None of your beeswax?

fronobulax

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https://reverb.com/news/gibson-back-to-basics-2019-model-lineup-released

Also new this year is a Gibson Sustainable Series, which uses a unique and environmentally friendly beeswax-based finish, and will also include L-00, J-45, and Hummingbird models. Like the Studio line, these guitars will be built using walnut as the primary tonewood. For buyers of these guitars, Gibson suggests regular new application of the beeswax finish to keep the wood well moisturized.

I don't recall many discussions of walnut as a tonewood, perhaps because Guild hasn't used it yet. Will people buy walnut because it is "better" or "different" or will they buy it reluctantly because it is all that is available or affordable?

How about the beeswax? I know a lot of people have difficulty remembering to humidify their instruments and it would not surprise me if the "regular new application of the beeswax finish" never gets done. So if this takes off will the used market be flooded with unmaintained beeswax finishes in a few years? Beeswax finishes have been around for a while. Any interesting experience?

I deliberately did not put this in Acoustic etc. because it is about "not-Guilds" except to the extent it tells us what Guild might be doing in five years.
 

Bill Ashton

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Walnut (or at least Claro Walnut) has been used by Taylor for some time, and I know that Huss & Dalton has offered it.

I did not care for the tone of the Taylor walnut piece I heard at a recent "Road show," however that was also a sample with their
new bracing pattern so perhaps that played in as well. I believe that Mark Dalton has characterized Walnut as an "in between"
Mahogany and Rosewood, something I would like to try...but probably will never get to now that The Pilgrim is in the house :wink-new:
 

Cougar

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Don't know nothin' about beeswax, but Gibson's lower-priced walnut-backed J-15 was quite a hit, and for good reason - they really sounded good. So good, apparently, that Gibson apparently renamed the J-15, calling it a "J-45 Studio." Don't ask me why or what the rationale was. As we know here at Guild, guitar naming, labeling, branding seems to be an art lost deep to the ages....
 

AcornHouse

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I don’t know what the beeswax finish that they are using in the factory, but if the finish is sealing the wood, then any nonsense about reapplying it to keep your wood “moisturized” is complete BS, just like using furniture polish to “nourish” the wood. All it’s doing is adding a waxy outer covering.
 

dreadnut

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My lefty friend Scott (who recently passed away) had a custom-built Del Langejans deep-body dread cutaway with back and sides of walnut. Beautiful tone. Del has long since retired, but he crafted some fine instruments in Holland, Michigan. Scott's wife has not even begun to inventory all of his stuff for sale, but eventually this one will likely come up for sale.
 

CA-35

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I don’t know what the beeswax finish that they are using in the factory, but if the finish is sealing the wood, then any nonsense about reapplying it to keep your wood “moisturized” is complete BS, just like using furniture polish to “nourish” the wood. All it’s doing is adding a waxy outer covering.

Well said. As any surfer can attest wax is a moisture repellent. I would save the wax for my surfboard rather than a guitar.
 

fronobulax

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Well they did say "beeswax based" so I can imagine some environmentally concoction that contains a moisturizer and a sealant. Maybe a three step process - wipe with X to remove some of the old finish, then wipe with Y to moisturize and then wipe with Z to (re)seal? The reaction here does suggest to me that the finish won't be popular and probably won't be getting a "regular new application".

Walnut as a tone wood sounds like it would fly although it might not be the first choice as long as other woods are available.
 

steve488

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Beeswax seems to me to be way on the soft side and more prone to leaving a sealed but "sticky" finish. I suspect as Frono noted, it must be something that is beeswax based / derived.

On the walnut side - I have never heard or played one but I recall Larrivee also has built acoustic models using walnut as the body tone wood.
 

gjmalcyon

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Back in the day when the Yamaha was my only guitar (that would be pre-LTG), I used to apply Butcher's Bowling Alley Wax to the Yamaha regularly. I finally figured out that I should NOT apply to the neck - sort of interferes with moving your fret hand around. I knew nothing about humidification, etc. The only thing that saved it was its laminate construction.

Had some work done on it several years ago, and it sounds better than it did 30 years ago.
 

mavuser

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yeah, that’s not gonna go over too well. no wax on my guitars. and whats this all of a sudden Gibson is “sustainable?”. i think they are in about a billion dollars of debt actually. and have a spare drum of beeswax that popped up in the basement of the factory they are selling
 

Stuball48

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Detour for random thought: Bet tiny amount of beeswax on the tip of a toothpick deposited in the string slots on the nut would help prevent the occasional "popping" when tuning your guitar.
 

adorshki

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yeah, that’s not gonna go over too well. no wax on my guitars. and whats this all of a sudden Gibson is “sustainable?”. i think they are in about a billion dollars of debt actually. and have a spare drum of beeswax that popped up in the basement of the factory they are selling

It's Africanized beeswax and perfectly compatible with poly finishes.

Detour for random thought: Bet tiny amount of beeswax on the tip of a toothpick deposited in the string slots on the nut would help prevent the occasional "popping" when tuning your guitar.

Yeah, but then you'll get an unidentifiable buzz when playing.
 

mavuser

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It's Africanized beeswax and perfectly compatible with poly finishes.

honestly not sure if that is serious or a joke. zero chance ill read the link so all good either way.

all of my Gibsons are ncl
 

Westerly Wood

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AcornHouse;1814910 then any nonsense about reapplying it to keep your wood “moisturized” is complete BS said:
yeah this is ridiculous. Like when Taylor first came out with the ES system, you had to wrap a sticky note around the battery, that was their workaround for not properly measuring the hole. I know cause I had one. And yes, i had a sticky note wrapped around the battery.

maybe when i buy the sustainable H-bird it will come with a buffing rag.
 

gjmalcyon

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Detour for random thought: Bet tiny amount of beeswax on the tip of a toothpick deposited in the string slots on the nut would help prevent the occasional "popping" when tuning your guitar.

Yep. That's why I keep a waxed dental floss dispenser in my "guitar stuff" stash - part of my string change protocol is to floss the string slots to keep the strings moving freely at the nut.
 

Stuball48

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Yep. That's why I keep a waxed dental floss dispenser in my "guitar stuff" stash - part of my string change protocol is to floss the string slots to keep the strings moving freely at the nut.
I like your idea of waxed dental floss better. Same results but no mess and easy access in case storage.
 
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