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Richlite is a paper product...used in countertops too, I think...very strong. Feels pretty much just like ebony, IMHO.
I assume they're hollow, Gibson doesn't usually float a bridge on a guitar with a block, but of course, there's exceptions...
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01-12-2016 04:44 PM
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Originally Posted by neatomic
Neatomic.
very informative thanks ,the new 275 looks interesting , the "Figured" appears to have a Richlite fb !!
not for me i'm afraid . Rosewood or Ebony perhaps, The model looks like an amalgamation of a Byrdland
Es175 and a Singlecut version of a 335 . I will await other opinions and demos , looks ok but how it sounds
in the ultimate factor i suggest.
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I like the concept, but I wish they would have taken it a bit further down with a 15" body. Like the Lee Rit L5, or Sadowsky JB, or Ibanez GB. There are still very few production guitars in that niche. This one sits more like another 175.
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+1 to that Jabber, give me rosewood over Richlite any day ,had a couple no likee. Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
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Maybe not. I didn't have a hard decision to make when I got my Les Paul Supreme or Midtown Customs with richlite. Then again neither were anywhere near $4,000. So, if I were in the market for a >$3,000 guitar rather than wait for a 275 with unknown playability and reliability to come available used, I'd go for an L4-CES first. Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
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Its right up my alley! Just heed to wait for a P90 version
Bob
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single alnico v staple pup be the ultimate!! hah Originally Posted by Top of the Arch!
Its right up my alley! Just heed to wait for a P90 version Bob
cheers
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You got that right! Bob
Originally Posted by neatomic
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As usual a substantial price increase across the board for 2016. A regular ES175 went from $3999 to $4899. A standard 335 went up $500.
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What's interesting to me is not that I don't want Richlite, but why I don't want Richlite. I have no good reason at all. Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
Richlite needs a strong PR campaign.
I have two smaller hollowbodies that push the ebony envelope already. The two are siblings from the same run of 6 instruments. Each used one billet of ebony to make the fretboard, the PG, the TP and the headstock veneer. Macassar ebony was used, which has the same density qualities as African ebony but has brown streaking. The luthier preferred this wood for its visual richness. It seemed and still seems edgy to me.
Richlite looks more like African ebony from even a short distance but, in my heart, I know that it's some sort of mulch. And that concept is edgy to me also.
Can't win.
However, newer designed Gibsons can use Richlite and it doesn't make me bristle. Richlite seems a violation to the dignity of the older Gibson models though.
BTW, I don't consider the Johnny A a newer design. So I'm not emotionally ready to accept Richlite on one.
My two cents.
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i like streaks in ebony..has an almost walnut look..i think its beautiful..but it's a fairly common woodworking practice to dye ebony so that its solid black...not difficult if you prefer that look
gibsons use of richlite might have something to do with target markets..many countries now have stringent regulations about endangered woods, and will confiscate without return...when the feds raided gibson a few years ago and confiscated their rosewood supplies, they quickly turned to "baked maple" for fingerboards
cheers
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Jazz 175 The Historic '63 ES-335 is a Memphis build!
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This is Richlite: Originally Posted by Marwin Moody
Really, really really makes no difference to me at all. It looks good and is eco-friendly... what's the problem exactly?
What kind of tap tone does it have? Does it have a nice wooden glassy ring to it? Can I make marimbas out that?
It even looks acoustically dead in the photos...like a countertop. Recycled paper baked in phenolic resin doesn't sound to me like it would make a good "tonewood". When was the last time anyone made a guitar out of a kitchen countertop*?
I don't mind Richlite fretboards but not on a $3000 and up guitar. It is a cheap material so meant for cheaply priced guitars. All that nice mahogany, and then slap a slab of dead-sounding Richlite on it?
Forest conservation and management is one thing; luthiery is another.
*Yeah, I know Bob did out of his wife's kitchen table but that was proper tonewood, not Richlite or Masonite or Formica. Tonewood sceptics can take their opinions and shove it up where the sun don't shine. It is like an atheist telling a Catholic that his God does not exist? Why should the Catholic give a flying fig?Last edited by Jabberwocky; 01-12-2016 at 11:53 PM.
