Went over to the Dark Side... Gibson Les Paul Standard!

Yes it's true.. I never thought this day would come.. but I've succumbed to the 'dark side' and went out and ordered a Les Paul. Not a knock-off or cheapy Epiphone either, but a Real, made in the USA, Gibson Les Paul.

Shocker right? I mean.. it's got rosewood.. it's NOT a Fender.. What's wrong with me??
Over these last few months I found myself thinking 'what else to get'..I had gotten a Telecaster, a couple of Stratocasters and while there a few I still have on my 'one-day I must have this' list, I wanted something different.

Ever since seeing seeing a beautiful Blue Les Paul on Ebay (as mentioned in a previous post) I had been keeping a bit of an eye on any Les Pauls that were newly listed on Ebay. I really didn't know much about them except that I didn't like them much the few times I tried playing some a couple DECADES ago. So I figured I'd investigate my options..

Epiphone Les Paul Plus Top

 
A LOT of people online (yes.. that place where everyone always tell the truth) state that their $500 Epiphones are just as good as a real Les Paul. They certainly had decent looking flame tops etc. I initially looked at what they call their 'Trans Blue' one since I really like that Custom Blue Les Paul, but the more I looked at it, the more I realized blue really wasn't my color. Also after side-by-side audio comparisons I felt while the Epiphones sounded good, I personally COULD hear a difference and preferred the Gibson sound.

The Final tipping point came after the recent government raid on the Gibson factory which I felt was total BS. It made me think: You know what? This company is totally being harassed by the feds and I'm going to support them by getting a real Gibson Les Paul!

So the decision was made, but now another question came up - Which Les Paul to get? A quick trip to the Gibson site shows a plethora of different Les Paul Models including (but not limited to) The Studio, The Traditional, The '2008' Standard, with tons of options and variety even in those 3 main categories.

Gibson Les Paul Studio
I really wanted a nice flame top so basically the Studio model was out. Though for a while I was seriously considering The Sam Ash Special Edition "Classic 60s" model which had (yet again) a nice blue color.

Gibson Les Paul Traditional or Standard
So that left us with either the Traditional or the Standard. The at-first confusing part was that what is now the Traditional model, was up till 2007 the 'Standard' Model. In 2008 the 'new' Standard (also known now as the '2008 Standard') was made with a body Cavity, locking Tuners, upgraded pickups etc etc giving the 'old' Standard the 'Traditional' moniker since that's how they 'Traditionally' made them.

I was really open to either of them and kept looking Ebay at what was Available.  Looking at all the colors available I slowly started gravitating toward the 'Desert Burst' Color. It had a nice classy look to it almost like a classical instrument and a warmth that the other colors , at least to me, were lacking.

Gibson Les Paul 2008 Standard in Desert Burst

Gibson Les Paul Traditional in Desert Burst

The issue now was after looking at a bunch of different Desert Bursts, I noticed some were more Yellow, Some were more Brown, Some had more red in them. Some looked beautiful - whilst others... well, not so much...

I found one beautiful 2008 Standard on Ebay, built in 2009, brand new with plastic still on it. As I was discussing price by email with the seller, someone placed the 'buy it now' bid overnight. Alas, it wasn't meant to be. This was one of the nicest Desert Bursts I had seen though - I even saved some of the pictures

After missing out on this one I did come to the realization that I wanted the flame top to SHOW and not be covered by a pickguard as comes pre-installed on the 'Traditionals'. While I know you can take it off, that leads to holes etc etc..Also I actually like the upgrades on the new Standard so I decided once and for all that I was going for a 2008+ Standard in Desert Burst. Also I noticed I like the little hint of red in the burst AND I wanted a nice flame,  so the hunt was on for the perfect Les Paul.

Gibson 2008 Les Paul Standard it is!
Now as I was searching - and coming up empty handed - I started seeing some really questionable deals on Ebay for guitars that seemed 'off' either physically or pricing way below what they should be going for. After digging around a bit it seemed that there literally are TONS of cheap Chinese knock-offs floating around that people buy for $300 or so online , straight from China. Now EVERY deal on EBay started to look suspicious, especially with multiple thousands of Dollars on the line... can you really trust that guy on Ebay with 5 feedbacks selling a 'new' guitar for hundreds if not a thousand under what other places are selling?

