an epiphone question

[bryan1234]

hi guys, heard from fellow softies that epiphone are made out of low grade wood and the plus top on an les paul is just a thin sheet of veneer. Just want to verify that fact. My les paul standard is a plus top and i scratch my head wondering why it looks like real flamed maple to me coz of the wavy lines and 3d effects. So i am unsure if mines a real flamed maple anot? Btw, mines a china epi. Pls enlighten me.

 

[LadyInTears]

does it matter? it is your guitar, so if you like it, nothing's gonna change it.
in this case, ignorance is bliss, well isn't it?

 

[bigblackbear]

well according the the epiphone website, it's flame maple alright

http://www.epiphone.com/default.asp?ProductID=45&CollectionID=6

 

[velvetrevolver]

yeah and i dont think epiphone will lie.

 

[theliverevolution]

too much reputation at stake if they lie. Epiphone still churns out relatively quiality guitars. Not as good as its big daddy Gibson, but still, relatively good quality.

 

[eclipze]

whazzup..
bryan try scratching the bottom wood(the maple top) inside your Epiphone potentio chamber... using anything like screwdriver or what else..
is it got a flame like the top?.. if its not.. and the wood feels soft., & the wood look awful. than it's a low grade wood...

i don't mean to scare u
try it bro... scratch it... u wont know unless u scratch it
my friend got his LP epiphone repaint on luthier .. and he found it was a low quality wood top .. it's soft.. the maple figured just a veneers

...
the mahogany bodyback is helping to shape the sound of ur LP, even if ur Epi got a low grade wood as a top ...

 

[bryan1234]

scratch it untill got a flamed top?

 

[faizal_rocks]

Bryan,what LadyInTears says is true. It doesn't matter as long as u enjoy playing it and feel comfortable with it.

 

[bryan1234]

scratch it untill got a flamed top?

 

[bryan1234]

oh ya i can see the wood design and its horizontal to the flamed top so do u think the wood is real? Also it has a 3d effect like real flamed maple

 

[Everdying]

a veneer also can get the same 3d effects.
not sure of the newer epi LPs, but on the older ones if you open up the pickup cavity u can see the veneer.

 

[LadyInTears]

seriously, so what if you find out it is cheap wood, it is ultimately your guitar, so i really dont see what the big fuss is about man, if it sounds good, its good

 

[asdf]

why care about high grade low grade. angmo sure more pro than chinese?

 

[burnout747]

who cares, the less you noe the less you will be obsessed with it. its not like we're super pro rockstars that need to care abt every little detail

 

[EugeneSmasher]

I think high grade and low grade matters to a very small extent. Ultimately the tone and playability depends on the guitar, but low grade wood might compromise reliability. E.g. neck warps more easily, body more easily dented, etc.

But if it is just the top and whether it is a veneer or a real flamed maple top, it's really a very small matter. As long as the guitar is good, it is good. It's not a bad guitar just because the top is a veneer... As long as it looks good, no one's gonna notice whether it's a veneer or not.

 

[eclipze]

scratch it untill u can see the woods .. when u can see it .. look at the figure, if u can't see the maple figure..test it knock on it lightly with any hard things... feel it... is it soft or hard wood. if soft then its low quality wood.. if its hard its an alder or any hard wood

 

[eclipze]

this is from my experiences:
if ur guitar contain of MANY low quality wood.. ur guitar will not sound good.. believe me...

if ur guitar contain LESS low quality wood such as; a top body only is a low quality... but the rest is a good wood... your guitar'll still sound good
because the good wood is dominant to shape your sound

do not bother... for the body top bryan... it is not necessarily low quality wood .. maybe yours weren't low quality wood...

just forget it ... play it

 

[Whitestrat]

epiphone are made out of low grade wood and the plus top on an les paul is just a thin sheet of veneer. Just want to verify that fact.

Your Epi should be a maple top on a mahogany body. This COULD mean a plain maple top with a flamed maple veneer. But definately it will be a solid maple top with a real mahogany body and neck. It's is not necessarily low grade wood. There are Gems to be found in cheaper guitars... Sometimes...:mrgreen:

 

[Whitestrat]

I think high grade and low grade matters to a very small extent. Ultimately the tone and playability depends on the guitar, but low grade wood might compromise reliability. E.g. neck warps more easily, body more easily dented, etc.

I've always wanted to say this online here... Not necessarily to you, so don't take it personally...

You are talking COCK!:mrgreen:

There... I said it.

High graded ash and low graded ash can mean the whole difference in weight and tone. Swamp Ash and Northern Ash has a big difference due to the amount of pores in the wood due to the swamp waters. More air could lead to a lighter body, and more air in the wood, leading to a more resonant body. That wood, being already so moist and to water logged, takes a longer time to dry out and dessicate, which means more money in the process. Hence being "higher grade".

High graded Mahogany could mean the difference between Honduran light weight varieties vs the heavier other breeds of mahogany. Those who are lucky enough to have a custom build will know they pay thru their noses for Honduran Mahogany.

Brazillian Rosewood vs Indian Rosewood? Same thing. BRW is now very rare, and therefore more expensive. The small fact that is was previously used on the famous 1959 Les Pauls back then was also a contributor to the demand. It's NOT the same tone as the IRW found on today's Gibsons either.

Low grade wood simply means cheaper wood, but technically, quality or not depends a lot on the drying process and the cut at the factory. Warping and twisting has got to do more with care and maintenance, and not wood breed.

Basswood was ONCE viewed as "cheap" woods, and undesirable... This was back in the 80s. Now, there's a demand for basswood, and the prices are getting higher due to more demand. The generations of kids back then grew up on tones delivered by Joe Satriani, John Petrucci and the likes all knew that the woods used then were basswood. Hence the demand now since they all grew up on RGs. I personally prefer basswood for superstrats, having grown up on Ibbys.

So who's to say that basswood is inferior?

But again, why is there a KEY difference between a JS100 and a JS1000 in terms of weight?

 

[eclipze]

well i don't mean that low quality wood is a same wood as the high grade wood
such as low grade mahogany and hi grade mahogany...

i take a mahogany as an example:
low grade mahogany is still produce a good sound, its lighter, had a light colored and the wood is still young .. the hi grade mahogany is the core of mahogany wood,
located right in the center of wood, u can see it on the big raw chunk mahogany... it has different color.. more dark colored, more heavy, more solid and stronger, and had different sound than the low grade mahogany ...

what i mean is
a low quality wood is from entirely different wood ... wood that is really suck ...
which is really soft, had awful wood fiber ... warp and shrink easily... it sound awfull when u knocked at it