Black Dog

I have a different perspective. I agree that a modded historic will hold less value than a stock guitar. However, they all lose value. The exception may be some limited edition artist guitar perhaps. But even then, it will only hold value if you don't play it. If you do play it (I mean really play it), it's gonna show wear one way or another and the value goes down. In this case the OP says he'll never sell this particular guitar (yeah, we've all heard that one before ). So, that makes the resale value argument irrelevant here. And what about places like Historic Makeovers? They take a perfectly good historic, take it apart completely, strip the finish, re-carve the top and neck, change the fretboard and put it all back together claiming it's even more historic than when it was historic . Of course, that was for the older generation historic's which were less historic than the current historic's. Nothing is more historic than the current historic's. To get anything more historic now you'll need a time machine. Fortunately, by the year 2505 Costco will sell them.

Well, if RI's count then:

I agree. If I already had it and decided I didn't like it, I'd sell it. Or, better yet, what Pippy said, don't buy a guitar you don't like. But since he say's he otherwise likes it and doesn't want to sell it, then I say get out the soldering iron.

Sorry, when I said they sound very similar, I meant basically the same. I have the Antiquities in a Gibson '17 LP Tribute and the Seth Lovers in a Epiphone LP Black Beauty. So they are completely different guitars. That being the case, they each sound a little different (like all guitars) but the overall character of the pickups is the same. Chime-like, piano-like, harmonics that, to me, are very nice. Per the SD website the Antiquities are slightly hotter but, if I didn't know that, I don't think I could tell.

I'll second that. I also have a set of SD Seth Lovers that are very good, very similar to the Antiquities. I also think both of those compare favorably to Custombuckers. Which they should because they are all underwound, unpotted PAFs.

Well, even with a "pre-wired" harness there's still a fair amount of soldering. It doesn't really save you much. As for a recommendation, you'll have to look around. On the link to the PDF I posted it shows the tapers and also gives the code to read the pots. Not all pots have the codes though. The Gibson historics don't.

I have Emerson Pro pots in a couple of my guitars. There are good quality but I don't like the taper they use. I believe it is a 30/50 taper. That is 30% max output at 50% rotation. That's almost linear. I like a deeper taper. I think the Gibson historic's pots are a 10/50 taper. It doesn't matter as much for the bridge p/u for me because I keep that up pretty high, usually 7-10 range and the higher you crank it the less of a difference there is. But, for the neck p/u which is much more sensitive it really makes a difference. On my Emerson guitars I usually have the neck volume pot on 2-ish where for my Gibson pot guitars are around 4- ish for the same output. Look at the different resistance tapers on the CTS site: https://www.ctscorp....ploads/450G.pdf

I hear ya, but what is the value of the guitar if he doesn't like way the way it sounds?

+1 on all that.

I just gave a round for the page as well. Not that it really matters but just for the sentiment.

"Minus Man" has even more lives than Mr. Bill. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQXDnKkAeIk&list=PLltfQqV4hyW1OPb8yBBggclUzzci8OxO9&index=9

Jam on...

it's more than that 'cause I +'d you! used judiciously, the scotch can help heal your wounds.

I don't know. To me the biggest clue about imunwell's guitar is the neck tenon. If bigtim's had that, then maybe, but it has other non-historic feature as well. Either way, they're both really nice guitars.

I agree with what you are saying here BT. I think it's entirely possible that this guitar was a one-off/M2M or some type of special run. But, even if that's true, it still appears to be spec'd as a '68.

Well, I'm not the final arbiter of anything but I'd say based on everything you've found, congratulations on your new (to you) '68!

That's really interesting. So, based on the SN, neck tenon and ABR bridge, it really seems like it's a reissue. The pickups and controls aren't reliable since it was rewired. I would call Gibson back with this new info and see what they say now.

You can most likely remove the neck p/u without removing the strings, depends on how much string you have wrapped around your tuners, but even it's it's not many you can still do it. Aren't you dying to know??? I'm interested and it's not even my guitar!

Sounds good. I'll have to check it out.

I just found this: http://forum.gibson....ustom-les-paul/ I believe this may be the same "Bob" that you've been talking to.

I humbly and completely agree with everything Pippy said. The first thing I would do, as others have said is to look for indicators in the pickup and control cavities. I don't know if anyone has mentioned it yet but I believe that regular Customs will have a standard/short neck tenon, a historic should (I think) have a long tenon?? The '57's do for sure, just not completely sure about a '68.

Is it any good?

Layla

I actually like the shape of the SG with the female figure better, as I'm sure you intended.

Thanks! I enjoyed it. My favorite is the SG over the Gibson poster. Looks perfect!