As I kept looking specifically for the combination I wanted on Ebay I noticed they really didn't come up that often. That combined with the fear of fakes made me reconsider where to get the Standard I wanted.
In the past I had purchased some equipment from Sweetwater and I remembered they usually have pictures of all the guitars so you can pick the ACTUAL guitar you want to buy. Naturally, they were out of the Desert Burst Model. Being a member on the Harmony Central Forums I had seen 'Loop' (aka Arend) on there stating he worked at Sweetwater, so I decided to send him an email and ask him what he could do.

He told me they didn't have any in, but he could pre-order them & would expect them to come in in about a month. Also because I told'm I was picky about the burst & flame etc he would let me pick based on pictures before they'd even go up on the site and the price he quoted me was AWESOME. My Credit card was practically flying out of my wallet on fire at that time. Then by some kind of Mojo-Magic, the DAY I give him the information he gets back to me and says: "We just got TWO in! I'm taking pictures right now!" HOLY CRAP!!!!!!! No Month wait after all!! Talk about a stroke of luck!

After he sent me the pictures It took me at least a good 30 minutes of going back & forth between the two to decide which one I was going to pick. They both looked beautiful but one had what I felt a better flame and less' vertical' lines (when looking at the guitar standing up) so that was the one I picked. I can't wait to get my hands on this bad-boy!

I HIGHLY recommend that if you need ANYTHING for your musical needs, go find Arend Raby over at Sweetwater and he'll take care of you!

Where's the Maalox? MORE 'Gas'

Ok so I can't help browsing around the web and seeing MORE and MORE guitars where I Think to myself: Hmm it sure would be nice if I had that one...

New on the list (on top of the ones listed in my previous post)

American Telecaster with Rosewood Fretboard
Now i'm not sure if I'd go HighwayOne or all American but since I have 2 telecaster with maple I sorta figured a rosewood neck would round things out (also I'd keep the standard pickups in this since my other two already have humbuckers of some sort (2 full humbuckers and a mini+stacked)
Color wise I'd probably go with a traditional burst which looks pretty decent on a tele with rosewood

American Stratocaster with Rosewood Fretboard

Yes I know I know.. I 'hate' rosewood.. and at first I thought it only looked good on a white guitar. But then I ran into a Sienna Burst and I REALLY like this color scheme and how it shows the wood grain. I have pretty much decided that if I am ready to buy a Strat with Rosewood - This will be the one.

Blacktop Stratocaster HH
Yes it's a MIM, but I am REALLY enjoying my BlackTop Telecaster. It sounds great on my tube amp giving it some really classic humbucker sounds (vs for instance the Humbucker in my None-More-Black or my Jem)
Also I've never owned a 2 Humbucker Stratocaster so it would be an interesting addition. For this guitar I already know exactly what it has to look like: Black with Maple!

Another Project / Partscaster
As I mentioned in my last Project Black Strat Post I actually am sort of itching to build another similar one but keep whatever the original neck is, and put in some DiMarzio Injector Pickups or similar for a 'hotter' build..

Project "Black Strat" Completed

So I've my Fender 'Project Black Strat' (or as some would call it a 'Partscaster' - though really the only thing 'non-fender' is the pickguard so to me it's a Fender Stratocaster ;) ) together for a few days now. To summarize it was put together from the following parts:

• 2010 Fender HighWay 1 Stratocaster body in Black Nitro
• 1992/1993 Japanese 57 Re-Issue Stratocaster Neck
• a Black Matte Warmoth Pickguard 
• a Fender Black accessory Kit

 I've tried to take some pictures with my phone, but the Matte Black really seems to be hard to photograph - so you will have to do with these two mediocre pictures:

At this point I would almost say it's my best looking guitar I have (no disrespect to my Jem or Tungsten Deluxe). The Matte Black body with matching pickguard just looks DAMN good !

