The Guitar Thread • Page 74

Really want one of these new Alexi Laiho models.

 

I posted a while back when I got this but never followed up after I finished it. Started as a new classic vibe jm, then did/had a whole bunch done as I have no soldering skills whatsoever:

-Completely removed all electronics, shielded the cavity and pickguard, then got all new pots and switches.
-Replaced stock pickups with Vintage Vibe (most underrated pickup winder OAT) JM-90s, which as you might guess are P90s in a Jazzmaster cover.
-AVRI vibrato
-Mastery bridge thanks to a great deal from yourmilkshake
-Witch hat knobs for vibe
-Toggle switch is wired so the pickups are in series when toggled up, parallel when down
-Bottom roller is a bass cut knob (this is unbelievably useful, so glad I found out about this option)
-Top roller is a black ice passive distortion which is honestly quite nice on the neck or in series

I absolutely love it, though next setup I want to sort out the string alignment which is slightly off (all strings slightly shifted toward low e side of the neck, most obvious where high e doesn't align with the screw on the neck pickup). And I wouldn't hate finding a parchment tip for the switch, which is that yellowish fake vintage color whereas the rest are all just barely off white. It's almost certainly the best guitar I own now- as someone who likes to customize things, starting with a Squier turned out to be a perfect move to end up with exactly what I wanted.

 

I want to do some builds like these one day:

absolutely love those dual gold foil pickups in that first video especially, aesthetically and sonically. just love me some gold foils in general but there’s something especially sweet about them in humbucker form and love how oversized they look.

 

dude fuck yeah! the electronics sound really inspired. im wanting to do a bass cut on my strat too.

that thing is gorgeous. sonic or daphne blue with tort guard is one of my very favorite combos. maybe look into conditioning/staining the fret board?

wonder whats up with the string spacing - perhaps a neck thing?

 

Digging the JM-90 and mastery bridge mods. Those witch hat knobs are fire too. I love those knobs. I kinda wanna put them on my affinity jazzmaster haha.

The avri vibrato just looks so much more substantial and legit than the stock vibratos that come on those too. Its kinda hilarious.

 

Seriously recommend the bass cut, I initially only bought that particular pot to avoid the 2nd roller being useless/redundant but it's already come in handy for recording and with the band. Pretty surprised only G&L seems to do it stock given how simple it is.

I've been thinking about staining! I oiled it before I had it set up and it looked nice, but where I thought it would get darker and oilier with playing it's actually reverted back about halfway to the stock dry look. On the bright side, in terms of feel and sound I like the Indian Laurel as much as any rosewood board I've played.

In terms of the string spacing, I'm not sure but I figure I'll try a different tech at some point. A cursory exploration of offsetguitars leads me to believe it could be the way the neck is seated in the pocket. Doesn't make any difference on sound but from an aesthetic standpoint I'd like to fix it eventually.

 

having fun playing along to Long Drive (the Modest Mouse album) on my Jetstar (pictured) and bass (not pictured)

 

Bought my very first Gibson yesterday. $700! The pickguard grew on me after I played one. I really think these will become future classics similar to the way the original double cuts did form the 50’/60’s. You can still find some of these tributes used out there. The used prices keep increasing.

Got a few things to sell now lol.

 

Used market on these is ridiculous. At the end of their production run in the UK they were being blown out for about £550. They're now regularly being offered up at £700+ secondhand.

 

Yup. I know at some point Guitar Center's here were selling these for like $585. The 2nd version of these seem to be a bit more desirable because the input is on the side and the finish is a bit more. Now i'm seeing some go for $1k+

 

Has anybody on here every owned (or even played) a B-Bender guitar? Always been fascinated by them and would love to own one

 

my wife got me a new strap for our anniversary (3rd/leather gifts lol) and it looks great with the dunable

 

that is a beautiful slab of wood.

 

those new fender player plus series teles basically have exactly what i want in a tele - so tempted to buy one

 

same! the orange one is calling my name

 

I’ve played Gibson’s before, but no more than like 20 minutes. Been jamming with my first ever Gibson for a few days now. It’s just the Double cut Junior tribute.

It’s funny bc it’s the cheapest USA made Gibson out there and the build/playability quality is far more substantial than any fender or personal build I’ve had/currently own. Like I actually LOLed at how much more playable this tiny Gibson is. The p90 roars and it feels like a quality hunk of wood. I see why Gibson in general is so freakin expensive.

 

weird not tried them myself but ive heard only bad things about gibson qc. the gear page shits all over them daily.

 

I find Gibsons to be way more hit or miss personally, at least from my personal experience. then again, I also don’t tend to like humbuckers very much. but I have found that my hands tend to stick to their necks and it’s a huge hindrance to their playability for me. I’ve owned two pretty different Gibsons and the sticky neck was an issue for both of them. that said I really really wanna get my hands on a few specific Gibsons someday, should I ever get lucky enough haha. particularly, a Les Paul Recording model.

 

I know there was a dark period for Gibson QC and the company in general. But now with new ownership I’ve heard they’ve stepped up their game the past couple years. They actually seem to be listening to consumers and giving them what they want too. Like with the new LP Standards….they’re basically clones of the OG LP with a few tweaks. People wanted it, people got it.

The modern series really excites me. Like the new LP Classic’s…those are super cool.

 

The whole Gibson thing is a lot of bandwagon jumping in my opinion. I've played all sorts by them and I don't think I've ever played a new Gibson which seemed outright bad for the money. There have been numerous ones I didn't like or felt they'd gone too cheap with; stuff like the late 2000s faded specials, the melody maker line which had the explorer and maybe a V in it, the SGJ, LPJ, which were all stupidly cheap for American made instruments and it showed.

They definitely went a bit nuts around 2014-2016, just releasing models and features that most people didn't want, but even then, I don't remember playing anything which was outright bad.

I think people unfairly compare them to the more CNC factory stuff you get from WMI (Schecter, some generations of PRS SE, LTD, etc) and the ethos for making the instruments just isn't the same. I tend to find Gibsons are a bit more characterful than a lot of the stuff I've played from that sort of brand, but it does mean that you tend to get little oddities and flaws. It seems strange to me to whine that a Gibson isn't a Schecter or an Ibanez. Buy one of those if that's what you want from a guitar...

I should be clear, I've bought two LTDs in the last year (both awesome) and I still hanker for a hardtail Prestige RG, so this isn't about me shitting on things which aren't Gibson, I just find the comparisons and justifications people make odd.

The only criticism that I think is easily justified is the pricing, as they really do tend to take the piss. The LP standards in particular really live off the branding. I've got a 2018 LP Classic (P90s in that one), which seemed to die on its arse as a model, so I got one at a much more reasonable price when they were blowing the stock out for the new models. In the next year (maybe 2020), they released a 50s LP standard Goldtop, which was almost identical spec wise to the classic, but they wanted like £700 more for it. Oddly, the Classic still sits in the lineup as a really good value proposition if what you want is classic LP sound, without the price of having Standard written on it...

 

i have one of those newish gibson dc's. it feels so good and easy to play and the p90 is awesome. only trouble is the g string gets out of tune real easy. i lowered the pickup as much i could w/o taking away from the sound and that seemed to help but yea still very annoying to someone like me that is used to playing fenders. and a real shame since they look so cool. might trade it in eventually.

 

they lost me for good with the robot tuners

 

Lubricate your nut slot at the g string. It may or may not work.

 

those were something else. Christ haha. They got rid of them though, so that’s good.