Oh My! I've done it again!

[Platefire]

Well I've always dreamed about having a Les Paul Custom White with Gold Hardware but because of the price tag have stayed clear! 3.8K new now. Well I was in the local pawn shop yesterday and there was a Stagg L-400 LP White with gold hardware. The appearance got me going! Well I hooked it up to an amp and went through some paces with it and was impressed and ended up taking it home. Cleaned it up and put new strings and looks like brand new. Played it several hours. Gosh I had a Les Paul Custom Black in the 70's but this seems to me to be very close and even the pickups sound pretty good to my ears. Time in action will prove rather it's really got the stuff---one thing for sure--I sure do look better with it straped on! Har   

[Platefire]

Well I've jammed on it two nights now and after the new strings quit stretching it seems to be playing and sounding great. I've located one location on about the 14th fret where the little e-string is fretting out---think its a high fret issue. The action is outstanding other than the fret out. I continue to be impressed with the pickups. New locking tuners would help a bunch. Plate

[Platefire]

Well I played on this thing extensively over the weekend with my jamman mixdown back up tracks and my church group and I can say I'm absolutley pleased with this guitar. The body is not mohogony like a Gibson but still the wood is still pretty good with Alder Body and Mapel neck. The finish seems to be real good quality and seems to be a real solid guitar with nice looking fixed neck joint. The inlay is not a sloutch either. The pickups could use a little more meat but not bad as is. Guess I'll go ahead and buy a hard case for it now. Platefire

[tubenit]

Alder is a nice light weight tone wood to build guitars with. Probably not used more because it's best painted/lacquered then dyed.  SRV's #1 had an alder body.  Nothing wrong with alder at all - fine resonant tone wood.

With respect, Tubenit

[Platefire]

Well Good! Thanks tubenit. The Lord has Blessed me with some great instruments! My vision of the perfect Gospel guitar cosmeticly has been pearl white with gold hardware. Gates of Pearl and Streets of Gold. This could be another "Pearly Gates"

[jjasilli]

   Hope you enjoy your new guitar!  It looks beautiful in the photo. 

[Platefire]

Thanks jjasilli

I'm still amazed of the quality of such a cheap ax. I keep expecting to find a deadly flaw. The only flaw that I've found so far, is that the little e string frets out on about 16th fret on the G#/Ab note--every other note on the neck rings out fine with no buzz with great low action. This is a location that I hit only occationally playing, so I can do 98% of my playing without being effected by this one note. The neck is straight. I figure a good neck/fret man can fix this one issue for me.

A White Les Paul with gold hardware is one of my dream guitars that I thought I would never own simply because I would never pay $3800.00 for a guitar. The neck, frets and action to me feels perzackly like the Gibson Black Beauty I once had. When I get past the fear of finding the "oh no" there it is! the deadly flaw---I could see myself investing in some high grade locking tuners and pickups but for now I'm just going to enjoy it and see where it goes.    Plate

BTW-I did feel confident enough to where I've got a cheap hard case and gold strap locks on the way. 

[Jim_S]

Nice guitar!! Remember, cheap doesn't always mean low quality. A lot of times your paying for the name and not much more. I bought a Daion '62 SG copy while I was in Austraila. I absolutely love that guitar. It just feels "right" when I pick it up. One thing I did notice about these types of guitars, is they could really be helped by potting the pickups. In front of high volume speakers, they want to feedback excessively. If you like the pickups that are in it, you should do some research on wax potting and see if it is something your comfortable with. I've never been the type of person that buys something for the name. If it looks good, plays good, and sounds good, then who cares what logo is on the headstock. Right?

[Platefire]

Right! Yeah, I'm more or less that way too. Most of my musician friends, the first thing they look for is "made in the USA" and if it's not, they mark it off from that point on. You haven't got a real ax as far as they are concerned. I've probably go 15 guitars now and maybe one or two are made in the USA.

As far as the Stagg, got a Musician Gear Case for it plus some gold strap locks this week. The case was only $40.00 but I was amazed at the quality for the price. I'll let time and use prove the Stagg. I'm not so quick to change pickups out because I have done that before and in some cases liked the original ones better than the new replacement ones.

