2018 Epiphone using ebony on Les Paul Custom?

[Jewel the Sapphire]

Hey MLP, thought to share with you guys what appears to be a Les Paul Custom Pro (serial number 18082306171) with a smooth black fretboard made of decent grade ebony. Here are the photos from the owner, he had bought the guitar this month online and lives in Italy.

9

Do you think its possible they are using a dye on another species to achieve the look or does it appear to be legit like the 2011 Epiphones had?

 

[Dolebludger]

Just from the pic, it looks like ebony, but I can’t judge the quality if it from the pic. But it doesn’t look like dyed or stained rosewood.

 

[JohnnyN]

It looks like ebony. My 2011 Custom is made at the same factory (Samick in Indonesia) and also have ebony board.

 

[jktxs]

Cool. Where was it made?

 

[paruwi]

Where was it made?

23 = Samick factory Indonesia

 

[PierM]

Could be phenolic resin, as I can't see any grain, the same they are already using for other guitars. Because of CITES they are stopping using rosewood, so it's possible they'll provide alternatives even for guitars supposed to have rosewood.

 

[paruwi]

Do you think its possible they are using a dye on another species to achieve the look or does it appear to be legit like the 2011 Epiphones had?

this was posted in another thread, so it could be real ebony

. The weight relief pattern is per Peter Frampton’s specs, so this is something that he chose when he was creating this model with our company. The fingerboard is an Ebony fingerboard, as per Mr. Frampton’s specs as well. Also, since a CITES regulation circa 2016, which limited the use of rosewood exported from China, we have moved away from using rosewood fingerboards on all of our guitars .

 

[Jewel the Sapphire]

Sweetwater has been moving these Samick Indonesian ones and they all have that smooth black fretboard, if anyone wants to buy one I recommend calling them up. They would tell you their opinion from seeing so many in person if you wanted to ask the dealer.

 

[PierM]

Those from sweetwater are looking ebony boards. That is very cool!

 

[jktxs]

Looks like ebony to me. Makassar is in Indonesia after all, the factory there probably has easier access to ebony.

 

[Dolebludger]

It looks like the ebony on my PRS SE. Very black with no apparent grain. I've been assured by Sweetwater and PRS company that mine is really ebony. And it is better playing and feeling ebony than is on some of my more expensive guitars. I will play (and sometimes buy) guitars with rosewood or maple boards, but ebony is my top choice.

 

[Have FUN]

This KATALOX , not ebony

https://www.wood-database.com/katalox/

 

[bungle]

Where does it say it’s Katalox?

 

[bungle]

Sweetwater & long & McQuade say it’s rosewood in specs

 

[Jewel the Sapphire]

Great information being shared on this thread!

Im convinced they have a beautiful batch of Ebony or the relative Katalox to use up in the Samick factory which really makes a bad case of GAS for me. There isn't anyone saying its the cheap cheap "blackwood" but I kind of dig the idea it could be a resin like the richlite material.

Gibson sells an LPC for a high premium and ofcourse they are well worth it today, however these 2018 Epiphones are a great way to get a taste of luxury as an average consumer.

 

[Dolebludger]

If the guitar has a Katolax board, where is the origin of this information?

And if this us verified, what is the difference (musically) between it and Asian ebony?

 

[Jewel the Sapphire]

Heres an official Epiphone video for the 2018 LPC pro, seems like different grade of Ebony on this example than Sweetwater has in stock-- with a sweet color stripe. Like what Taylor guitars has oodles of.

This video showcases the attack, snap and harmonic resonance really well imo check it out!

 

[Dolebludger]

Couldn’t tell anything about the fret board from the vid. But I do know that some ebony has had a few lighter areas in it for many years. I have a guitar from 82 with an ebony board with a few lighter streaks in it. When we use common names for wood, it covers much territory. I learned that when I got a college degree in horticulture in 95. It is like this: there are hundreds of species of poplar wood. So when we see a guitar with “ poplar body” we don’t know if it is from what we call aspen, cottonwood, Lombardy, or from many other common names. Same with ebony, rosewood, and maple. In fact, woods we call maple vary from very soft and breakable wood unsuitable for guitars to perhaps the strongest and most hard wood used in guitars. Taylor’s striped ebony is just as good musically as the totally black kind. And it is attractive too. I have a Tele type with a swamp ash body, but with a striped ebony cap, and it sounds great and is beautiful. Same with rosewood. Some has a very tight grain, and some has what I would call little cracks in the surface, which I don’t like for boards. With woods for guitar building become more scarce and regulated, the “play before you pay” saying becomes more relevant. If you can’t do that due to lack of music store inventory in your area ( like mine) at least buy online from a seller with a good return policy with free return shipping costs.

 

[paruwi]

This KATALOX , not ebony

https://www.wood-database.com/katalox/

Don't start this type of misinformation here again....
go play your gibsons

 

[jktxs]

This KATALOX , not ebony

I'm only seeing katalox on high end brands like PRS USA, Martin and Fodera.