Twang Gang

If the wood is sealed by a lacquer or nitro I would think that would prevent the irritation? Not too many tonewoods left that I can think of that aren't on that list. Never had a reaction myself to any wood - at least not that I am aware of. May be time to get one of those old electrics made from plexiglass or whatever it was.

Wow the details are amazing - a lot of hand work involved I would think. Washburns were made not far from where I lived before I retired, and I even applied for a job there once as a final set up guy - but they never called me ☹️

Maybe it was just a plain '68 then. I just saw on Gibson's site in the Custom Shop section a re-issue of a '68 with P-90s and it looked just like that with the little crown inlay on the headstock.

Hard to pick a favorite of the ones I currently own, but if I have to I'd probably say my CS356. I love the way it looks, and it plays and sounds great to me as well. As for acoustics I really like this Taylor that I got a few months back, but honestly I haven't played it that much. As to the one that got away that would be the LP Goldtop that I had for about 25 years. Bought it used in 1970 ($300) and there was a lot of confusion about what year it might have been. For a long time I thought it was a '58 (and had no idea how valuable a true 58 would have been). When I got it, it had soapbar P90s but in 1976 I had the top routed out and put some humbuckers in it. Again I had no idea what I might have had, and just wanted a different brighter sound. I gigged it another 20 or so years and was always complimented on its tone. But the best part of it was the neck. Straight as an arrow, almost no relief, super low action and wide flat frets and I swear in 25 years I never adjusted the truss rod - that neck was like a rock. About '95 or '96 I traded it even up for a brand new ES175, so I thought I did alright. Paid $300, played it for 25 years and traded for a $3K guitar. I think it was really a '68 re-issue of a '58, but not sure, might have left $50K on the table?

Only $11 for a haircut here. I give the lady barber a $2 tip (18%) and you'd think I gave them an extra $20 they are so grateful. I guess a lot of their customers must not tip at all? They do a nice job (I don't look like a baby eagles when they're done) and pretty fast only 10 minutes in the chair at most.

Hard to say - these sort of things are not an exact science especially going back to 1955 or 56. You are correct that a TD meant two pickups. It could be that since they were going to make them with two pickups in 1956 a few snuck out in late 1955 that way. Or your father might just have been off by one year on when it was made. Thirdly, could be that it started as one pickup and someone later added the second pickup and controls (although that is not likely, and your father certainly would have known if he owned it since new). I would guess that it is simply a '56 or a late production '55 that got two pickups.

Those don't look like something from aging. Could there be something in the case that is rubbing along that edge and over time takes the finish off and causes the little dent?

I was talking about the short end of the bracket that attached to the side of the guitar - they used to have a slot so you could adjust the height of the pickguard up away from the guitar top or down tight if you wished.

No question LS was way better. Thought Govt Mule's version was a great live performance - such excellent sound all around. Old band I was in before I moved down here used to do Three Steps and I know A Little (fortunately I mainly played rhythm on that one).

I always tuned guitars UP to pitch to avoid any slack between the nut and the tuning key, otherwise when you did a bend or stretched the string it would pull out the slack and then the string would be flat. But I was doing a set up on my Strat and in Fender's instructions about different parts of a set up they said "With locking tuners, always go a little sharp, and then tune DOWN to pitch". I never heard that before, although I just recently got a couple guitars with locking tuners. Anyone ever heard that or used that method? Tune UP with non-locking tuners and tune DOWN with locking tuners.

That must be why they made the 335 body so large and unwieldly so those things could line up 😄 But to answer your question - no I never noticed that before.

That is a shame and something I wasn't aware of. In the olden days, the bracket that attaches to the bottom of the guitar had a slot instead of just a hole, and thus the height or angle of the pickguard could be adjusted to hold it up off the top a little more and avoid this problem. The newer ones just have a hole so there is no adjustability. I have a 2013 LP with the pickguard, and there is a little clearance between the nut on the back and the guitar top - no problem. I also have a 2017 Standard that came with the pickguard unattached, but in the case. I always use pickguards so I installed it. Checking it after seeing this post I find that the nut on the back is touching the guitar so I probably do have a blemish on the top. Since I always keep the pickguards on it isn't an issue for me, as I will never see it unless I remove the pickguard for cleaning/polishing purposes. As mentioned, nitro is workable so it could be repaired at little cost - but I see your point - why should you have to spend money to repair a brand new item. Hopefully the way the guitar feels playing it, and the way it sounds is more important to you than this blemish.

