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Kelly

Kelly

24 Steel Wheels of Shoegaze
Happy new Bigsby and vibramate found in PunkKitty's basement day!
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jp_nyc said:
Was the neck tenon ever a problem on Les Pauls?
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Up until about 2008, the entire Gibson USA line employed the short tenon/rocker joint. The tenon length was never the actual issue. The curved surface at the bottom of the tenon was the real issue. If you've ever played an LP where the neck was pitched back significantly, thereby causing the bridge to be very high, you experienced the major pitfall of the rocker joint. The tenon should be flat to the body, like you would expect a Fender to be. Not curved on the bottom. Gibson started to fix the issue in 2008, going so far as to include a "keyed tenon" for greater stability, but made too many other changes to the Standard for it to stick. The customer base rebelled, and they issued the Traditional line, with the short tenon/rocker joint, alongside the Standard. AFAIK, as of 2013, all Gibson LPs (with the exception of the Traditional) now have the new chambering pattern, which allows for a "normal" long neck tenon.
 
I never knew about the rocker joint before. I knew that SGs have had some awful joints over the years, but never knew it was a thing with Les Pauls, too.
 
Also the headstock joint on this thing is a lot better than on Gibsons, too.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
Up until about 2008, the entire Gibson USA line employed the short tenon/rocker joint. The tenon length was never the actual issue. The curved surface at the bottom of the tenon was the real issue. If you've ever played an LP where the neck was pitched back significantly, thereby causing the bridge to be very high, you experienced the major pitfall of the rocker joint. The tenon should be flat to the body, like you would expect a Fender to be. Not curved on the bottom. Gibson started to fix the issue in 2008, going so far as to include a "keyed tenon" for greater stability, but made too many other changes to the Standard for it to stick. The customer base rebelled, and they issued the Traditional line, with the short tenon/rocker joint, alongside the Standard. AFAIK, as of 2013, all Gibson LPs (with the exception of the Traditional) now have the new chambering pattern, which allows for a "normal" long neck tenon.
Click to expand...
can anyone even explain why they used the curved tenon?
 
Back in 2009 HIAR! posted:

it allows for more play so that the neck can be adjusted to the proper angle in the neck pocket. the problem with this thinking is that if the neck pockets were properly cut to begin with, you wouldn't need the rocker joint to adjust the angle.
Click to expand...

So it seems to be a Norlin-era cost-cutting measure that Henry J. hung onto for another 22 years.
 
jp_nyc said:
Back in 2009 HIAR! posted:



So it seems to be a Norlin-era cost-cutting measure that Henry J. hung onto for another 22 years.
Click to expand...

Correct. The difference being that the guys who created the joint went to Heritage, and the work was left to be done by inexperienced, low wage workers. Hence the significant variance from instrument to instrument.
 
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