Sound wise I have my 2 other Deluxe strats to compare it to and to me this one actually sounds the most like a Stratocaster Should - though it does sometimes hum like crazy (need to add that copper tape to my pickguard one of these days). The SCN pickups in my None-More-Black in comparsion sound a little sterile (though if I didn't have them side-by-side to compare I would be hard-pressed to hear the difference). The N3s in the Tungsted definitely are an improvement over the SCN and sound like a little warmer, but miss just a little bit of that 'bell' sound when using the neck or neck+middle pickup combination. Also playing a Stratocaster just always feels like coming home - like holding a sexy curvy woman (whilst a Les Paul always reminds me of someone with just too much 'junk in the trunk' ;) ). I can definitely see this being my main 'go-to' guitar for now.

I did already think of possibly switching out the pickups for something else, but then I thought: Why not built a 'twin' with the different pickup configuration in it? So i just may get another Black Highway One (whole guitar this time & keep the original neck - i've got 3 V-necks now so that's good enough for now ;) ), swap the pickguard etc again and go with a black set of DiMarzio Injectors/67 - the new Paul Gilbert Pickup set..Someone please hide my wallet from me , because I'm on a roll! ;-)

Project "Black Strat" : Step 5 - The Neck Arrives

As I described in part 2 of my Project "Black Strat" posts, I had originally wanted to go with an All-Parts 'SMNF-V' neck. The way my Telecaster neck had turned out was really nice so I figured I'd put the same neck on my project Strat. Brian had already told me he was kinda busy/not doing a lot this summer as far as guitar work was concerned and I respected the guy taking a break. I figured I'd get back in touch with him in a month or so and see how he was doing.

I had figured that this neck, including tuners, nut & work would run anywhere from 300-450ish, so while I was waiting I figured: why not see what you can get all done for that price? I checked out eBay again, and naturally there was a plethora of necks available in all shapes & sizes. Now being that I wanted a 'V-Shaped' neck the choices got drastically slimmer.

Option a) Mighty Mite Neck. Cheap.. but if I were to go that route again I'd prefer the All Parts neck.
Option b) Fender 50's Re-Issue Neck, Made In Mexico. Decent Price, Decent Neck
Option c) 2011 American Deluxe V-Shaped Neck. WOW, this is an AMAZING neck - VERY nice! It's also the same as I have now on my Tungsten Deluxe. However the Pricing (around 600) for just the neck was a little steep to go on a Highway-One body in my opinion.

Now everyone always says that All Parts is basically Fender Japan.. As I was browsing eBay trying to make up my mind as to what route to take since I didn't really want to wait much longer I notice a decent looking ,  Fender 57 Reissue "Made In Japan" Neck with a current price of a little over $100 with about a day to go.
It was listed as:

• Make/Model: Fender 57 Reissue Stratocaster Neck (ST54-EX)
• Serial #: M028590
• Nut Width: 1 11/16
• Weight: 1.6
• Features: Comes with tuners, neck plate, and screws.

A Quick look at the serial number on the Guitar Dater Project website shows:

Your guitar was made at the
Fuji-gen Plant (for Fender Japan), Japan
in the Year(s): 1992 - 1993

Fuji String Instrument Production Corporation

Fuji String Instrument Production Corporation was opened in may 1960, they initially started manufacturing violins and quickly switched to classical guitar production. In 1962 electric guitar construction was started. Fujigen has a reputation for excellent quality and craftsmanship so the guitars they produce are highly regarded. They produce guitars via OEM for famous brands such as Ibanez, Epiphone, Yamaha and Fender (the import Special Interest Group nature model), G&L and others."


I had also heard (read) lots of good things about Japanese Fenders where it was stated that their quality is nearly, if not 'as-good' as American Made Fenders.  So I entered the bidding process. I had to up my bid a few times, and by the end of the day - having learned from me losing a Deluxe Strat at the last second - I gave my self a nice margin to go up with my Max Bid. It is a good thing that I did, because with LITERALLY 10 seconds to go & whilst I was 'in the lead' TWO people came in and each bid $10 more than my last bid ! Luckily I had my max bid set even higher than either one of theirs because I figured it would still be cheaper than any other Neck option! (All Parts, MIM Fender etc).

