Thoughts on Baked Maple and Obeche on Gibson's new lines

[Zack]

mmmmm baked maple....

 

[teame1]

So what happens when the maple starts to run out.
I've been checking out bamboo guitars since reading about the telebration
bamboo offering earlier this year.
There's a guy on the tele forum who built one...........sounded great.

Since bamboo is technically a grass........supply is plentiful.
It's rediculously strong and grows real quick.

 

[upl8tr]

Yes you could. Then when you went to sell it you would be lucky to get $0.25 on the dollar you invested.

Ouch!

 

[rockstar232007]

Maybe do an all maple Les Paul

They already did. Remember the "Raw Power"? Look at how long they lasted.

 

[Tone deaf]

I have never 'fumed' (it's a process for darkening wood via exposure to ammonia fumes) maple so I don't know exactly how dark I could get it. I know that fumed oak can look as dark or darker than rosewood. So cosmetically, it should be possible to get a dark, maple fretboard.

Since most rough hewn hardwood is kiln dried after harvesting, I imagine that the 'baking' process is something done after the fingerboard has been cut (haven't had time to read up on how Gibby is making these) in order to allow for an 'unfinished' fingerboard.

 

[Deguello]

I do not hear the difference between rosewod and maple boards on my Strats so I doubt I am going to with the Gibsons. I prefer rosewood visually but the tone arguement is silly

I am not saying the is not a difference but the minoot difference gets lost in the grand scheme of the electrified guitar

 

[strat0tele]

I just bought one of the new Custom Classics with the baked maple board and the bottom line is the tonal differences between it, rosewood, and especially ebony are extremely marginal. Also, the pictures I've seen on the net of the baked maple are much lighter than what it actually is in person. It's just as dark as the rosewood boards on my other guitars, seriously.

Sure, I would have loved to take home the standard traditional with the rosewood board. We all would. But after playing this guitar, it was just too hard to justify throwing down an extra 400 dollars just for a wood species that would only make for a very marginal difference in tone, if any at all.

 

[Thundergod]

I wish Gibson made more guitars with maple necks and fretboards, but normal maple, not that baked stuff.

 

[dazzypig]

Not for me... No sir!