Leaderboard

I think often the nib frets start sloping to the edge of the board too soon, I’m not sure why but possibly it has something to do with matching the height of the binding used, idk. I have a 2011 Goldtop 150. It has the nibs and it was pretty atrocious how bad the fret work was when I bought it. It was used, less than a year old but it probably was never played and I’m sure the fretwork was from the factory. I leveled the frets and crowned them. Then did it again about four years later and then again probably four years after that. Now it is about four years later again and the frets are low and it is time for new frets. This is my main guitar and it gets a lot of play time and I bend quite a bit so the frets get worn fast. While I do love the look of the nibs they are going bye bye with a new fret job. I’ve had other nib guitars and I have eliminated the nibs on them with new frets too. I prefer the frets to go to the edge. I’m going to do it this winter during a low gig window and after I’ve retiled my backsplash (or risk some serious trouble for putting it off for another guitar/amp project!).

I approve of this post 1000000%!!! It's our guitars, we've got to play them, we should make them the way we want them! Speaking of parts I've been getting parts in the US mail/UPS for rewiring my new Zemaitis guitars, and I can't wait to start the work on them. I'm just a few parts shy! Come on UPS! I've been researching for the last few weeks on the electronic parts and the wiring schemes used in the original Tony Zemaitis guitars, and funny enough, most the original wiring cavities are pretty sloppy so it's been a slow go trying to figure out what to use to get me there. But I'm just getting ideas from the research. Most likely I will develop my own wiring scheme. One thing that particularly intrigues me is the wiring for the Reverend Kyle Shutt guitar, which is 4 knob with Vol,Vol,Tone, and Bass contour. I'm not a fan of his playing, to be fair not my kind of genre, but I like the thinking behind his wiring choices!

There's all kinds of crazy theories out there. The most coveted vintage Gibson electrics are the sunburst Les Paul standards from about 57-60. In reality, these were factory-equipped with *nylon* nuts, aluminum tailpieces, the early ABR-1 bridges without retaining wires (so you can look for the saddle and screw on a dark stage when a string breaks) The ABR-1 was mounted on 6-32 machine screws threaded directly into the wood, which had a tendency to lean over time from string pressure. The bodies were cemented together with phenol glue, which was radio-induction cured (literally radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation) not "hide glue" like everyone thinks. They also used aniline red dye, which bled into the binding and quickly faded on exposure to sunlight, even in store windows before they could be sold. The wire was added to the ABR-1 to prevent loss of the saddles when changing a string or when one broke. They went to threaded inserts so they wouldn't tend lean over time and to improve manufacturability. The tailpiece went to zinc as a cost saving measure. The Nashville bridge allowed for more adjustment range, since not all the necks mated to bodies in the right place... But as a benefit, the saddle no longer came loose and pinged across dark stages, nor was there a crappy wire to rattle and buzz. Then there's the whole rabbit hole of pickups too. I have a Gibson 1960-R2 Custom Shop 60th anniversary Les Paul. It is awesome actually. 8lbs and about 2 ounces, single piece body and all the pure vintagy hoo-hah. But I have to say, it plays and sounds incredible. Totally nails that "a great Les Paul sounds like a beefy Telecaster" thing in spades. There's really nothing wrong with the Schaller hardware or their humbucker pickups for that matter.

I still chuckle at the first time I saw Heritage's Plek machine...covered in a patina of sawdust, with several coats hanging on it. Gotta love the Ol' Boys...!