Initially I was confused about it being a '57, whilst the neck said 54, but according to this site the only difference between a 54 and 57 neck is the 'butterfly' string-tree for the 57 vs round for a 54. For an almost 20 year old neck I think it still looks pretty decent. There is one small/medium chip on the bottom of the neck near the high E-String by the 5th fret, but that doesn't really bother me.

Then when looking REALLY closely (barely visible in the picture) there seems to be a slight hairline crack right in front of the D-string slot in the nut. I can't feel with my finger or nail, so it would seem the finish is on top of the crack and this could possibly just be a manufacturing 'defect'. As long as the truss-rod works that's fine with me.

There's also a few minor scuff marks from the neck pocket, but once installed they won't even be visible.

I did notice that the finish/poly seems to be 'missing' right around every fret which makes me wonder if this neck has been refretted in the past. The frets definitely seem 'wider' that the 'vintage' style frets that came on the All-Parts neck and a little 'flat'/worn on top. (perhaps they are simple so worn & levelled so many times they feel wider).  It may be time for a re-fret anyway since a few of them (especially 1-3) seem a little worn where there actual grooves of the strings. I'm going to install it & try it out to see how it plays and then take it from there! If I do need to refret it , I may actually have a go at it myself and see how hard it is.

As far as the V-Shape itself I once again notice that it's not as 'hard' as the All-Parts neck I have, and more inline with my Deluxe -V Neck.. I'm going to have to play them side by side to really get a feel for which one I prefer.

2011 Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster - Tungsten with "V"-neck

What's a guy to do when you like features from 2 different guitars, but would like them in one?
Call the Custom Shop! ehmm yeah.. that's not going to happen unless a) You're Famous and/or b) You're loaded... So then what? What is a more 'budget-friendly' solution? Well grab a screw-driver and combine the two naturally! But let me start at the beginning:

As I previously mentioned I had been on a bit of a binge of wanting to acquire some new gear - I was getting really interested in the 2011 American Deluxe Stratocaster. Avoiding the local guitar-center obviously is key so back to online stores & E-Bay it was. I found a nice looking Black American Deluxe Stratocaster with the V-Necks I like (though this was a 'Soft-v') so I entered the bidding process.. It was a few days out and over the days naturally the price kept going up and up where it started to get into 'retail' price terrority (but not quite). The longer I was looking at the guitar though the more I was thinking that I REALLY am not a big fan of White pick-guards on dark colored guitars.. But still, if I could score one for a good deal I wasn't going to pass it up.

American Deluxe with 'V'-Shaped Neck

Meanwhile I also kept my eye on the American Deluxe 'Tungsten' model. This was virtually the same model, but a quick trip to the fender site showed that while they both had similar setups, pickups and even compound radius the 'V-Shape neck was only available in a Black, Red or Sunburst model, while the Tungsten model came with a 'C-Shape' neck contour.

Tungsten American Deluxe with 'C'-Shaped neck

The more I looked at the Tungsten color with the Black Pickguard the more I started to like it, even over the Black one. I started to thinking: well maybe I should just buy a Tungsten instead... As I was contemplating what to do a decision was literally made for me. I was unable to watch the end of the auction for the Black Strat, so someone outbid my max-bid by literally 10 dollars in the last few minutes.. Talk about frustrating! Or not perhaps??

As I started looking around I thought: why not look for the individual parts and combine a V-Neck with a Tungsten Body? "ReliableFender" aka 'The Stratosphere' has TONS of newly parted out Fender gear, so I started digging through the eBay listings to see what I could find. As luck would have it he had the following items listed as 'Buy It Now' items:

a) NEW 2011 American Deluxe V-Shape Neck with the nice Chrome Fender Logo

b) NEW 2011 American Deluxe Tungsten loaded body (3 single coils like i wanted)

c) American Deluxe Neck plate

d) Brand New SKB 2011 Fender Hardcase.

They had also just started a 3-day special giving 10% off all items so that meant I could get the exact guitar I wanted, basically in NEW condition, including a case just like ordering it straight from a big-box store, for LESS than the going market price. Yes it was more than the Black Strat that went at Auction, but this was EXACTLY what I wanted.

