SteveFord

We appear to have gotten through the worst of it here in PA although this civil unrest is probably going to change things. The cities were just packed with demonstrators, I saw an aerial view of Philly and it shoulder to shoulder maybe a mile.

The English leaves a little to be desired but that's the problem, that little pin (part number 32). The good news is you can buy replacement tuners on Gibson's site so aren't stuck bidding on used ones on eBay.

I bought that Martin years ago, I have no idea how to contact him. I just remember it was was way the hell up in the middle of the state around Thanksgiving one night after work. Looked to be a bachelor with a modest house and a room evidently packed full of guitars. Get paid, run to Nazareth and buy a guitar, work, repeat kind of thing. I used to work with the guy who was the president of the MUG or a local chapter or something, he was really into them. I have one, that's enough for me. I'll see if I can't locate him again. If I do I'll send you his contact information along with the guy who used to be head of their repair department, they should be able to help you spend every penny you've got and then some.

You guys should have gone with me to the guy I bought my HD-28V from. He goes, "I'll be back in a minute" and around 10 minutes later he locates the guitar, it had the model number written on a piece of blue painter's tape on the outside of the case. He goes, "Sorry to be gone so long, I collect Martins"... However, they sound terrible hooked up to a Marshall so one of those is enough for me. Today was take a vacation day, sleep and play guitars. Restrung the Flying V with 11s and rediscovered that you sit with these like you would a classical guitar. This one is not going anywhere if I can help it. There's really nothing about this guitar I don't like or would change, it just needs a lot more playing time as it's basically brand new (open box special). The neck on the SG is really thin. I'm glad I didn't buy that Gary Clark I was looking at as I understand the neck is even thinner. I'd feel like I'm playing a piece of uncooked vermicelli. There may be additional SGs in my future, just not $6000 for what's basically a plank of wood. The good news is today NO tuners decided to snap in two or go all wobbly and become totally useless. It's a miracle!

Interesting design - the TP-6 is built into it. I've never seen one of those, I like it. Does it stay in tune well?

That's one of those what are they, crazy? type of items. So much of the guitar market is that way, I can't see it but I suppose there's a market for those kind of items. Won't be coming home with me, though. I could find 3 or 4 really nice guitars for the price of that one.

If I stumble across a used one at a price I can afford an SG Custom would do nicely, I think. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SGC63VOCWGM--gibson-custom-1963-les-paul-sg-custom-reissue-with-maestro-vibrola-vos-classic-white-3-pickup The body size always seems a bit small so it's not really very high up on the list. Bet they do sound nice, though.

All Italians aren't in the mafia? You learn something new every day! My stepfather, Charlie Vignali AKA The Big Vig, used to get so mad about that one.

Thanks for posting that, I spent a lot of time wondering about that model and almost bought one a few times but always held back. If I were going to buy another SG it would be the a 3 pick up Custom, ebony board with the gold plated everything, Lyre vibrato but I'm pretty cheap and they're pretty expensive so that's probably not going to happen.

All of the used guitar prices have gone through the roof. I think we'll see them take a nosedive in a little bit.

Got some suede Levy's straps in the mail and rediscovered that Explorers have a LOT of body hanging out the back. No wonder Clapton used a buzzed down version, he was probably knocking stuff off of shelves every time he turned around.

The Good Rats were played a lot on WFMU in north Jersey. Here's one from one of WFMU's disc jockies from way back when, the Big Bopper meets the 80s.

For penance you need to sit in your van and have your 8-track of Golden Earring playing Radar Love got eaten by the machine. I'll do my part by taking a nap and then play the guitar for a bit. Can't get into too much mischief doing that.

Other people have just had these fail like this? I know that those set screws come loose and fall out.

My guess was Pre Production, maybe an employee was trying out something new like different pick ups and the radical three knobs look? It looks like the tail piece has been moved around, too. If so, maybe to get the strings to line up with the pick up screws better.

You got one with the TV Special. Recording is an interesting guitar but I doubt if I'd use it very much. 1985? Think 1960s computer system which they've been trying to replace forever with no success so far.

My parents had a Yamaha nylon string guitar which I discovered down in the basement one day. Not quite Chuck Berry's ES-355 but it was a start. From there it was some Japanese No Name-O brand Fender looking thing I picked out at a local music store. The three pick ups and vast assortment of knobs, sliding switches and whammy bar were just too futuristic to resist. As I recall, the sound did not live up to my expectations but it sure looked cool to a pudgy 13 year old kid.

