The Guitar Pron Thread

[Celery Man 20832]

wait wtf you can't casually drop a '58 les paul, that's irresponsible. i step away for a day and this is what we're doing in here?

CHIEF had a... brazilian rw J45 with crazy inlays that had been the previous clubhouse leader by my metric but yeah 58 les paul is it.

i'm so glad i started the shaggy guitar tontine

[G650 13836]

That's what happens when you aren't paying attention

[Chad Fuck 17455]

Goddamn I literally just bought a brown Deluxe yesterday.

I tried to make a deal on the amp separately, but understandably he doesn’t want to break up the pair. They’re like a Time Capsule.

[G650 13836]

Totally. That Vibro is the cats pajamas

[Deej 76395]

6 hours ago, G650 said:

 

It was too dark this morning to take the headstock or binding shots, but we are jamming later so I will get some then. I'll point out some of things about the burst headstocks then.

 

I have one crappy control cavity pick of mine. If you are interested in comparing though, burst serial has a ton of cavity shots. It's a really good resource. You'll notice the ground wire channel is not visible here, it goes down beside the neck volume pot instead if a little up the cavity wall like 59 and on. You can also see the different routing in the maple top that you were mentioning.

 

Switch cavity. It's one diameter all the way down. In early 58, it had a stairstep routing halfway down. In 57 and earlier it was narrower and one size.

 

 

Pickups and routing. These give a good shot of the M69s. Neck tenon also, plus fret markers. You can see vertical striping on cellulose clearly, and the shrinking. My bridge pickup cover had been off and on once for some reason. Repair, check bobbin color, just have no cover to look like Page, I dunno why.

 

 

 

 

Original poker chip, and good shot of corner of M69

 

 

 

[sidis 9686]

don't know why you guys are overreacting to a $100,000 guitar.

nerds.  meanwhile...

[G650 13836]

Alright @AnotherUTFan

 

Headstock front and back. One of the tells on the old headstocks is look at how close the A string passes by the E post and the B passes by the high E post. Super close. After they did the True Historic 59 around 2014 ish? Gibson got a lot of these details much closer in all the guitars. The biggest difference these days is probably the sharpness of the edges.

 

 

My binding is definitely getting very thin. The dots are a dark tortoise but you basically need a loupe to see it. One thing I can almost promise is the neck on your R8 is fatter. This one is almost a 59 profile, but just generally Gibson made the reissue necks too fat.

 

This is the best I could do with the cavity shots. It's hard as shit to get good lighting. The ground is the wire that is going forward over the neck volume pot and tucks in right in front. Yours most likely goes into body right about the top of the pot into the cavity wall heading towards bridge. I tried to get a good shot of maple routing.

 

 

 

And finally pickups and rings.

 

[AnotherUTFan 9632]

Mine does have a really fat neck and it's my favorite thing about it.

I looked at my headstock and your right, there's a little more clearance on the A & B strings. At some point they made a slight adjustment to those holes - probably a jig they made.

Is the serial number stamp gone from yours? I don't see it and you mentioned it's had a previous refinish. If not, do you know what it is?

I do love my R8, it's excellent guitar. Congrats on that beauty. Can't wait to see the process play out.

[Celery Man 20832]

You’ll have to change out the tuners 

[G650 13836]

59 minutes ago, AnotherUTFan said:

Mine does have a really fat neck and it's my favorite thing about it.

I looked at my headstock and your right, there's a little more clearance on the A & B strings. At some point they made a slight adjustment to those holes - probably a jig they made.

Is the serial number stamp gone from yours? I don't see it and you mentioned it's had a previous refinish. If not, do you know what it is?

I do love my R8, it's excellent guitar. Congrats on that beauty. Can't wait to see the process play out.

You should give an R7 a whirl sometimes for kicks. Literally a Louisville Slugger neck.

The serial number is over the finish, so when it was stripped, it got lost. I did an ridiculous amount of forensic work, and through a lot of luck, I think I have it narrowed down to a 50 number range. Gibson is going to stamp a number on it this May when we are done.

 

53 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

You’ll have to change out the tuners 

Indeed. These are vintage tuners, but double buttons so obviously replaced

[Deej 76395]

Why would they assign a new serial number to it? 

[G650 13836]

33 minutes ago, Deej said:

Why would they assign a new serial number to it? 

There's a pretty strong incentive to catalog all the legitimate ones. The super famous no serial ones like Page's #1 are so notorious that they don't really need one, but due to circumstances beyond my control, I'm not as famous as Jimmy Page.

