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True Historic 59 LP tailpiece

inkeyes

New member
Joined
Aug 14, 2016
Messages
2
I bought a True Historic 59 Les Paul earlier this year and couldn't be happier with it.
However, I was tweaking the setup a little this evening and noticed that one of the tailpiece studs appeared to have no bushing and was screwed directly into the wood (I hadn't noticed because the tailpiece has been screwed low to the body since I bought it so it was previously not visible). Is this normal? The other stud has a bushing, I've attached a couple of photos. I'm a bit worried that without a bushing it could lead to problems further down the road.

image3.jpgimage2.jpg
 

J.D.

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Joined
May 24, 2006
Messages
10,030
That is just masking tape placed over the metal insert before spraying. They are all this way.
 

DANELECTRO

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Joined
Feb 24, 2003
Messages
6,319
There is absolutely a bushing on both sides of your guitar. Those "finish donuts" tend to break loose and fall off when removing studs. As you can see. the lacquer finish is fractured around the perimeter of the bushing that lies beneath it:

Finish%20Donut%20a_zps7sr0srkp.jpg~original




Over the years, I've had a number of these donuts decide to leave the mother ship, and for some demented reason I toss them into my parts drawer rather than throwing them away like any normal person would do. I believe most are the rings shown below are from Historic Les Pauls, but I know that at least one pair of them came off of a 1955 Junior, so apparently this part of the finish process is consistent with what was being done back in the day.

 
Last edited:

Maxmc

Active member
Joined
Mar 15, 2015
Messages
652
There is absolutely a bushing on both sides of your guitar. Those "finish donuts" tend to break loose and fall off when removing studs. As you can see. the lacquer finish is fractured around the perimeter of the bushing that lies beneath it:

Finish%20Donut%20a_zps7sr0srkp.jpg~original




Over the years, I've had a number of these donuts decide to leave the mother ship, and for some demented reason I toss them into my parts drawer rather than throwing them away like any normal person would do. I believe most are the rings shown below are from Historic Les Pauls, but I know that at least one pair of them came off of a 1955 Junior, so apparently this part of the finish process is consistent with what was being done back in the day.

Call me warped but this reminds me of people who collect the fluff out of their belly buttons.
 

sws1

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Joined
Dec 4, 2001
Messages
2,846
Over the years, I've had a number of these donuts decide to leave the mother ship, and for some demented reason I toss them into my parts drawer rather than throwing them away like any normal person would do.

WOW - I love this place.
 

slammintone

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Joined
Jul 19, 2001
Messages
2,003
So.... where's the rest of that sweet lookin' R9??? More pic's please! BTW Welcome to the forum!!
 

inkeyes

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Joined
Aug 14, 2016
Messages
2
Thanks guys, looks like I was panicking! Had never come across this before but I can rest easy.
As requested, here's a couple of quick photos of the rest of the guitar...

LP3.jpg
LP4.jpg
 

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TM1

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Messages
8,349
Wow!! That's a beauty! Looks like an original looked back when they were new. I remember some friends back around 1969/70/71 that had LP's that still looked like they were new. They all looked alot like yours!
 

Byron123

New member
Joined
Aug 19, 2017
Messages
5
There is absolutely a bushing on both sides of your guitar. Those "finish donuts" tend to break loose and fall off when removing studs. As you can see. the lacquer finish is fractured around the perimeter of the bushing that lies beneath it:





Over the years, I've had a number of these donuts decide to leave the mother ship, and for some demented reason I toss them into my parts drawer rather than throwing them away like any normal person would do. I believe most are the rings shown below are from Historic Les Pauls, but I know that at least one pair of them came off of a 1955 Junior, so apparently this part of the finish process is consistent with what was being done back in the day.


Danelectro......I have the same "debris" above on the tailpiece bushings for my LP Standard 2017. Saw it when I bought it, but liked the gtr so much bought it anyway. A year later, it now bugs me a bit.

So how does one remove the finish over-run??

Thanks

See pic...I think a click will enlarge it.

image2.jpg
 

bluesky636

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
Messages
658
There is absolutely a bushing on both sides of your guitar. Those "finish donuts" tend to break loose and fall off when removing studs. As you can see. the lacquer finish is fractured around the perimeter of the bushing that lies beneath it:

Finish%20Donut%20a_zps7sr0srkp.jpg~original




Over the years, I've had a number of these donuts decide to leave the mother ship, and for some demented reason I toss them into my parts drawer rather than throwing them away like any normal person would do. I believe most are the rings shown below are from Historic Les Pauls, but I know that at least one pair of them came off of a 1955 Junior, so apparently this part of the finish process is consistent with what was being done back in the day.


And I thought I collected some weird $hit! :hmm
 

J.D.

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Joined
May 24, 2006
Messages
10,030
To remove, remove the studs and very carefully break the paint at the wood-tape seam with a very sharp razor, then carefully lift the tape with a small flat blade screwdriver tip from the center of the bushing outward.
 

Byron123

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Aug 19, 2017
Messages
5
JD:

Thanks for the advice. After looking closely, I came up with the same strategy. Will fix it next week...got a gig this Saturday...and lots of other things to handle.

Again thank you

Byron
 

bluesky636

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Joined
Jan 10, 2014
Messages
658
JD:

Thanks for the advice. After looking closely, I came up with the same strategy. Will fix it next week...got a gig this Saturday...and lots of other things to handle.

Again thank you

Byron

This works perfectly and you only need one tool instead of two.

EJ1010041315.JPG
 

joeh77

Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2015
Messages
97
Asked the same question about 10 months ago. For me the tape was chipping off the top, and it looked to me like the finish of my brand new guitar was flaking off. Thanks to the members here, I got some very calming information!

Stoptail - 4.JPG

Great looking guitar BTW!

Joe
 

El Gringo

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Apr 8, 2015
Messages
5,657
I had one of those on the bass side of my 1994 Gibson Les Paul Classic Premium plus .Funny thing way back I did not know what it was and I just assumed that it was part of the finish . I will have to take a look at it this evening .I have not noticed this on my 2014 R9 .
 

Byron123

New member
Joined
Aug 19, 2017
Messages
5
Hi all:

I posted on this thread regarding lacquer overrun on the tailpiece bushings of my LP. Got some good suggestions. So, fixed it this morning and here is how things went.

See attached pics.

Per suggestions, I removed the TP, and the studs and used a Exacto with a fresh blade to score the perimeter of the overrun. It was pretty easy going - though, the thickness varied and I need to re-score several times. The finish detached easily, though had to encourage it in a few places. The surface of the bushing was sticky, so I used some reg Gibson Finish cleaner on a clean lint free cloth to clean it up. Overall, this was very effective in removing the residue. Also found that Blue tape worked great to grab the debris after scoring the finish. (BTW, initially, I just wiped the bushings with a clean shop rag without the cleaner and the sticky residue grabbed pieces of lint from the rag...so I would recommend not doing this and use a cleaner and lint-free cloth).

This an easy fix, though it looked worse than it really was. I fix my gtrs all the time, though I stay away from cosmetic repairs. But no need to worry here! One can make the whole operation easier by measuring the height of the TP studs or bridge thumbwheels, if that is being removed, before you start. Makes getting things back together quicker as you are close to the original specs right away. Also, I always use Blue tape to hold the bridge and the TP when I change strings to avoid a nasty ding if they should fall off. But I am sure most of you know this!



So, all good and thanks for the help!!!

Byron

BTW I posted this earlier…but it seemed to disappear??? Not sure why…but will delete if it shows up twice.

IMG_2191.jpgIMG_2193.jpgIMG_2195.jpg
 
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