After a weeks wait or so for shipping etc the UPS guy finally delivered the parts. After a few minutes with a screwdriver the neck was put in place, and I strung it up with D'Addario .009's. Having mostly played with my telecasters lately I must say that playing a Strat again felt like a homecoming. The smooth contours really are nice and the sound has that distinct bell-like clarity..

I only had a few minutes to play with it so far, but I did notice that it seems like the V-Neck has a more 'vintage gloss' look to it (though the specs say 'Satin Urethane', while the C-Neck that normally comes with the Tungsten appears a lighter color. That doesn't bother me though since I like the vintage look. The V-Shape is definitely a LOT softer than the Allparts neck I have on my telecaster and I would almost say it gets 'softer' as you go up the neck. The Compound radius of the fretboard is very nice though and I may actually prefer this over the 7.25" or 9.5" radius of my other guitars. The N3 Pickups to me sound very good and the S1 Switching gives some great tone options.
 
I'm sure this will become one of my favorite guitars to play in the near future.

Major case of GAS..

First time I heard the term 'GAS' I thought someone was referring to having eaten a bad burrito or something... Turns out that on most gear Forums the term 'GAS' is a commonly used term for 'Guitar (or Gear) Acquisition Syndrome': The uncontrollable urge to get yourself a new toy! (and relief to your GAS - although it may only be shortlived is: NGD or HGND; (Happy) New Guitar/Gear Day! where you actually take delivery of said toy ;) ) As I may have mentioned before I had been 'out of' doing a lot with my music because of other hobbies (My Car & RC Helicopters ) / no time in general.
However, ever since I got my neck-upgrade for my telecaster it has kick-started something where I've been practically obsessed with catching up/making up for lost time and have been drooling over all kinds of great guitars and gear. So , First the Neck, then I got the BlackTop Tele Body, Then the Highway One Strat Body...now I want more still! I figured it'd be fun to have a little overview of all the stuff I've been looking at:

Strat Neck to Finish the Black Strat

Brian was supposed to get back to me about doing this SMNF-V neck with some TonePros TPKF6BTuners. These are more modern with the nut up front instead of the vintage press bushing but still have the Vintage split post design which really gives a clean look

However he's been busy with other things (and may have actually forgotten at this point), which gives me more time to look around. I've been very tempted to actually get an American Deluxe V-Shaped Neck which has a compound radius of 9"-14", but still with the nice V-Shape in the back. Little pricey though, but I may very well end up with this..


White Stratocaster with Rosewood neck
 Yes I said it... Rosewood.. Call it curiosity... but really the Arctic or Olympic White strats are one of the few where I think the rosewood actually looks good! Years ago I was really into a 'every guitar has to be black'-thing, but if anything my wine-red telecaster has taught me that the color doesn't really matter - it's how the instruments speaks to- and connects with you.

One I saw was a '62 American Fender 'Hot-Rod' which is pictured above. Truly stunning though a tad pricey at $1699. Still - one of these days I will have a Strat like that .

American Deluxe Black with V Neck
When I was looking for V-Neck for my Black-Strat project I ran across the American Deluxe V-Neck.
Whilst I already have an American Deluxe (FSR) with SCN Pickups this particular model has the new N3 noiseless pickups (3 singles vs my HSS setup) and best of all a V-Shaped Neck with compound radius.

 The V-Neck only is available on a Burst, Candy Apple Red and a Black Model. Obviously my preference would still be the black model. It looks amazing and I've heard good things about the N3 pickups vs the SCN pickups I have on my None-More-Black.


American Deluxe Tungsten
As I was looking through the different deluxe models there was one that really jumped out at me. The 'Tungsten' American Deluxe Stratocaster.

While it didn't have the V-Shape neck I though the color contrast looked REALLY sharp and I wouldn't mind having one of these any day of the week!


1977 Hardtail Stratocaster
One of my dreams is to have a 1977 Hardtail Stratocaster. While there is nothing 'special' , unique or even 'vintage' about these guitars - they're just old & if anything the 70s were known for producing CRAPPY fenders - I just have a soft spot for this model year.

