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Making the Gibson Les Paul Custom Shop 2021 even better!!

El Gringo

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 8, 2015
Messages
5,657
The guitar was mint when I got it from a client as partial payment for a bill. I had it for a few months but didn't play it much.

I lent it to a friend of mine who was recording an album and he damaged the finished as shown in the pictures. He claims he was just setting the guitar on the floor throughout the session and did not notice it was getting damaged. Perhaps this guitar's finish was defective from the factory but who knows. I also lightly tapped the headstock on a cymbal, and it also cracked and flaked off the finish there as well. I sent the pictures to Gibson and that they "estimated" that they'd charge around $1000 to refinish the guitar, which I felt was a waste of money, given what a shitty job they did from the factory. I told Kim about it to see if he could just "fix" it and he told me that the lacquer he uses would not adhere with the existing lacquer on the guitar and suggested that I let him just refinish it. At first I was only going have him refinish it but I decided to go for the full deluxe while I'm at it-in for a penny in for pound.


View attachment 12980
She sure is a beauty with such nice figure . As far as the finish goes I am sure you know these are very thin/light coats of nitro lacquer which will ding and chip very easily . I also am almost sure that you know that Gibson Custom does the finish this way in order to let the natural tone of the wood resonate and sustain just like the Golden era . Then you get what you have which sucks for sure .
 

randall

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 21, 2002
Messages
1,310
I got two things which i am sure have been talked about before. Gibson is hopefully reading this?

Get the 50's scale length correct, maybe they have and i am wrong?

Make the bottom neck tenon come all the way down to the bottom of the heal, this i know they don't do, it could have a big impact to the tone? more neck wood!
 

Morgan24

Active member
Joined
Nov 1, 2020
Messages
138
I got two things which i am sure have been talked about before. Gibson is hopefully reading this?

Get the 50's scale length correct, maybe they have and i am wrong?

Make the bottom neck tenon come all the way down to the bottom of the heal, this i know they don't do, it could have a big impact to the tone? more neck wood!
You are very right about this matter👍
Screenshot_20210220-101342_YouTube.jpg
 

jaydublin

New member
Joined
Jan 28, 2021
Messages
20
I got two things which i am sure have been talked about before. Gibson is hopefully reading this?

Get the 50's scale length correct, maybe they have and i am wrong?

Make the bottom neck tenon come all the way down to the bottom of the heal, this i know they don't do, it could have a big impact to the tone? more neck wood!
I find this concept/issue very intriguing. To my layman/non-engineering mind this is a structural trade-off, as the thicker neck joint would means a thinner body where the neck is being set into it. And since there will be a snug fit and glued joint, I don’t see how one way has a benefit over the other. But as I said— I have no clue about these things and would love to be educated on it.
 

guitarbob123

Active member
Joined
Jan 2, 2009
Messages
214
I can't be bothered doing the maths on it, but surely it's the same surface area contact?

The surface contact gained on the vertical connection where the tenon meets the area under the pickup is surely equal to the surface contact on the reissue's neck heel.

The volume of the neck itself would become greater, but as pointed out, the volume of the body would become smaller.

I don't see how anyone can claim it makes a difference when the surface area of the contact between neck and body would remain equal and the overall volume occupied by the guitar is equal. You're just changing the proportion of neck:body ratio in the make up of the total guitar's mass/volume.

It'd be more accurate to the original bursts but you're not going to hear the difference through an overdriven Marshall at 105db. If you think you (or anyone who's in the presence of your playing) can then I've got a few barrels of snake oil I can offer you too
 

AA00475Bassman

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 26, 2016
Messages
3,769
I like the modern neck joint =

1 # its easy to hide sloppy fitment I'm so tiered reading about on this Forum !

2# 50's neck joint truly looks like something Fender would do without the screws !
 

Bulwark

Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2019
Messages
52
I am going to have my first prototype, a true vintage correct zinc alloy ABR1 bridge base made in a couple weeks. They will be scanning two of my originals. Stay tuned.
Greetings, sir! It’s been three couples of weeks, give or take some hours and days. Any word on that true vintage correct alloy, plating, shape, etc.?

