Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

[Lucid_Lunatic]

I saw someone post something about this in another thread and it was the first I have heard of it. I knew it was common on the Epi Les Pauls to have a thin flame veneer over cheaper maple or alder but had always thought Gibson used a solid piece of maple for their flamed tops.

Anyone in the know? If Gibson has started using thin veneers, about what year did they start doing this on Les Pauls?

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

I have heard that a couple of times but as much as I dislike them I do not find it all that possible, someone would be bound to find out and since the figured topped guitars are their most expensive production models, there would be all kinds of poop-storm if someone were to get wind of this.

 

[Lucid_Lunatic]

Re: Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

I talked with a friend that said they used a veneer on their sub $2k guitars like the Les Paul Traditional and solid maple on Standards. I can't find anything about this on the net either.

 

[Detroitblues]

Re: Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

I think the only way to know for sure is when restringing a Gibson, pull out the neck pickup ring, and look at the wood underneath... You should be able to tell that way...

Now, I do know that Gibson does in fact stain their roswood fretboards because dark rosewood in hard (if not impossible) in large quantities....

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

How the **** can you have a veneer on a carved top? It would have to be might thick :nana:

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

Lucid, are we talking Epiphones, or GIBSON? Not the same.

The Epis and many other LP clones do use veneers or "foto-flame".

To my knowledge, Gibson-branded intruments do not.

Bill

 

[DreX]

Re: Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

If the flame is a cap i think you can see the light play of the grains differently, because it's a carved curve instead of a flat piece of veneer that's been bent over the top of the curve.

 

[JOLLY]

Re: Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

I don't believe that. they do it to the Epiphones, but not the regular Gibson line.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

How the **** can you have a veneer on a carved top? It would have to be might thick :nana:

They do it all the time on epis... so does warmoth... they use a steam and heat then press fit it on top to get it to bend... look at most of strat bodies that warmoth sells with figured tops and you can see the grain isnt carved to create the forearm contour... the tops are thin veneers that are then bent and glued on...

 

[Aceman]

Re: Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

A few points:

Epiphone does it and I think it is fine

I do not believe that Gibson is doing that

I ABSOLUTELY believe they WOULD do it, and not tell you

I have also seen some tops where I they SHOULD have done it, or painted it or whatever! Or at least have someone who gives a rat's @$$ say "no" during QC…

 

[blueman335]

Re: Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

I'm hoping Gibsons doesn't, on any model, as that will not go over well with a lot of players. I think they know better than to do it...probably.

On Epi's, it's expected on guitars in that price range, except the Elitist line.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

Gibson has got access to enough maple to have solid tops, and the pricing structure to have solid flame maple as part of the deal.
Actually for Gibson its probably cheaper for them to do a solid top......I can imagine that there would be a lot of work in getting the veneer onto the top.

 

[DreX]

Re: Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

Gibson has got access to enough maple to have solid tops, and the pricing structure to have solid flame maple as part of the deal.
Actually for Gibson its probably cheaper for them to do a solid top......I can imagine that there would be a lot of work in getting the veneer onto the top.

Any human effort that's cheap for Gibson will be cheaper still overseas, so we can infer something from that alone. I don't know much about fancy wood pricing, but the solid figured maple chunks tend to cost a lot on ebay (example http://www.ebay.com/itm/FLAME-MAPLE...296?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item5669c63ab8) where as veneers cost a fraction of that (but they don't give that stuff away, either). I think even with bulk purchase power and sweet connections, the wood is still rather pricey.

 

[DreX]

Re: Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

If you look closely at a PRS, which often feature high contrast wood grains as part of their ornate and flowery aesthetic, where the curve occurs you can see the grain follow along the contour like a topographical map. It looks very pretty, and to me is one of the few things that justifies the $1000+ price tags, where as a veneer grain doesn't conform to the contour so much as it literally lays over the top of it like a wood blanket.

Notice how the grains are distorted by the carve in the wood:

They do it all the time on epis... so does warmoth... they use a steam and heat then press fit it on top to get it to bend... look at most of strat bodies that warmoth sells with figured tops and you can see the grain isnt carved to create the forearm contour... the tops are thin veneers that are then bent and glued on...

I'm not 100% familiar because I only did some light research on veneer before deciding to go with paint instead, but I think you even have to steam on veneers to flat surfaces because the veneer will often be wrinkly to begin with.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

That should be visible in the pickup cavities with non-solid paints. And solid paint guitars have cheap non-figured maple anyway.

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

Not always. Gibson has put some stunning wood on their Gold Top Les Pauls at times. Sometimes after a few years, you can actually tell when there's flame under the gold.

Bill

 

[DreX]

Re: Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

That should be visible in the pickup cavities with non-solid paints. And solid paint guitars have cheap non-figured maple anyway.

IIRC there was black paint the cavities that obscured everything. I had to drill out the control holes for larger pot shafts, I tried to see of could find where the veneer met the whatever wood, but it was all a sawdusty looking blur.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

Not always. Gibson has put some stunning wood on their Gold Top Les Pauls at times. Sometimes after a few years, you can actually tell when there's flame under the gold.

Bill

There was a WHite Custom in the Ultimate Guitar last season that had an unbelievable flamed top that had been covered.

 

[Oinkus]

Re: Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

It has always been kind of odd what Gibson paints over or not. I have seen a beautifully flamed top that was under black paint on a early 70s Les Paul Custom that had to be refinished due to water damage.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Gibson Les Paul Veneer Tops?

It has always been kind of odd what Gibson paints over or not. I have seen a beautifully flamed top that was under black paint on a early 70s Les Paul Custom that had to be refinished due to water damage.

In the past gibson made no distinction between plain top or figured top... Some bursts got flame some got plain... at the time to them it was all the same.

The first REAL vintage les paul I ever played was a 55 gold top that had been refinned many times over the years my friend who owned it stripped it to get rid of the toyota white that had been sprayed on it and was done improperly so it would never cure... the guitar was continually tacky and had red case fuzz stuck to it... The top on that guitar around the selector switch was some nice flame that faded to a plain top by the time you hit the neck pickups. To gibson they were all just maple blanks...