Historic Makeovers "D" - she's comin' home

[Todd Louis]

...so your're the guy holding up my R0...:rofl

No ......Your the Guy that was holding up my 59'!!!!:lol :laugh2:

 

[DanD]

Lovely work, looks amazing

+10

Those who would complain must be blind (probably deaf too...)

 

[dwagar]

okey dokey, she is home.

I haven't put new strings on her yet, cause who can wait right?

Initial impressions:

the board - just awesome. Jet black, straight open grain, EXACTLY what I think of when I think of a Braz Board. Nothing against the more colored recent boards, but I'm an old guy, this is what I wanted.

the inlays - fantastic. What a huge change from the white, round cornered '01s.

fit and finish - perfect. What can I say? Nut, frets, setup, binding, everything is just perfect.

tonal impressions - wow! I 'benchmarked' it between my Custom and my MM acoustically before it left. It is much louder acoustically now. But it's the resonance that shocked me, it just sings through the whole body now. Sustains and rings forever!

Playability - smooth as silk. Beautiful.

With so many changes, I don't know what to connect the dots to. I suspect the resonance is related to both the truss rod and the braz board (with the hide glue). I also suspect there is a tonal change through this, but it is SO hard to tie down tone. I suspect brighter, clearer, cleaner.

I'd attribute the playability to the nut, fretwork and setup.

Is it worth it? Every penny.

New strings, and I'll report back after a wind out through the Marshall tomorrow night.

 

[Browneyes]

No ......Your the Guy that was holding up my 59'!!!!:lol :laugh2:

This may get ugly folks... give them room!

 

[55Custom]

I also suspect there is a tonal change through this, but it is SO hard to tie down tone. I suspect brighter, clearer, cleaner.
.

That's exactly the effect I was worried about. Because my candidate for that is already that way.
So if package D makes it even more so, then that might be problematic.

what I am looking for is depth of tone, including boosts in lower mids and bass frequencies, creating a crisp fat tone, and not just brightness.

Too early to make a judgment, I guess. I look forward to your future reports on it later. That sustain/resonance increase is a good sign though, regardless.

 

[dwagar]

That's a reason I was going to avoid discussing tone. I don't think it has more treble, but I think it has more clarity. Does that explain it better?
Amplified, I can make it do anything I want. It's acoustics that matter to me the most.

 

[MIKE20]

This may get ugly folks... give them room!

:rofl ...

 

[Cottage]

I drool in your general direction Mr. Wagar!!!!

 

[MapleFlame]

Wait until everything amalgamates together in a few months. When the Nitro Shrinks back hide glue dries all hell is going to break loose out of that amp. He man I am happy it came out great and you like it.

 

[Todd Louis]

Could you give us Close ups of the bard inlays and side of the neck man ??:salude

 

[dwagar]

sure, I'll try doing that a little later this AM, it's cloudy and raining here, maybe I can catch some sun. I suck at photography, but I'll try.

 

[MIKE20]

...it rains in Calgary?...:wah

 

[dwagar]

well it rains here NOW because of the whole global warming thing. You know the wind farm just south of here? It's not well known, but we didn't install that to generate electricity (I think it's against the law in Alberta to use anything but Natural Gas for that), we installed them as FANS to blow the clouds away. It was only supposed to rain at night.
Now we have to use the damn things as generators.
:spabout

Anyway, pictures. Guys. I suck at taking pictures. I've got a Minolta Z1 with buttons and switches and macros and extra lenses and shit. And I still suck. Even with a tripod I suck.
Out of 5 pics here's one that isn't bad. Except the lighting made the inlays look white, they aren't. Sigh. I tried to take a pic of the binding, it turned out white. Jeezuz.

NICE board though, huh?

 

[Timster]

Really nice !!! Congrats.

 

[GreenBurst]

What about the frets? How do you like those compared to the originals? What size frets were on R9 '01s? Same as '99-00?

 

[dwagar]

I'm pretty sure Kim said these are 6105s. I really like them. As far as I know, they are very close to what was on there. I can't recall if I ever stuck a caliper on there.

 

[Red Rocket]

Excellent Don. Glad for you that it turned out so great. :salude

It's actually better to take photos if the light is more diffused (which is one reason pro photogs use those silver umbrellas to bounce their flash). I for one, would like to see more pictures of the rest of the guitar too; the top looks very nice. Maybe try shooting pics without the flash, but with as many lights turned on in the room as you can.

 

[dwagar]

I didn't use the flash, but I did have a couple of lights pointed at it. I really should learn to use a camera properly. I bought it to take pictures of my Grandson playing hockey (he just started), so I wanted the big zoom lens.
I know LPs are hard to photo for color, they change so much with lighting etc.
Yes, it really looks good now with this board and the new inlays. Way nicer than before.

 

[fromthebeginning]

I'm pretty sure Kim said these are 6105s. I really like them. As far as I know, they are very close to what was on there. I can't recall if I ever stuck a caliper on there.

Does anyone know what wire they used on the original 59's and the reissue R9?

Thanks

 

[kingsleyd]

Damn, Don... not only did you get rid of Mick's finger gook, you got rid of all mine too!

Actually, what a great candidate for that treatment. It was a great-sounding R9 to begin with, but that ugly red and the white inlays... I just couldn't ever deal with how it looked.

Way cool. Enjoy it!!! :applaude (from the previous owner)