[Platefire]

One problem I'm encountering on this guitar is  the little e, b and g--especially the g going flat in tuning.
My first guess would be the tuners. Even though the tuners seem to be pretty good, I don't know where else the slipage is coming from? I know how to tie the strings to the tuning pegs to lock them down that way, so it isn't my string connections to pegs. The bridge, saddles and stop bar seems really stable.

It seems it happen when I first start playing and after I have tightened up the the flatness a couple of times it seems to stabelize OK. I just wondering if it isn't the neck/body being really sensitive to changes in tempature because after you play your guitar a little while and transfer a little body heat it warms up a bit. I beginning to think it's more that than the tuners. Anyway this is something I will have to get solved before I would consider it a permanant guitar in my arsenal. Any guitar tech suggestioins are welcome! Thanks Plate

[Jim_S]

Most likely cause is the tuners, but pay close attention to the nut as well. If a string has begun to cut down into the nut material, it will cause the string to have more resistance to sliding. So if you bend the g, when you release the string it might not snap back to its normal position. Since the guitar you have is 3+3 tuning configuration, the d and g strings are the longest between the nut and the tuners allowing for more "spring" in those strings. Some of these guitars didn't use the best material for the nut since they weren't intended to be around for 20+ years. The likelyhood of body heat causing warpage (IMHO) is low since the only part of your body that contacts the neck is your hand, and its constantly moving. Ambient temp swings of +/- 10 degrees can certainly cause issues with tuning, but I don't think this is the case with your guitar. To try and figure out if the nut is the problem, follow these steps. Take off the strings and inspect the string grooves to make sure there's no debris or residue in the slots. Years of playing get skin oils, sweat, and dirt in the slots. Use a nylon bristled brush and alcohol to clean out the slots if necessary. Once clean, use a very light oil (like 3:1 or reel oil, NOT WD-40) and dab it on the nut. You don't need a lot, and less is definitely better than more. Put the strings back on and see if it makes a difference. If you find that the nut was the problem, you might think about investing in a higher quality one from StewMac or Allparts. Sometimes the nut material is fine, but they did a crappy job of cutting the slots. Any competent guitar tech should be able to recut the slots for improved performance. I like the bone nuts, but everyone has their own preference. Of course you will need to find someone who can install it for you properly. Hope this helps.

[Platefire]

Thanks Jim

I didn't think of those nut slots. That would be the thing to check before trying new tuners. I have had the little e and b even go sharp on me also that I failed to mention, so yes that sounds like the nut restricting the strings and not letting them go back after bends. This guitar in like new and hasn't been played hardly any so I would expect if its the nut slots it would be because they were cut too narrow causing drag. If I just relax the tention on the strings slightly and try lifting the string out of the slot and they drag on any of the slot sides as I lift them out, I would say that is most likely the problem. If that is the problem, some light oil will surley relieve it but may need some of the wall of the slot removed. Anyway I will check it out tonight.

If I can get it to stay in tune properly and can be sure it's worth the investment, I may put on the bone nut, new tuners, rewire and get pickups to return it to classic les paul specs even with the alder body and mapel neck.  Plate

[Dynaflow]

 Could very likely be the nut slots. Temperature can play a role in some guitars, on a strat I had when I got in a hot club it seemed like the vibrato springs (floating trem I hated it) would change length causing it to go out of tune big time. The band would get all frustrated with me tweaking tuning the whole time I was playing trying to get it back. I loved the strat sound, but hated that floating trem, lose a string out of tune, get to aggressive with using it, out of tune, temp change, out of tune. Might have be particular to my setup but man it was frustrating.

Regards,

Dyna

[Platefire]

Well Floating yes. The only way I found to make a strat trem stay in tune is make it non-floating and adjust it where it falls to 440 resting on the body of the guitar. They say that distroyes the natural strat tone!!!??? I have only one strat type guitar that will stay in tune in a floating position and believe it or not it's a 80's squire bullet MIK, har!

I've got an Ibanez with a floyd rose type with locking nut and I bought a trem stabelizer bar that fits in one of the trem springs that it bottoms out on a 440 setting.

