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Restringing my guitar - the nut came off

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Fritzo said:
That's actually Jimmy Page's #1 🙂. He lent it to Gibson some years back to allow replicas to be made, allowing for close up pics:

https://youtu.be/XNaVDocH1CU

Mine is a 2005 Les Paul Blond (non chambered), with SD Whole Lotta Humbuckers installed, a custom truss rod cover with my initials, and some mods to the wiring. (Here's an older pic...I replaced the bridge pickup with a nickel covered one):

HmgJqCb.jpg
Click to expand...

Very nice! I had a tech do the full tilt JP wiring mod to a knockoff LP, works incredibly well and there are a boatload of combinations available.
Without cheating, who sold Jimmy his first Paul 😉 ?
 
Sheik Yerbouti said:
Very nice! I had a tech do the full tilt JP wiring mod to a knockoff LP, works incredibly well and there are a boatload of combinations available.
Without cheating, who sold Jimmy his first Paul 😉 ?
Click to expand...

Joe Walsh. Jimmy was looking for a Les Paul after playing a Telecaster because he wanted a heavier sound, but he couldn't find one he liked. Jimmy has a reputation for being cheap, so I'm pretty sure that translated to "he couldn't find one for the right price" 😉

Jimmy tells the story that Joe Walsh flew it out to him and sold it to him after the '69 Filmore show. He liked it and used it ever since. Walsh sold it to him because he experimented with the neck and had it shaved down very thin at Lay's guitars in Akron OH (which is about 2 hours from where I live...it's still open!). That thin neck gave an advantage as it let Jimmy play those fast runs like he did on a Telecaster, but with the heavier sound and sustain of a LP.

I also know that Jimmy went through a few different sets of pickups, so there's no specific "Page" pickup. Also, a lot of people do that Page wiring mod, but fail to realize he didn't have that mod done until the 80's (after Zeppelin).

- Fritzo: Acclaimed Led Zeppelin Historian
 
master_shake_ said:
my favourite story about gibson guitars

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guitar/comments/2ni3dp/why_are_gibson_les_pauls_so_expensive/

also would buy single cut prs first.

or a double cut tele.
Click to expand...

There may be some "exclusitivity" involved (Apple does that all the time), but a lot of that is crap. American made Gibsons are so expensive because they're hand made with matched imported tone woods, stained by hand, and hand wired. A good friend of mine paid $3000 to get a custom one built, and he flew down to the factory in Nashville to watch the whole process. Some of the parts are cut by eyeballing it, and there's no two instruments alike. Check out this video at their factory:

https://youtu.be/3vARFwbhLOM?t=169

Fenders are a bit simpler to make as they use ash or similar woods, are a single layer, and have an easier design. Still, the American made versions of these can run in the $1000+ range easily.

Gibson does have a new like of $700-$1000 Les Pauls, just with out the decorations and trim, but their higher end instruments are works of art and worth every penny. There's a saying that if you buy a $3000 Gibson, you can sell a $3000 Gibson anytime.
 
nakedfrog said:
I suppose I should consider oiling now that I have "nice" guitars.
Click to expand...

Yes I do the same as Fritzo. I replace broken strings as needed but every few months I take them all off and clean/oil the fret board, then string a new set.
 
Markbnj said:
Yes I do the same as Fritzo. I replace broken strings as needed but every few months I take them all off and clean/oil the fret board, then string a new set.
Click to expand...

I'm a big fan of this stuff. It has an applicator pad built in and lets you rub the oil in really well.

GAD6554_LGE.jpg


BTW- it's important to scrape all of your finger gunk off the frets before you oil them, otherwise that gunk will become part of the wood. A credit card seems to work well for that.
 
Fritzo said:
Joe Walsh. Jimmy was looking for a Les Paul after playing a Telecaster because he wanted a heavier sound, but he couldn't find one he liked. Jimmy has a reputation for being cheap, so I'm pretty sure that translated to "he couldn't find one for the right price" 😉

Jimmy tells the story that Joe Walsh flew it out to him and sold it to him after the '69 Filmore show. He liked it and used it ever since. Walsh sold it to him because he experimented with the neck and had it shaved down very thin at Lay's guitars in Akron OH (which is about 2 hours from where I live...it's still open!). That thin neck gave an advantage as it let Jimmy play those fast runs like he did on a Telecaster, but with the heavier sound and sustain of a LP.

I also know that Jimmy went through a few different sets of pickups, so there's no specific "Page" pickup. Also, a lot of people do that Page wiring mod, but fail to realize he didn't have that mod done until the 80's (after Zeppelin).

- Fritzo: Acclaimed Led Zeppelin Historian
Click to expand...