[Deej 76395]

So, how does that work? Do they try to fit it into the existing range of numbers, or do they have a special set of numbers for guitars like this?

[G650 13836]

1 minute ago, Deej said:

So, how does that work? Do they try to fit it into the existing range of numbers, or do they have a special set of numbers for guitars like this?

It will go in the gaps in known numbers. You can definitely pick a special number if you wanted though.

 

I don't know how much you know about the story so I apologize if I'm repeating something, I think it was in that video you posted, but essentially Gibson had daily books that recorded every guitar madr a particular day. Well, the books from June 1958 though early 1961 mysteriously vanished ( like 50,000 reward for them by the way). So no one actually knows how many there are, and what the serials all were. Burstserial.com is a project that is logging all known numbers, plus famous ones like Pagey's.

 

So as I mentioned couple posts ago, a very fortuitous thing happened during my research. There's a gap in known serials, and the lucky thing is there is actually a gap where the guitar on each side has verified provenance and pot code dates available, and those codes are on either side of my pot codes. So there's no guarantee but it's extremely likely the serial is between those two.

 

The second guitar actually isn't on Burst serial, but it's a guitar that came out of South Africa that Bonamassa owns now, called the PJ burst.

[G650 13836]

I guess the addenda to that post which I meant to include is that part of the point is its logged as an assigned number and not original so that works both ways. It establishes a record of the instrument for posterity.

Edited January 20, 2023 by G650

[G650 13836]

2 hours ago, AnotherUTFan said:

I looked at my headstock and your right, there's a little more clearance on the A & B strings. At some point they made a slight adjustment to those holes - probably a jig they made

I almost forgot, yours, like my R7 are actually much closer to 50s spec. The headstocks got huge in the 70s then started shrinking again. Check out the headstock on my '77 closely

 

[Anton Chigurh 3318]

I guess I am in the minority here, but, while I know Grovers are the superior machines, I just prefer the look of Klusons. They just look right to me.

[dcbc 14367]

On 1/17/2023 at 7:50 PM, Chad Fuck said:

Damn. That’s like the biggest news to hit this thread.

It's the most perfect opportunity to use the FAFO rep. back at G650.

[dcbc 14367]

On 1/17/2023 at 8:46 PM, jimmyjazz said:

WTF?  We own a real '58?  

The Royal WE, Man!

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by dcbc

[dcbc 14367]

2 hours ago, G650 said:

You can definitely pick a special number if you wanted though

Might I suggest 140073875.

 

 

 

That's the number on my 2014 Traditional.  I'd love to see it go up in value just a bit.

[dcbc 14367]

1 hour ago, Anton Chigurh said:

I guess I am in the minority here, but, while I know Grovers are the superior machines, I just prefer the look of Klusons. They just look right to me.

Same.

[AnotherUTFan 9632]

I've had everything but a Telecaster put away in cases since I had company last month. Got the R8 out today to compare to pics, so I plugged in and played it when a friend came over to drum on some stuff we are working on. Sounds and plays great, but damn if it didn't get heavy after just a few, and I have a rather light 8-ish pounder.

[G650 13836]

7 hours ago, Anton Chigurh said:

I guess I am in the minority here, but, while I know Grovers are the superior machines, I just prefer the look of Klusons. They just look right to me.

I don't know that you are in the minority on that. Kluson is the look. The old one just suck ass functionally.

[Celery Man 20832]

Kluson’s look cool camp.

I will say…. my PRS has Klusons and it stays in tune at all times. It’s in tune right now. It’ll be in tune in 3 months.

[dcbc 14367]

6 hours ago, AnotherUTFan said:

but damn if it didn't get heavy after just a few, and I have a rather light 8-ish pounder.

Mine is weird in this regard.  It's over 10 lbs (10.8 maybe?).  But the way it sits in the strap, I can play it standing up for hours.  I'm not a totally old fart, but I'm no spring chicken either.  My 52 AV is lighter by a couple of pounds, but almost feels heavier in the strap.  It's a strange thing with the LP, but I'll take it.

Edited January 20, 2023 by dcbc

[G650 13836]

37 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

Kluson’s look cool camp.

I will say…. my PRS has Klusons and it stays in tune at all times. It’s in tune right now. It’ll be in tune in 3 months.

 

The newer Klusons are fairly stable. The ones on my R7 have no issues at all. It's the vintage ones that are hot garbage.

 

It also occurred to me@Anton Chigurhwas looking at my 77 in that picture. Those tuners are actually factory Schallers. They are unequivocally the best tuners I've ever had from a operation standpoint.

