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Yep completely different material. You can actually buy nos inlays ?singemonkey wrote: Yeah. Presumably the different finish. They mix nitro-cellulose with polyurethane now to make it more wear resistant. The celluloid inlays are probably made up with different plastics now too?
Vintage correctness gets silly, IMO, when people duplicate cost-cutting measures from the originals. Les Pauls were relatively cheap in Gibson's '50s line up, so they used celluloid instead of real mother-of-pearl, and rosewood fretboards instead of ebony. If I were getting an LP custom made, for example, I'd be sure to get an ebony board ad MOP inlays.MikeM wrote:Yep completely different material. You can actually buy nos inlays ?singemonkey wrote: Yeah. Presumably the different finish. They mix nitro-cellulose with polyurethane now to make it more wear resistant. The celluloid inlays are probably made up with different plastics now too?
Could be. People often prefer rosewood to ebony now days. But it's difficult to distinguish, I think, between a good feature and one that's just revered because it's how it happened to be done.Donovan Banks wrote: Isn't it that some manufacturers happened across some good features BECAUSE of the cost saving?
Haha! Hooboy. Imagine I said that the historics were fake? The storm would not be made of water ?IceCreamMan wrote: i have to ask cos i am ignorante , which of the 2 is fake?
What you see in the pics is chemistry of ageing at work. To put it simple...the vintage guitars would have looked exactly the same as the modern ones under UV light (so-called black light) in '57 or '69 respectively.singemonkey wrote: Yeah. Presumably the different finish. They mix nitro-cellulose with polyurethane now to make it more wear resistant. The celluloid inlays are probably made up with different plastics now too?
Thanks ....aha i see i used incorrect terminology.singemonkey wrote:Haha! Hooboy. Imagine I said that the historics were fake? The storm would not be made of water ?IceCreamMan wrote: i have to ask cos i am ignorante , which of the 2 is fake?
First comparison is an original '57 Junior (made in '57) and a Gibson reproduction '57 Junior (historic, made in 2006).
The second is between a 2002 Gibson reproduction '57 Les Paul Standard Goldtop, and a Gibson 1969 Goldtop (not really comparing apples with apples, but anyway).
So in the first comparison, the original '57's black 'burst colouring is transparent under UV and disappears. Also the inlays reflect the UV and are shiny white. The '06 historic, on the other hand, you can still see the black, and the inlays aren't as reflective.
In the second, the '69 goldtop back's finish reflects yellow under UV, while the '02 historic's doesn't.
So the original vintage (now generously considered to be 1952 - 1968/9) reflect UV differently to the replicas that Gibson makes today. So using this method, you'd avoid being taken in by someone trying to sell you a reproduction as an original vintage guitar. (although, frankly, a vintage model that had been refinished and had the inlays replaced, or the fretboard replaced, would be tricky and there are other techniques).