Gibson F-hole cutting

[MikeTT]

At they're honest about what to expect: this is from the gibson.com page about the ES-275...

I personally don't care that much about this, but I don't understand why they can't get this done in a more clean way. Almost any new Gibson (plywood) archtop I saw in EU-stores has this "feature".

But I still like how they do finishes.

[jads57]

That's definitely not good sskipping on that detail! But Gibson memphis is making some great guitars overall.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Yikes, that's awful.

[oldane]

Back in time (at least in 1961 when my 175 was made) they applied brown paint on the edge of the f-holes.

[jads57]

You should contact Mike Voltz at Gibson Memphis and see what they can offer you.

[Woody Sound]

Yikes, that's awful.

The Montreux Burst looks much better.

[GNAPPI]

Back in time (at least in 1961 when my 175 was made) they applied brown paint on the edge of the f-holes.

Yeah, it seems like there's the Good, Better, More Better, and Best treatment at Gibson. My 95 ES-175 has the black treatment around the F holes too.

As it is, love em or not, Gibson is and will for the foreseeable future the game to beat.

[JazzNote]

My 1953 L7 looks just the same. Probably the blondes get white paint which of course is not as well covering as black paint would be. No matter if it's on plywood or on a solid top, the white looks awful, as if someone had done a sloppy job.

[Matt Cushman]

Who says you can't cut corners on an F hole?

[Jabberwocky]

I think that they are routed and not cut, Matt. Routing leaves furry corners. Cut corners are nice, sharp and clean. Guess Gibson cut corners by routing.

[Matt Cushman]

I think that they are routed and not cut, Matt. Routing leaves furry corners. Cut corners are nice, sharp and clean. Guess Gibson cut corners by routing.

Technically speaking routing is rotary cutting.

[Matt Cushman]

Here I am cutting f - holes. All I need now is a little paint and were good to go.

[lawson-stone]

Bob Benedetto routs the f-holes in his guitars. They aren't furry.

[GNAPPI]

Who says you can't cut corners on an F hole?

Is that a double entendre or what? :-)

[Matt Cushman]

Bob Benedetto routs the f-holes in his guitars. They aren't furry.

If you look closely at the picture on page 27 of the Benedetto book, you can see a bit of fuzz at the inside surface of the plate he is cutting. He also states that the method is efficient and requires very little clean up. My experience when using the pin router is the cut is clean at the top surface of the plate on down. The fuzz is only at the area where the bit goes through the plate. The wood is not supported where the bit goes through the plate. If you use a bit with the opposite spiral cut (upcut rather than downcut), the top of the plate would be fuzzy. The amount of fuzz varies between plates. It looks bad in a photo but cleaning this up is a simple task.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Yeah, it seems like there's the Good, Better, More Better, and Best treatment at Gibson. My 95 ES-175 has the black treatment around the F holes too.

As it is, love em or not, Gibson is and will for the foreseeable future the game to beat.

My 1953 L7 looks just the same. Probably the blondes get white paint which of course is not as well covering as black paint would be. No matter if it's on plywood or on a solid top, the white looks awful, as if someone had done a sloppy job.

What gets me is the raggedness on the upper end of the f-hole ... almost as if they left hanging splinters in place.

The OP's pic is a good argument for binding.

[sgosnell]

Binding always looks better, but costs more because of the time and labor required. It's not really necessary if you clean up the rout a little. That also takes a little time and labor but not so much that it should be ignored. The inspector who let that get by was negligent, or else Gibson just doesn't give a rat's rectal orifice. Either is equally possible, IMO.

[vinnyv1k]

Sloppy F holes from Gibson has been a beef with me for a long time. It seems in the last several years they have gotten a lot worse. Seriously nothing that 5 minutes of sandpaper wouldn't fix.
I actually like the look of unbound F holes but they need to be sanded nice and clean.
I have seen recent Gibson's with F holes that look like they were cut with a chainsaw.

[Gitfiddler]

Heritage takes the time to sand and sometimes paint their F-holes. I checked my unbound H525 and they look great, not super smooth, but definitely not furry.

[silverfoxx]

Vinny,
I only recently noticed that one of my ES275's has exactly what you have described,
very rough edges on one of the F holes, surprisingly my other guitars seem unaffected
but i will check them out also.
Hope too that you are now progressing well yourself and that your Left hand is rapidly
improving.

[vinnyv1k]

Thank you 007. I am playing again :-). Single line is fine. Still having a little problem with some chords but progressing very well my friend. Vinny is a happy boy.

Back to the post. My L4's F holes are perfect and sanded beautifully but anything plywood coming out of Memphis these days looks really sloppy especially the VOS models. Lots of splinters and whiskers on the F holes.
Like I said 5 minutes with a piece of sandpaper is all that is needed and a nice coat of paint. Come on Gibson !

[mwcarr]

It's also fundamental to working with real, solid wood versus plywood. Inexcusable in my opinion to let it out of the shop like that.