I got 4 whammy guitars and can say they all stay in tune. We were just discussing nuts, and that is the other half of the equation of your strat whammy returning to tune is a non-binding nut/lubricated! Plate

[Platefire]

Wow, Got home last night--no lite oil or even WD-40. I ended up dobbing on a little switch lubricant/cleaner on a Q-tips with the e, b and g strings loosened up out of their nut slots. Also cleaned the slots best I could. It sliped flat a little when I first tuned it back up but after it stabilized I left the amp on standby and came back by every little while between chores and played it with a tuner turned on
and it seemed to be  holding tune a whole lot better. The real test is when I play with my group--no matter how much I try to duplicate my normal playing at home, somehow I play with a lot more intensity with my group and thats when issues really come to bare. I will stop by the store on the way home from work and pick up some proper lubricant for the nut. Platefire

[jjasilli]

Powdered graphite is a good nut lubricant. 

IMHO a properly set-up strat trem will stay in tune & return to pitch in use.  Dan Erlewine specifies the set-up procedure for the trem.  He describes it as a complex "dance" which must be incorporated into the entirety of the set-up process, including level frets, neck relief, and string height at the nut & at the saddles.  The trem must be temporally blocked at the correct angle, which will produce a half-tone when the bar is bent up.  Ea of these factors affect string height, so it's a dance to get it all working together. Erelwine's got it nailed.  It seems there's only one right way to do it. 

[Platefire]

jjasilli

Have you been able to achive proper floating strat setup yourself or do you get a guitar tech to do it?

IMHO, I don't see why bottoming the trem out on the body is such a bad deal??? You can simply
put a credit card beneath your horizonal trem plate and body and set the spring tention so that when you tune to 440 pitch it holds the CC snug---then pull out the card. Of course other issues is the play in your trem pivet screws. The nut groves need to be rounded on the bottom and sides open enough that
when you pull the string out of the slot, it don't snag on the sides. If it snags on the side walls of the slot then this will cause your trem not to return to 440 when you release it. So on the nut it needs to be non-snaggable and forgive me but I use WD-40 lightly dobbed on a Q-tips in the groove and on the string at the nut with good results. So with the nut properly set up and the trem pivit screws and springs set---the action height is more or less personal preference. With a slight relief on the neck and proper set up frets--I've found this works for me and and I can whammy with confidence and my guitar will be in tune. Platefire

[Jim_S]

WD-40 will work in the short term just fine. The reason I said to not use it is because it has no staying power. It evaporates, and eventually leaves a gummy residue. Since it is also a cleaning agent, the next time you spray it on, the residue dissolves and your back in business (vicious circle) until it evaporates again. This is the same reason it is not recommended to use WD-40 to lubricate pots and switches. The residue attracts dirt, and your worse off then when you started. Jjasilli has a good suggestion with graphite. That stuff lasts forever, and has very good lubricating properties.

[Platefire]

Jim

I would never use WD-40 as a swictch/contact cleaner and yes I'm sure your right on the residue and evaperation. So since I'm presently out of WD-40 where may I get the graphite and under what brand name? I don't want to get so old I can't learn a new trick!    It's just when I think of graphite I think of when I was a kid emptying the pencel sharpener and getting graphite all over me which has created a graphite bias in me. I might need to go to counceling before I try this!  Plate

[Jim_S]

You're right about the mess. You just have to be careful when you put it on. A little goes a LONG way. Works great for pinewood derby car wheels too. You can get it at any hardware store (Ace, Home Depot, Lowes, etc). Just tell them you are looking for graphite lubricant. You can probably find it in WalMart or Kmart as well. I found it on Home Depot's website for $2.27:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xhb/R-100137063/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

Jim

[Dynaflow]

 You can sharpen a pencil up and then just run the point through the slots until you see it transfer onto the nut. Esssentially graphite dust gets left behind. This works in a pinch. There used to be a product when I was a kid that I haven't seen in years (Qwik key or Qwik something or rather) that was a thin graphite suspended in a light oil wish I could still find it. Nut sauce works good, but I haven't found it locally and it sounds stupid (and rather nasty) asking for nut sauce...

Regards,

Dyna

Ps: I fixed the strat, I sold it... Haha...

[jjasilli]

jjasilli:  Have you been able to achive proper floating strat setup yourself or do you get a guitar tech to do it?

