Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Henk on November 11, 2007, 08:09:10 PM
-
Hey guys,
I have been looking for a LP for a couple of weeks now. After having handled some different brands i just could not get over that those just didnt match up to two LP's i have. I know i have been infected with the touchy-feely-old gibson-virus and im trying hard not to keep on raving about them but when i was thinking about the seventies LP Custom i have with the maple neck even i could no longer control the GAS.
So pretty soon i was talking to a shop i know who had two of those and figured out that if i put in the money i would spend on a LP copy and two pieces of equipment i dont really need and dont use often i would just make it financially. After some back and forth offers i got in my car yesterday morning and drove to the shop, that being a enervating 3.5 hour drive.
Once i got there it was instantly clear it had to come home with me. So after allmost an entire day driving i got home last night, played till i allmost dropped from my chair and this morning started cleaning the guitar and setting it up, also did a fingerboard/fret polish which it needed badly.
Its a Gibson 1976 Les Paul Custom, 3 pickup version with maple neck and natural finish/gold hardware. It has had its hardware replaced some time back (pu covers, bridge and stoptail) so it looks pretty new. Still it has been played alot, there is alot of bucklewear on the back and several dings on the bottom side of the guitar.
I made some pics along the way today.
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/Boshond/DSC_2804.jpg)
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/Boshond/DSC_2799.jpg)
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/Boshond/DSC_2810.jpg)
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/Boshond/DSC_2812.jpg)
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/Boshond/DSC_2813.jpg)
Its kind of funny to take everything off and be surprised with things you see like the scribble in the thruss rod cavity and the body finish being stamped in the neck pickup cavity.
Next to the replacement of some hardware this guitar was completely overhauled and resoldered (not all doen very good). The bridge pickup has been replaced with a 498T, not a great match with the other pickups but playable. The middle pickup has become slightly microphonic, it might also be that its not in the right phase or something like that with the bridge replacement, will try some different things to that. Pots have been replaced with 'official' gibson replacement pots, caps are still original.
So all in all a very nice player and definately a looker!
Thats enough for today, ill probably start raving about all the insignificant touchy feely things about it and i will spare you that. :lol:
Kind regards and thank you for reading.
Henk
-
Nice guitar!
-
Looks unusual, can you post some full body shots of that sexy hunk of wood?
-
Beautiful. I love natural finished guitars, and I love Les Pauls. :D
-
very nice!
-
very nice, from an era when Gibson seemed to actually CARE.
-
Looks unusual, can you post some full body shots of that sexy hunk of wood?
Excuse the cr@ppy flash shot, ill post a better one tomorrow without flash.
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/Boshond/DSC_2808.jpg)
-
Looks unusual, can you post some full body shots of that sexy hunk of wood?
Excuse the cr@ppy flash shot, ill post a better one tomorrow without flash.
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/Boshond/DSC_2808.jpg)
Ideally that would NEED a MQ in the middle position for aesthetic reasons IMO. Apart from that it looks pretty sweet really.
-
That is very nice! I had heard that late 70s were meant to be bad :?
too much confusion about specific years lol
are they the super low frets?
-
3 piece neck - gibson should really start doing that again!!!
-
That is very nice! I had heard that late 70s were meant to be bad :?
Yeah well, i also notice quite a difference when nashville production started in the second half of the seventies. Still this one is fine IMO, Kalamazoo kept making guitars untill 1984, Kalamazoo made gibsons are considered the best among all gibbies, still i have played some exeptionally good samples from the early 90's.
Thats pretty much what the buzz is about. The other old gibson custom they had there was very bad, it was alot lighter also.
Ow this was funny, today i found out my 4 gibson LP's(76, 78, 85 customs and 91 standard) all weigh 4,6 kilos! Pretty weird isnt it?
4,6 kilo is considered a heavy LP by the way..... :twisted:
-
3 piece neck - gibson should really start doing that again!!!
Dude, you should see how they cut the middle section exactly on the hard part of the rings and straight trough to the tip of the headstock, UNBIELIEVABLE!
Ooops i think im having a relapse :lol:
Anyway, i think Gibson was honest enough to admit their wood wasnt the best imaginable and it served them right.
I know alot of builders have their own private stock of wood ageing and drying for decades, an entirely different ballgame.
-
yeah, Kalamazoo did the good stuff and the higher end models like this.
-
i use much better wood than gibson do and i still prefer to laminate from 3 pieces - it just makes a lot more sense
-
ok, so attempting to tame my ignorance here, does a 3 piece neck imply laminations? Or just they actual construction in terms of separate block for the heel, separate block for the headstock and separate block for the main part of the neck? If it is the latter, then i know what that is like since that is how i built mine, but if it isn't, then... well what would be the point of laminating the same types of wood if you are not looking for a visual effect like "maple/ebony/purpleheart/ebony/maple"?
-
Very nice looking LP !
-
ok, so attempting to tame my ignorance here, does a 3 piece neck imply laminations? Or just they actual construction in terms of separate block for the heel, separate block for the headstock and separate block for the main part of the neck? If it is the latter, then i know what that is like since that is how i built mine, but if it isn't, then... well what would be the point of laminating the same types of wood if you are not looking for a visual effect like "maple/ebony/purpleheart/ebony/maple"?
AFAIK Laminated necks are more stable, wood is a natural thing and so it always has imperfections which you cant see. Also with temperature changes wood expands and shrinks, when you laminate a neck you kind of control that dynamic.
There are many more reasons, but maybe Wez can tell you more about that.
Only downside is that most guitarists dont think it looks purdy, it was often done with the lower grade guitars which were made from 2nd choise tonewood(good tone, but bad grain or whatever).
The neck from my guitar is a 3-piece laminate, like i said before, i really amazed how exact the middle piece of the laminate was cut on the yearrings, very nice to see that.
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/Boshond/DSC_2810.jpg)
-
yeah, strength and stability are the main reasons.
They are less likely to break off at the headstock compared to a 1 piece neck - but still do as the ibanez sitting on my coffeee table proves
-
Tasty.
-
reminds me of Mick Ronson's guitar
It's lovely mate!
-
Looks unusual, can you post some full body shots of that sexy hunk of wood?
EDIT: Better body shot on page 2
-
Looks unusual, can you post some full body shots of that sexy hunk of wood?
Heres one i took today, finally some sunlight, i just hate using the flimsy flash.
By the way this is pretty much how ill spend my days when im old....
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/Boshond/DSC_2822.jpg)
-
Surely it's a sweet guitar!
-
Absolutely gorgeous :P
-
Bollocks, I'm just going to have to get one. I've been gassing for a black or a white custom for a while now.
Any chance of a group shot with all of them in?
-
Gorgeous.
-
I love it. Not sure about the three pickups though, I strum in the middle and I'd end up doing myself some damage. Really can't decide what to get as my first "mature" guitar though...
-
I love it. Not sure about the three pickups though, I strum in the middle and I'd end up doing myself some damage. Really can't decide what to get as my first "mature" guitar though...
Unless you screw the middle pickup all the way up it doesnt matter much, i dont always pick in the middle so it doesnt matter much to me.
-
oops double post
-
sigh....
-
oops double post
-
again...