Try as I may to find old ones on Reverb and teh intarwebz, it’s either all post-‘62, wire, chrome, suspect, WAY too expensive (one post w/ bridge, saddles, saddle screws, thumbwheels, and post is/was a whopping $1800) for me, or some combo of the aforementioned.

Revisiting that Segeborn video, the difference is so stark, it’s really whetting the appetite. Funny, I’ve listened to it now on my AirPods Pro, my Beyerdynamic DT770s, and my home theater, each reveals differences the other does not.
 

JPP-1

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 11, 2006
Messages
1,336
Well I wrote Florian Jaeger how often he has to reset the neck on Custom Shop Les Paul 59 models when he removes the fretboard, so he can see the neck joint. I asked if it was one out of ten, five out of ten or? The reply was not good news:
View attachment 12934
Yeah if I built my business “reboarding and reknecking“ perfectly good custom shop guitars that’s what I’d say too
 

JPP-1

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 11, 2006
Messages
1,336
You are very right about this matter👍
View attachment 12999

Lmfao. What is this nonsense drawing based on? Some guy doodling two necks calling one vintage and one modern. The geometry comparison is completely fallacious .

It never fails to amaze me the utter erroneous rubbish that gets passed around some forums as something resembling fact.
 

fretboarder

Member
Joined
May 20, 2015
Messages
84
They are close enough now if you ask me, the 2019 on custom shop are close enough for anyone anyone wanting tiny details like square corners on this and that are just nit picking cork sniffers IMO.. the back colours can be a joke on some of them though that look like black current hahhahah
 

Bulwark

Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2019
Messages
52
They are close enough now if you ask me, the 2019 on custom shop are close enough for anyone anyone wanting tiny details like square corners on this and that are just nit picking cork sniffers IMO.. the back colours can be a joke on some of them though that look like black current hahhahah
Have you listened to the Johan Segeborn link that I believe kicked off this thread? B/c while generally I would agree with you, when it comes to the bridge, they’ve left plenty of room for improvement, as is quickly and clearly demonstrated.
 

Mr. Legit

Active member
Joined
Sep 11, 2016
Messages
112
Have you listened to the Johan Segeborn link that I believe kicked off this thread? B/c while generally I would agree with you, when it comes to the bridge, they’ve left plenty of room for improvement, as is quickly and clearly demonstrated.
Sadly, it is still in the works. I am trying to do it without casting first, but I want to find a way to honor the vintage bridges out there. My engineering team is working with me in one area to compromise, but I am trying not to budge. We have the a rough version made already.

Improvement? Sound is subjective, I am unconvinced when people make these claims or videos because some might prefer the newer Historic bridges to the vintage pieces. I feel we also believe what we want to hear with our eyes when we place the vintage guitars on a pedestal. I bet most of us wouldn’t even be able to tell a difference with a blind fold on that a certain guitar was loaded with a 50’s or early 60’s ABR or a Historic one. However, they look vastly different to me. There is a certain era of Historic bridges I prefer, but I will keep it on the down low so that prices aren’t gouged. A lot of great guitar music was made with guitars made post 1950s-early 1960s, and I may be in the minority, but I actually prefer the Historics in some cases.

I also heard many of things I laid out on page one are being upgraded slowly just not publicized. The leadership at Gibson seems to be headed in the right direction.
 
Last edited:

muddydunc

New member
Joined
Jan 20, 2021
Messages
18
Hi - sorry if I've missed it somewhere; but is the video / chap correct regarding vintage and modern Custom Shop scale length being different? Don't think I've heard that being spoken of before?
 

Morgan24

Active member
Joined
Nov 1, 2020
Messages
138
Hi - sorry if I've missed it somewhere; but is the video / chap correct regarding vintage and modern Custom Shop scale length being different? Don't think I've heard that being spoken of before?
Yes the scale lenght on the Custom Shop is different due to the overall tuning/pitch of the guitar.
 

El Gringo

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 8, 2015
Messages
5,657
I may be a bit naive or biased ,but to me this all seems much ado about nothing . To begin the vintage golden era Gibson's were built with old growth timber The metals used in the hardware are similar but not the same . The pickups are unique in that they are the vaunted Vintage Gibson PAF's . These are some differences and yet at the end of the day for a tiny fraction of the cost of a vintage Burst -Gibson Custom is simply hitting grand slam homeruns everyday of the week since 1994 .
 
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