Gibson Les Paul
 Yes yes - as much as I have NEVER been into Les Pauls, I figured I should at least have 'one' or at least spend some serious time with one before outright dismissing them based on some experiences years ago. I've just never clicked with them. And while there are naturally 'cheaper' (& legal) copies (which many people claim are really just as good) such as the Epiphone Plus tops etc. I figured I should really try the real deal to be fair. So far I've just done a LOT of looking, and even visually 99.99999% of Les Pauls just don't click with me.. However, I found a few in a 'Aqua Blue' or 'Trans Blue Flame' that did look rather impressive (with matching impressive price-tag of 3k+! *ouch*)

Ibanez JS1000/1200
I really enjoy Ibanez guitars for music in the styles of Steve Vai & Joe Satriani. The Joe Satriani Signature models are one I've always wanted to have. The JS1000 & JS1200 are virtually identical with the difference being the JS1000 being black vs the Candy Apple Red of the JS1200, and the pickups. I really like the sleek lines these guitars have

Ibanez JS2400
The JS2400 is the latest Satriani Model. Comes with 24 fets and a rails humbucker in the neck position.
Some people hate it, but I like it a lot!

Ibanez JS Prototype
Joe Satriani has been touring on the Experience Hendrix Tour where he used a 3 'single-coil' (well stacked humbucker) custom Ibanez Prototype with actually a maple neck. The Pickups are supposedly DiMarzio Choppers and Pro Track pickups. If this guitar ever makes it to release I will definitely be all over it!

Project "Black Strat" : Step 4 - Blacking Out The Body

I finally got the Highway One Stratocaster body delivered by FedEx (actually a day earlier than anticipated). It was packed very nicely & sturdy again just like my last Telecaster Body and was in pristine condition. The pictures did NOT do this body justice. The Matte Black Nitro finish looks AMAZING (though still had a peculiar smell to it) and while 'Matte Black' describes the color technically, I would say calling it a 'Stealth Black' would be a more vivid description since "matte" draws connotations of 'dull' & lifeless, while this is VERY sharp looking .

I started out with the tremolo cover on the back. The original was an 'off white' (wonder if this is what they call 'parchment') and was 1 ply, but had no beveled edges giving it a '25 cent afterthought' look. I simply took the screws out, put the new cover in place and put the screws back in.

The Stock Tremolo Cover

Work in Progress

 

1 Ply & Beveled Black Matte Cover

I had ordered the cover with the 6 individual slots for the strings vs the one large opening since I preferred the look of it. The holes don't line 100% though so I might change it out for the slotted version eventually if changing strings proves to be a hassle with this setup.

Next was the front. I had done this kind of tear-down many times before on my old Squier Strat so It was an easy job I did over lunch-time. First I simply took off the 5-Way Switch Knob, and the Volume & Tone Knobs. Some of them were a little stubborn so they needed a little convincing. I wasn't going to re-use them , nor could I get anything thin enough under them (like the common plastic bag or shoe string trick) because they were so low, so I simple grabbed them firmly with some pliers and off they came (and surprisingly with no damage what so ever ;) )

Then it was on to the 11 pickguard screws. If I didn't already have carpal-tunnel this would surely give it to you! (then again I was using a small screwdriver vs say an electric one because I wanted to make sure there were no slips of the tool causing scratches etc). I lifted up the pickguard to take a look under the hood. There was some kind of writing on the pickups (72706 or something) that I couldn't quite decipher. There was a lot more shielding in the stock pickguard than the new Warmoth one, but I figure I'll try it out and if it hums too much I'll simple add some shielding on the back of the pickguard at that time.

There also was a bar code in the body with "C00643251" stamped on it. Not sure if this is the serial number or model or what else.

Then I simply proceeded to disconnect everything from the pickguard until I was left with just the body & electronics as shown here.

After this I simply swapped the pickup covers and started to re-assemble everything in the reverse order of how I had just taken it apart , but on to the new black 1-ply beveled pickguard. A few minutes later I was looking at this beautiful 'stealthy' looking guitar

I think I may also swap out the pickup screws & the screws for the 5 way switch since those are the only screws on the pickguard right now that still look nickel/chrome.

Now I just need to wait for Brian Mason of Mason Custom Guitars to get back to me on the Neck so I can wrap this build up!