After being raided for the second time, and having their rosewood and ebony fretboards confiscated, Gibson has started using substitutes for these woods in their guitar production. According to an AP article they are now using composite materials and torrefied maple. Torrefied wood is a process where the wood is ‘baked’ in order to make it more stable, harder, and some luthiers say more resonant. I’ve seen it offered as an option from various small luthiers. It’s also sometimes called “Vulcanized” wood.
The composite material mentioned may be something like those that Martin Guitars has been using, both on fingerbords and as back/side material. Most of these are some combination of wood and plastic compressed under high heat and pressure to create very dense strong materials. Micarta is one of the older types of composites and has been used as fingerbord material as well as for guitar nuts and bridges.
The Gibsons seem to be hitting music store shelves already. So far I have only seen them on some of the less expensive Jr models.According to Nashville Public Radio, Gibson’s CEO Henry Juszkiewicz had this to say about it:
“It’s different. It is not the product we would normally have built. The returns are not yet in, but it could be very injurious.”
