sparquelito

I guess I have only owned it for but three months, but it took me this long to foment this heresy. Father forgive me for I have sinned. This is my first Confession since..... uh.... s#%t. It's been a long time. 😐

Was it anything like this Kramer Striker FR424 (or a 422)? 🙂

Good stuff. Thanks for all the comments, gang. I went online and checked for the proper height (altitude below the strings) adjustment, and made those. After a bunch of errands all across town, I went back into the music room and was delighted to find that the beat-up Les Paul was still in tune. I guess I stretched them strings and broke them in right. I cranked up the amp and drum machine pedal, and ran thru some songs. Godzilla by Blue Oyster Cult was particularly fun on these new pickups. Later on, my wife came in from walking the dogs. "Man, I could hear you halfway down the street." "Is that bad?" "No. Godzilla was f#%king awesome!" 😃

My one cardinal rule, and I broke it today. Some background; I'm that bone-stock guy. I like all my guitars all-original. I never modify them. When others guys went down the road of constant mods and upgrades in search of that Holy Grail tone, I was the one who always said, "Leave it be." "Bone-stock is the best." Or, "Why did you buy it if the thing didn't play right and sound good in the first place?" And then so, a few weeks ago, I was comparing the humbucking sounds that I was getting out of a variety of my guitars, in relation to carrying one of them over to a band practice at our girl singer's loft. Lo and behold, I found that my pristine 2017 Gibson (S Series) Firebird Zero sounded louder, better, and more bold than my beat-up, scuffed 2017 Gibson (also S Series) Les Paul Custom Studio. I mean, with the volume and tone settings identical, and the pickups adjusted to precisely the same height relative to the strings, the Les Paul just sounded weak by comparison. What gives? Both guitars were equipped with nearly-identical 'Double Slugs' Pickups. DS-A5 Rhythm and DS-A5+ Lead humbuckers in the Les Paul. Alnico V magnets. DS-C Rhythm and DS-C+ Lead humbuckers in the Firebird. Ceramic magnets. So, on an impulse, I ordered a pair of Seymour Duncan humbuckers. Pearly Gates for the neck pickup, and Dimebucker for the bridge position. And this very mornings, I soldered and heat-shrinked the new pickup wires into a pair of Gibson-style Quick-Connect adapters. (I wanted to be able to plug-and-play with either set of pickups, as opposed to hard-wiring them in there.) No good reason for that, it just seemed like soldering them in would be a waste of the Quick-Connect wiring system. Installed them with very little fuss, and put on a new set of Ernie Ball Turbo Slinky 9.5 to 46's. Tuned up, stretched the strings in, tuned up again, and I plugged in and rocked out in the music room. I must confess, this is an enormous improvement. I really like how this beat-up, ugly guitar sounds now. Lord forgive me my trespasses, and please deliver me from evil. Amen. 🙁

Oh buddy. Such nice work! I sure do love the area where you live in Tennessee. It's beautiful up there!! 🙂

I would peel the clear coat off the headstock face as best as you can, and then re-spray your own clear-coat back onto it. That would preserve the originality of the factory logo. Cool guitar!! 🙂

When you go for spacing material, remember that tone matters. Tone foam. It's a thing. 😐

My recommendation; Rub the body down with F-ONE Oil, and let it hang dry for a few hours. Go back and buff the entire guitar down with a dry terrycloth. Then buff in some Turtle Wax spray shine. I have found that the carnauba wax in that product is really good for keeping my guitars looking right and feeling happy. 🙂

I had a girlfriend years ago named ESDYARDNH"2". She was so named so I could tell her apart from the earlier, ex-girlfriend, ESDYARDNH"1". I guess I'm just drawn to a type. What can I say? 😑

Clemént Renouf, Fjestad's Blue Book puts the value of your 1989 guitar, in Excellent Plus Condition, at: ~$2,700 US Dollars or £2,020 It would be a bit less than that in Ebony or Beale Street Blue, but the Cherry/Wine finish adds a bit more value. Nice guitar!! 🙂

Of course, for the cost, it wouldn't hurt to order an assortment of smaller sizes as well. Pick and choose, and find the screws what offer you the best fit, along with that fizzy, sparkly screw tone that everybody seems to be talking about lately. 😉

Ha, dummy me. My Fenders don't have truss rod covers. I compared truss rod screws from two Gibsons, my BC Rich Mockingbird, an Ibanez Artcore, Gretsch, and an ESP LTD. The Gibsons and BC Rich were #2 x 1/4", and the rest were smaller in shank diameter, and slightly longer in screw length. The Gretsch was the finest and longest. I would have taken a photo of them side by side, but I didn't want to mix them up or lose them, transferring them from the music room to my plain white kitchen counter. I believe that you will be happy with the #2 x 1/4" screws for your Gibson. 😉

I have a minute before I go to work. I'll pull some from my Fender, Gretsch, Ibanez, and Gibsons, and compare. Will get right back with you. 🙂

In my experience, Gibson uses #2 x 1/4" for their truss rod covers. The ones for their pick guards are slightly larger, #3 x 3/8". Allparts has never steered me wrong. https://www.allparts.com/collections/screws 😐

That was a 2018 Gibson Les Paul Faded in Worn Bourbon finish. I bought it brand new, gigged with it twice, never really bonded with it, and then sold a year later. Great guitar. Sometimes the magic is there, and some times it ain't. 🤨

It's what makes your gold-top wonderful and unique in all the world. 🙂

Me too. I'm sure you don't mind, and I can play lead, but it's normally carefully-rehearsed to sound like the original that we're covering. My original improvisational skills are somewhat lacking, when I make the scene. 😐

Such a tragedy. John Lennon eschewed the usual security and body-guards, and always made himself accessible to fans and neighbors. It contributed to his death, in the end. 🙁

Welcome Harry. That's an impressive collection, sir. I'll bet that you can play the honky-tonk like anything. 🙂

Man. I can't imagine how painful that is. I did the same thing a few weeks ago, only I was wearing my yard-working sneakers with socks underneath. I still (somehow) put a gash in my right big toe. The physics of that are perplexing to me. I guess I should wear steel-toed sneakers from here on out. 😐

If it weren't for my dreadful fear of heights, I'd be a very content and blissfully-ignorant helicopter pilot. As it is, I have to swallow my terror and put on a façade of steely-eyed courage whenever I fly one of those rigs. Just to keep the other pilots and engineers from getting worried and scared. 😐

A coworker and I relocated some assets from down south to up north. The weather was splendid, though we did encounter some mild turbulence at one point. 🙂

1990s? Hockey stick headstock? 2 pickups or 3? Or just one?

I like it. A lot. 😍

Oh man. I found a lot of drool-worthy guitars in there. Thank you for posting that, rct. 🙂