I do it myself following Erlewine's instructions.  Yes, a credit card under the top of the saddle will set the proper float height for the trem.  But then temporarilly block the trem in that position.  Otherwise string tension will move it.  Determine how many springs you want to use:  3, 4 or 5, or an offset W arrangement.  Then set up all the other aspects of the guitar: nut height, neck relief and saddle height. Then slowly tighten the trem spring plate just until the block falls out by itself.  That's it.  EXCEPT I next tap the trem springs and get them to ring out.  They will produce a random tone.  I then tweak the spring tension until they ring out in tune with a true note.  Any note of the scale will do: E, A whatever.  Jazz guys might prefer a B-flat, but then what the hell are they doing with a strat in the first place !?!

[Platefire]

Well the only floating trem I've achived on the previouly mentioned 80's squire bullet. I set it to bottom out on the body but after I set it the setting drifted a bit and raised up off the body floating. I was going to reset it to tighten up the springs to pull it down on the body but discovered it was actually staying in tune floating. This is the smoothest trem I got. It stays in tune perfect and I guess it's the cheapest guitar I got. I might try your method on my 1998 MIJ 54 re-issue which is presently set where it rest on the body at 440. It's a little to stiff for my taste. I would like to get it working like the squire bullet.

On my Stagg LP Custom, I stopped off by Lowes last night and got WD-40, 3 in 1 and graphite. So I'm stocked up on lubricants. Only problem when I got the white LP out and started looking at that white nut
I didn't have the heart to use the graphite so I ended up dobbing on WD-40. I sat around several hours
while watching TV jamming on it with amp low volume and high intensity string bending and have to say I couldn't make it go way flat like it was doing before. Got it to go slightly flat a coule of times. No going sharp anymore. I'm hoping this does it or the next step is new tuning keys. Plate 

[Platefire]

I've been looking a pickups. Stu-mac has a gold plated Golden Age with Alinco 5 Magnets for about $50.00 each. I think I would like the hotter 12K's. Anybody got any suggestions in this price range? Also at some Goth Midsize #7107G tuners. Platefire

[Jim_S]

I've got the gold 12K in my custom explorer. I think it sounds fantastic (especially for the price). If I had a way to record, I'd post a sound byte. Maybe I'll get my MBox for christmas!!! Bottom line is, if you think you'll be happier with the 12K, get it. It's easier to get a 12K to sound like a 9K, than the other way around. It really depends on the type of music you want to play. If you're only going to be playing smooth jazz, the 12K is probably not your best bet. If you aren't happy unless your amps gain is set to 11, well, you get the picture. Maybe you should look at other pickups you do like, and compare. In my kramer I'm running a Gibson Dirty Fingers in the bridge that is wound to 16K. Really hot, but gives the best sound out of my guitars for modern rock tones (Lynch, DiMartini, etc). The 12K in the explorer gives me a sound more like early VH, Aerosmith, or AC/DC with the gain turned up, but I can back off the gain and get really sweet tones like Page. And by backing off the volume pot a quarter or half turn, I can get some awesome clean tones that are extremely articulate and clear. Like I said, it's easier to get a 12K to sound like a 9K. Hope this helps.

[jjasilli]

Why do you believe that PU's in that price range will be better than the stock PU's in that guitar?

[imaradiostar]

I've used GFS pickups on a few occasions. They're excellent for the money but like any brand I'm sure there are some less desirable models. They have a great return policy so you can always take advantage of that!

jamie

[Platefire]

Well the jury is still out on the stock pickups. I'm rather happy with the neck PU but the bridge PU is way too bright for my taste. I try to adjust the brightness down by using the tone control but loose a lot of gain too. It may be due to this les paul copy not being mahogony but alder with mapel neck. I just adjusted the stock pickups right up close to the strings as I can get them without causing interferance in picking string pressure--I'll see how that works--seems I picked up a little extra output and tone.

As far as the Golden Age--I figure there has to be something to them for stu mac have them as their main humbucker. Just guessing I would say they are probably equivilant to Gibson, your just not paying for the name. I have a solid mahogony Hoyer(German) Les Paul Copy with Hoyer HB that measure about 12K on my MM. I love those pickups, so that's why I think I would like the Golden Age 12K's. I use my guitar volume a lot like the old bluesmen and I like a pickup that really digs in when you turn it up or cleans up well when you back off. So I like to go from jazz clean to cranked amp grind with the guitar volume and use either a pedel or channel switching to go to higher level of gain.

The stock tuning machines work OK but have kind of "Slacky" feeling. Due to that slack, make it harder to dial into exact tuning on the electronic tuner. I would like them to be a lot more positive action.

