Nachobursts

[El Camino]

Not for me

 

[jb_abides]

So, essentially a Larry Corsa Greeny Conversion arrangement, just maybe 'Nach-style' better...?

Is there a dearth of Murphy Lab guitars available in the EU or something?

I'd hard pass on a mod-relic USA LP when Reissues and ML are readily available, no matter how well the 'glow-up' was done.

 

[rockabilly69]

So, essentially a Larry Corsa Greeny Conversion arrangement, just maybe 'Nach-style' better...?

Is there a dearth of Murphy Lab guitars available in the EU or something?

I'd hard pass on a mod-relic USA LP when Reissues and ML are readily available, no matter how well the 'glow-up' was done.

Well I played one of the Nacho Bursts which belongs to Lynn Wheelwright (my close friend and fantastic luthier/guitar-historian) a few days ago, and the finish work on it was great, pretty realistic relic'ing. The one I played was like a unburst with a little bit of that green in it. And the relic was not over the top like his Nachocasters are. And there's more to these guitars than the finish. They are recarving the necks to an accurate 50's profile, recarving the top, producing their own bridges and tailpieces, winding their own pickups, and making their own plastics. The pickups sound great, very classic PAF sounding with clarity in the neck position yet still fullness, and a great sounding bridge pickup. And the setup on this one was very good right out of the box. The weight seemed to be right under 8lbs, so Ive got to wonder if Gibson is selling him these guitars with low spec weight as compared to the regular USA run of Les Pauls.

I will probably ask my friend to let me record it in my studio. He was fine with me recording his Nachocaster. If I do get to record it, I will take some proper pictures.

 

[jb_abides]

Well I played one of the Nacho Bursts which belongs to Lynn Wheelwright (my close friend and fantastic luthier/guitar-historian) a few days ago, and the finish work on it was great, pretty realistic relic'ing. The one I played was like a unburst with a little bit of that green in it. And the relic was not over the top like his Nachocasters are. And there's more to these guitars than the finish. They are recarving the necks to an accurate 60's profile, recarving the top, producing their own bridges and tailpieces, winding their own pickups, and making their own plastics. The pickups sound great, very classic PAF sounding with clarity in the neck position yet still fullness, and a great sounding bridge pickup. And the setup on this one was very good right out of the box. The weight seemed to be right under 8lbs, so Ive got to wonder if Gibson is selling him these guitars with low spec weight as compared to the regular USA run of Les Pauls.

I will probably ask my friend to let me record it in my studio. He was fine with me recording his Nachocaster. If I do get to record it, I will take some proper pictures.

All good. Nacho's touches are unassailable, you gotta love his obbessive attention to detail.

Back to the revelation he's performing Nacho-magic on confirmed USAs... why use the USA LP as a palette?

His competition ought to be Historic Makeovers, or notching up from Murphy Lab, not a throwback to when folks relic'd USAs because ... 'relic vibe looks cool' ... although the feel and vibe are important how about the basic construction, hide glue neck set and tenon, etc.?

Those are minimum essential requirements for the vast majority of discerning buyers. Was he motivated to fly in the face of that, forced to, or think his well-earned brand reputation can circumvent that, etc?

His attempt at PAF clones are certainly something to witness. Looking forward to more hardware and plastics, too. Perhaps the guitars are just the test bed and sales platform to lauch a more sustainable parts line, ultimately?

 

[hoss]

Is there a dearth of Murphy Lab guitars available in the EU or something?

Murphy Lab R9s can be had at Thomann or Klangfarbe for around 8K.

 

[metropolis]

Plenty in the UK too across several very large dealers like Andertons and not to mention the Gibson Garage. Odd to go directly in competition with the Murphy Labs but using a 'lower grade' guitar as the foundation.

 

[Wilko]

'lower grade' guitar as the foundation.

the lower grade guitars have great CNC neck joints. there really isn't that night and day difference that there was when the "long tenon" historics started. Biggest differences now are the thicker binding and bridge post inserts.

 

[rockabilly69]

Hmmm. Look how high the bridge pickup is sitting in the ring. Also, the ABR-1 has two thumbwheels per side and the stoptail is top wrapped. Must be a steep neck angle.

The one I played also had the double thumbwheels. I know he did this with Billy Gibbons so I wonder if he decided to go with top wrapping due to his influence. The guitar was setup better than any stock Gibson I've ever picked up. The neck angle seemed perfect. And another person mentioned the wider binding. This one had the smaller binding in the lower cutaway, so I wonder if they swapped binding too. If I bring it to my studio to record, I will take the closest of looks and report back.

 

[GreenBurst]

If you have a chance please check and compare the neck binding width. It is thicker on Gibson USA LPs (but wasn't 30 yrs ago). It might have been a strategic design change to act as a differentiator between USA and Historics LPs starting in the early 90s. Makes it harder to pass one off as the other since replacing neck binding is cost prohibitive.

Historic Rx binding is thinner, like vintage and even Norlin. Feels better to play and provides a slightly wider fretboard area.

This is probably one of the main reasons Historics feel so good to play.

 

[hoss]

Inlay colors, nobody?

 

[clapciadrix]

the lower grade guitars have great CNC neck joints. there really isn't that night and day difference that there was when the "long tenon" historics started. Biggest differences now are the thicker binding and bridge post inserts.

I don’t believe that it’s a question of whether the Nacho guitar is any good, I’m sure it’s very good. The guitars are being sold as replicas of golden era Les Pauls. Nacho should expect the same scrutiny of the specs as Gibson has had to go through.

 

[Wilko]

I don’t believe that it’s a question of whether the Nacho guitar is any good, I’m sure it’s very good. The guitars are being sold as replicas of golden era Les Pauls. Nacho should expect the same scrutiny of the specs as Gibson has had to go through.

of course. I was just adding that the core guitars (if later model standard type) are much better than most previous years with questionable short "rocker" tenon designs that had very low repeatability from a build standpoint.

For accuracy (without removing the pickups or control covers) the Nachos are probably very good.

 

[MattD1960]

for the price he is asking, you could have a really nice Les Paul just built from scratch by a number of fantastic builders out there

 

[F-Hole]

I had a Nachocaster, didn’t like it. It felt “confected” and was nothing like the 52 I had at the time (bought from Nacho too). I sold it. From memory, Nacho had no real interest in ‘bursts, very much a Fender guy, so this line is a bit of a mystery other than as a commercial exercise….which is as good a reason as any.

 

[metropolis]

the lower grade guitars have great CNC neck joints. there really isn't that night and day difference that there was when the "long tenon" historics started. Biggest differences now are the thicker binding and bridge post inserts.

I'm sure that's the case. I deliberately emphasised 'lower grade' because I think it is more a matter of perception than anything, but should have clarified

 

[jb_abides]

I'm sure that's the case. I deliberately emphasised 'lower grade' because I think it is more a matter of perception than anything, but should have clarified

There's also wood sorting between USA and CS, although you are going to find some overlap given the sheer volume of guitars produced...