Epiphone fretboard is just a thin rosewood veneer???

[Burningleaves]

IDK...I can't even tell for sure what part of teh neck that is from the pic. Looks like the back of the neck.

[RaVenCAD]

 

So surely Epi cut some corners on the woods - but I won't knock Epi's. For the price they can sound mighty damn fine.

 

 

And isn't that kind of the point everyone needs to focus on? Everyone gets all hung up on wood quality and species on these cheap guitars, but they all seem to like how they can be made to sound with the right pickups. Ok, if we're talking about a $2-3k Gibson, then I expect it to be made of very nice wood. But these are low end, budget guitars. Yes, $500 IS considered a budget guitar. I'm not surprised to see them use "assorted" wood in the construction.

 

Oh, and for the record, I agree that it looks like rosewood with a chipped off finish..

[Procreatur]

there are at least a dozen types of rosewood, and some impostors. that could very well be a species we've never seen used. it looks light by any means

[Bbreaker]

Shoulda' stepped up and bought an Agile:rolleyes:

[lowbrow]

On Epi Dot Studios, if you look closely, you can see they are actually bound with a thin rosewood binding strip. Guitar World, or Guitar Player (one of those magazines) actually mentions it in the review they did.

[guitarcapo]

I'm not convinced this is a laminated fretboard.

To laminate a fretboard you wouldn't "roll over on the the edge onto the side" very easily and if you did accomplish that it would be extremely difficult on a tapered board. Certianly not worth the effort in lumber savings. Fretboards of solid Brazilian rosewood still wholesale for 20 dollars even in small quantities.

I'm guessing you guys are just seeing the effect of finish over a pale Asian rosewood board. It's just a deceptive photo IMHO.

[Melody Maker]

Sometimes they use dyes to hide undesirable streaks in rosewood grain.

 

It's possible that the chip is just revealing a light streak.

[Burningleaves]

OK.....had my morning cup of coffee and now I can what's going on. The crack is between the fretboard and the neck. I was looking at it all wrong the first time and was confused.

[Burningleaves]

 

I'm not convinced this is a laminated fretboard. To laminate a fretboard you wouldn't "roll over on the the edge onto the side" very easily and if you did accomplish that it would be extremely difficult on a tapered board. Certianly not worth the effort in lumber savings. Fretboards of solid Brazilian rosewood still wholesale for 20 dollars even in small quantities. I'm guessing you guys are just seeing the effect of finish over a pale Asian rosewood board. It's just a deceptive photo IMHO.

 

 

 

 

I am not convinced either. Good point about the lam' tech' / labor.

 

Really not sure what to make of it. All in all though (imo) if folks (in general) are buying an Epiphone and worrying about what it is made of...they prol' shouldnt buy an Epiphone.

[HanSolo]

 

I'm not sure I agree with the assessment - to me, it just looks like a rosewood board that has the finish chipped off.

 

 

You better get over to Pearl Vision! If the fingerboard was solid rosewood, there would be no pinkish wood peeking out from behind a rosewood-look laminate that is chipped awa. The wood underneath would look the same as the fingerboard if it was solid rosewood. I agree also that the "binding" is just a man-made laminate that looks like rosewood. Looking at my own EPI Dpt Dlx, I can see now that the center of the fingerboard is rosewood with 2 strips of laminate "binding" joined down either side to give the appearance of a solid rosewood fingerboard. From the pics, the fingerboard is not solid rosewood as everyone assumes. Crappy Chinese construction, not what one expects from an Epiphone. What other corners have they cut?

[dcindc]