Page 27 - Guitar Classics Magazine - The Les Paul Bible 2019

REVIEWS

This guitar’s major departure from vintage So which does Mat prefer? “Honestly, I believe you ABOVE For 2019, Gibson
specifications is, of course, the absence of a Brazilian can’t go wrong. Indian and Bolivian are both great has revoiced the guitar’s
rosewood fretboard. Gibson has only been able choices. No one has detected any tonal differences, controls for a more
to source very limited quantities of high-quality as far as I know. I would expect maybe a little less authentic range of tones
Brazilian rosewood in recent years and none of it compression and more clarity out of the Bolivian
has shipped overseas since 2003. It isn’t even a because of the density. But we’re talking about
custom option for US customers and is only made splitting hairs here.”
available in limited runs. At the fretboard edges, the binding is thin and the
However, there are two options for fretboard fret nibs are suitably understated, while the side dots
material when it comes to 2019’s R9 – Indian and are tortoiseshell, as they were in the 1950s. Even
Bolivian rosewood. Thanks to CITES, many of us with a 3D scanner recording hundreds of points all
have been forced to become armchair experts on over the neck of a vintage guitar and that data being
Dalbergia latifolia, but our review guitar’s Bolivian used to program a CNC machine, the hand-sanding
’board – with its smooth finish, dark-brown hue and that takes place after the automated carve means that
far less noticeable pores than Indian or Brazilian there will always be slight variances. The ‘Carmelita’
rosewood – requires further investigation. neck profile here feels just about perfect, with its
“Bolivian rosewood is essentially pau ferro from appealingly soft shoulders and a 22.3mm first-fret
Bolivia that has been sorted and processed in Brazil depth filling out to 25.1mm at the octave.
and selected for its visual characteristics,” reveals
Mat. “It’s dark and dense, unlike some pau ferro you IN USE
see out there. The reason we offer it as an option is What are we looking for from a great Les Paul?
because it’s export-friendly in the current CITES Although there’s a hell of a range when it comes
climate and it’s a great fingerboard wood to use. to musical reference points, our dozen or so
It’s actually a little closer density-wise to Brazilian meaningful encounters with real Bursts have
rosewood than Indian rosewood.” revealed more similarities than differences. One

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