Baked Maple fretboards??

[RETROROD]

While perusing a guitar forum, a topic came up about a fellow that wanted to refret a newer Classic Custom LP with wider and lower frets (ala Fretless Wonder) vs the tall and narrow frets that it came with,

The topic made me curious.

I have read about the pitfalls of re-fretting traditional rosewood and ebony(chipping etc.)

I am interested to hear from anyone with experience on re-fretting the Gibson Baked Maple boards....that have been in use recently.

Are they treated like maple or rosewood. What are any issues with this type of fingerboard?

http://http://www.andertons.co.uk/blog/guitars/gibson-baked-maple-f...

 

I'm not planning on doing one, but just want to expand my knowledge base.

Thanks, Rod

[Paul Verticchio]

Hi Rod.

Baked or not, maple is maple. Work with it as you would any other Maple FB. The answer is really that simple. I've only done refrets on 2 baked maple FB's. Both refrets were predicated by twisted FB's right from the factory. I urged the owners to send them back to Gibson for warranty work but their previous warranty claims through Gibson (and they KEEP BUYING GIBSONS???? WHY?) were so adversarial that they no longer wished to deal with the corporation. The FB itself posed no unusual properties or cautions, once I did the work they neglected to do at the factory. YMMV.

Simply as a suggestion, your buddy should try a "Fretless Wonder" for an extended period of time before he commits to a 'ultra low' refret.  Here's why: I've done several low fret to regular frets conversions on LPC's. I've never had the request you have as 99.999% of guitarists find the low frets obsolete as they don't support modern (or even contemporary) playing styles. BTW: this is a pretty common discussion in the trade.

If he like's to bend strings, I can almost guarantee that he'll hate them. I had an elderly jazz player tell me that when the 'LPC Fretless Wonders' originally came out, the first thing the guys who bought them did was have the frets replaced with the 'normal' wire Gibson was using at the time. The whole "Fretless Wonder" thing was an advertizing gimmick, NOT a useful or desirable feature.

If your friend commits to the low fret conversion, be prepared for the fret finishing/dressing nightmare of a lifetime. It's darn hard to round a fret that, for all practical reasons, should be replaced anyway as they're too low. It's not impossible, but it takes longer than conventionally shaped frets. A couple guys I know charge 10% extra to level & dress "Fretless Wonder" frets. They say it's fair compensation for the extra bit of frustration involved. Personally, I pass on "low fret" dresses as I consider the design a FLAW that needs to be corrected, not something to be perpetuated. I mention this as many guitar players fall for the faux romantic "vintage correct" part of advertizing, not realizing that it may be counter-intuitive to their actual needs. To put that another way: some folks will fall for everything. :)

If he wants to improve the instrument, he'd be better served by a bone nut (vs. the stock plastic one) and an upgrade of the pathetic quality TOM style bridges Gibson is using nowadays.

I hope at least some of this info was helpful. You definitely have your work cut out for you :)

Best of luck, our friend,

Paul :)

[RETROROD]

Great info, Paul! I guess my curiosity was 'peaked' in not knowing if the 'baking process' adversely effected the maple and changed its 'nature'....ie "non-traditional construction" (for Gibson) would lead to "non-traditional repair techniques"

My take on the 'baking process' is to make the maple resemble rosewood!?(because rosewood was tied-up in legalities)... Would that be correct?

[Robbie Collins]

Baking is just for grain enhancement and a little vintage darkening. It's a cool look, but it's still just maple.

[Paul Verticchio]

That's how I see it too, Rod. I view it as a very reasonable substitute. As long as the customers are satisfied, there's nothing wrong with it.

I don't think anyone would disagree that we'll probably see more & more 'non traditional' timbers used in the future as the good stuff gets more difficult to source and manage (as in: replant & replenish). The good folks up at Seagull/Simon & Patrick have been making good quality instruments for decades using local non-trad woods.

Have a good'un :)