NighthawkChris

I believe I brought up this price thing, and what do you want me to tell? Seems like a jab and want to start an argument based on our past experiences here… Real adult of you if this be another round of saying mean, nasty things to each other… Repeat back what you wrote to me to yourself and think how you might feel if you received the feedback… hey maybe I misinterpreted you - benefit of the doubt. In this case pardon my interpretation of your comment which again, seems to address the points I brought up and no one else here. Appreciate the kindness 😁

Like him or not, all the power to Rick. Working hard to provide regular content that talks about sophisticated musical stuff and what not. I don’t watch him really, but know what he’s all about. Ranting and teaching haha! He’s a good player too no doubt on piano AND guitar. And it seems to be pretty lucrative too keeping with the times to do something he loves - playing music - and making a living at it. Apparently he’s even got his own signature Gibson which I would consider an accomplishment to be had.

Amen, again 😁

Amen!

I was simply agreeing with @SteveFord with everything he said. But not in denial that prices today have just gone up so one has to expect that this guitar is “correctly” priced for today’s market. TBH ever since inflation went crazy, I haven’t had any inclination to buy any gear. Used to new, everything up substantially from a short while ago it seems. There maybe deals to be had, but seems more far and few between.

I agree with @SteveFord. Not too much for a lot. But these days, it never ceases to amaze me how much is considered a little. If you can live without the TOM bridge on the RB special, I like the Gibson TV Yellow Special. Hoping to find one used for a good price though, because even these today are $1800 at GC which I am not too hot on: https://www.guitarcenter.com/Gibson/Les-Paul-Special-Electric-Guitar-TV-Yellow-1500000274120.gc?cntry=us I think a couple years ago, these were like $1600... I could be wrong, but I'd bet they were a couple hundred bucks less expensive. But Steve knows that I am not supposed to buy any other guitars next except a semi-hollow body... 😁 Haven't forgotten!

I always found it somewhat interesting the far east that makes these counterfeit guitars even puts on fake Grovers too. The attention to detail is uncanny, haha! They totally botch the headstock-neck binding transition though - and quite a few other things as well. Notice that binding transition picture isn't featured in the ad I bet. Gibson does it right. Real easy to learn about counterfeit Gibson guitars in this age of inter-webs. I had this period of time where I viewed many luthiers repair these kinds of guitars, trying to make firewood sing essentially. I felt it was beneficial though, because I have noticed particular characteristics of the construction to visibly "flag" counterfeits. I don't so much get concerned with Gibson losing out, but people getting scammed is never cool. Probably said this before here, but haven't commented on counterfeits in a long while.

I'd practice on a "junk" guitar before attempting to mess up a LP. Your hand if not careful can burn insulation, possibly those poly caps if you got those, and even the nitro if you touch the iron to it. Not to discourage, but see what your current capabilities with the iron are is my recommendation. Practice makes perfect of course. Good luck!

The one with Russell Crowe. You wanted to be under Russ’s wing, you shaved your head and looked the part. I got a C in the class. I didn’t even make a video in video class. At least I passed…

When I was in high school I took video class with the infamous Russ Gibb. He liked kids to shave their heads and wear knee high doc martens with white laces. He promoted the film romper stomper haha! Never got into punk - or ska for that matter. I was a metal head and still listen to metal. So punk, ska, goth (insert more crap here) no thank you. To each and to their own, not everyone likes my tastes either, but I just don’t identify with the trendy music ever. And for the record, I liked Big Sur! Wasn’t too bad of a guy. He passed not too long ago and took care of a lot of the “loser” kids that ended up flourishing under his wing. Good guy, RIP. I digress…

Yeah not buying into the new stuff any time soon. I really liked the Use Your Illusion albums, but not too much out of that. I had a good time in 2021 at Comerica Park concert - were in good form to say the least. But I get it why people feel the way they do. I did not like the song @Rabs shared a YT link to. Won’t be catching me jamming to it.

The best trade is money for a guitar. Find its value and sell it for that. Just me though, YMMV. I don’t do trades where a guitar for a guitar is involved. Someone always gets shorter end of stick it seems more than not. Good luck

