Twang Gang

I had the same problem and so wasn't active for about a month. The other day I decided to try my "display" name which I would refer to as "screen" name and that got me back in. The email and actual username were not effective. All's well that ends well, just hard to know how many other of our regular pals on here haven't figured out how to sign in? I think the older we are the less tech savvy (at least that is certainly true in my case).

A fantastic collection with some rare early instruments. My question is when you have owned these 125 some guitars, and are auctioning them off for charitable purposes - what guitar(s) do you keep? It's not like he's going to stop playing and not own a guitar.

Congrats - nice looking Strat. I bought a MIM a few months ago and have had a lot of fun with it. I do take it to gigs, and play it approximately half the time. My group is a cover band and the songs that were played with a Strat originally just sound more accurate playing the same guitar as the recording. You can do a lot with effects and amp models, but you can't make a LP sound like a Strat or vice versa. I thought the longer scale length might bother me, but I am finding it actually gives me a little more room for the old arthritic hands to move about.

Sticking just with Property tax (on your home) it varies a great deal from state to state, and even from county to county within a state. I lived in the northern suburbs of Chicago for close to 30 years in Lake county. There was very little business or industry in Lake county, mostly residential properties. Many of those houses had children in them that need to go to public schools (buildings, and teachers must be paid for) so property taxes were quite high. I owned a small condo (2 bedroom, 1.5 bath, one car garage) valued at about $200K - taxes were about $5,000 per year. A few miles south of me in Cook county (which contains the city of Chicago and a lot of business and industry) the same property would be taxed at about $1000 per year. I retired and moved to South Carolina, have a single family home on a half an acre lot, 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, 2 car garage and my property tax is about $600 per year on a property with about the same $200K value as I had in Illinois. So there is no one percentage of formula for property taxes - it depends on the location and the taxing body. When you buy a new home in the USA you need to find out what the taxes will be. You might be able to afford the house, but find out too late that you can't afford to live there!

Looks very much like the X Vive system I got from Sweetwater a couple months ago - only a little stripped down, and less expensive. Sounds like the same technology which works fine. Like many electronics, they are often cloned and if you can get the necessary parts and have them assembled the cheapest you can sell for a little less.

I'd go for the Les Paul 50s as they are very versatile, twangy, clean, overdriven, jazzy - endless tones available paired with your amplifier.

Great little amps especially on the gritty channel. Easy to carry around and loud enough to be heard over the drummer

Shop looks great Rabs - being allowed to use those tools will greatly improve your production time for guitars, make them more accurate, and you will be able to take on designs you might have been reluctant to try in the past. My Dad was a woodworker (hobby not career) and when he retired he built himself a proper shop onto the back of the garage. But he also built the house I grew up in and there was always a table saw, lathe, joiner in our basement along with bandsaw, jigsaw etc. So I learned early on to be careful around the equipment. In addition to fingers be sure to always wear safety glasses or goggles as wood chips and sawdust in the eyes is no fun. I see Rabswood Guitars expanding it's horizons

We've had a couple guys on this forum with the satin gold tops that polished them out and they came out real shiny. Should work for yours as well.

I bought a 2017 LP Standard with Burstbucker Pros in it and also thought it was a little too bright. I played around with the guitar controls quite a bit and wasn't getting the sound I wanted. Then I just turned the treble down a notch or so on the amp and found the sweet spot. I don't think your pickup swap helped you at all. The 490 and 498 combo is pretty bright as well. If you really can't live with the Burstbuckers I would recommend the '57 classics as a rounder, mellower sounding pickup. Or as others have suggested just sell the 2018 and search for something else. On the other hand what is point of having 2 Les Pauls that sound exactly the same? If your '96 is giving you the only tone you really want - you don't need another LP.

In an interview with the new CEO of Gibson he pointed out that one of the problems at the factory was there just was not enough light for the workers to spot some of these imperfections. He has vowed to improve the lighting and the QC should follow. Sometimes the simplest things can make a big difference.

No. Middle position on a 339 does not split or tap any coils.