26 minutes ago, dcbc said:

Mine is weird in this regard.  It's over 10 lbs (10.8 maybe?).  But the way it sits in the strap, I can play it standing up for hours.  I'm not a totally old fart, but I'm no spring chicken either.  My 52 AV is lighter by a couple of pounds, but almost feels heavier in the strap.  It's a strange thing with the LP, but I'll take it.

That is weird lol. My 77 is almost 11 lbs, and switching between that and the 8 lb R7, the R7 feels like it's levitating

[Anton Chigurh 3318]

That is weird lol. My 77 is almost 11 lbs, and switching between that and the 8 lb R7, the R7 feels like it's levitating

I actually was referring to the ‘58, even though they aren’t exactly the OE button style (not that they’re that different).

Agree that Schallers are typically good. The Fender locking ones are excellent.

[G650 13836]

2 minutes ago, Anton Chigurh said:

I actually was referring to the ‘58, even though they aren’t exactly the OE button style.

Gotcha.  Yeah they are 1960 OEM

[Deej 76395]

The 58 needs its own thread.

[jimmyjazz 45426]

9 minutes ago, Deej said:

The 58 needs its own thread.

I disagree.  I think it would be rude to bully all our other dumpy guitars.

[Deej 76395]

Heads up. Fender just raised prices again this week. Gibson and Epiphone look like they'll be raising them in March. If you want a new Gibby or Epi, buy now. 

I'm going to pull the trigger on a new Epiphone Les Paul Special in TV yellow. I hear great things about it for a $400 guitar.

Edited January 20, 2023 by Deej

[noharleyyet 2832]

16 minutes ago, Deej said:

The 58 needs its own thread.

1. Affordable

2. FAFO Fanatics

....like the Watches subset

[G650 13836]

13 minutes ago, noharleyyet said:

1. Affordable

2. FAFO Fanatics

....like the Watches subset

I might be blowing past FAFO straight to Unreasonable Idiot territory

[G650 13836]

Speaking of FAFO thread

 

 

 

https://guitars.com/inventory/ef10051-1960-fender-esquire-custom

[DougO 5238]

What percentage do you guys suppose that a guitar staying in tune has to do with tuners vs issues with the nut, bridge saddles,  etc.? 

 

[BoomMF 1398]

15%

[G650 13836]

.000000001%

[Deej 76395]

Unless they are really cheap, crappy tuners, usually very little. 

16 hours ago, G650 said:

Speaking of FAFO thread

 

 

 

https://guitars.com/inventory/ef10051-1960-fender-esquire-custom

Look at all those pickguard screws.

[Deej 76395]

Sold the Baja this morning to a guy from Dallas. Met him in Temple. Got what I paid for it, so I'll consider it a win even with the drive. 

[G650 13836]

Definite win

[Deej 76395]

Plus, I met him at Buc-ee's, so I had a clean bathroom to use before the drive back. 

[Deej 76395]

Paid $800 new for it in 2016. They don't make them any longer. The Vintera versions are over a grand, now. Yikes!

[Deej 76395]

Got this book today. Talk about guitar pron. 

[G650 13836]

So I @AnotherUTFan I had my '77 out today to mess with since I had only played it briefly when I got it back from the refret and new pickups, so I took a few more comparison shots for you.

You can see the vertical striping on the 58 on the left vs the random pattern on the right.

Also here is the R7. Shitty pic but you can see its like the '77

 

 

 

And the M69s. The ones on the '77 are the most current repros. They still show some difference in sharpness, and of course material.

 

 

 

Obligatory shot of both guitars.

 

[Anton Chigurh 3318]

Since you pointed out the headstock and tuner mounting location difference, I can’t unsee it. Not in a bad way, just something I look at on every one now, haha.

[G650 13836]

3 minutes ago, Anton Chigurh said:

Since you pointed out the headstock and tuner mounting location difference, I can’t unsee it. Not in a bad way, just something I look at on every one now, haha.

 

Dude for real, once seen it can't be unseen lol.

[Chad Fuck 17455]

 
Dude for real, once seen it can't be unseen lol.

Like the splice in “Strawberry Fields Forever.”

[tbone_ 14016]

Sweet chair

[Anton Chigurh 3318]

Like the splice in “Strawberry Fields Forever.”

Or the kick drum pedal squeak in “Since I’ve Been Loving You”.


Sorry.

[Chad Fuck 17455]

12 hours ago, Anton Chigurh said:

Or the kick drum pedal squeak in “Since I’ve Been Loving You”.


Sorry.

Never heard that.  But I did hear the telephone ring in the Ocean.  Can't unheard it.