rct

If you intonate your guitar by looking at the saddles yer doin it wrong. The tuner says where the saddle stops, no matter what it looks like. rct

Too Shay! [laugh] [laugh] Do I know you? rct

In the olden days when someone bought an SG you could pretty much bet that guitar would be in a bar next weekend, so a case was not only a good idea, it was the norm. Not so much anymore, for a long time now. Guitars are just another shiny Christmas present. rct

Guitars come with a case, that's how we thought, that's how it was. I got really p1ssed off when they first started separating the case from the American guitar. Like, 20 years ago. rct

Not arguing with you, just trying to make sure new people understand how guitars work. I've never had anything but flush tailpieces, therefore, nothing but sever break angle over the bridge. There is no need to have "...very little string bend over the bridge,...". That just isn't true and probably has nothing to do with this guys problems. rct

I'm pretty sure my copy has a one piece back. rct

That's tricky. We didn't have "build quality" back then. It was a brick, a dog, a loaf, or it wasn't. If it wasn't, it was just a great guitar. It was fairly binary, for all three big American makers. At least, where I came from and where I grew up guitar it was like that. I would only say that an old guitar is in no way guaranteed to be built better, feel better, or sound better than a new guitar. A new guitar is in no way guaranteed to be built better, feel better or sound better than an old guitar. I've gigged 50's strats, owned 50s teles, and I've used real PAFs in real 58s and 59 Les Pauls. If I had 5000 dollars to spend on a guitar I would buy a run of the mill American Standard <fill in any of the big three> that felt good to me and spend the rest on taking Mrs out to Jackson WY for a couple weeks. I will never own an old guitar again in my life, I had too many of them to remember them all, and they were just ok. Although, I would like a Leo or George or Tadeo initialed neck heel, that would be cool. rct

An old guitar is an old guitar, and nothing else. rct

I believe the problem in this instance is the neck blank, the heel block, and the body blank can be three different types of wood on an Epiphone. If the paint is going to crack, it sure will be right there if different woods are used. rct

I don't know how many they make a year. It's true they don't make many Vs either. But I always see several Vs at guitar shows, but rarely doublenecks. rct

I'm sorry to say it, but most ordinary working guitar players you run into in a lifetime of guitar playing don't need, therefore don't have, a doubleneck. Yer a rarified bunch for sure. rct

Yer certainly the dumbest one in this thread if you didn't see what I was doing there. rct

A really good bunch of people, including Farnsbarns and his head injury, were giving you info. There was never a requirement to be freinds or enemies, the information here is always given freely. If you want information, you might want to consider how you respond to people that are giving you information. rct

Fukk off redneck jitbag, go see yer meth dealer, get back in yer trailer and shut the fukk up. You want to ask questions, be ready for all kinds of answers from all over the world, d1ckweed. rct

To be fair to new players and people just starting out with guitars, your guitar, amp, the crowd, and the record all have no idea how many pieces the back is, and it doesn't make your guitar sound any better. rct

I'm so glad they don't just walk into a music store and get some serial numbers. oops. rct

No. Do you always assume that anyone that doesn't agree with you is 14? No. k. Any idea of the average number of guitars Gibson can make in a year, less overhead, get the margins, figure out how much is actually coming back? Any idea how many guitars are sold in America in a year, do the math, figure on dealer costs, see what the industry in general turns around? I didn't think so. There's a really big difference between sitting on the board of a large, publically traded company and "the board" of a small potatoes privately held manufacturer. Sure, you've sat on boards. Good for you. I've been around guitars my entire life. The word "millions" is hardly ever applied on the profit side. Maybe when you've sat on a few more boards you will have a more realistic sense of how profitable guitar companies are. For some great reading, look at debt ratios for the biggest three makers/retailers, that is, Fender, Gibson, GC/MF. Maybe then with all of your studly experience you will understand why the are not public, and not generating anything in dividends. rct

Gibson is privately held and therefore is not required to report anything. Gibson is privately held, so no shareholder is getting 20 million anything. A dividend of 20 million? Holy crap, if the entire guitar industry went public and you were the majority in each company you'd see only 20 THOUSAND yearly. If you were lucky! rct

No kiddin! I don't even want a 12 string and I want that thing! rct

Hooray! I hope it is a beaut! Keep us ordinary 'splorer users updated! rct

Me too! rct

It's just money. Nobody squints hard and rubs their chin while selecting "tonewoods" to make guitars out of, nobody at the product development at x price point level cares what it sounds like or what is used to make it. In America, they simply broaden the definition of "mahogany" such that today, whatever they call mahogany is mahogany. Someday they'll get it all the way out to 2x4s from home depot, they'll be mahogany too. The cheapest wood they can get that they can legitimately call mahogany is what they will use, all the while participating in determining what it is that is called mahogany. Same as it ever was. rct

Sexy guitar, a sweet little dog. I have a regular Explorer, so I'll go now! rct

Fender Foto Flames wer awful. It didn't last long because it was actually very expensive, in the context of guitar margins, too expensive to keep it up. Thank goodness. rct

Panther was one of the best platforms ever, and it was definitely the most profitable. Why they ended that I will never understand. Sold all our Ford stock because of that. rct