So, what are you guys calling the Gibson Baked Maple Era?

[germs]

i don't get the hate. i picked up a Studio Satin with the maple fingerboard and really didn't know the difference until i pulled the specs up on my smartphone in the store.

i took it home.

as to "Baked Maple": it's told to the corksniffers from the veritable horse's mouth that this material has been in use by very recognizable boutique builders for more than a few years now. but i guess that doesn't count...

[DGDGBD]

The Lacey Act era.

[sixty2strat]

Originally Posted by guitaristanyc

Ah, yes, maple - this totally new and untested fretboard material.....

Please read don't skim next time I was refering to baked maple not maple in general.

Kiln dried fender style necks are not baked maple fretboards.If the were using a maple like the mid 70's Customs they they stained to look like rosewood then yes my points would have less merit. My point was this is a new rushed process/design change to Gibson so cavet emptor.I'll wait it out and see.

By the way ever notice how hard it seems to be to sell a mid 70's Custom with a maple fretboard they will sit for a long time even at a god price...wonder why?

[BrokenRomeo]

Well, the new LP Classic Customs are selling like hotcakes, and they do come with a warranty...

[guitaristanyc]

Originally Posted by sixty2strat

Please read don't skim next time I was refering to baked maple not maple in general.

Kiln dried fender style necks are not baked maple fretboards.If the were using a maple like the mid 70's Customs they they stained to look like rosewood then yes my points would have less merit. My point was this is a new rushed process/design change to Gibson so cavet emptor.I'll wait it out and see.

Gibson is not the first company to use baked maple.

[aynirar27]

Originally Posted by Twin-Amp

Yes, I prefer rosewood therefore I must not play guitar. Bingo! To come on the GEAR PAGE to put down people discussing gear is hilarious.

yes, that was exactly my intention.

[chrisr777]

You know, for a while they couldn't give away Les Pauls either.

That was in the 50's.

[Jahn]

Didn't the boutique early adopters call it roasted maple? And I do remember it being an up charge? But since Gibson used the term baked and used it as a rosewood substitute, it has lost its sheen somehow? Either there is something to this roasting biz or there isn't, at least if it's done right I'm guessing.

[revv23]

It was my understanding current rosewood isnt that great anyway.

Ive played a few different necks. They all sound very guitar neck like. Im a huge snob too, hows it made? Who made it?

I see bm as a great way to keep great guitars at great prices and if you want to pay the cork sniffer price you can get that too for a small upcharge.

[Cream]

Lacey Pauls.

[Matt Ivaliotes]

Originally Posted by Twin-Amp

Lacey Pauls.

For the win!

[Matt Ivaliotes]

I think three issues get overlapped here:

One - Whether baked maple is merely functional, good, or whatever. I have no idea. Might be the best thing ever.

Two - Whether it sounds and feels like rosewood. That seems relevant to me, at least in the context of a board in which many are pretty fanatical about wood and the tiny differences in wood causing changes in tone.

Three - Whether Gibson (and some players) are being a tad disingenuous and hypocritical in how they are using or assessing it. Toot the vintage horn for decades, and then act shocked when people react negatively to a deviation from the vintage formula? Really?

Me, I don't care about vintage anything ever, can't hear much difference between fingerboard types on otherwise identical guitars, and am not in the market for a Les Paul. But after watching and hearing Gibson sell their past (as if anyone there had anything to do with it) and treat the old formulas as perfect and sacrosanct for years and years, I do get a big belly laugh out of them suddenly claiming it doesn't matter, and this new thing is just as good.

It might be. But it's still funny.

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by prototype

i wonder if baked maple will eventually catch on with strats... i think a lot of people prefer the tone of maple but the look of rosewood.

I'd would be real interested in this actually. I prefer the sound of a maple Fender neck but like the feel of rosewood over laquared maple.