zguitar71

The first thing I do is remove the pick guard on a new guitar. I cannot stand them, they are in my way. One thing I like about a carved top guitar is the room it gives my fingers and pick guards take that away.

Oh yeah, the catering gigs just come pouring in after that!

Let me fix what I said. I bend up a whole step not an octave! I would love to be able to bend up an octave but…….

Oof! 14s are some heavy hitters. I run 13s on a ‘47 Epiphone Triump but I don’t really bend strings on that. For an electric archtop with a cutaway I use 12s with a wrapped G. I can still bend the e and b strings up an octave with that gauge. I have no doubt that 14s sound good though, I’ve always been a fan of heavier string sound.

Ha! It’s all the free dinners at the gigs that really helps to put the big bills in the pocket.

If you have a 4x12 and a 1x12 with the exact same speaker used and they are running the same ohms (let’s just say both cabs are 8 ohms) then the volume will be close for both cabs. The sound will be very different though because of the big cab and all that surface area of the speakers. The big cab can keep the low end together and put out a lot of it. The 1x12 speaker is working 4x harder than any one of the 4 in the big cab so it will sound very different and have a harder time keeping the bass as tight as the big cab. Though the volume will be close to the same if not the same for both, the way your ears perceive the sound makes the big cab feel louder.

A speaker that is rated at twice the amp power rating has long been the safe standard, or the combination of multiple speakers equaling twice the rated power. I personally don’t think that is really necessary though. I have now built 3 6g3 amps and paired them with 65 watt Scumback M75 Speakers. I would use lower wattage but there isn’t one until you get down to 25 watts. The amps have varied in output based on the power transformer used and plate voltage supplied. The lowest wattage of the three was 12.9 clean and 17.4 cranked all the way up with 355 volts on the plates. That would be fine for a 25 watt speaker. The first one I built I used a vintage spec PT and had 440 volts in the plates which gave almost 30 watts when fully turned up, that would not be good for a 25 watt speaker. So from a manufacturing standpoint, a company would spec a speaker that can cover variations like that. Smaller builders may have much less variation or can even spec the speaker based on a single build. I’m comfortable with a speaker that is around 10 watts more than the amp is rated for something lower wattage like a 17 watt amp. I built a JTM 45 that maxes out at 42.78 watts (JTM 42.78?) and I’m comfortable using the same 65 watt M75 in that amp but I probably wouldn’t go lower than that. The last gig I used that amp on I had a 200 watt Eminence Em12n speaker and it sounded great, especially clean. There is zero speaker breakup but the dirty sound is just a little sterile compared to the M75 that gets a little breakup and adds some warmth to the sound. Some may prefer the 200 watt speaker though, to each their own. The amp has a master volume and I turned it down to the level the sound guy wanted, then when I got home I measure the output. I played the gig at 14.5 watts dirty and about 8 watts clean with a 200 watt speaker. 8 watts with an efficient speaker is louder than most people realize and with todays stage management makes amps like the JTM 45 obsolete without a master volume or attenuation. I have a 20 speaker that is going into yet another 6g3 variant I’m building only this is a single channel and uses 6k6GT power tubes and should max out at 10-12 watts and be perfect for most places I play.

It is recent and on the custom core models only, the standard models have the original size head stock.

My 150 Goldtop was like this. It’s a 2011, I got it in 2012 from the HOC classifieds, it was in nearly mint condition. It arrived and I opened the case plucked the low E string on the 3rd fret and knew it was a keeper, it had the bell like ring I love about a good LP. It played ok but needed a little work on the frets to be right. I started to look closely at them and the ends were atrocious, gouged, scratched, uneven and just plain ugly. There was also a bit of a hump where the body and neck join. I played the guitar for about 6 months as it was, the tone kept getting better but the frets bugged me. I decided to file them. I leveled them and crowned them and smoothed the ends as much as I could. It was a big improvement. Now I’ve done the process two more times but it’s to the point that the hump getting in the way, the frets in the 14-17 area are just too low. I’ve played this guitar a ton, it’s my main gigging guitar so I go through frets pretty fast. My previous main guitar (G ES347) had multiple filings and refrets over a 20 year period. Now it’s time for a refret and remove the hump at the body joint on the 150. I bought tall frets Incase I don’t get the hump all the way flat, I’ll have some room to compensate with the frets. It should not have left the factory like that but it is also the best sounding LP I’ve owned over the 43 years I’ve played. Sometimes you just have to take the good with the bad. I paid $1,100 for the guitar and that makes it palatable, imagine paying $7,500 for a M Lab guitar and the finish starts falling off. Perfection is hard to achieve.

Gold with a little wear is my favorite

I can’t complain about making the line in China or elsewhere since I own two Eastmans. I do wish they could make the quality more like an Eastman or the PRS SE guitars. Maybe they will offer a mid level with more traditional build and woods. I’m not into marketing so they might understand the market better than I do but starting with a mid level first then going to the entry level could be a better plan. Of course that could be just because I would have interest in one like that but I don’t have any interest in a low end guitar.

I’ve always felt the guitar I’m playing is part of me. I’ve never named a guitar since they are me. I’ve always done what I need to do to any guitar to make it right in my mind or my hands. You do you boo! Modify that guitar however you want.

No poker chip on my 2011 150.

I also love A2s. I have a P90 with A3s and really like it in the neck but that is a bit different since there are two magnets with p90s. Mostly though I have settled into A2 magnets for everything. Changing magnets can make a big difference and it is worth a try. I have bought them from Philadelphia Luthier, they are cheap and it’s easy to do if you are ok with a soldering iron. IMO A2s have more character than 3 or 4s and therefore have a noticeable very noticeable difference.

I thought they were using an A3 magnet in the neck which shouldn’t be dark. Maybe they changed to an A4 which I sometimes find a bit dark. A4 an are pretty common in the neck. You could try to change the magnet to an A2. Also see what the ohm reading is. If they are in the 8s then they tend to be dark in the neck position imo, the low 7s is great for a neck.