# Gibson smartwood



## soliloquy (Jun 5, 2011)

i'm looking around online and on this forum, and cant really find much on them...

do you have one? have you played one? have you seen one?

i was just looking for a gibson vintage mahogany, or faded mahogany or something that has a LOT of grain, and came across a few pics of these. they seem kind of rare 

really loving the one on the far left. kinda like a darker version of zebrawood:














and supposedly their fret board isn't rosewood, nor ebony, nor maple. 

and why were they discontinued? 
and what neck was on them? 50s? 60s?



EDIT: hahahah! the dark zebrawood guitar in all 3 pictures is exactly the same guitar!


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## MaxOfMetal (Jun 5, 2011)

They were just LP Studios with fancier woods and dot inlays. They were discontinued because thier sales were not good enough to justify the pricier/harder to source woods. 

They were called Smartwoods because all the lumber used to make them was supposedly certified to be from eco-friendly sources.


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## nostealbucket (Jun 5, 2011)

The Gibson Les Paul Smartwood Studio is a variant of the Studio model. It is made from wood certified by the Rainforest Alliance. While the back and the neck are made from mahogany, the carved top each of the six models in the SmartWood line featured tops made from a different but equally stunning wood: Curupay has a deep chocolate-walnut richness; Peroba recalls the orangey hue of the old pine ceiling beam; Banara has a golden, banana-like glow; Ambay Guasu boasts the even lightness of maple; Taperyva Guasu is reminiscent of a sun-bleached rosewood, and Chancharana is a deep, warm-brown russet.and the fretboards are all made from "Curupay harvested from forests certified in accordance with the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The mahogany used in the construction of this model is from similarly certified forests.

There you go.
Quoted from Wikipedia.


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## ellengtrgrl (Jun 5, 2011)

Smartwoods were discontinued at least several years ago. I never saw many of them at guitar shops, probably due to the higher prices they commanded, due to their eco-friendly (harvest-wise) wood.


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## Jack Secret (Jun 6, 2011)

I would presume the Firebird X would be made of dumbwood.


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## Alberto7 (Jun 6, 2011)

Loved that comment.

Those Smartwoods look really pretty. I had never heard of them.


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## themike (Jun 6, 2011)

I had a Smartwood and absolutely loved it. It was a great sounded for sure - sounded amazing, and was thin and light compared to any other Gibson I've played. I also don't think the price was that high, I remember them being $1499 new and then went down to $999.


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## soliloquy (Jun 6, 2011)

th3m1ke said:


> I had a Smartwood and absolutely loved it. It was a great sounded for sure - sounded amazing, and was thin and light compared to any other Gibson I've played. I also don't think the price was that high, I remember them being $1499 new and then went down to $999.



yeah, currently, they are being sold used anywhere from 700 to 1300 dollars. some people even claim they bought it 'yesterday' for 1999 and now doing a fire-sale for 999....


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## Dead Undead (Jun 6, 2011)

Well now I want one. These things look awesome! I'm not big on Gibson but these are some of the few I would like to try sometime.


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## BucketheadRules (Jun 6, 2011)

I don't know anything about them, but they look cool. Interested as to the fretboard wood... pau ferro possibly?

That reminds me of another LP Studio with a different wood... the swamp-ash model. I've played one, they're really nice. It's surreal picking up a Les Paul that only weighs as much as the average SG though 






Also, DAT GRAIN!!


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## sandwichamwin (Jun 6, 2011)

This thread is giving unusual amounts of LPGAS (les paul GAS  ).

Shame you never see them for sale. Absolute beauties they are .

Great find BTW.


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## mhickman2 (Jun 7, 2011)

I've been looking for one of these for a while. They are some pretty good players. Not custom shop good, but good.


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## AcousticMinja (Jun 7, 2011)

Yeah, I've actually seen a couple of these pass through craigslist. One as low as $500. (I WANTED IT SO BAD) but they seem pretty cool and it makes it classier with those woods. Imagine explaining to people, "yeah, this guitar is made from Chancharana harvested in accordance with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)".  Then you can smack them with, "Just so you know, my wood is endangered too"


but really, having seen one of these in person, they seem like awesome guitars. If you ever pass by one for dirt cheap, I say snag it up as they are beautiful looking and play very well.


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## sandwichamwin (Jun 7, 2011)

They probably would have done better if Gibson ditched the "smartwood" crap and just labelled them as some kind of exotic series. Nobody want's a "smartwood" for the reason pointed out above, it's a bit too lame for people to pay a premium for it.


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## sell2792 (Jun 7, 2011)

sandwichamwin said:


> They probably would have done better if Gibson ditched the "smartwood" crap and just labelled them as some kind of exotic series. Nobody want's a "smartwood" for the reason pointed out above, it's a bit too lame for people to pay a premium for it.


 
True, they should've just called it a Les Paul Studio Limited Edition something or another like they do with almost everything else.


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## Rook (Jun 7, 2011)

MaxOfMetal said:


> They were just LP Studios with fancier woods and dot inlays. They were discontinued because thier sales were not good enough to justify the pricier/harder to source woods.
> 
> They were called Smartwoods because all the lumber used to make them was supposedly certified to be from eco-friendly sources.



Lol, implying the rest of their wood _isn't_?


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## budda (Jun 8, 2011)

There's a swamp ash LP studio in London if you want to check it out. I don't think it's sold yet.


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## stryker1800 (Jun 10, 2011)

BucketheadRules said:


> I don't know anything about them, but they look cool. Interested as to the fretboard wood... pau ferro possibly?
> 
> That reminds me of another LP Studio with a different wood... the swamp-ash model. I've played one, they're really nice. It's surreal picking up a Les Paul that only weighs as much as the average SG though
> 
> ...



I have a Les Paul made of swamp ash, the old voodoo model, it's always surprising how light it is, sounds great too.


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## Andromalia (Jun 12, 2011)

Some nut on french ebay is selling one for...2300&#8364;. /facepalm
http://cgi.ebay.fr/gibson-paul-smar...que_AccessoiresduMusicien&hash=item3f0a8af8b7

And he can't even spell Zakk Wylde.


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## Ryan-ZenGtr- (Jun 12, 2011)

*argh* Take them away!!! My eyes!!!!!

/jk (50/50)


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