Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: AndyR on January 02, 2015, 08:23:51 PM
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Well, I wasn't expecting to buy this little girlie today :grin:
In fact, I wasn't really expecting to own such a thing at all (ever).
It's a Les Paul Traditional. I'm assuming it's "Wine Red", it's kinda red/brown but changes colour with the light. I've tried to take piccies, with flash, without flash... but this is about the best you'll get out of me and the cameras to hand here at Russe Towers.
It needs my strings putting on it and the action raising a tad to suit me, but... Oh WOW! Happy New Year Andrew :cool: :cool: :cool:
(https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=32220.0;attach=13901;image)
(https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=32220.0;attach=13903;image)
(https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=32220.0;attach=13905;image)
(https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=32220.0;attach=13907;image)
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Lovely, congrats! The figuring looks great and I can sorta imagine the colour you describe.
Damn, I gotta get me a LP too!
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I like that colour!
Well done Andy, first NGD of 2015! :grin:
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That looks great! Sounds like there's a story in there, somewhere, give with the purchase details!
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Congrats, what a way to start the year its a beauty. Play in good health and happy new year!
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That's a beautiful Les Paul. Nice colour and grain.
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I'll add my congrats to the chorus of, erm, congratulations. Lovely looking guitar.
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Thanks folks - having a very nice time with it so far...
The story:
I went out thinking Tele, possibly SG! :rolleyes:
In fact, I was very much thinking SG - I have a Faded, with a 50s neck that I love, but I have a hankering for a 61 re-issue with the slim neck... Sadly, they don't make them any more (or at the moment, anyway). And all the new Gibsons have these automatic tuners and a funny looking "zero-fret" hollow brass nut... I was tempted, but couldn't get over the lump of stuff on the back of the headstock, and especially not the nut (so I didn't even pick one up).
We'd only gone out for a stroll and some window shopping, but this little beastie was sat in the corner of my favourite Fender outlet. The only other two Gibsons in there were second hand. We both liked the look of this one. Probably, if I ever got a Les Paul, it was going to be wine red... In fact, the only one I nearly bought, years ago, was quite like this.
We were actually about to leave town and then decided to go back to try this one, just in case it spoke to me! (bearing in mind the one from years ago that I didn't buy... and then it was gone when I went back).
It didn't speak to me at first. The strings are 10s, the action way too low for me, the pickups were set quite far from the strings, and the young chap took my "something bluesy, cleans up on the volume control" description of an amp to mean a Fender Deluxe...
After a bit he got me some pedal that does "plexi" and things hotted up a bit. And then there was this guy hovering with his son (they'd been in another shop trying a Les Paul) - so that speeded up my "bonding" with the guitar!
Since getting it home, I've been fiddling with the pickup heights - it now sounds very nice. Not as plummy as my Tokai Love Rock, but that has my 11s on it and the action raised a bit. So I'm about to take this new one apart and set it up how I like it and see where we go from there...
It's a 2012 Traditional - the shop got it brand new a week or two ago in some sort of a deal with their supplier (they don't normally stock Gibson). Looking online, I seem to have dodged the Min-Etune or G-Force bullet quite successfully - the later ones seem to have this robot stuff on them...
Reading posts in online corners where Gibson and Les Paul geeks hang out, it seems there's a bunch of "pre2013 the trads have all got that ghastly swiss-cheese weight reduction" talk. This one is heavy, couldn't tell you how heavy, possibly more so than the Tokai, but only marginally. The thing is though, it sings like I want it to, feels well solid, so who cares what's inside!
There also seems to be talk of the later ones are not so well made... look for a 2013 (I think it was)... but, again... I find myself thinking "it's the guitar in your hands guys" forget what anyone else says!
One thing I'm REALLY pleased with - the finish. I don't seem to be sticking to this guitar like I have with other glossy finish Gibsons. Maybe it's because it's well over two years since it was put together, but I'd owned my Explorer for over two years before I decided to strip it because I couldn't face playing it... This one just feels silky warm and smooth - a joy to handle...
This morning it's been playing a lot of Thin Lizzy.
Time to strip her down now and turn her into one of my guitars (before I get too used to lighter strings and extremely low action).
I'm imagining this one might end up with Stormy Mondays, although I'm quite liking what's on board at the moment. Rumour has it that they are 57 in the neck and 57+ (?! whatever that is) in the bridge...
