My Jem777 finally arrived this week, unlike my only other 2 maple fretboard guitars this one has half a dozen dark lines running in the direction of the grain (but between the grain lines), only short but fairly obvious. Just wondering if these are filler put in to cover cracks, or totally natural? Doesn't affect the guitar in any way but was thinking about future resale value if these are 'not desirable' by collectors! p.s. its not for sale for £50!
I've noticed this on a lot of these. This is normal for maple, but in general I think they they typically selected pieces for the fretboard that were free of these lines. I rejected the first SK I had the option to buy because the board had several lines like this. The one I ended up getting has a single noticeable line near the pyramid at the 19th fret.
They're completely natural mineral lines. It's quite OK if a customer prefers not to have and passes, but there's no way I'd reject an otherwise completely good guitar because of them. There are too many other reason I have to reject them to worry about something natural.
Now if it's 2mm wide by 10cm long, yes, I'm rejecting.
The mineral spots may be in the growth ring, but they are not "the" growth ring. The growth ring is just "grain" He's talking about the specific mineral spots [which could be sap also] within the grain.
No need, if it was the growth rings they would be as long as the growth rings, and with every grown ring, not just a small spot here or there... And every maple fretboard would have them, which is far from the truth.
No, there are very few showing radial apex lines. Much less what you want, [if you want 1/4 sawn on the board] and that's even full width radial lines, those are unicorns. Not like this board where you have a 1/2" strip down the edge.
And it's 1/4 sawn neck you want, board if you like the dazzling grain, but it's about the neck wood, not board. And you see a good percentage of radial grain in these lam necks, but it's also rare to get even radial grain on all 3 pieces that match each other.
The originals that passed through my hands, for comparison.
LNG #355. Not the prettiest board or neck.
First '88 SK I had (sebastian has this guitar now). Board had really nice, clean grain but there were some wear through spots. Neck was definitely not quartersawn.
Second '88 SK. Nice board on this one, no mineral streaks. Grain was a tiny bit uneven. Neck was reasonably well quartersawn.
Going through a bunch of old pics, it seems a good number of them have nicely quartersawn necks.
Some of the ugliest flat sawn necks I've seen.
I did notice that once they went to multi-piece necks, there was way less emphasis on quartersawn. Usually the center stripe is, but the side pieces are not. Best one I've had where all three pieces looked nice. 3-piece on an '02 RG2120K-KB.
My old RG3770DX had those lines and they were absolutely gorgeous. You should be happy getting free figured fingerboard wood, if it had been flame maple, Ibanez would've charged an extra 1000 bucks.
My Jem 777 30th DY has 3 of this lines and a 4th one on the side of the fret board
I didn't even notice them until I read this post and went looking for them.
Personally it doesn't bother me. They clearly look to be part of the details of the wood rather than being some sort of imperfection, which isn't the case. The colour is also not as saturated so they don't really stand out in a bad way either, but rather blend and are not noticeable when playing, unless you are actually looking for them up close.
That LNG 355's board is absolutely incredible. My Kiesel V220 board is like that and it's gorgeous. Free figuring for standard maple boards, I'm ALL for that.
That isn't figuring, it's just what the grain looks when you flat saw maple. If you like that then cheers because that's the cheap way to do it. People pay extra for quartersawn.
Actually, the fretboard on mine is pretty good compared to this poor 777 LNG 30th..... the pics are rubbish but you get the idea around the 6th fret, don't know what that dark stain is.
WTF? How did someone honestly select that piece of wood and decide that they were going to use it for one of the more expensive guitars that they make?
Ha, the lines arnt such an annoyance once you get used to them, although I noticed today that the edge of the trem routing on my LNG is a bit uneven in one place, its not as bad as an SK I saw the other day though, I'm just too bloody picky. Neck pocket fit is VERY good though!
It's not just you it's the way many parts of society has become. No offense meant as it's sad, but when i read stuff like this I'm thankful to not be stricken.
But anyone expecting $3700 "quality" in these guitars is not being realistic. 50% of the cost is paying for 30 years of nostalgia.
You are quite right, no offense taken, its VERY sad. I think the turning point for me was when I started selling stuff on eBay or other online sites, overnight I suddenly became much more aware of issues that might lower the re-sale value on something, and at that point I found that I started to see my beloved possessions in a totally different light. I don't care about those guitars that are relatively cheap items (for me) in the same way as those top end items that will take me 6 months to pay off, its the expensive items that I get ultra critical over as I'm always thinking about their value, which ruins the fun of ownership. Yep, sad, I know!
I love the flecks and such. Each guitar has its own unique character. The things people worry about befuddle me sometimes. Just play the damn thing. It's a yellow, pink, and green guitar for heaven's sake.
I wish I could give you 1,000,000 likes man. I mentioned earlier in this thread that I had an RG3770DX with these flecks and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I think completely clean fingerboards are nice in their own right but I like guitars with character.
Well, one could always go back and yell at Mother Nature for making all of those imperfections in the wood. How dare she make everything different and unique.
Whether it's a big deal or not, it is worth noting that that the old guitars didn't have these. I'm talking RG550's as well. Were they they rejecting virtually everything? Or has there been a change in the trees that have been harvested?
Completely untrue. Here is a '90 that I used to own:
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