The basic disparity is that amount of mass between the old and new with the old having greater mass in the joint area of the guitar while the new had less mass. Anyone with a basic understanding of construction should be able to visualize and conceptualize the difference between the long neck and short neck tenon. Basic autopsies revealed the neck tenon to be the greatest dissimilarity between the old guitars and new guitars. Most of these issues would never be noticed by the audience or listeners but the player would notice this phenomenon.Īt some point someone got smart and wanted to know why the old Gold Tops, 19 Les Paul’s had such clarity and sustain. So Gibson in their infinite wisdom decided to shorten the neck tenon and some players started noticing lack of sustain, less brilliance in tone, muddy sounding, and a less resonant instrument.
#Gibson les paul neck joint free
Take my word, I ran a quality assurance program for a large semiconductor company and when they needed to save a penny, it was the quality department that was terminated to free up cash reserves. Like many companies in the United States, profit is paramount while quality is job # 100000000. However, if you are familiar with Gibson guitars, they decided to move the facility to Nashville Tennessee as the company was sold to Norlin who in my opinion proceeded to screw up the company. Instruments made during the 1950’s to 1960 have had long neck tenons as part of the original design. Guitars with long neck tenons originally were constructed in the Kalamazoo Michigan facility. Okay folks, to be more precise I am going to talk guitar necks and their tenon construction let’s stick to long neck tenon vs.