It does solve one problem I was having, though, pickup homes in other guitars. It hasn't been going perfectly here for a while. I liked the MQs in my Faded SG, but I wanted that one to go back to humbucking. Now that I have the new Les Paul, the MQs can go in the Love Rock, the 57s it has inherited temporarily can go in the Explorer, and the Riff Raffs can go back in the Faded SG...
But first... let's sort this beastie out with my set up :cheesy:
(I still can't quite believe I own an actual Les Paul - it's taken 34 years since I first wanted one!)
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Love it!
The finish looks similar to the Sammy Hagar finish on his signature LP and Explorer.
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The finish looks similar to the Sammy Hagar finish on his signature LP and Explorer.
I was just thinking that! Waiting for the second lot of Fret Doctor to soak into the fingerboard and gazing lovingly at it, I was thinking "last time I saw this fine colour, there was a strange thingy on the guitar's headstock" - and yes, it was the Sammy Hagar sig, wasn't it?
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Nice :D
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I believe that finish is called "Root beer". Lovely looking Les Paul, Congratulations :)
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I believe that finish is called "Root beer". Lovely looking Les Paul, Congratulations :)
At first, I thought you were joking about "Root Beer" as a gibson colour... But apparently not!
After much research (ie looking at dodgy pics on the internet and browsing Gibson and various places), I'm fairly convinced this one's Wine Red. First, it's a lot more red than the Root Beer pics I've found. Then I discovered (Gibson site) that Root Beer is currently offered on one geetar only (Custom Pro) and doesn't show up as an "Out of Production" colour on the Traditional. Wine Red does show as "Out of Production" on the Traditional. And then, on MyLesPaul, there's a bunch of folks moaning that Wine Red isn't a Trad option in 2009/10, then suddenly around 11/12 there's folks going "ooh look wot I found".
Meanwhile, this beastie is just about set, with Andrew's 11s in place. I had some frustrating moments yesterday on the switch-over, but we appear to be in "Oh my goodness" territory now...
I nearly went back to 10s it was so much hassle (eg, with 11s, annoying buzzery on D string; only JUST enough travel on the G saddle to intonate OK; lower action than, but harder to play than, my main strat!!!). But we got it sorted now - loosened the truss-rod a tad to stick a bit of relief in, raised the tailpiece somewhat, let it settle overnight, then lowered the bridge again. WOOHOO!
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Nice Wine Red that mate,it is wine red I used to have a deluxe back in the late seventies nearly exactly the same. Wish i'd known then what I know now and hung onto it,but sadly like a lot of guitar players things move on and 'there is always something better out there'. The root beer is more of a brown colour if i'm not mistaken.
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Nice Wine Red that mate,it is wine red I used to have a deluxe back in the late seventies nearly exactly the same. Wish i'd known then what I know now and hung onto it,but sadly like a lot of guitar players things move on and 'there is always something better out there'. The root beer is more of a brown colour if i'm not mistaken.
You're right, rootbeer is way more brown than this winered.
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congratulations on your NGD :) the wine red is lovely!
actually I've been look at Les Pauls lately but I think I'll be able to resist. i like the idea of the robot stuff to be honest, or at least I'm open minded to giving it a go. have been looking at the Les Paul Futura in Bullion Gold.
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I like the idea of the robot tuning. I've watched a few videos of it in action and it does seem quite groovy...
BUT!! I just can't get over what it looks like on the back of a headstock... And what happens when it wears/conks out? I know you can use the tuners in the "old-fashioned" way, but you've still got this black plastic thing, looking like an i-thing of some description stuck to the back of the headstock of your otherwise nicely organic rock and roll beastie... (I know, I'm going to be a luddite when I grow up! :grin:)
And the new "zero-fret" brass nut thing just looks horrid and unfinished to me. I do like the idea of a nut that can be raised or lowered... but I've heard tales of the strings catching in them and lots of fiddling required to stop it (and how does the G-force/min-etune robo-tuner cope with that?).
If not for these two features, I probably would have bought an SG a couple of weeks ago instead. I even roughly priced up what a set of tone-pros and tusq nut would add to the price of a new guitar... (plus the added annoyance of "wot are those extra holes in the back of the headstock for?")
As far as I can make out, only one current "looks-like-a-traditional" SG doesn't have these features, and that has the 50s neck like my Faded SG - which kind of defeated the object of why I was after one!! (I love my Faded, but I fancied having one of them slick SGs as well... I really should've bought a 61 re-issue a few years back when they were doing them... I told myself I was silly for wanting one when I had the Faded that rocked like a bar-steward!!).
