Kelvin's Guitar/drums stuff and JV Squier refurbishment thread.

KelvinS1965

I'm calling it my 'Spinal Tap Stack' (since it looks like I got the measurements wrong like their Stonehenge model ).

hyperfish

Look perfect to me mate. Is the speaker angled in there too?

KelvinS1965

I'm not sure, in my excitement to get it plugged in I didn't pay much attention.

Russ 66

Kelvin if you are looking for a decent Gibson Les Paul I would always buy secondhand and save a small fortune. Over the years I have had several, a couple of customs, 3 standards and a classic. I still own the standard.
I find they all vary wildly, the neck angles on older ones are all over the place.

The best I have ever played is a simple 1990 wine red standard that I picked up in 2001,  it just has "it" and I much prefer it to some R9's I have played.
Close was the classic also from the 90's, lovely guitar except the snot green inlays.

I also wouldn't worry about the screw holes left after taking the scratch plate off, you can hardly see them. For me it was scratch plates off the custom and on for the standards.

KelvinS1965

Yes, I have been looking at used too but often the prices don't seem much less than some of the new ones, at least at the dealers. I wouldn't be confident buying off eBay or Gumtree though incase I bought a fake. Where do you get yours from?

I know it's a minor thing, but I took the pickguard off my Epiphone and the holes bugged me, so it went back on. I really like that this one doesn't have them to start off with. As you say, they all feel different, but this one just really suited me (apart from the frets, but I think that's the case on most Gibsons apart from the highly valuable vintage ones perhaps). I think if I bought something else, I'd keep thinking about this one and wishing I'd bought it.

If I get one it will really be a once-in-a-lifetime purchase, so if it means paying a bit more for something that really suits what I want then it will be worth it. TBH I really struggle trying to justify buying a £2  guitar when I only play a gig once a term, but then there are some others in the class who have more than one Gibson and are relative beginners, so I think 'why not?'.

It could all be academic though; the living room is going to be a fair old cost so it just depends on how much I have left once it's done. I am hoping to sell my Z3 this summer though, so that would more than cover the LP.

Russ 66

I have played the guitar for 30 years plus and I have lost count of the guitars I have bought and sold. I have bought them from friends, shops and eBay but I always pick them up to check them over.

Buying used is always a concern and I wouldn't ever buy a guitar without trying it first.
Fake Gibbo's are a problem but you can normally spot them a mile off.

Have you had a look at the Fretboard, there's normally some nice guitars on there.

Shops I have always used are Coda music in Stevenage and lately Peach in Braintree, I highly rate both.

I also wouldn't worry about owning expensive guitars and only playing them once in a while, you only live once and unlike AV gear they are not worthless and out of date in 2 years.

The upside about buying second hand is when / if you decide to move them on you don't loose on them. More often I have made money.
I have made some horrible decisions in the past, I passed up some lovely guitars which would be worth a small fortune today.
But in the early '90's I did buy a late 70's les Paul custom for £450, a 1983 Marshall JCM800 100w 2203 head for £160 (still got it), oh for the days before the Internet.

KelvinS1965

Funny that Peach was one of the sites I've been looking on too. I've not heard of fretboard though, have to look on there. I've got Guitar Village at Farnham not far from me, but they seem to mostly deal in high value vintage Gibsons, or new ones. Rare to see something affordable (by my standards) on their website. I'd forgotten about Coda too.

I'm kind of against the grain on here (and other guitar forums) as over the last 40 years I've only bought 7 electric guitars and I still have 5 of them (I traded the first two in each time to get the next one which lead to the Strat in 1982). That's why I don't really expect to sell any on...I've still got that cheap Squier Affinity Tele in a cupboard that I ought to get rid of though since it never gets played now I have the better Classic 50s Tele. Same with the Epiphone LP, I know I won't play it if I get a 'proper' Les Paul, so I'd plan on trading that in if I could.

I did once try to buy a 1960s BF Fender Twin reverb that was left behind in the bandroom at HMS Collingwood. Would be worth a fair bit today I suppose and it sounded gorgeous (and very loud) with my Strat going through it. Turned out the owner was on a tour and had asked the bandmaster to look after it, so it wasn't for sale.

At least as you say guitars and amps don't seem to devalue like AV gear; I could have a very nice Les Paul for the money I've lost on projectors alone...

It's not so much I wouldn't play it often (I would), just that I'm not a pro and I kind of don't feel 'worthy' of a really expensive guitar even after all these years of playing.

KelvinS1965

Took some photos of my Telecaster yesterday after I'd finished tweaking the new brass compensated saddles I fitted. It's really playing nicely now since the action is all set up for my liking.

The only thing left to do now is to reverse the control plate so that the selector switch is at the far end as I'm always knocking it back if I use the neck or middle position. However the wiring will have to be altered so that it will reach, plus I will swap the volume and tone over so that the volume is nearest the neck.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

I've got the metal braided wire and new selector switch for my Epiphone Les Paul as I'm going to finish off the rewiring I started last year (when I installed new pots, caps and jack socket). Then I'll decide if I order a set of Bareknuckle Mule/Riff riff pickups since I don't think I'll sell it as I was planning to: I've owned it for over 20 years now and like how it feels. Even if I change my mind I would probably put the BKs into a Gibson LP anyway, so they wouldn't be wasted.

Christian 71

Good thing about the BareKnuckle is that Tim will happily swap the pickups if they are not what you expect.

KelvinS1965

I didn't know that Christian; I thought it was just a matter of listening to all the various Youtube comparisons and trying to pick the best one. I'm pretty set on the Riff Riff bridge/Mule neck combo based on lots of videos I've listened to, but good to know I have a fall back option.