So I'm trying to set up this guitar best I can as is to get best performance I can eak out of it. Because I really do like this guitar, I'm looking at upgrade options while I'm tweaking and testing. I'm thinking possibly The Golden Age 12K pickups, Goth with Schaller-style knobs #1951-G @ $50.55 and a Les Paul wiring kit. I haven't looked inside yet but from reviews I've read on the stagg they use 250K midi pots. I will just have to check if the full size pots will fit into that cavity and if I need long shafts or regular. I will try to get things to work as is first though! Plate

[jjasilli]

 why not 1st try a different value tone cap?

[Platefire]

jjasilli

That's a very good point! I have a Kramer Focus 1000 that was too bright and I pulled the cap out alltogether and I still like it better that way to this day and that was several years ago. Plate

[Platefire]

Well. It appears I did a world changing minor tweak! Because the action was super low that I kinda liked
but couldn't seem to bend the strings with normal style of playing I'm use to. So I decided to raise
the lower side of the bridge for e,b and g srings. Only a slight adjustment. I still can't believe the major overall improvement of that one tweek:

1-Action response improved 50%

2-I'm able to make all my normal moves with great ease

3-Can't explain this but the pickups are sounding so much better and the bright bridge pickup seems to have mellowed out.

4-The one fret out location for the #1 e string in the 14 fret is now ringing out and responding to bends.

5-It's even holding it's tuning even better.

Believe me I put it through the full fledge paces last night and it performed like a charm. Not quite sure how that one tweak made such a major leap but boy I'm sure enjoying it and now convinced without a doubt I made a very good investment. Plate

[Platefire]

ampcabinets

  No I haven't tried or seen an Agile yet. I ran accross this Stagg in a local pawn shop. Several months ago a ran accross a Aria 335 copy in the same pawn shop and picked that up. I live in more or less rural area of Louisiana so new products are very limited in local music shops but looking at stuff on line it hard to tell quality. It sure helps to lay hands on it! Most musicians I know around this area have a snob attitude toward copy cats and the first thing they look for is American made Fender or Gibson---and if not, they mark it off as not a real guitar! It don't bother me and I'm not deterred by their attitude--if they want to pay thousands more to get the same feel, effect and sound--go for it!

  The funny thing is in some of the pawn shops around here that are not familiar with these new brand names and will put a higher price on a cheap fender squire or Peavey preditor and have the Stagg or Aria marked down because they are considered an off brand. Har! Good for me!  
I'll keep my eye out for an Agile. Plate

[jjasilli]

Beautiful!

[Platefire]

Very Fine!!! I'll be watching for that brand. Platefire

[Platefire]

Just like to say here 4 months later the I'm still playing the Stagg real regular and loving it.
The only problem I've had is tuning going flat and sharp and when I clean the nut slots and dab WD-40 on with a Qtip on nut and bridge slots it seems to solve the problem for a while. I tell you the action on this ax is fine. Im running super slinkeys and the string tention is not too sloppy loose as you would think but has enough edge you can really pop the action and bends are silkey smooth. I just can't find enough fault in the pickups to justify changing them out. They are doing pretty much what I require. I still say this thing plays better, Hand Down! than the Gibson Black Beauty Custom I had back in the 70's. Great Quality in a cheap ax!  Platefire 

[Cork]

Does the tuning go flat or sharp even if when tuning, you tune all the strings up?
I mean raising the pitch to the desired note, not lowering.
If you tune down, the tension between the machine and the nut may be looser than between the nut and bridge.
Then when you bend the string, the tension equilizes and the string is flat.
Could work the other way also if the nut binds the string, but I was taught to tune up.

Cork

[Platefire]

Well It seems to me this stagg is real sensitive to tempature change. I've been playing in my living room a lot lately during this cold weather and the heat cuts on/off and seems to be a lot of the problem. It seems when the tempature is warmer and no heating unit is required the tuning is more stable. I get you on "Tuning up"--I usually practice that too--by detuning flat and then tune up to pitch. I think part of the problem is those tuners on the stagg my have a little slack. I've been looking a tuners and that's the first correction I might try. Maybe eventually a bone nut but someone who can do it right. The bridge seems pretty stable. I'm thinking it's OK. Its just a fun guitar to play--so I'm willing to try to work out the tuning bugs. 

