Maple fingerboard on a Les Paul

[frater106]

So, given that most Les Paul guitars use maple-capped mahogany bodies, wouldn't a maple fingerboard on a mahogany neck be a natural choice? Ooh, sacrilege! Just kidding. But, seriously, why are they always rosewood or ebony? Just because that's how they did it in '59?

 

[50 Watts]

So, given that most Les Paul guitars use maple-capped mahogany bodies, wouldn't a maple fingerboard on a mahogany neck be a natural choice? Ooh, sacrilege! Just kidding. But, seriously, why are they always rosewood or ebony? Just because that's how they did it in '59?

Both rosewood and ebony are traditional board woods. Very natural for Gibson to carry it forward on the LP. That’s how they did it in the 50’s so here we are. Darker fretboards look cleaner over time might be the other reason. That’s a lot of the reason Fender added it as an option.

There are some LP customs from the 70’s and early 80’s that had maple fretboards. It’s a different look for sure.

 

[frater106]

I'd love to see one of those Customs. I play a Custom, myself-they're my favorite Paul.

 

[kelsodeez]

My girlfriend's friend has a greco lawsuit era les paul with maple fretboard, all black binding and black acrylic inlays. It looks frickin awesome

 

[frater106]

My girlfriend's friend has a greco lawsuit era les paul with maple fretboard, all black binding and black acrylic inlays. It looks frickin awesome

Sounds sweet!

 

[50 Watts]

I'd love to see one of those Customs. I play a Custom, myself-they're my favorite Paul.

One on Reverb now. I saw one on my local Craig's List about 6 months ago for 3500. It was a lot nicer than the one listed.

Gibson Les Paul Custom "Norlin Era" Electric Guitar 1970 - 1985 | Reverb

The Gibson Les Paul Customs of the Norlin Era can be diamond-in-the-rough finds for players with a keen eye.

reverb.com

 

[CL1]

I had a Gibson SG Special that had a rosewood over maple neck, one of the best sounding SGs I've played.

 

[sonar1]

Zakk Wilde?
I thought I’ve seen a camo LP with a fat maple neck and fingerboard

 

[kelsodeez]

Sounds sweet!

If it were an actual gibson, I would've tried to buy it off her haha.

 

[ARandall]

Gibson traditionally used ebony and rosewood well before the Les Paul, and both woods were well established as instrument woods when Gibson first started as a company.
The one thing Gibson didn't do initially with wood was duplicate the maple neck of the top end acoustic onto the top solid body guitar.

It didn't take Fender long to drop the maple fretboard....due to the thin nitro wearing away within a few years and the wood discolouring due to finger oils.

 

[mudface]

There was a Gibson line called Raw Power (2009) in both the Studio and SG that featured a maple fretboard. Not as unusual as you might think.

 

[DanD]

L6s also had maple boards.

I wouldn't mind finding one of those SGs.