Maestro pressure when closing the case.

[Guitar slinger]

Guys, as some of you might know, I got this historic reissue of the 61 Les paul/SG with Maestro. And it happens that everytime I close the case, it looks like the Maestro Vibrola don't really fit into it and to close the case i have to pressure the maestro arm.

By doing this I make sure that every time my guitar goes into the case in tune, it comes out detuned. It's annoying, since it has got nice tunning pegs that would not loose the pitch.

And it's bugging me. Always have, but I'm tired of it now.

I thought about removing the arm everytime I would put it into the case (or keep it whitout the arm the whole time) but I think that by doing so I would damage the screws and bug myself even more.

 

Any of you guys have the same problem????

 

Jeez, why Gibson Custom would do such thing...

[SRV-Zeppelin]

It's easy. Just drill a hole in the case for the arm to stick out of.

[SRV-Zeppelin]

Just kidding, of course... wish I could help but I've never owned an SG with a Maestro. Good luck and all the best for the new year.

[Guitar slinger]

Good luck and all the best for the new year.

 

Thanks bud! That's what matters =)

[jameswithesg]

whoa guitar slinger is that the same vos sg as the other pic you had??

 

 

ive heard alot of people have been having this problem with newer sg's

 

apparently gibson was realeasing vibrola's with the wrong angle t either the arm or the tread that its atached to,

 

 

most of these people have either found or talked to gibson about it and have replaced them with the right angle

 

 

best of luck

[Guitar slinger]

Whoa guitar slinger is that the same vos sg as the other pic you had??

 

Yes!!!

 

ive heard alot of people have been having this problem with newer sg's

 

Too bad' date=' really.

 

apparently gibson was realeasing vibrola's with the wrong angle t either the arm or the tread that its atached to,

most of these people have either found or talked to gibson about it and have replaced them with the right angle

 

I bought it new on ebay. And I live in Brazil. What could be done?

 

best of luck

 

Thanks, James. Thanks for stepping up =)

 

Have a merry cristmas.

[jameswithesg]

id talk to gibson

 

 

a forum guy by the name of lous1952 (the guy who started the new forum/sg pics post) had a post about this matter, apparently he had to get a new one, try talking to him

[Guitar slinger]

For sure, man, I'll try that =)

[lous1952]

As usual, Gibson takes a good thing and screws it up.

 

This is all too common with SGs with the Deluxe Vibrola (aka Maestro)

 

I bought an Allparts long Vibrola and swapped out the spring/mounting plate assembly.

 

Check this thread:

 

http://forums.gibson.com/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=10449

[Guitar slinger]

As usual' date=' Gibson takes a good thing and screws it up.

 

This is all too common with SGs with the Deluxe Vibrola (aka Maestro)

 

I bought an Allparts long Vibrola and swapped out the spring/mounting plate assembly.

 

Check this thread:

 

http://forums.gibson.com/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=10449 [/quote']

 

So your vibrola does not have the Gibson logo? Maaaan, that sucks...

 

I bough a Historic Reissue VOS. So what? I'd have to swap pots because Gibson bumblebees are FAKE, i'll change the strap button for straplocks to protect my investment and then sitch the whole Vibrola so I can protect my guitar against its own case.

I'll be a step or two from a custom Hot-rodded guitar or something.

 

I'm losing my fate on mankind on the Cristmas eve. I thought that I would only have those problems with Fender. I gues I was wrong.

 

 

Thanks for the tips, Lous, and have a sweet merry cristmas =)

[hbomb76]

As with a lot of Gibson's stuff in the past (especially the recent history), the Maestro issue seems to be a crapshoot of consistency. My '01 '61 RI w/Vibrola, my Angus signature AND my Historic one-off all have slight variation on their bar positioning, but it looks to be (like one of you already pointed out) more related to the bend of the bar instead of the spring metal itself. I have a couple extra bars (including one actual vintage late-60's chrome one) and they too have slight angle differences, and one would sit so close to the body when folded back I'd almost be afraid to put it on and risk it denting the guitar.

 

Oddly enough though, all of mine (with the bar flipped around parallel with the plate) seem to fit in the cases just fine, with very minimal (if any) pressure on the vibrola unit. I'll bet those bars vary greatly, which is a shame, because that's one of the things you definitely would want positive consistency on. If I had any worries on mine like with yours I'd just plan on retuning it when I wanted to play...or I'd take a small hammer and a dowel or something and tap a little groove into the case interior to compensate, and then problem solved!

 

H-Bomb

[hi13ts]

I thought that I would only have those problems with Fender. I gues I was wrong.

 

 

You won't have any problems with Fender. You'll likely almost never have any problems with Fender.

I wish I could say the same with Gibson.

[modoc_333]

on my 72 firebird i store the bar in a funny position. when i put it in the case, i flip it over the strings so it is paralles to the bridge.... so that if you were in playing position it would point at your head. it's a perfect fit in both the original case, and a modern gibson case.

[lous1952]

 

So your vibrola does not have the Gibson logo? Maaaan' date=' that sucks...

 

I bough a Historic Reissue VOS. So what? I'd have to swap pots because Gibson bumblebees are FAKE, i'll change the strap button for straplocks to protect my investment and then sitch the whole Vibrola so I can protect my guitar against its own case.

I'll be a step or two from a custom Hot-rodded guitar or something.

 

I'm losing my fate on mankind on the Cristmas eve. I thought that I would only have those problems with Fender. I gues I was wrong.

 

 

Thanks for the tips, Lous, and have a sweet merry cristmas =)[/quote']

 

My Vibrola has the logo on it.