[Platefire]

  My White Custom is Gone! Randy and Sherri Miller who I built the Tweed Deluxe Plus for came to town doing a concert at out church and laid hands on my Custom copy and wouldn't let go and took it down the road with him. I have to admit he made it sound awsome playing it through my Accomplice. Glad he didn't take that too! I always thought this guitar played exceptional and he fell in love with it. He agreed to send me one of his Teles and since I'm a tele man agreed. I will have to revert back to my Hoyer Les Paul Copy for my LP tones. Plate

http://www.randysherrimiller.com/

[simonallaway]

That somehow doesn't seem fair. Is the White-custom/tele swap going to be temporary?

[bigsbybender]

I hope it's a great Tele..... 

I've kind of given up on having a Les Paul.  I found a white one at an area pawn shop a few weeks back for $1000. I thought, maybe I could sell an amp or two off and buy it. I looked at it, some things didn't seem right, I went home and did some research before making an offer and found out it was a Chinese made Fake...

 Some of the problems I found were that the serial number was questionable, the S/N and "Made in USA" were larger and pressed into the headstock much deeper than I've seen on any Gibson.  The Binding just didn't look like it could pass Q/C no matter the era at Gibson.  The inlays were not flat in the fingerboard and there were some glue slops as well. This guitar should have had Ebony, not a rosewood fretboard and the paint just didn't appear to look like anything Gibson would have applied. I did some research on this model and the headstock was to have a logo that had the model name layed over a globe with the Americas in the background,  This one had some semi-skilled abalone work with no clear pattern, let alone a world map!  I found some questionable websites where you can order "Gibson" guitars like this from China for $350. I'd say as a copy, it's worth that, but not represented as a Gibson. The Pawn Shop got taken on this one....   Any player that has played more than one Gibson would know something wasn't right with this axe.

The second time I looked at it and determined it was fake, I brought my Brother, here is a picture of him with the guitar. The lower pic is of the questionable serial number pressed ever so deeply into the wood.....

If quality of the pic is poor, it is a mobile phone photo.....

[Platefire]

Let me get this straight right away, my custom was a Stagg(China) Copy LP, but it played like a champ. I've owned a real LP Custom before and this cheap copy actually played better--just built cheaper. I told him when he was driving away---send me the tele and when the "Trill is gone on the LP" we could trade back. He is shipping the tele to me. I'm all Charged up about haveing a Randy Miller used tele. To be honest he's the most talented singer/songwriter/musician I've ever personally been aquanted with and we've become good personal friends or I would of never let him make off with my LP that easy.

 bigsbybender--That LP looks good in the pictures--Looks like the real thing! A real LP Custom for $1K would have me sweating BB's deliberating on laying down the cash--but if it for sure a fake, would be a pretty easy decision. I can feel your pain!

Finally--the attached pixs is my LP secret weapon! I'll never get rid of this guitar unless the Lord says so. It looks plain. Not fancy at all. It's solid mahogany. Just look at the neck joint-surpurb German workmanship. Hardware is Hoyers version but works great. The pickups sound awsome and are wound at about 12K--pretty hot. This ol plain jane plays as good as any G-LP I've laid my hands on and I.ve had a many of great playing experiances with it. Plate  

[Platefire]

Hoyer Pixs Continued:

This is the kicker!!!  I bought this from a pawn shop back in 1987 for $55.00 with hard case.
Its a late 70's Hoyer model #3060. The sticker on the case says "Cream Music" 6000 Frankfurt Taunusstrasse 43. I believe it was purchased by a US soldier in Germany, that got back to the USA, pawned it at Fort Polk Ace High Pawn--where I picked it up. It was on a shelf with a bunch of other cheap LP copies with bolt on neck/cheap hardware and pickups but I immediatly noticed the quality in this one and quicly picked it up. Yep, my Daughter Brittney has already spoken for this one to go to her. Plate

[John]

A guitar is what you make it.

I totally agree. I bought a $500 Epi LP, and over the years put in Duncans, new tuners, bridge, pots and 3way switch. Last thing (which should have been the first) is to get the neck done really right, but it played better off the shelf than most of the Gibsons that Hess Music had in stock at the time.