On the guitar front, my search for wood for the body continues. My neighbor is letting me take an ash log (about 10 ft long by 14 in. diameter or so) and a cherry log just a bit smaller, but has splits in it. I'm now trying to figure out how to go from log to 2" thick slabs I can use for body wood. Got a couple local saw mills, might need to call in the big guns for it. Anyone ever slab a log, have tips? Rabs is right - you have to let it cure (dry out) for a couple years. They may already be old, but if laying outside in the moisture more drying is needed. As to cutting it up, the right saw is critical to get a smooth straight cut and doubtful you have a saw that can go through a 14 inch diameter in one cut. So the saw mill is probably a good idea.

You have the same L5CESN as me...great choice you made. Mine is a 2015 Custom Crimson one, what year is yours? We're hijacking the OPs thread - but mine is also Custom Crimson built in 2013. Unlike many other models they don't mess with perfection and they don't change from year to year!!

That is a beauty. 5 years old and from the photos looks brand new. Enjoy it. I too had wanted one for a long, long time so when some unexpected funds came along I had to finally get one. Don't play it as often as I should, but couldn't give it up. As long as we're not being bashful about posting L5 photos:

I don't think a Gibson sealed in Nitro will fade like Rab's example as he just stained it and oiled it. I've seen some examples of the Pelham Blue that turned greenish over 20 years or so. It will change some over time, but depends on the light it is exposed to. If you keep in the case when your not playing it, it will hold the color for a long time.

Hopefully you've solved this problem as the post is month old. But if not I would tend to think that there is too much relief in the neck, and you need to make the neck straighter (flatter) - this will make the strings more parallel to the neck all the way from nut to bridge and prevent the buzzing. Gibson's set up specs say to get the fingerboard completely straight then back off the truss rod nut 1/8th of a turn for slight relief. (always loosen truss rod nut first then adjust back to where you want it). I don't have metric measurements, but their specs say string height at the 12th fret should be about 3/64 in. for high E and 5/64 in. for low E. These are from top of the fret to bottom of the string. As to the strings touching the back of the bridge - don't move the bridge saddles up and down, move the stopbar up to get the strings away from the bridge (assuming it's a Nashville bridge). If you have an ABR-1 bridge the strings will clear with the stopbar all the way down to the body. Hope that helps.

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head - "orchestral pop" by Burt Bacharach. Also "RC Cola and a Moon Pie" by NRBQ

Unless he is a really big guy - it looks smaller than a 335 or others you mention. But not sure what model would not have anything on the headstock? Was thinking it could be a 336 or 339, but they have markings on the headstock

and Gold hardware which you don't see very often on 335s unless it's a Custom Shop model, and that would probably be more expensive. No longer available through Sweetwater, so they must have sold what they had to someone.

Not something most SG players would think of, but if you can get the sound you want, the playability of an SG is great. More power to you to think outside the box

Fun stories to read guys. Like Dennis G and Old Cowboy I am lot older than most of you. My first guitar was a Roy Rogers model from Sears or Montgomery Ward about 1956 or 57. It was bright red with white silk screened pictures of Roy and Trigger on it. Top/body was some sort of pressed board, just a little sturdier than cardboard. The neck was wood, but the fingerboard was plastic with the frets molded right in (nylon strings). It came with instructions on how to tune it. Tune the low E to your piano, then press the fifth fret to get the A, fifth fret to get the D, G, press the fifth fret on the G to get the B and then 5th fret again for the E. No matter what I did, it just didn't sound right. The error in the instructions made the B string into a C and the high E into an F (not a popular tuning to this day). So since it always sounded bad it collected dust in the corner for a couple years. Finally a friend of my Mom's from out of state came to visit and she tuned it properly pointing out the error in the instructions. After that at least I was able to play a few chords and get started on learning guitar.

Not sure they are still putting those stickers inside every guitar. I bought a 2013 L-5 and is has a sticker inside the body. Also bought a 2017 CS 356 and there is no sticker in that one. I have COAs for both, and I think that should be proof enough that it is real and genuine. I wouldn't worry about it. Really nice looking ES by the way - hope you enjoy it. [thumbup]

Back in 2009 when this post started I didn't own a Standard - but I do now. 2017 LP Standard T Burstbuckers, Honeyburst finish, compound radius fretboard - my big mod was I added the poker chip.

On my LPs and a 356 the pick-up ring butts right up against the edge of the binding that is at the bottom of the neck/fretboard. Sort of looks like your pickup was installed too far away from the fingerboard and thus left that little gap. I am not real familiar with 330s though, they may all be like that?