1980 1K Forest Green? Rosewood?

[derick]

Hi I bought a 1980 L-1000 a few months ago, B001894, it was described as Forest Green and a Rosewood Board. The bass is pretty beat
and the pickup had an open coil so that has been sent out. But, an obvious amount of yellowing has occurred, enough to make me think this
may have been a factory Blue bass.



Also the fretboard was described as rosewood which I discounted because of the very dark color, and ebony was much more common during this era,
but the protected woodgrain above the nut certainly does look like a dark rosewood.



Access on occasion to the original logs happens from this board, would it be possible to find out what the factory color and fretboard was/is on this bass?

[Craig]

I'ii see what I can find out, but lately getting Dave's attention to look up some other serial numbers has not yet been successful.

Stay tuned.

[Craig]

I just searched the G&L Registry and see we have 9 (includes yours) with Clear Forest Green finish listed.
And 3 of those have listed fretboard wood as Rosewood, but I am in doubt about those.
Here a link to that list: L-1000 with Clear Forest Green finish.

[derick]

I just searched the G&L Registry and see we have 9 (includes yours) with Clear Forest Green finish listed.

Yes, I just added this bass to the registry today, but a closer look made me seriously question the details I had just entered.

The flash photo of the fretboard looks even more like rosewood than it does in person... and my ebony boards have more of a "polished" look to them.

[Craig]

I'ii see what I can find out, but lately getting Dave's attention to look up some other serial numbers has not yet been successful.

Stay tuned.

Dave came through

Here is his reply (I sent me the link to this post so he could see the photos):

Hi Craig,

B001894 shows as L-1000 Blue Ebony, so that means Clear Blue. Completed on October 9, 1980. Could the old Blue nitro have greened out that much, even in the pickup pockets? Hard to say. Sure does look nice though.

Thanks, Craig!

Dave

Hope this helps.

[derick]

Wow, that's super. Blue and Ebony.

Well, it's sure as heck Green now. I've edited that bass in the Registry.

As valuable a resource as the Registry is, The G&L and Dale Hyatt logs are the bible.

[Katefan]

Its fairly common on early G&Ls that the top clear coats of nitro yellow with age and the resulting effect is that on blue instruments they appear green.
The paint in the pickuup cavity appears to my eyes much 'bluer' than that on the exposed body.

Congrats on your Wunkay!

Cheers,
KF

[yowhatsshakin]

Many times early G&Ls are registered with rosewood boards because the streaks in the unstained ebony throws them off. But the wood pores in ebony are distinctively different from rosewood. Unfortunately, I do not have good pictures right now to illustrate this except for these of the ebony board for a ASAT 'Junior':



vs. the rosewood board on my Climax "XL":


Click the pics for larger versions and I hope that will make it clear enough.

- Jos

[derick]

Hi

Many times early G&Ls are registered with rosewood boards because the streaks in the unstained ebony throws them off.

Hi, thanks for weighing in.

I have always felt that the distinction between ebony and rosewood was essentially a no-brainer, because of the color and the deeper wood pores of rosewood. It was just the extreme oxidation condition of this particular board that made me question my initial assessment. Your "swirly" ebony is very distinctive and I've never seen that with rosewood.

Here we have the Ebony neck on the bass in question, and a rosewood brand F neck from 1964.



Most rosewood boards that I've seen have a more open grain than ebony, but this 1964 rosewood slab has fewer open wood pores than this 1980 ebony board, and to my eyes the portion of wood under lacquer above the nut look very similar on both of these basses. The ebony on this neck exhibits pretty straight grain, swirls would have given it away. Also the six or eight lemon oil treatments this ebony board has soaked up have closed up the grain some, at least to my eye. This was one very thirsty board.

You are of course correct that most or some of the early rosewood boards listed in the Registry are probably ebony. But some rosewood boards were made well before it was officially offered in the catalog, and I don't even know when that might have been. To me, this early 1980-1984 G&L period that Leo was changing some manufacturing specification every few months is most interesting.