Besides my reading glasses, this is my best friend: And unlike my other few friends, it doesn't suck up all my beer!
I use one of those big magnifying desk lamps. Definitely makes fine work a lot easier and more accurate.
Cork Sniffers! Where! I'll murderlate 'em! Ya can't be a 'sniffer over a new axe, play it, adjust it, mod it and make it your own. Warning slight rant: Cork sniffers who buy new guitars and obsess over them being "as delivered" or to blah blah specs only serve to depress the future market for such axes as they'll be as common as cockroaches. Like old comic books, old guitars are valuable largely due to the fact that so few survived intact. Copypasta http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-10-30/those-comics-in-your-basement-probably-worthless Substitute guitar for comic and you'll get an idea. The only reason old unmolested guitars command a substantial premium today is because it was common to mod them, smash them, refinish them a dozen times badly and so on. It's rare to find an old one that hasn't been F'd with. That's what makes it valuable. All these well preserved modern guitars won't achieve anything close to the value because they're not rare. Perhaps a limited numbered run might achieve some bump in value, but a run of the mill model? Sorry. End copypasta & rant. Not starting anything, I just think people put the "originality" roadblock in front of themselves too often rather than just making the instrument their own thing.
Robert, I am glad you got it sorted out. Sitting here reading this, do you string your guitar thru the tail piece or do you top wrap it? How did the tech string it? When I took my EPI LP to the Gibson Certified tech here in MD. He top wrapped my guitar so as to decrease the angle the strings go from tail to bridge and to lessen the force that caused the lifting of the studs from inside the body. In my mind as I found more instances of this on Epi LP's in my local shops, I decided the Asian builders did a poor job angle and tolerance wise on the holes. Therefore the studs would lift and tilt toward the neck. I wound up gluing in 2 wood dowels and then re-drilling the dowels more vertically and essentially only leaving a sliver moon shaped remnant glued to the original wall of the holes. This tightened up and straightened up the hold on the studs. No more problem after that. Photobucket is down right now, so I will post my intended pictures once it is back up.
Here is my LP before I took to Warranty repair. After my fix of the Luthier's fix. Not a good side shot, but a shot with the T Tops in it and all Tailpiece and Bridge studs snug and sitting properly.
Sorry to jack your thread, Robert, but here is the whole thread where I discussed my warranty experience. I brought all this up based on your describing Intonation issues and TailPC and Bridge swap recommendations for GIBSONS. In my case it's an Epi I will eventually upgrade TP and Bridge on. http://www.everythingsg.com/threads/tail-piece-issue-with-my-epi-lp.23255/
Thanks Sysco for the question. The Studs of the Bridge are simply set fully in the full depth. Now the old holes for the Stop tail are like you say. They are redrilled more vertically so the wood left from the dowel filler is in front toward the neck and the metal of the stud is tight where once that gap you see toward the bottom of the body is. It seemed the Tail piece holes were egg shaped and tilted instead of tight and vertical to the body. I can see that with a carved top sloping downhill toward the strap pin how it would be hard to get holes drilled properly especially if there is low skilled foreign builders.
Chili, your input is always welcome, not to mention you bring up good points!!! I don't like the top wrap, even though I believe it provides better string angle over the bridge. I also don't like the tailpiece falling off everytime I change strings, so I went with the Faber spacers that lock the tailpiece down solid. The Faber nickel plated steel tailpiece studs come with (6) nickel plated shouldered spacers of varying thicknesses. I ended up using 13mm's of spacers and strung the tailpiece in the conventional way. The bridge to string angle is around 13° or so. I really can't say enough about how good the setup quality is. I will post photos tonight!!!
Leave 1 string on to hold tailpiece and bridge.you can oil Fretboard easy. i mean it dont matter if the string ya left on gets fretboard oil on it cause its comming off.just remember which 1 string ya left on.
i use Lemon oil most the time only cause its usually around and i use it on some antique furniture i got.
The Goo isn't a fan of top wrap nor am I unless I guess there is no other alternative. Goo knows bridges LOL I just know Johnny advice on my epis replacing the nut and the bridge to Gotoh and trying get it right without top wrap have paid off for me. Epis staying with the pack my Lp pro and MY Lee malia