Congrats on a nice looking guitar!! I like locking tuners as well, but your going out of tune issue is probably at the nut. In spite of the pleck machine used on Gibson USA guitars, the nuts still usually need to be filed a little bit and then the problem goes away. Sorry, not sure which locking tuners would fit your guitar without having to drill any new holes.

There probably isn't. Those of us that have attempted to make them parallel think they sound a little better. For me the main thing is adjusting the pickup height. When the pickup is on such an angle where do you measure the height from - just at the pole pieces? It is not a very accurate science when there can be over an 1/8th of inch difference from one end of the pickup to the other.

Got to agree with BadBlues. Here is a shot of my L5 (about $10K MSRP) with the ring turned around backwards from the way it came from the factory. The pickup still doesn't sit parallel to the strings, but it certainly is a lot closer than it was before. And here is a CS336 that I turned the ring around on - it is pretty close to parallel now, but sure wasn't when I got it.

Would Parker sell you a part? Otherwise I'd try Switchcraft's website.

Not sure if yours are the originals - they might be? It looks like they have a Schaller "S" on them. Usually Gibson used Kluson Deluxe tuners that look very similar to yours. About that time (maybe 1990) I bought a Gibson SG that wouldn't stay in tune. It was due to the nut not being cut quite right, and poor wrapping of the strings on my part - but I though it was bad tuners, so I bought a replacement set. I solved the problem before ever changing the tuners and I still have them. They are marked as "Gibson Deluxe" and came in a package that says "Genuine Replacement Parts" and came from Gibson Strings and Accessories out of Elgin, Illinois. In any case you can get replacement tuners from the Gibson store on this site, or most big box guitar shops like Guitar Center or Sam Ash would carry something that should work. If you strike out I'll sell you mine - they've been on the shelf for 30 years or so, but now they are "vintage" 🤣🤣

I haven't registered one in the past year or so - but registered several on line in the past. Don't recall ever getting a confirmation email back from them, I may be wrong. I wouldn't be concerned about it, as long as you have some proof of purchase and registered it on their site getting warranty work shouldn't be a problem. As an aside I bought my first Gibson in about 1965 (long before the internet existed) and have owned about 12 more since then over the years. None of them ever needed any warranty work.

So far it seems the Custom Shop is mainly concerned with artist models. This looks like any other 339, but it has one speed knob and I guess her signature on the first few. Not sure she is considered much of a guitar god?

Not sure I remembered them all, but a fun exercise to go through. I think I have owned a total of 30 over time. I currently have 9 which is as many as I've ever had at one time. The two I gig with now are a 2017 Les Paul Standard, and a 2018 Deluxe Stratocaster.

Don't feel too bad about it. Hopefully as it was an auction situation you didn't pay a real lot money for it. And you mentioned in the first post that it played well and sounded good. So enjoy it, play it. The fact that it is not a "real" Gibson doesn't mean you can't make good music and enjoy it.

A few things bother me - tuning peg posts look pretty long? Truss rod cover with "Les Paul Standard" on it instead of just Standard. Black nut? Biggest weird thing is the cover plate on the back control panel which seems to be running in the wrong direction and has some sort of decal or logo on it?

Well finally an interesting new (old that I never saw before) thread in the ES section. Now you've go me curious about how far the studs go into the centerblock of my L5 and my CS356. They are both different wood and construction from a 335, but curious none the less. I wouldn't want to change the tone of my L5 in any way - it is exactly what I wanted when I bought the guitar. As to the 356 I might want it, if anything, to sound a little "more" hollow not less. I had a 336 bought new and had it for about 15 years over which time it opened up quite a bit. The new 356 is much "tighter" sounding, less resonant - so the replacement of the studs is probably not what I'm looking for, but next string change I will probably have to remove the bridge and unscrew one of those studs just to see how far down they go.😟

Very nice looking R9 - hope you enjoy it and glad you found the one that fits your hand. One question - why no pickguards on all of these different re-issues? Or did you just take them off because you like the look better?

I never played the type of music you described (I'm old), but have used an SG for lead guitar, and they do make models with vibrato (probably not the extent of dive-bombing you might seek), but they are certainly worth you're trying one out. I never experienced the neck dive that some complain of, the fret access is very good and an SG can sound very much like a Les Paul, but is so much lighter and more comfortable to play for long periods of time. They have been used over the years for many different styles of music. If you have access to a local music store that carries SGs you owe it to yourself to try one out.