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Fingerboard radius on reissues vs vintage 'bursts

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LuteGuy

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Is it my imagination (or poor memory) that vintage 'bursts have a less flat fingerboard, especially at the nut end, than recent reissues?
I just played a number of 2018 braz board R9's and a CC #37, and they all felt/looked very flat compared to my recollection of the fingerboard of my vintage 'burst and my 2012 ES-330. Thanks for any input!
 
brandtkronholm

brandtkronholm

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The fretboard radius has not changed on Les Pauls. It is the same for those built in the '50s through today.
 
fernieite

fernieite

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I remember reading a comment in one of Dan Erlewine's books where he said that many vintage Gibsons had 10" radius boards.
 
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CatManDoo88

CatManDoo88

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fernieite said:
I remember reading a comment in one of Dan Erlewin's books where he said that many vintage Gibsons had 10" radius boards.
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Yes, that is my recollection as well. The fretboard radius was 9.5" but the bridge radius was 12".
 
Tom Wittrock

Tom Wittrock

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It is foolish to think all Bursts are the same, including fingerboard radius specs. :ganz
 
L

LuteGuy

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Tom Wittrock said:
It is foolish to think all Bursts are the same, including fingerboard radius specs. :ganz
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My question was of a general nature. I don't have the option of playing a wide range of originals or re-issues to make my own comparisons, so I was hoping for input from those with more experience. Since every re-issue 'burst I've played has had a fingerboard that felt/looked uncharacteristically flat (to me) I wondered if it was an across the board (pun intended) attribute of current re-issues.
 
Big Al

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I don't own any newer than 2013. I have 4, '99, '00 & 2 '13's. They have the same radius as my 50's Gibsons or 60's or 70's ect..

I have seen vintage guitars with refrets and flatter radius due to fretboard leveling.
 
L

LuteGuy

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Big Al said:
I don't own any newer than 2013. I have 4, '99, '00 & 2 '13's. They have the same radius as my 50's Gibsons or 60's or 70's ect..

I have seen vintage guitars with refrets and flatter radius due to fretboard leveling.
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Thanks for taking the time to respond, Al.

I'll keep looking for one that feels "right" to me.
 
Big Al

Big Al

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LuteGuy said:
Thanks for taking the time to respond, Al.

I'll keep looking for one that feels "right" to me.
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Always the wisest course!! I'm real particular about profile. Numbers and letters aren't much help. All it takes is my mutant mitts wrapped around the neck. I know it's right, 'cause it feels right.

The most accurate 1960 style 'Slim Profile' neck I have on a new Les Paul is a 'Rounded 50's' profile!! Near exact to the early 60's Gibson I have! I wanted 50's. Gotta go with what feels right.
 
El Gringo

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Big Al said:
Always the wisest course!! I'm real particular about profile. Numbers and letters aren't much help. All it takes is my mutant mitts wrapped around the neck. I know it's right, 'cause it feels right.

The most accurate 1960 style 'Slim Profile' neck I have on a new Les Paul is a 'Rounded 50's' profile!! Near exact to the early 60's Gibson I have! I wanted 50's. Gotta go with what feels right.
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Rounded 50's profile refers to the baseball bat necks on the Goldtops before 58 ? When I think of the 60 profile I think of a slim taper ? P.S It really bugs me that Gibson Custom went to the smaller profile ( pardon me if my terminology is incorrect ? ) Carmelita profile as they put it as being more accurate to a real vintage 59 . Have we not been told and have we not read that neck profiles were all over the place during the Golden Years @ KZOO . So if profiles were all over the place and carved by hand , where does this more accurate Carmelita profile stuff come from ? Somebody high up in Gibson Custom said "Make it so " ? Talk about making it hard for me to shop for new R9 Lester's . I now have to order fat 58 profile necks with the 59 reissue tops , which one is now being built for me and depending how good it comes out I will repeat the process with a different shade of burst .
 