 

I only swapped the frame/spring assembly and put the Gibson cover plate on it.

 

It looks exactly as it should.

 

If anyone does swap the Allparts frame, make sure that all of the parts go together properly before you screw the frame back down.

 

I had to tweak the Allparts frame and the Gibson cover plate to make them fit together properly.

 

Also, the Allparts string/arm holder didn't even fit right on the Allparts frame- I had to use the Gibson one on the Allparts frame, which is pretty strange.

 

So on my Vibrola assembly only the frame/spring assembly is Allparts- the rest is Gibson.

 

Merry Christmas to you and to all.

[hbomb76]

 

I had to tweak the Allparts frame and the Gibson cover plate to make them fit together properly.

 

Also' date=' the Allparts string/arm holder didn't even fit right on the Allparts frame- I had to use the Gibson one on the Allparts frame, which is pretty strange.

 

[/quote']

 

So what "tweaking" had to be done, if I may ask? Just curious in case I ever bought another new Gibson and it had the Maestro-itis.

 

H-Bomb

[RStabe]

Do you turn the bar so that it is pointing toward the back strap button. It helps.

[Kurt]

Hello Guitar Slinger!

 

I own an Angus Young Signature SG that also has the Maestro on it. I didn´t like the angle of the lever because it was to high above the guitar in playing position and it also touched the case in the rest position. So I straightened the lever a bit. I did that myself. It can be bent easily. But be careful not to break the plastic. And first you´ll have to check how far it could be bent with out touching the bridge or anything else while turning it around. If that really doesn´t do the trick the spring can also be bent or raised ab bit with a little felt underneath for example. Ofcourse you´ll have to remove the parts from the guitar to bend `em. And if you don´t want to do it yourself maybe your guitar shop can help. If it´s a new guitar they sold, this service should be free. I absolutely agree with lous1952 that Gibson isn´t very helpful in those things. But I wouldn´t want to spend 100 or 200 Dollars on a new part while the old could be fixed. And in my case and if I wanted them to, my guitar dealer always took care of those things and warranty repairs or fixings. I guess they get payed for this by gibson.

 

In general it is a very good guitar. I think Gibsons problem is that they are building very sophisticated products industrially. Some of them things would require more hand labour. A Strat for example is much easier to build. But if you´re lucky enough to get a good Gibson, they are the best there is.

 

Greetings

 

Kurt

[lous1952]

 

So what "tweaking" had to be done' date=' if I may ask? Just curious in case I ever bought another new Gibson and it had the Maestro-itis.

 

H-Bomb[/quote']

 

Hi Steve-

 

I bought an Allparts Vibrola a couple of years ago and decided to use the frame from the Allparts Vibrola and put the Gibson cover and string plate on it and see what happens.

 

Let me warn you- the Allparts Vibrola that I got was poorly made, and it made this much more difficult than it should have been.

The frame was not square, so I had to tweak it to get the cover to fit properly.

I had to tweak the cover too, and it was a pain.

The Allparts string plate fit too tightly on the spring, and I tried to force it on, and wound up pounding it off.

The Gibson string plate fit better, but it was still tight.

The 4 small holes in the end of the frame had to be drilled out for the Gibson screws to fit.

Also, the cover screws are not 2-56 thread like Gibson cover screws.

They're smaller still, and metric thread, I believe so anyway.

The holes in the frame for the cover screws are poorly threaded- I had to turn the screws with a plier on the screwdriver to get them in, which I did before I installed the frame.

It was a royal pain to get those tiny screws in after the frame was installed- worse than any Gibson frame that I've put on.

 

It was a royal pain in the ***, but it was worth the trouble.

I don't have to remove the Vibrola arm to close the case.

 

Let me warn those of you thinking of bending the arm to solve the problem:

 

Bending the arm may not work- I have seen some Vibrolas (including mine) that the angle of the spring was too far off for the arm bending to work.

 

Yes, it will clear the case, but it will also leave almost no room to work the Vibrola.

 

It will be essentially useless.

 

If you're going to bend the arm just to clear the case and make it inoperable in the process you might as well remove the arm since it will be useless anyway.

 

Here are pictures of the original Gibson Vibrola with a flatter arm.

 

As you can see, it will clear the case, but it does not have any room to operate.

 

 

 

As for bending the spring, it is made of spring steel and cannot be easily bent.

 

I'm not saying that it can't be done, but it's not easy.

 

The Allparts frame swap was a pain, and it cost $105, but the extra parts can be resold on ebay.

 

It was well worth the trouble in my book.

 

[Kurt]

Hello!

 

You´re right. The lever is easy to bend, not the spring. It was meant like that. Sorry if it wasn´t all too clear. Even though I know that it is possible, I wouldn´t try to bend the spring. Only exception is if I bought a new one anyway. Luckily on my guitar bending the lever did the job. Because the angle was too high (sorry don´t know a better word for it) and it touched the case and was very high while playing. I checked a few other guitars with Maestros and found out that the lever angles are all different. So I decided to bend the lever not till exactly straight, but almost. And again you are right, first you´ll have to check if and how far it can be bent to work properly afterwards. The plate that holds the strings and the lever must also have the correct angle. If it hasn´t the bending of the lever alone doesn´t get you any further. If the angle is too flat a piece of felt between the spring and the body of the guitar might lift it up a bit. I saw that solution on some SGs. If that doesn´t work I´d be looking for a guitar tech or replacement. Sorry that I didn´t add any pictures to show you what the lever on my guitar looks like, but I´m not using photo bucket or else and I couldn´t sent pictures.

 

Greetings

Kurt