NGD Gibson L-00 12 fret
Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 8:04 pm
So, it came today, and I got to play it for most of the evening. It'll be staying. These are the eBay auction pictures:
Nice rosewood on the back:
And to contrast I do own an L-00 Standard as well:
So, how is this 12 fret one different?
1) It's 12 frets to the body instead of 14, but you knew that,
2) It has a different scale length for some reason, the 12 fret seems to be the 25" that they advertised and the Standard is the usual 24.75",
3) The 12 fret has rosewood back and sides, the Standard has mahogany,
4) The 12 fret has a 16" radius and the Standard the usual 12",
5) The 12 fret is advertised at having a 1.75" nut, but it doesn't, it's a hair over the typical Gibson nut of at something like 1.28". The Standard is advertised as having the typical Gibson 1.725" nut but is actually wider at 1.73" or something like that. Maybe a little more.
6) The 12 fret has a "V" neck profile that it turns out isn't too sharp of a V, I was worried it would be, but it's pretty sedate. The Standard has a Slim-Taper sort of neck. Both play great. Too early to say if I like the Standard more, I bet I do by a bit.
I won't bore you with how the Standard sounds, I'll just talk about the 12 fret. And bear in mind that it's not all that set up yet, I'll get to that in a minute.
The 12 fret has a tremendous amount of bass. It's really something. You can feel it vibrate your ribs as you play- even fingerstyle. It's not super loud, though, or boomy: it's just powerful, localized bass. It'll be great for recording.
It kind of sounds like an organ or something.
The 12 fret has a ton of sustain to it, also. Again, it's not a super loud guitar- at least not now- but you can hear it just ringing out down there. I can only imagine that a microphone is going to love this sound. You fingerpick a haunting E minor9 chord and just let it ring out, and it just hangs there. It's really something.
I should mention that I don't give a shit about sustain with acoustics any more than I do with electrics. It's not something that I look for or think sustain or lack thereof makes or breaks the instrument. But in this case, with this guitar, it'll be a cool thing, since it's somewhat quiet, and that'll lend itself well with recording solo guitar type stuff.
I had thought that the treble would be a little more present and a little sharper due to the rosewood. But it's if anything a little less present than it is on the Standard. That could be something that is just a 12 fret vs 14 fret thing, I'm not experienced enough to say. Still, I had thought that there might be a little more. What is there has a sweet sound to it.
I'm enjoying the action of it OK. I am a little disappointed not to have the full 1.75" nut like advertised. Frankly, most of my Gibsons are wider than they advertise their necks as being, and I was hoping for something closer to 1.8"- but no, in this case they went the opposite direction from what they said it would be. It's not a deal breaker or anything.
The V neck is growing on me, the 16" radius I'm long used to from Martin guitars, and while I've grown to prefer the 12" it's fine on this guitar- I might even come to view it as a strength. Gibson seemed to think that they were making the ultimate fingerstyle guitar, and while I don't think it's really better than their usual necks, I can say that it's flawless for fingerstyle. You can play it effortlessly that way with little or no fatigue.
It also has a very good dynamic range to it- for what it is- the quiet notes can turn into loud ones very quickly, with a lot of room in between.
That being said, there are some notes that kind of don't "burst" when you play them. I guess I won't say that they are "dead" notes on the fretboard, but if you don't pay attention, they can get lost in the mix of the rest.
That being said, there's reason to think that this guitar will only get better. This was an expensive guitar even used, new, I think it would have sold for like $2200-2400. I didn't pay that, I got a good deal.
But regardless, I have no idea why there is a fucking cheap plastic saddle on here, super cheap plastic no account bridge pins, and a nut that I don't even think is Tusq quality, which I would think was poor quality on a guitar of this cost anyway. And of course there is some LR Baggs bullshit underneath the cheap saddle (which doesn't even look all that compensated).
I've been through this with all my Gibson acoustics, and I already ordered a replacement bone saddle. I'll pull the LR Baggs bullshit and sell that and get the new saddle in, these strings are likely to be dead that are on there now, and I am predicting that I will get a fair amount more volume when I'm done and the sound will change considerably- experience is telling me that I will get more treble, but of course that remains to be seen.