Well done sir! When I first found out that LZ I was done exclusively with a Tele, I was blown away that it could have that much of a sonic attack. A tele was twangy, sometimes crunchy, but not as powerful as Jimmy made it on LZ I.
 
Fritzo said:
There may be some "exclusitivity" involved (Apple does that all the time), but a lot of that is crap. American made Gibsons are so expensive because they're hand made with matched imported tone woods, stained by hand, and hand wired. A good friend of mine paid $3000 to get a custom one built, and he flew down to the factory in Nashville to watch the whole process. Some of the parts are cut by eyeballing it, and there's no two instruments alike. Check out this video at their factory:

https://youtu.be/3vARFwbhLOM?t=169

Fenders are a bit simpler to make as they use ash or similar woods, are a single layer, and have an easier design. Still, the American made versions of these can run in the $1000+ range easily.

Gibson does have a new like of $700-$1000 Les Pauls, just with out the decorations and trim, but their higher end instruments are works of art and worth every penny. There's a saying that if you buy a $3000 Gibson, you can sell a $3000 Gibson anytime.
Click to expand...

not sure if serious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbU1R4KDymw

hand made.... with cnc routers.

this is hand made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZSDzBv_rIA
 
master_shake_ said:
not sure if serious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbU1R4KDymw

hand made.... with cnc routers.

this is hand made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZSDzBv_rIA
Click to expand...

The bodies are made with routers (mahogany isn't exactly easy to carve). The necks are made by hand with no guides. The maple caps are hand selected and matched by eye. The bodies are hand stained and cured. Everything is hand-glued together. I'm sorry you have it out for Gibson, but they're a good company.

Fender bodies are usually made from Alder or Ash, which is a much easier to work with. They're also a single piece, non-layered design. Finally, Fender necks are usually bolted on, not glued. The whole design is a lot simpler, making it more practical for more aspects of the construction to be done by hand.
 
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Sheik Yerbouti said:
Well done sir! When I first found out that LZ I was done exclusively with a Tele, I was blown away that it could have that much of a sonic attack. A tele was twangy, sometimes crunchy, but not as powerful as Jimmy made it on LZ I.
Click to expand...

The recipe for that sound is a fuzz pedal, an overdrive pedal (Page used the amp from an Echoplex 3 as a signal booster), a bit of reverb, crank up a small amp, and mic it a few feet away. He would also leave his Wah pedal on and leave it near the center to add "compressed" sound.

I recorded an example of this with my Tele some time back. The first part is standard Page-like sound, and the middle solo is with the Wah activated:

https://www.reverbnation.com/dougz/song/4295653-stripdown-blues
 
Fritzo said:
I'm a big fan of this stuff. It has an applicator pad built in and lets you rub the oil in really well.

GAD6554_LGE.jpg


BTW- it's important to scrape all of your finger gunk off the frets before you oil them, otherwise that gunk will become part of the wood. A credit card seems to work well for that.
Click to expand...

Yep I also use lemon oil. Not sure if it's that brand.
 
I'm glad (and really lucky) that I bought my Gibson in 2009 before the flood & wood seizure. Don't even know if they (Gibson) make any guitars with ebony fretboards anymore.
 
Fritzo said:
The recipe for that sound is a fuzz pedal, an overdrive pedal (Page used the amp from an Echoplex 3 as a signal booster), a bit of reverb, crank up a small amp, and mic it a few feet away. He would also leave his Wah pedal on and leave it near the center to add "compressed" sound.

I recorded an example of this with my Tele some time back. The first part is standard Page-like sound, and the middle solo is with the Wah activated:

https://www.reverbnation.com/dougz/song/4295653-stripdown-blues
Click to expand...

Yea, he was a freaking wizard in the studio, I dig the sound of a wah pedal when it scoops the mids. He used a Supro amp, right? And a fairly small one too.
 
BlitzPuppet said:
I'm glad (and really lucky) that I bought my Gibson in 2009 before the flood & wood seizure. Don't even know if they (Gibson) make any guitars with ebony fretboards anymore.
Click to expand...

I think they stopped using rosewood as well, it's all 'baked' maple. I have one guitar with an ebony fretboard and it plays so nicely.
 
master_shake_ said:
i posted a link to fletcher handcrafted guitars.

i guess fritzo never watched it to see what handmade actually means.
Click to expand...

See, the problem here is what you consider hand made. In Chinese shops, machines cookie cut bodies, necks, and everything else, they're assembled with machines, and not inspected until final assembly.

In American shops, a person is in charge of creating each component to their quality standards, and the final parts are hand assembled and stained.

There is no way any large corporation could keep up with demand by hand carving each piece of wood.
 