Wife was gone today and the mainframe at work was down so guitar day for Fun Boy here. Got to play the SG which was like old home day. The 61 Reissue SG has a relatively narrow, slim taper neck which could stand just a little more meat on it but it's not uncomfortably slim for me. I've encountered this neck on some of the Les Paul Specials, small, slim and fast. Frets are nice and low, due to the construction of the neck tenon you can tell it's a delicate instrument so it's something not to let Pete Townsend borrow. EVER. I can see why they redesigned it, this is one to be careful with. High E string is a smidge too close to the edge of the neck so it's adjust your playing accordingly or spring for a new nut. Move E string closer to the B string, by .5mm NOT make the neck incredibly wide and leave the string spacing the same, cough 2015 cough. Beautiful fit and finish and I've always loved the wood grain on SGs. This one I keep as it's light, comfortable and handsome. The GOTW Explorer I've had before so I knew what that was like. This one has a slimmer neck than the one I had before so it plays nicer, low frets, back of the neck is still sticky so it needs some time outside of the case. Whammy bar will need a fiber washer added to keep it from flopping around and driving me crazy, beautiful fit and finish, fairly heavy but not Les Paul Standard heavy. The banjo tuners have a moronically low gear ratio so I see a speed tuner attachment doohickey in my future. Banjo tuners have a screw for setting the tension, by the way. Loosen the screw for putting on new strings and then tighten it back up when you're done. I remembered that after I got done restringing the thing. 57 Classic pick ups so it's not for metal heads, if this style of guitar appeals to you and you see one grab it, I think you'll be pleased with your purchase. This model has that upper crust smell to it. Gigantic Made In Canada case you can use to fend off diseased rioters and use as a coffee table when you're done. Finally, the 2019/2020 Flying V. Really comfortable, fairly wide slim taper neck, low frets, you can see that the rosewood supply is getting spotty as it's streaked but I actually like the looks as each one will be unique, FLAWLESS fit and finish from what I can tell. Light weight but not balsa wood chintzy hunka junk what the hell is this light weight, gorgeous looks, nicely figured wood, If you want a Flying V that looks somewhat normal (for a Flying V, that is) these are worth checking out. Nice job on the fret ends, this guitar is what I expect a new Gibson to be like. Worth the money. If this particular example is any indication, buying those extra light bulbs for the guys at the factory was a wise investment. And that concludes the Iconasm. There are two or maybe 3 more Gibson electrics that I'd like to get but that will have to wait for another day.

But I didn't and Gibson had them in stock so next week I'll replace them all and hope for the best.

I agree, it just takes a lot of experimenting with the strap length. Same deal with a Firebird, at first it just seems ridiculous until you find the sweet spot. Someone mentioned nitro burn from a Gibson strap a while back. The one that came with the V will NEVER touch a guitar of mine. For Display Purposes Only I would think. Maybe use it to hang a potted plant or something.

I'll post some pictures when I put the replacements in. One came out in two pieces and I had no success in repairing it properly, the other one won't clamp the string properly. The string will get clamped tight, when you tune it the string gets pulled down into the bushing. As soon as the string gets pulled down into the bushing the string goes all loose and sloppy. Just weird. I should mention that I'm at least the third owner of this guitar so who knows what happened to it before I bought it a few years ago. The tuners on this one have always been weird, sometimes they'd work normally and sometimes they'd stick and I'd have to press them down to get them to work right. I think I'll just replace them all in one shot and keep the originals for spares.

For those of us with Firebirds from the years in between the banjo and the current mini Grover tuners, be VERY careful with the Steinberger tuners. I was changing strings earlier today and both the Low E and Low A string tuners broke. I heard this loud SNAP! noise as I was loosening the strings and one tuner broke right in two, the other one is all wobbly in the bushings and won't hold the string tight. I've had guitars for over 45 years and never had to replace tuners before. I see why they stopped using them. You can't buy them individually from Gibson (Stewart Mac has them back ordered) so it looks like I'll have four back ups which is probably a good thing to have lying around. From reading all the reviews maybe I just got a bad batch? My 2013 Firebird was fine so who knows. Even so, I wish they would have stayed with the banjo tuners, I liked the looks better and I never had them break when I was removing strings.

13s, huh? That man had some strong fingers. I use 11s, I don't think I'd do too well with 13s. I haven't played the V very much other than to make sure everything works, it takes a couple of days of running scales on guitars to get them to break in. The Explorer went from a horrible weird shaped hunk of wood to boy, this feels great. Now it's onto the SG. TIme to go to work to make a few pennies.

Very cool, enjoy it! I've been waiting for about a month for two hats to show up from Europe. One of them made it to Chicago and that's as far as it got. The other one, who knows.

Once the dust settles (and my fingers recover) I have my beady little eyes on two more Gibsons but that will be a while. Looks like GAS never dies, it just goes dormant.