Black Dog

Not at all. Sorry if it came off badly. In fact, I agree with every single poster in this thread save one.

I wasn't going to say anything else here but... I don't really care much about anyone's playing style or skill at all. I mean, I do hope everyone plays well of course, but everyone's different and we all enjoy (hopefully) playing what and how we play it. If this thread had been about how much a person was enjoying their guitar, and even why, that would be great. I'd have been happy to congratulate them and even compliment them on a fine looking Les Paul. But if's when you start telling everyone else they should share you're preference or be a stale, old fashioned poser is when it goes bad. Like I said, a preference for a wider fret board is completely valid and I don't knock anyone who plays an HP. I'm sure they're nice. To each their own. Enjoy.

The one I am familiar with goes something like - it's a poor craftsman that blames his tools. The first time I ran a string off a fret, I didn't think to blame the guitar. I thought I needed to practice more.

The guitar was invented a long time ago. Every single iteration of it has had problems of one sort or another. The main problem they all share being that they don't play themselves. Someone has to learn how to do that. Amazingly, people through the ages have been able to do that in spite of one design problem after another. An engineer (I think you may have mentioned that you're an engineer) may start to look at their guitar and identify all the things they think are wrong with it that are impairing their playing. People that are actually good players (i'm not saying I'm one of them) seem to be able to pick up most any instrument and make it sound good, flaws and all.

The "nib" is not a fret. If you look closely (with magnification) at your frets, you will see (at least on my USA and Custom Shop LPs) that the fret is beveled out, diving down toward the binding long before you get to the binding/nib. If you're trying to fret a string on the nib you're already way off anyway. It's just that on the HP there is no nib to run onto when you're off the fret. So there can be a valid preference for a wider fret but it has nothing to do with nibs. Edit: In fact, as in the picture of the binding separated from the fret, that may not be a defect in materials or workmanship but rather the result of someone repeatedly trying to use the binding as a fret until it finally failed.

I do find it ironic that to make your point about modern high performance design you posted a photo of an obsolete aircraft.

I think that's what the nib's really do, they hold the tone in. Without them, it just runs out the ends of the frets, lost forever. The only thing more important than that is the hide glue.

Yessir. That is totally correct. Think of all the greats before us that have bent, hammered on, pulled off and vibrato'd there way into our hearts and minds with narrow fretboards and nibs!!! It's horrifying to imagine. On my Tribute, with no binding at all (much less nibs) I tend to run off the ends a bit easier than my bound and nib'd one's. But, I know that and I play that one a little different than the others. No doubt, it's the setup/string spacing, that's that guitar. if you feel like the only guitar you can play is the HP, that's fine. Just don't tell everyone else we must do the same, or be wrong.

Hi Pinch. The specs I see for the '17 Tribute T say the nut is cut to the exact string dimensions for 9-46's. The bridge slots are cut wider for some reason. I like the 9-46's, don't want to change. http://www.gibson.co...ul-Tribute.aspx Nut Style: Nut Material: Tektoid Width: 1.695" Slots: E: 0.046" A: 0.036" D: 0.026" G: 0.016" B: 0.011" e: 0.009" For the bridge: Dimensions of String Slots E: 0.058" A: 0.048" D: 0.038" G: 0.028" B: 0.019'' e: 0.014" Then this guitar has 9-46 strings but the nut is cut wider: http://www.gibson.co...-Fort-Knox.aspx So if these specs are all correct, then it seems like the nut can be cut a little wider. I'm sure somebody here knows.

I've been wondering about this. What I have read from various luthier sources seems to vary bit. Some say the slots should be the exact width as the string thickness, others say slightly bigger. I don't know which is true or if both could be correct. If you have the patience to look through the specs of various guitars on the Gibson website you'll see that on some guitars they are exact, others they are wider than the strings to various degrees. I don't know what is correct and I don't even know if the specs from the website are correct, it wouldn't surprise me if they got that wrong.

Yes to all of the above. I read about certain players using light strings so I tried 9's and even 8's. The thinner low strings sounded weak and thin (no pun intended). The hybrid 9-46's are the best of both worlds, for me. Solid tone and good feel.

That's a great one

Same Old Song and Dance - Aerosmith

Yes, but if the six panel doors were not assembled using hot hide glue the tone, sustain and resonance will be inferior regardless of the tenon length. That's just a fact.

Oh, thank goodness, so it's not just me then.

Funny, I did notice that the last couple times I've watched my Zeppelin Videos. It's definitely not a standard configuration.

I'm not an engineer, and no doubt my physics and trigonometry are a bit rusty. I think that whether or not the strings touch the back of the bridge won't effect the total downward or forward (toward the neck) forces at all. Those forces are determined by the break angle and could be calculated using sin and cos equations. Strings having additional points of contact with the bridge will increase friction forces which could effect the strings ability to move back and forth across the saddle and other points of contact. Whether or not that is perceptible and has any effect on playability, tone or sustain, I have no idea. At some point, if the break angle is too shallow (approaching zero), then the strings would become unstable at the saddles. Other than that, who knows. There may be some ideal angle but again, this may just be academic and have no practical effect at all beyond a certain point.

I'd give you two bumps if I could!

White Room

Jimmy Page's first solo recording. He does the vocals and plays everything except the drums, even a harmonica solo. Pretty cool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0isgc4EtQZU

Just reposting my Standard since the Photobucket debacle.

Ten Years Gone - "Then as it was, then again it will be An' though the course may change sometimes Rivers always reach the sea". Great song, greater album.

three is already too many!!

I posted this in a DIY thread on the Gibson side but since it's a Epi, I thought I'd post it here too: So I finally got around to my Epi Black Beauty upgrade. I ditched all the original stuff. pups, pots, bridge, tail piece. Replaced with Seymour Duncan Seth Lover pickups, Emerson pots, Emerson PIO cap, Faber ABR tone lock bridge (awesome) and Bigsby. I actually already had the Bigsby on it but it was mounted on a vibramate. I got rid of that and mounted it right on the top. Finally, and this is the coolest thing, I replaced the pickup selector with a "Free-way" switch (https://www.freewayswitch.com/). It is a six position switch that looks like a stock 3 way. It is wired like this:

So I finally got around to my Epi Black Beauty upgrade. I ditched all the original stuff. pups, pots, bridge, tail piece. Replaced with Seymour Duncan Seth Lover pickups, Emerson pots, Emerson PIO cap, Faber ABR tone lock bridge (awesome) and Bigsby. I actually already had the Bigsby on it but it was mounted on a vibramate. I got rid of that and mounted it right on the top. Finally, and this is the coolest thing, I replaced the pickup selector with a "Free-way" switch (https://www.freewayswitch.com/). It is a six position switch that looks like a stock 3 way. It is wired like this: