ShortScale.org

Musician's Friend is taking pre-orders (link)


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He plays a "Thunderhorse Explorer" in this video.

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Splittable pups too. Very nice.

EDIT: Plastic fretboard...? Seriously, what the fuck?

Thomas wrote:EDIT: Plastic fretboard...? Seriously, what the fuck?

haha "phenolic". yeah nice try epiphone.

i'd be interested to try a plastic fingerboard out but i can't imagine it feels nice

ha ha ha ha he's hilarious.

I do like the look of that explorer. Last thing I'd ever buy, but it sure looks good.

I don't know why they took so long to make this. When they released the $2k Gibson model tons of Dethklok fans and shred nerds were positing about wanting one but not being able to pay as much as that, or even for the guys who were they were struggling to find one because not many were made. It seemed a no-brainer to release them for $600 a time and sell shit loads of them. To the point where that was even the price I guessed it would be before opening the link.

Also, I have a neck with that fretboard material and it's absolutely fine. They're baked maple thing was bullshit but the phenolic ones get a pass in my book.

Steinberger made guitars with phenolic fretboards.

As do Parker Fly.

I don't really mind as you don't "feel" a fretboard when you play. You press strings against frets, not fretboards... and on a bound neck you aren't even feeling the edges of a fretboard or anything. Don't see why it'd feel any different than playing a regular Gibson neck or a glossy Fender one.

I touch the fingerboard a lot when playing, mostly the treble area

paul_ wrote:You press strings against frets, not fretboards...

I am now cast into a vortex* of doubt that for the last 23 years I have been doing it wrong. Which admittedly, would explain a lot.

You happen to touch the fingerboard with parts of your fingers sure, that's why they get dirty. I don't see how this would feel any different to a glossy maple Fender board, for example.

And yeah, the strings contact the frets. To press them down on wood would be a sharp note (and before too long, a buggered board).

Ulp.

I know the strings contact the frets, but I'm actually pressing on the fretboard. As near the fret as possible, but not on it.

I am really worried I've been doing it wrong for years now.

Sorry, that's not what I meant by pressing on the fret. I just meant that when you fret a string all it needs to touch is a fret (like on a scalloped fretboard), I don't put my finger over the fret itself. Just the concept of making full contact with a fretboard, being able to feel it's grain under your fingertip etc... is low on the list of tactile experiences when fretting, in my opinion, because there's a string in between you and the guitar.

In any case I retract my posting of "you don't FEEL a fretboard", because everybody's fingers are different and it doesn't really matter... I just don't think a phenolic fretboard is going to jump out as a radically different "feel" to maple or even a well-played and/or oiled rosewood board to the vast majority of players in practice.

Unless its vintage frets or very slinky strings and even then you'll have a hard time pressing them sharp enough to damage finger boards or make them touch

Fingers are fleshy and there are gaps between strings. I feel my finger board all the time when playing, and that's why material matters to some extent. I can't imagine that matte looking plastic to be very nice but I'd be willing to try.

I'm now a big fan of gloss maple for the slidiness

I personally like the idea of a phenolic fretboard, that shit is durable. NASA uses it for lightweight strong components and it's corrosion, heat, wear, & moisture resistant.

That actually sounds like something Dethklok would need.

I don't see how plastic and 70s Fender necks covered in urethane are all that different.

The Epiphone Deathklok guitar was first announced 5 years ago at NAMM. This is the original below.

I like the new one better.