L
Banned
I know, totally. I just like binding. It's silly for sure. It's just what I like, like you like stripes in wood. Neck binding is functional to me though. I can do without body binding, but neck binding feels real good to me compared to a guitar without it. I'm not a fast lead player, but I'm a real fast rhythm player, and my powerchording hand flies up and down the neck like I'm beating off. Neck binding makes it a lot smoother.
JDOD
therecordingrebels.com
You beat off left handed?
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Greg_L
Banned
Both hands
N
notCardio
I walk the line
Sorry, but I find this hilarious too. I'm not knocking you liking it, or even you're reasoning. It's just that Les Paul designed the Custom to be visually consistent with tuxedos for the guys who had to wear them in bands in those days. Think of weddings and proms. So I'm just imagining you up there, swaying back and forth with your Custom and your tux, while the lights from the mirror ball drift slowly across your Marshall stacks.