Agree with @rct with setup instructions. If you haven't done this, please follow his instructions. This is how a Fender is set up. Before we start shimming the nut on this thing, take a look a this: http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Musician/GenSetup/NutAction/nutaction.html There are a few ways to verify this is "optimal" but generally, I press the 3rd fret and hope to see a very slight amount of "relief" between the crown of the first fret and the bottom of the string - per string since each string is slotted to some depth. Just didn't want to start shimming to see if things work for no good reason. You can start screwing with getting sharp notes because it takes more pressure to depress string into fret causing it to increase in tuning. So if you have to depress 1st couple frets with a lot of force, probably have issue with nut slots needing to be cut lower. If you are getting buzzes on open strings, probably have the slot(s) cut too deep. in this case, a shim will help with slots cut too deep, but will affect ALL slots. I shortcut this with using feeler gauges. After I adjust neck relief and set action, etc. only after ALL OF THIS is done, I then check with feeler gauge to see if I can fit 0.018"-0.022" range, I'd say that "nut" action is good (gauge between first fret and bottom of string with no strings fretted or capos, etc. - just as-is, stick gauge in between this region and see what you get). If nut is adjusted (i.e., deepened a slot as you can only really make a slot deeper), need to start all over again and make sure that relief, action, etc. is good, then re-measure "nut" action. Tedious yes, but don't know a better way to do this personally with "basic" tools. And to boot, slotting a nut is something you want to make sure you are angling it correctly... You don't want to get it where the string starts binding in the slot because you will absolutely hate what it does to tuning stability. Basically, angle slot down towards tuners. You want a clean break angle to be made so binding and such doesn't occur. I have only used a shim when I had a nut that was poorly cut with too deep of slot or slots. Sometimes it's just better to start over and get a new nut. Just have to know what you're doing when you luthier your own crap.

Yes, was debating if this was a JM or Jag. My bad 😁

@Sgt. Pepper really nice Stratocaster right there. Both guitars are real nice looking TBH. Could have told me that was a Jaguar and would have believed you other then the headstock telling me it's not. After years of seeing Fenders and Gibsons, not too much leeway to alter the tried-and-true fit and finish. But @Narwhal6 sincerely didn't mean to just make a snarky comment to get personal about a guitar. It's just that I'm sort of a guitar nerd, and partscasters make me chuckle a bit. Hope you figure out what is causing the buzzes and get rid of that pocket change under the saddles so you can enjoy the guitar to its fullest 😁

Here’s what I thought about when I saw the OP’s guitar: https://www.fender.com/articles/behind-the-scenes/closeup-check-out-fenders-new-parallel-universe-collection Wasn’t trying to be a jerk but seemed like the person who put the partscaster together might have had the FenderParallel Universe style in mind…

Is your guitar an SG? Then no, you won't have neck dive.

@Narwhal6, I believe you are right. Maybe there is a shim in there already that needs to be removed 😄 I sincerely hope that you don't get upset if I said that your cheap guitar makes me laugh, haha! That's an abomination if I ever saw one.

Instead of pocket change, how about neck shim? To do it right is a small procedure to know how much thickness a shim is needed, but this gives you back the travel in the saddles you maxed out on.

Ditto on Mesas…

Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for the suggestion!

My wife had this for both of her hands and after she had surgery to correct the issues - and some amount of time to rehabilitate - her carpal tunnel went away as hoped. She had it bad where she initially experienced pain in the arms going up to the shoulder, then it evolved into numbness and sensory issues with her fingers. Before this, she had ergonomic keyboard/mouse stuff for her work and wore a brace... None of this helped to a degree where the discomfort was alleviated. Based on what I saw, if I had the same stuff happening to me as my wife experienced, I would be pushing for surgery with the doctors incessantly. It doesn't get better on its own - on the contrary, seems to get worse. Best of luck to you @ksdaddy. I'm sorry to hear about your condition, but thanks for sharing.

NHs are basically the Fender-Gibson. I prefer the 3 pickup variant over the 2. And Fireburst finish… Like Fender, the strings go through the body and it has 25.5” scale. There are 10 different tones you can choose with the selector switch (4 pole, 5 throw I believe - heard it called super switch before). This involves splitting and combining the pickups in different combinations. It’s lighter than a LP which I like. Thinner body too… Tone-wise… sort of a thing of its own. It has elements that you might say sound Gibson-like, and some that make the Strat or Tele tones. I have tried different pickups in them before and I like them just the way Gibson shipped them back then. Finding them used isn’t too difficult. I like the more rare Custom variants which have all the Gibson Custom adornments like multi-ply binding, flamed maple top, ebony fretboard, crown MOP inlays… The looks of the guitar are “very” Gibson haha! They even made some with Schaller trems for a minute there. Don’t ever think they will reissue this guitar though… I’d have no issue ponying up for one if they did…

I have this affinity to 90s Gibsons. I really liked the Nighthawks - not the other variations in 2009 and 2013 or Epiphones - and the Les Paul Gem series - Studios with fancy paint and P90s. I’d pony up some dough for a nice new NH built like the 90s models… And yeah, the sapphire Gem was the only blue guitar I’d actually buy. But alas, these requests fall upon the deaf ears at Gibson most likely. Maybe not to limit the conversation to Gibson models, but other guitar makers’ models would be interesting to know about too.

I’m still trying to figure out the strange part of all of this… 🤯