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you sayin this is wrong??
haha
cheers
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I don't know what Richlite sounds like, but I've heard a few non wood materials that sounded great, including nomex for double tops and carbon fiber guitars. I've played a few carbon fiber Rainsong and Composite Acoustic acoustics that don't sacrifice tone or volume to high end offerings. On the other hand, there is a romantic beauty to playing a fine wooden instrument. Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
This is Richlite:
What kind of tap tone does it have? Does it have a nice wooden glassy ring to it? Can I make marimbas out that?
It even looks acoustically dead in the photos...like a countertop. Recycled paper baked in phenolic resin doesn't sound to me like it would make a good "tonewood". When was the last time anyone made a guitar out of a kitchen countertop*?
I don't mind Richlite fretboards but not on a $3000 and up guitar. It is a cheap material so meant for cheaply priced guitars. All that nice mahogany, and then slap a slab of dead-sounding Richlite on it?
Forest conservation and management is one thing; luthiery is another.
*Yeah, I know Bob did out of his wife's kitchen table but that was proper tonewood, not Richlite or Masonite or Formica. Tonewood sceptics can take their opinions and shove it up where the sun don't shine. It is like an atheist telling a Catholic that his God does not exist? Why should the Catholic give a flying fig?
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Observation..... Originally Posted by Marwin Moody
Really, really really makes no difference to me at all. It looks good and is eco-friendly... what's the problem exactly?
Back when I was bass world mid-2000's there were some articles on how bassists are open to new innovation in bass guitar technology woods, carbon fiber, electronics, pickups, amps and on and on. Even in the classical world carbon fibre cellos and other instruments are being used when people can afford them. Then guitar players in general are adverse to modern technology and hung up on being traditionalists in guitar and amps. The only exception is pedals there they plug there vintage/high end guitar into a sea of pedals that by tine thru that signal chain it could of be a $100 Squire the sound would be the same coming from the vintage amp.
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'No-one builds guitars out of formica'......
Rick Turner T1.
I've only tried the Martin synthetic f/b material. I didn't care for it. After half an hours playing it still felt cold and somehow lifeless. To me ebony has a bounce nothing else has, a bit like a Fender Maple board.
The brief new ES-275 description on the German stores website reads rather like the Kalamazoo Midtown spec to me. Hope I'm wrong.
I thought it was Gibsons questionably acquired ebony stock that was confiscated.Last edited by bananafist; 01-13-2016 at 05:51 AM.
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Nope, but you don't tap tone fingerboards, I LIKE that red one, I wouldn't mind that on an L5 :-) Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
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The strings don't actually touch the wood, though. Its material is irrelevant.
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Richlite fingerboards play great, in spite of all the dislike.
Hopefully it will stand the test of time on my Midtown custom
But rosewood is still my favorite.
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Whilst in the 'old days' Gibson used Brazilian rosewood f/bs (as did everyone else, including furniture manufacturers worldwide who used MUCH more than guitar makers,) Gibson, according to my old catalogues, used Honduras mahogany for solid bodies, not actual Brazilian mahogany, though probably the same species, as its the same continent. Still a lot of 'mojo' talked.
I used to have a 59 LP junior back in the day (made of Honduras mahogany) that was as light as a feather - that was why it was more resonant, sustaining, wonderful, splendiferous.....(add your own superlative.) Old growth wood.
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Are "ordinary" people able to distinguish Richlite from ebony? Originally Posted by Longways to Go
Last edited by Jazz_175; 01-13-2016 at 03:21 PM.
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I played a friend's Martin (incidentally, also his name) guitar and liked it very much. I remarked to him how great the fingerboard material was in appearance and was surprised it was synthetic. Originally Posted by Jazz_175
Those who believe that the fingerboard material matters.... explain to me, how? The wood is glued to the neck which is glued to the body. I understand there would be a difference if the string touched the wood but.... it doesn't!
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Dude, some of us don't get off on what the FB is made of. Tap them or not, there's people who wear tin foil on their heads too, both prove zilch. It either plays and sounds right or it does not. Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
I once played an Ovation with an ALUMINUM fingerboard AND frets and it was one of the BEST sounding acoustics I've played.
My 50's Goya LP copy has an all lexan FB with SS frets and it howls with the best Lesters. Tap away :-)
Last edited by GNAPPI; 01-13-2016 at 05:48 PM.
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