Oh, I should also mention that it's wonderful with a pick. It sounds great that way, it's not a one trick pony or anything.
So, that's my new guitar.
Nice rosewood on the back:
And to contrast I do own an L-00 Standard as well:
So, how is this 12 fret one different?
1) It's 12 frets to the body instead of 14, but you knew that,
2) It has a different scale length for some reason, the 12 fret seems to be the 25" that they advertised and the Standard is the usual 24.75",
3) The 12 fret has rosewood back and sides, the Standard has mahogany,
4) The 12 fret has a 16" radius and the Standard the usual 12",
5) The 12 fret is advertised at having a 1.75" nut, but it doesn't, it's a hair over the typical Gibson nut of at something like 1.28". The Standard is advertised as having the typical Gibson 1.725" nut but is actually wider at 1.73" or something like that. Maybe a little more.
6) The 12 fret has a "V" neck profile that it turns out isn't too sharp of a V, I was worried it would be, but it's pretty sedate. The Standard has a Slim-Taper sort of neck. Both play great. Too early to say if I like the Standard more, I bet I do by a bit.
I won't bore you with how the Standard sounds, I'll just talk about the 12 fret. And bear in mind that it's not all that set up yet, I'll get to that in a minute.
The 12 fret has a tremendous amount of bass. It's really something. You can feel it vibrate your ribs as you play- even fingerstyle. It's not super loud, though, or boomy: it's just powerful, localized bass. It'll be great for recording.
It kind of sounds like an organ or something.
The 12 fret has a ton of sustain to it, also. Again, it's not a super loud guitar- at least not now- but you can hear it just ringing out down there. I can only imagine that a microphone is going to love this sound. You fingerpick a haunting E minor9 chord and just let it ring out, and it just hangs there. It's really something.
I should mention that I don't give a shit about sustain with acoustics any more than I do with electrics. It's not something that I look for or think sustain or lack thereof makes or breaks the instrument. But in this case, with this guitar, it'll be a cool thing, since it's somewhat quiet, and that'll lend itself well with recording solo guitar type stuff.
I had thought that the treble would be a little more present and a little sharper due to the rosewood. But it's if anything a little less present than it is on the Standard. That could be something that is just a 12 fret vs 14 fret thing, I'm not experienced enough to say. Still, I had thought that there might be a little more. What is there has a sweet sound to it.
I'm enjoying the action of it OK. I am a little disappointed not to have the full 1.75" nut like advertised. Frankly, most of my Gibsons are wider than they advertise their necks as being, and I was hoping for something closer to 1.8"- but no, in this case they went the opposite direction from what they said it would be. It's not a deal breaker or anything.
The V neck is growing on me, the 16" radius I'm long used to from Martin guitars, and while I've grown to prefer the 12" it's fine on this guitar- I might even come to view it as a strength. Gibson seemed to think that they were making the ultimate fingerstyle guitar, and while I don't think it's really better than their usual necks, I can say that it's flawless for fingerstyle. You can play it effortlessly that way with little or no fatigue.
It also has a very good dynamic range to it- for what it is- the quiet notes can turn into loud ones very quickly, with a lot of room in between.
That being said, there are some notes that kind of don't "burst" when you play them. I guess I won't say that they are "dead" notes on the fretboard, but if you don't pay attention, they can get lost in the mix of the rest.
That being said, there's reason to think that this guitar will only get better. This was an expensive guitar even used, new, I think it would have sold for like $2200-2400. I didn't pay that, I got a good deal.
But regardless, I have no idea why there is a fucking cheap plastic saddle on here, super cheap plastic no account bridge pins, and a nut that I don't even think is Tusq quality, which I would think was poor quality on a guitar of this cost anyway. And of course there is some LR Baggs bullshit underneath the cheap saddle (which doesn't even look all that compensated).
I've been through this with all my Gibson acoustics, and I already ordered a replacement bone saddle. I'll pull the LR Baggs bullshit and sell that and get the new saddle in, these strings are likely to be dead that are on there now, and I am predicting that I will get a fair amount more volume when I'm done and the sound will change considerably- experience is telling me that I will get more treble, but of course that remains to be seen.
Oh, I should also mention that it's wonderful with a pick. It sounds great that way, it's not a one trick pony or anything.
So, that's my new guitar.