[Platefire]

Well as I indicated in a previous post that Randy Miller made off with my Stagg LP and said he would send me a tele as trade. Well here it is. To be honest I was disappointed when I first viewed it because I was hoping for more than a afinity squire but now that I've had it a couple of days and done some adjustments can say I am totally happy with it. I have to say an affinity squire special is a tremendous value overall for what you get. It does have Dimarzio vintage tele pickups replacement. Someone filed the frets and didn't mask the fretboard giving it a worn aged look on the neck. The neck relief is good, action great (I raised the little e just sligtly), no fret issues, intonation dead on and it plays and stays in tune great. I'm even starting to like the natural butterscotch finish. The middle switch position for both pickups was workin with only the bridge pickup. I found one of the jumper wires missing on the switch and added that and got both pickups working in that position now.

I'm glad its an older one with the white pickguard because I don't like the black PG on the newer ones in the Musician Friend Catalog. It has more of a classic 50's tone than my Highway 1 tele which is a plus for me. My Hwy 1 behaves more like Texas Specials than classic tele--so now I have both, har:>)---check it out!

[Platefire]

I'm surprised after a month later I'm still playing the tele exclusively to the dismay of my other forlorn guitars. I did pull the 1000pf treble bleeder cap off the vol pot and like that so much better. Hopefully I'll finally use some of my other axes again!  

[alerich]

Back in the late 80s I had a 1988 Arctic White three pickup Gibson Les Paul Custom with gold hardware. It was a great guitar but that third pickup always got in the way. Fast forward to 2011 and I have a white 1989 Epiphone Les Paul Custom. Two pickup with gold hardware. There are days when I am playing it and forget that it's not my old Custom. There are lots of forgettable inexpensive copies out there and a few really nice guitars if you are will to look and you are patient.

 

[simonallaway]

I think we can all agree that you absolutely do not need to spend thousands to get a decent guitar. I have a Tokai LP standard copy that my wife bought me a few years ago. In terms of quality and playability it exceeds the equivalent Gibsons that were approaching 3 times the price.

Epiphone LPs are waaaay better than 25% of the Gibson that their price would indicate. Or in other words, Gibsons aren't thousands of $'s better than an Epiphone :)

[bluesbear]

My son bought a Gibson LP a while back. He's been fiddling around with it to get it worth playing. GFS pickups, new bridge, etc. It's still junk compared to his stock '79 Yamaha SG2000... and always will be. His SG2000 is not only the best Yamaha I've ever played, it's the best solid body electric of any sort, and I've played a bunch of them in the last 50 years! I bought it for him 10 or 12 years ago for $200, beat up and played till half the finish was gone. It's wonderful and it proves my philosophy: if you find an old guitar you want, better make sure it's beat up and well used. If it's like new, there's generally a reason... and it usually isn't good! There are exceptions, like my SG2000 I found in a Norman, OK pawn shop with the hang tags still on it, but usually, if the guitar is unplayed, it wasn't any good to begin with.
Dave

[simonallaway]

I remember those SG2000s from the 80's. Very nice instruments. Also, those Ibanez Artists from the same era. I think they've been discussed here before. Beautiful!

[Platefire]

This is really swooping low   but I have a Epiphone LP Special at the house my future son-in-law handed me when I was over at his house this weekend. I've disdaned this one many times looking through music catalogs for years--so this one was covered with dust and also had paint specs on it where they failed to move it when painting. I got it home, cleaned it up and put a new set of strings on it. The action was pretty right. Intonation was off/sharp on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd strings. I moved the saddles on the tunomatic all the way back on those three strings and got a good octive on the 1st and 2nd but on 3rd G, still sharp after saddle was full backed out. Now the only correction left is if I can reverse the direction of the saddle and gain another 1/8". I Can't figure out how to remove/reverse that saddle out without tearing something up??? Also adjusted one side bridge pickup up a little on one side. I plays in tune pretty good now even with the g is a little sharp.

Truthfully I've got a lot better attitude toward this guitar now--basswood body, Mahogony neck, Alinco V/8K ohm pickups, full size 500k pots, tuners are OK and even though it has a bolt on neck is very stable and no fret buzzes with low action. They don't make cheap guitars like they did when I was young because you wouldn't get this good of quality back then for cheap! I played it Sunday at Church and got a pleasing fat tone out of the neck pickup for blues type bends that made me keep coming back to that for more--so I never got around to the bridge pu very much. Platefire