Fritzo said:
See, the problem here is what you consider hand made. In Chinese shops, machines cookie cut bodies, necks, and everything else, they're assembled with machines, and not inspected until final assembly.

In American shops, a person is in charge of creating each component to their quality standards, and the final parts are hand assembled and stained.

There is no way any large corporation could keep up with demand by hand carving each piece of wood.
Click to expand...


you sure have changed your rhetoric...

all the way from

American made Gibsons are so expensive because they're hand made with matched imported tone woods,
Click to expand...

to

The bodies are made with routers (mahogany isn't exactly easy to carve). The necks are made by hand with no guides.
Click to expand...

and finally

the final parts are hand assembled and stained.
Click to expand...

to me they are the same mass produced crap as everything else these days.

but for some reason these mass produced things fetch a premium price...

because gibson says they are worth that much.

not because they are worth that much.
 
master_shake_ said:
you sure have changed your rhetoric...

all the way from



to



and finally



to me they are the same mass produced crap as everything else these days.

but for some reason these mass produced things fetch a premium price...

because gibson says they are worth that much.

not because they are worth that much.
Click to expand...

You know what, I'm done with this. Enjoy your opinions.
 
There's overpriced and beyond overpriced.

Say what anyone will, but Gibsons are beyond overpriced.

Didn't Gibson reduce prices from 2015 b/c they overplayed their hand on price ask which resulted in reduced sales and thus reduced prices in 2016?

Regardless, I purchased a Les Paul Standard last year and returned it (again!..my history with Gibson LPs is always a negative one). Basically returned for the same reasons following Gibson's current reputation....that their quality sucks for the money you pay.

I then took that money and bought a universally 5* guitar magazines rated 2015 Epiphone Lee Malia Les Paul for $700. DAY & NIGHT better quality! http://www.epiphone.com/News/Features/2015/Lee-Malia-Les-Paul-Custom-Gear-Of-The-Year.aspx

Plus the Epi had authentic custom Gibson pups. All I did was replace the tuners to Schallers. I took it to my 70 yr.old master luthier (one of the elites in CA) for a setup and said it was built and played like good $5k-$7k Gibson Customs he's worked on/played. He just couldn't believe the amount of quality, playability and tone this new model Epiphone had.

Anyone who follows Epi's current quality would not be surprised how well they punch above their weight for the price/quality versus Gibson, especially now since Epiphone has included Gibson pups in many of their higher end models.

Sure one can get an awesome LP, but it will still COST you and you'll most likely have to to thru several of them to get a good one due to their lackluster quality control.

I own several Fender Americans and ALL of them were built incredibly well and setup straight out of the box. Never had an issue with this brand. This may be anectodal but it also follows Fender's current rep of turning out quality instruments. Even their Made In Mexico stuff is great bang/buck.

I think most guitar enthusiasts would be fine having a proper Gibson/non-Gibson LP in their arsenal. But it's a mixed bag....heavy, bulky, non-form fitting. It's an old design and that's their mystique. For me, I'll grab for a more evolved modern fit guitar design (playability/flexibilty) over the LP design if I don't need a anally specific LP tone for a song.
 
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^
What did you have problems with? My Gibson came 100% straight out of the box, and is still amazing to this day. The only issue are finish cracks along the neck joint but there is nothing wrong with that.
 
master_shake_ said:
to me they are the same mass produced crap as everything else these days.

but for some reason these mass produced things fetch a premium price...

because gibson says they are worth that much.

not because they are worth that much.
Click to expand...

First off, a thing is worth exactly what someone will pay for it. There is no universal standard of value. Second, there is a pretty huge difference in the sound of a cheap guitar vs. a very well made one, and well made doesn't mean hand made. I play acoustics and have a '74 Martin D18. These days Martin uses a lot of CNC in the parts prep process of making their guitars, and they still sound hands down better than almost anything else you can buy. The difference is in the quality of the woods, the design, and the quality of assembly and finishing. In fact they are probably _better_ guitars with the precision of CNC milling.
 
Markbnj said:
First off, a thing is worth exactly what someone will pay for it. There is no universal standard of value. Second, there is a pretty huge difference in the sound of a cheap guitar vs. a very well made one, and well made doesn't mean hand made. I play acoustics and have a '74 Martin D18. These days Martin uses a lot of CNC in the parts prep process of making their guitars, and they still sound hands down better than almost anything else you can buy. The difference is in the quality of the woods, the design, and the quality of assembly and finishing. In fact they are probably _better_ guitars with the precision of CNC milling.
Click to expand...
I don't know about that... don't get me wrong, they do make a great many fine guitars, but you're also paying an upcharge because it says Martin on the headstock.
 
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