Hound Dog Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 I noticed that two of their "Les Paul" type guitars have 3/4" maple tops. One of these is priced at $449.95. I haven't seen too many company's boasting of the 3/4" top. Most of what you see now are very thin laminates or they will not even disclose the thickness of the maple top. I know that this is not the top grade maple, but how can they afford to do this? Yum, Yum! Eat em up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Geoff Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 I know that in his experiments, Les Paul found that a certain thickness caused the desired effect, and that making it thicker had no noticable further effect. I can't remember what that thickness was (although I suspect some here does) but I'm sure it wasn't as much as 3/4". G. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power the World will know Peace": Jimi Hendrix http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=738517&content=music The Geoff - blame Caevan!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Fraser Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 I know that in his experiments, Les Paul found that a certain thickness caused the desired effect, and that making it thicker had no noticable further effect. I can't remember what that thickness was (although I suspect some here does) but I'm sure it wasn't as much as 3/4". I was under the distinct impression that a Gibson Les Paul has 1/4" maple top, but it's a distant memory & I'm willing to be corrected on this. Scott Fraser Scott Fraser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noodlesbad Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 ... One of these is priced at $449.95. I haven't seen too many company's boasting of the 3/4" top ... I know that this is not the top grade maple, but how can they afford to do this? I doubt the maple is that costly ... and since the guitar is being made in Korea, presumably the labour costs aren't too extreme, either ... there's no reason I can think of for $450 to be out of reach, particularly since Rondo isn't shelving out for advertising. National Capital Rock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hound Dog Posted February 25, 2007 Author Share Posted February 25, 2007 That maple cap was starting to bug me, so I called Gibson service and spoke to Vincent. He said that on a Les Paul Standard, a 1" maple slab is used to start with and glued to the mahogany body. After carving, the maple cap is probably about 1/4" thick at the edge of the guitar, but is probably just under 1" thick in the center at its thickest point. It seemed to me that the lower cost Les Paul type guitars had thinner maple tops, which led me to believe that this was done as a cost savings measure. Some of the lower end Agiles state that they have a 1/16" maple top. That is really just enough for show. Yum, Yum! Eat em up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Fraser Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 That maple cap was starting to bug me, so I called Gibson service and spoke to Vincent. He said that on a Les Paul Standard, a 1" maple slab is used to start with and glued to the mahogany body. After carving, the maple cap is probably about 1/4" thick at the edge of the guitar, but is probably just under 1" thick in the center at its thickest point. It seemed to me that the lower cost Les Paul type guitars had thinner maple tops, which led me to believe that this was done as a cost savings measure. Some of the lower end Agiles state that they have a 1/16" maple top. That is really just enough for show. Cool. Thanks for the helpful info. I guess I was half right about the 1/4" part. I presume then, that a non-carved maple top, like my PRS SE Custom, or some of the custom Strat & Tele bodies are probably 1/4" too. And 1/16" does appear to be for looks, not tone. Scott Fraser Scott Fraser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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