But... luckily, this is all academic for me... it means I have this Les Paul! :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool:
I'm currently sat at work waiting to go home to her again :angry: (oh, and the missus, obviously!)
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And what happens when it wears/conks out? I know you can use the tuners in the "old-fashioned" way, but you've still got this black plastic thing, looking like an i-thing of some description stuck to the back of the headstock
"i-thing" :laugh: :laugh:
I agree on your assessment of the zero-fret-brass-nut-thing
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Someone considers forming her own Black Crowes tribute band...
(https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=32220.0;attach=13916;image)
(https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=32220.0;attach=13918;image)
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Great top on that one, love it. Congrats!
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Wine Red it is :) It's definitely very pretty, whatever colour it is.
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Great pose with the guitar on Ramones-height. :smiley:
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Well, I've started buying bits for it... :rolleyes:
Bell knobs and the little indicators that go under them.
A blank truss-rod cover :embarrassed:. This is partly cos the original is split from both screws being over-tightened, you can't tell from a distance, but it's obviously "affecting the tone"!! :grin:
But I'm also replacing the truss-rod cover because I don't like the "Traditional" written on it. Apparently quite a few people have been doing this - and others have voiced "why? are you ashamed it's not a standard/wotever?". That worried me for a bit, and then I realised why I don't like it - an aesthetics issue over too many mixed-fonts on the headstock... You've got the Gibson logo, you've got the Les Paul logo and the word Model, and then there's this word "Traditional" on the truss-rod cover in an entirely different script and completely white...
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Bell knobs and the little indicators that go under them.
Ah, glad to see I'm not the only person who likes pointer washers! :grin:
They don't belong on everything (and certainly not with speed knobs) but on some guitars they just look "right".
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Bell knobs and the little indicators that go under them.
Ah, glad to see I'm not the only person who likes pointer washers! :grin:
They don't belong on everything (and certainly not with speed knobs) but on some guitars they just look "right".
If you've got witchhat knobs they're more or less compulsory ;)
I prefer bell knobs to the ones you've got fitted Andy, I think they'll look really classy
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Yep, I prefer the bell knobs - they seem easier to see the numbers, to me anyway... and I like how they feel in the curve of the little finger. I often wonder why these aren't called "speed knobs" - the ones called "speed knobs" always seem to take longer!
I even tried bell knobs on my Explorer - but they didn't look right!
And yes, I'm a convert to pointer washers. I used to think they were a bit daft, but I think it was my 335 that I first owned some, and their usefulness kind of snuck up on me...
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A video!!
I was slumped on the sofa (still in me pyjamas!) wondering what sort of video my laptop could make...
Here is Lucy the Les Paul playing through a Yamaha THR10C.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DETspG7N1jk
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You're getting too hi-tech for me Andy.
I did notice your fingers were moving so fast in that video they kept going all blurry.... :wink:
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You're getting too hi-tech for me Andy.
I did notice your fingers were moving so fast in that video they kept going all blurry.... :wink:
I noticed that too, I didn't realise I was that fast! :grin:
I don't think my laptop is capable of doing much better. I have a Zoom thingy somewhere, but my memory of that was "pain in the @rse to use" (so not that hi-tech after all!). I might dig that out...
Interestingly, the comments elsewhere from non-musos were more to do with pyjama trousers...
I'm now warming up the SG for similar... (having changed trousers).
By the way - I adore this THR10C thingy... I was jamming along to The Allmans at the Fillmore East through it all morning (hence the hamfisted "Mountain Jam" content of this video)
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The THR models seem to be so universally loved, I feel quite embarrassed that I sold mine.... maybe I'll buy another one.
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You had me quite worried when I read that you didn't get on with it - I wondered whether I was liking it just because I'd bought the thing! :grin: (no worries now)
For a while I wondered whether I should have got the original THR10 instead of the THR10C bluesy one - but there's plenty gain on tap for my needs, especially if you plug it into the PC and use the editor to turn on the studio compressor... I leave it with no compression but chuck a healthy 10db or so into the input of the amp model although this one was just the "bluesbreaker" model without anything like that.
And the THR10C is this slinky looking black thing, rather than the beige coloured thing of the original... even Mrs R approves of it in the living room (and she uses it as laptop speakers when I'm not looking!)
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Yeah, the option of using it as a PC/laptop speaker system was appealing but I never actually tried it (to be honest there's no space near my PC for it to sit).
I never tried the editing software either.
Basically I got into one of my selling frenzies and got shot of it without learning to use it properly... :embarrassed: