If you had carbon fiber stiffners with a Richlite fingerboard with stainless frets, that neck would be warp free and wouldn't need any adjustments for the life of the guitar.

Before I bought my 2015 Les Paul Custom, I did not know about Richlite fretboards. I assumed my guitar had Ebony. With that said, I'm happy to hear that Richlite is an excellent material. I think I'll keep my LP...lol.

@RobNY5150

7 ай бұрын

If you like the way the guitar plays and sounds, definitely keep it!

​ I share your opinion, Richtlite also helps the neck to remain straight in spite of weather changes since it is so solid... ​

@RobNY5150

2 жыл бұрын

Definitely very stable in different environments.

@BedeLaplume

2 жыл бұрын

@@RobNY5150​ I have 2 great Godin guitars, the Godin Summit.They are LP style guitars that have a richlite fretboard and I hardly ever had to use the truss rod.. I also have 2 guitars with ebony fretboards so I can compare.. Ebony looks and feels great but its not as solid and just like rosewood you need to moisturise it with lemon oil after a while..

It's good to hear a level headed review of Richlite.

Very cool. I had never heard of Richlite.

Ebony is like a hot jalapeno pepper, cracking in the sunlight busting with acidity gaining increased value as it deteriorates into spice racks and sauce. Richlite is like money glued together that stays money, yet decreases in value.

I have a 2018 Gibson LP Custom that has a richlite board. I was looking around for a used custom, and the lowest prices I'd see were about $5200cad. I found this one, mint for $4400cad. On inspection it looks very close to the ebony that Gibson uses, which has very tight grain.. Ive had roughly a dozen Gibson LPs, including aime Supreme and Custom models that used ebony. I didnt notice a difference at all. I've shown the guitar to a few longtime Gibson users who didn't notice until I told them. It's plays great, was a good deal and will hold up to the humidity changes in Toronto much better than ebony. I don't plan to sell this one, so the value really doesn't bother me. Worst case, I can always trade it in on something.

My only complaint with Richlite is that it lacks character. If they would add in cosmetic wood grains it would look a lot better.

Wow, Gibson uses non wood for its fret boards. That’s amazing. I had a fiver a while ago that had ebonol fretboard. Like ebony but man made material. Where I live, when temps change, neck tuning/adjustment comes with it. Thanks for sharing, Rob.

@RobNY5150

2 жыл бұрын

As far as I know they have switched back to Ebony. They had an issue with importing certain woods at one point.

@QeenoyAsli

2 жыл бұрын

@@RobNY5150 ebonol is synthetic material IIRC.

I love my richlite board! It's vastly superior to ebony imo.

Total beginner here and learning new things everyday. One question about Richlite, are there any issues when re-fretting?

@RobNY5150

6 ай бұрын

That’s a really good question that I haven’t researched!

But what do they sound like? I’d like to hear a sound comparison.

@yeetyfreety6938

5 ай бұрын

Tonewood is a myth

Some Martins use Richlite as bridge materials too. Regarding the sound quality, I assume the bridge is more important than the fretboard because it transmits the vibration of the strings to the top wood. I wonder how it affects the sound compared to Ebony.

Richlite is a superior material to ebony and rosewood in every way, except maybe resale value to "real wood" snobs, that think they can feel or hear a difference in tone or playability, and that's just BS! They can't. If you blindfolded the "tone wood" snob and played each type of neck, they would not be able to hear ANY difference at all. With that said, I do understand the real wood snob's point of view, and can even appreciate it, however much it's not founded in any discernible reality.

I think it’s fine for entry level guitars and gets the job done, but on a fine instrument??? It’s like pouring diet cola and a twist of lime into some Blanton’s Single Barrel. It just ruins the whole experience. No thanks. It’s a cheap, utilitarian substitute, and all the marketing spin in the world won’t change that. I don’t want a cheap substitute when I’m shelling out top dollar; I want real deal A-grade tone woods.

@RobNY5150

Жыл бұрын

I think most people feel the same way you do. Thanks for watching.

@flapjack413

Жыл бұрын

Actually, the cost of Richlite and ebony fretboards is just about the same. There's no cost savings in using it over ebony.

@baddestmofoalive

Жыл бұрын

@@flapjack413 that’s pure marketing. If you believe some compressed paper made from recycled scraps is worth the same as a piece of rare wood hewn in Africa and transported around the world, I got bad news for you…… I’m sure the Richlite markup is ASTRONOMICAL

@Spazza42

6 ай бұрын

Fully agree. Considering I could source a blank Ebony fretboard for a reasonable price if I built a guitar myself it’s daft that Gibson can’t source a good stock of real ebony. Yes it’s getting rare and expensive but that’s the way it is, just price the guitar accordingly. People will pay the extra $$$’s for the exotic materials to be there.

@Ashfold_Eberesche

5 ай бұрын

@@baddestmofoalive I agree - I've seen their videos saying the price is similar and even potentially leaning towards Richlite being more expensive but I don't buy that - not in terms of cost to build. Maybe they SELL their Richlite boards for roughly the cost of an Ebony board but if you totaled the cost of each of their creation then I'd be EXTREMELY surprised if they were at all comparable. I'd be fine with Richlite on anything like a Squier, Epiphone, LTD etc - the lower range models, or even as a cost saving measure on a really nice players guitar. But if I'm shelling out for a Gibson Custom Shop (not that I would, probably) then since I'm paying over the odds for the branding already then I want them to go that extra mile to provide the classic materials on a premium product. You'll just never convince me that a paper pulp product is "high end" compared to a rare wood. In saying that, if they have to use Ebony that isn't pure black because of the realities of export, so be it.

Richlite is recycled paper & resin - the same argument being made here was made by Ovation - that wood was not the best material for guitars period - so where is this trend heading? Are we going to see Richlite guitars - sure we will - first side and backs and then entire pieces of richlite crap in the name of false environmentalism and higher profits for guitar companies - this entire trend in guitars is deeply unfortunate - we would never own a guitar fretted with richlite.

@pablorustic4115

3 ай бұрын

Hola, no es un falso ambientalismo, muchas especies de maderas nobles no conservan hoy día ni el 15 por cien de las superficie que ocuparon, tardan siglos en coger porte y son talados e unos pocos minutos, el abuso y presión sobre ellos es abrumador