gibson neck joints

[leadguitar_323]

Hey guys, does anyone have a copy of the article gibson put on its site about its neck joints, the contraversial one that they removed after it caused an uproar.....Cheers Mick

 

[bobb]

Don't have the article but here is the picture:

If I remember correctly, the top pic is a Les Paul Standard while the bottom is either a Gibson Custom Shop or Heritage model.

 

[settebello]

There is an interesting site in Austria,maybe you have a translation software.Click on the gibson les paul faq.
http://www.piller.at/music/

Volker

 

[BaggyPants]

This one's a doozy, too:

The modern Gibson one is the crappy looking one on the right. The only place it makes contact with the body is on the sides. The bottom of it is clear of the bottom of the neck joint rout when it is in the guitar :roll:

 

[settebello]

They also sells swiss cheese. :lol: :lol:

Volker

 

[BaggyPants]

It's worse than that now, Volker. From this year, they aren't just drilling holes in the body to lighten them, they are actually cutting out whole chambers

 

[settebello]

It's worse than that now, Volker. From this year, they aren't just drilling holes in the body to lighten them, they are actually cutting out whole chambers

Volker

 

[pstarove]

X-ray of a new Les Paul BFG:

 

[leadguitar_323]

Thanx guys, but i was after the original article from gibson .com . I showed these pics {which i already have }on another forum {no not the lp forum } and was called a liar. So i was looking for the orignal article............Cheers ...Mick :wink:

 

[Glamrockmegastar]

Hey Guys,

In the cross section picture, is that maple between the fretboard and the truss rod? Is it like a reverse skunk stripe?
Would the Heritage have one too, just not exposed because the the cut is closer to the outside of the neck?

Other interesting notes are the big difference in pickup cavity depth, and how deep the frets are seated in the fretboard.

I heard about the chambering they were staring to do, but that X-ray really exposes the extent of it! That must be some heavy mahogany if they are bothering to rout out the lower bout too!

 

[BaggyPants]

In the cross section picture, is that maple between the fretboard and the truss rod? Is it like a reverse skunk stripe?

Yes

Would the Heritage have one too, just not exposed because the the cut is closer to the outside of the neck?

Yes, but I don't know if it's maple or mahogany in the Historics.

 

[Glamrockmegastar]

Thanks Baggy!

 

[humongous]

xray can't pass through solid metals, does the one pictured (BFG) has all their hardware & electronics taken out first?

Then what are those wires connected to?

cheers

 

[Glamrockmegastar]

Wow, Check out this thread on the LP forum about chambering. Nasty Stuff!
http://www.lespaulforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=130519

 

[BaggyPants]

xray can't pass through solid metals, does the one pictured (BFG) has all their hardware & electronics taken out first?

Then what are those wires connected to?

cheers

As you can see, the x-rays have not gone through the frets and truss rod, so everything else has been stripped out. I would guess that the wires you see are to pull the guitars wiring back through after the x-ray was taken.

Here's a nice picture of the routed body blank:

:roll:

 

[togps]

Bla bla bla .... from Gibson: :roll:

"The weight relief pattern has changed for 2007. We have modified the original Swiss cheese hole pattern to something that has a purpose other than to lighten up the guitar. Originally, the holes were cut in a pattern that maximized the available space and did not take into consideration tone, balance, and sustain. So, we felt that a scientific approach was best if we were to change the pattern. We knew that we could now measure frequency output of the guitar and also determine positive or negative effects of any changes to the internal routing. So, we initially approached the project from the perspective of just improving the placement of the original holes. As we began testing, we noticed that when we moved the holes closer together, sound and sustain improved. We then decided to try moving the holes so close together that they actually created one big hole instead of several small ones. The area volume was the same but the improvement of sustain and output was greater. This drove us to start playing with the actual shape and size of a single large chamber and then to multiple chambers, strategically placed inside the guitar. We couldn?t do much with the control pockets and pickup pockets so we decided to focus on all of the mass and area around those routings. After several months of testing, the current sonic tuning pattern emerged. This pattern works in all Les Pauls and gives us a much better sounding instrument, sustain is improved, and as an added benefit, weight has been reduced by 20%-30%. Sustain can be improved two ways; by creating rigidity and by sound reverberation. While reducing weight further wasn?t our goal, it definitely should be received as a positive side affect to our real goal; giving reason to our original weight relief pattern of holes.


Regards,
Roger Ball
Gibson Customer Service
[email protected] "

 

[20 century boy]

might be an interesting instrument!

But not exactly a Les Paul, some crossover between a LP and a ES. Kind of back to the 70 with the chambered bodies.

 

[BaggyPants]

But Gibson already had that with the LP Supreme. This routing is on ALL Gibson LP models

 

[bobtastik]

To be fair to Gibson, the BFG is advertised as having a chambered body on purpose. So you know that when buying one. I have one, its a quirky beast, but I really like it. Chambering of Standards etc when it is not disclosed in the spec is a different issue !

 

[BaggyPants]

There's nothing about chambering on the BFG page, Bob:

http://www.gibson.com/en%2Dus/Divisions/Gibson%20USA/Guitars/LesPaul/Les%20Paul%20BFG/

And that message from customer services indicates that it is being done on all the Gibson USA Les Pauls