Les Paul neck bindings

[vernplum]

Hi

I was recently in Swee Lee browsing the Les Pauls. I noticed that neck bindings have an ugly protruding piece of white plastic that rises up to meet each end of each fret along the entire neck. In fact, i have never seen this arrangement/construction before and was under the impression that the fret goes cleanly to the edge, ending in a chamfered metal edge that looks nice and neat. Take a look at the pages below and zoom in on the neck edges - they have the clean metal fret end as I mentioned. I can't find any pic of the new binding.

Can anyone explain this? I think the binding matching the fret in height is hideous and I bet that will disintegrate after a few years' use.


http://www.gibsoncustom.com/flash/products/lespauls/class5quilt/Class5QuiltTop.html

http://www.gibsoncustom.com/flash/products/lespauls/lpcustom/LPCustom.html

 

[mikemann]

Is it just a few piece or model or the whole range?? Can you be a little more specific, Gibson or Epiphone, which kind of Les Paul, standard, custom....etc.

Could be material fault, expanding to our climate. Could be logistic problem, over temperature storage. A lot of possibility.

Should highlight to the swee lee sale or supervisor staffs on your findings. So as to benifit the end consumers.

 

[vernplum]

Gibsons. All - Standards, Classics, Customs.

It is definitely not a fault and looks like a design decision. Check out the ones at BB showroom.

The staff who served me there did not know anything about that.

 

[vernplum]

Actually, this should be in 'gear guitar' forum. Sorry.

 

[echoist]

hey vern, i understand what u mean. its suppose to be like that. only refretted LP will losse that. if i remembered correctly its called "nip" or "nib". some LP afficiandos in the US wants their LPs or SGs or Gibson instruments with binding to have that.

i'll try Google to find the actual article for u. i actually read abt it in Guitar Player mag repair section by Dan Erlwine. (dunno if i misspelled the name there!)

 

[vernplum]

Hiya - glad you know what I mean - thought I was going crazy... :|

Anyway, I have never noticed that before and all the LPs I ever played prior to this (as far as I can remember) didn't have this 'feature'. This is new. Again, if you look at the zoom-ins on the Gibson site, you'll see that the plastic 'nib' isn't there...

 

[echoist]

hahahahhha... don't go crazy for details like that. SOFT will loose a member for "invalid reasons"! hehehehehehhhe...

ok, i can't find a site regarding the "nip" or "nib". all i found is the compiled book by the Dan Erlwine i mentioned previously. maybe u can check the book too! i saw it at Borders music section.

i looked at both the url pics, but i think i saw it in the Black Beauty. it looks like a reflection of the ends of the frets, but i think its the "nip/nib". but maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me now... heheheheh... u check again man...