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Tom Wittrock

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El Gringo said:
Rounded 50's profile refers to the baseball bat necks on the Goldtops before 58 ? When I think of the 60 profile I think of a slim taper ? P.S It really bugs me that Gibson Custom went to the smaller profile ( pardon me if my terminology is incorrect ? ) Carmelita profile as they put it as being more accurate to a real vintage 59 . Have we not been told and have we not read that neck profiles were all over the place during the Golden Years @ KZOO . So if profiles were all over the place and carved by hand , where does this more accurate Carmelita profile stuff come from ? Somebody high up in Gibson Custom said "Make it so " ? Talk about making it hard for me to shop for new R9 Lester's . I now have to order fat 58 profile necks with the 59 reissue tops , which one is now being built for me and depending how good it comes out I will repeat the process with a different shade of burst .
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Can you share a few of these? I seem to have missed them over the decades of owning and handling vintage Les Paul Goldtops.
It contradicts what you say a little later in your post: " Have we not been told and have we not read that neck profiles were all over the place during the Golden Years @ KZOO ."
Very confusing. :wah
 
Big Al

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El Gringo said:
Rounded 50's profile refers to the baseball bat necks on the Goldtops before 58 ? When I think of the 60 profile I think of a slim taper ? P.S It really bugs me that Gibson Custom went to the smaller profile ( pardon me if my terminology is incorrect ? ) Carmelita profile as they put it as being more accurate to a real vintage 59 . Have we not been told and have we not read that neck profiles were all over the place during the Golden Years @ KZOO . So if profiles were all over the place and carved by hand , where does this more accurate Carmelita profile stuff come from ? Somebody high up in Gibson Custom said "Make it so " ? Talk about making it hard for me to shop for new R9 Lester's . I now have to order fat 58 profile necks with the 59 reissue tops , which one is now being built for me and depending how good it comes out I will repeat the process with a different shade of burst .
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ROUNDED 50's was the term USA Gibson used on my 2007 Guitar of the Week "Unburst" Limited Edition. Also the neck of my son's Les Paul Jr. with the old style script Gibson logo and banner logo on headstocks rear.

These and others I have tried are almost dead ringers for my '60 and early 60's Gibsons Slim Profile era. They are not fat nor full and I'd call it a shallow C but never rounded. It is unlike any 50's neck I've ever encounterd. Even if it has a hot stamped '50's' on the truss rod.

By far the vast majority of vintage 50's solidbody and ES Gibsons I've handled were less thick, on average, than the average Historic profile. I have encounterd "Baseball Bat" large profile necks on some vintage but the biggest, fullest, fat ass neck I ever felt on a vintage Gibson was on a 1964 Firebird III !!!!!
 
El Gringo

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Thanks for the correction Tom & Big Al . Guilty of lumping in 50's rounded profile with the baseball necks as found on some Gibson Custom guitars . I wrongly assumed the profile of Gibson Custom Goldtops with the pre 58 Vintage Les Paul's. I am still super curious as to why the smaller profile on Gibson Custom R9 beginning in 2018 ,using the Carmelita profile ? I wish I could get a solid reason or justification for this change ( was it something to do with the Brazilin run starting late 2017 ? ) , because to me the R9 profile was perfect ,where like I said earlier if you want a larger neck profile you have to get the R8 profile which is perfect for me , but the R9's have the nicer tops . So that's it in a nutshell for me .
 
Big Al

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El Gringo said:
Thanks for the correction Tom & Big Al . Guilty of lumping in 50's rounded profile with the baseball necks as found on some Gibson Custom guitars . I wrongly assumed the profile of Gibson Custom Goldtops with the pre 58 Vintage Les Paul's. I am still super curious as to why the smaller profile on Gibson Custom R9 beginning in 2018 ,using the Carmelita profile ? I wish I could get a solid reason or justification for this change ( was it something to do with the Brazilin run starting late 2017 ? ) , because to me the R9 profile was perfect ,where like I said earlier if you want a larger neck profile you have to get the R8 profile which is perfect for me , but the R9's have the nicer tops . So that's it in a nutshell for me .
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I like, and prefer the larger R9 profile, too. With the rounded profile with reduced shoulders, but I passed on plenty 'cause of heavy shoulders and thick U profiles, something I never found on a 50's.

The change to a more accurate 59 profile would be correct and suit more players. I have several vintage 59 Gibsons and some others with perfect 59 profiles, [Bad Betty and my Heritage Standard 80's are spot on 59 average as were most mid/late 80's Standards. I have 90's and early 2000's with that feel.

I haven't played the new profile yet, and won't be able to for quite some time, if at all so I cannot comment on the new profile, but if it is a true, accurate average, or more correctly, the more common 59 profile, it would be more accurate and is a great feeling neck that should appeal to most.

If it is smaller, less full than the common 59 profile, I think it would be a mistake and not accurate.
 
deytookerjaabs

deytookerjaabs

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IIRC, the machine in Kalamazoo that performed the fretboard contouring was some contraption with a radial movement motion going into a sander. In theory I could see a bit of tolerance there based on adjustment & newness of the belt etc. Still, no doubt the specification in the literature was 12"
 
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