New Epi bass, the Triumph-II

[JimmyBond8]

Very nice! I'll be looking forward to being able to try one out in person.

My only beef with Epiphone on their bass/guitar designs is their obsession with flamed maple tops. I don't have anything against this for a top, but it is on a lot of their 'special edition' instruments; presumably in an attempt to make them seem more custom or high end (rather than just a standard paint job). I just think it might not hurt to go out on a limb and try some colors, or just a sunburst every now and then.

Rant over. Sorry about that.

[uwe]

My feelings exactly, flamed maple is overdone, dead and so yesterday.

[OldManC]

I prefer a lemon drop plain maple top. I even sold the Gibson Deluxe, rather than the Orville Standard.

[Dave W]

In case anyone here doesn't already know, I've never cared for figured maple tops. But I'd rather have one than have a diseased (spalted) top. Or a fake relic. Or that hideous buckeye burl that seems to be preferred by buyers of those expensive basses with mutant upper horns.

[angrymatt]

With the exception of the trans black flame on the Vinnie, I detest flamed maple finishes.  The only thing I dislike more is the wider quilted maple finishes.

I don't, however, mind the burl and spalted stuff so much.  It's just not my thing.  My Euro Rebop5 had a plain alder finish, and it was gorgeous.  I need to figure out how to get that bass back.

[Basvarken]

I really like flamed maple tops!
In fact I think I'm going to build a bass with one myself.

[gearHed289]

In case anyone here doesn't already know, I've never cared for figured maple tops. But I'd rather have one than have a diseased (spalted) top. Or a fake relic. Or that hideous buckeye burl that seems to be preferred by buyers of those expensive basses with mutant upper horns.

I'm cool with figured maple, but I'm totally with ya on the spalted, relic, and buckeye. Some of that stuff looks like someone puked on the instrument.  And MANUFACTURED mojo? No thanks. I'm perfectly capable of beating the piss out of my basses all by myself.

[JimmyBond8]

In case anyone here doesn't already know, I've never cared for figured maple tops. But I'd rather have one than have a diseased (spalted) top. Or a fake relic. Or that hideous buckeye burl that seems to be preferred by buyers of those expensive basses with mutant upper horns.

And MANUFACTURED mojo? No thanks. I'm perfectly capable of beating the piss out of my basses all by myself.

I couldn't agree with the both of you more.

[Daniel_J]

I prefer a lemon drop plain maple top. I even sold the Gibson Deluxe, rather than the Orville Standard.

That's a beauty!

BTW, I had the opportunity to work on some Epi LPs for a local shop and I have to say that the plain top models were much cooler than the flamed tops. The plains felt and looked more "solid". Sound wise though they were about the same.

Here in Brazil maple is very expensive compared to local woods. I don't really like to use maple on my builds unless it's what the customer wants (and pays for it!), but I always try to disuade them to use our local tonefull (and beautifull) timbers.
Any type of figured maple here is priced outrageously high.


And I really don't care much anymore about the beauty of the flame.
When I first started to build, wood figured and natural character was all that I thought about. I was always worried about the looks of the grain mostly for aesthetically reasons. I wanted to build everything more on a "Alembic" type of approach, with lots of different woods and natural colours.
Now, I'm more and more leaning towards colourfull tints and dyes and plastic pickguards and metal parts(not chrome exclusive).

[Barklessdog]

Its all good to me except the cancerous lung burl buckeye spalt quilt flame tops, other than that.


There is something really nice about a simple piece of wood with just a hint of interest



I used to hate the grainless RD look, but now I love the simple completely uniform yellow tinted tone that covers her from head to tail.