NighthawkChris

Again if it isn’t clear why people like me who were big Metallica fans once upon a time, this guy was very influential in taking the band to a sellout phase and he started to move the band away from the reasons why again guys like me like metal music. He sold out, went mainstream with garbage bag songs that have no semblance to their roots and brand it Metallica. I get it bands evolve but they became a trendy, turd licking band which is the antithesis of what metal fans want. Lars had a lot to do with the business of the band and got greedy showing his fans what they were really all about. Maybe a lot of bands are like this - I’m sure of it - but it sucked when it came out in plain sight that Metallica wasn’t that metal band anymore that made me like listening to music that got me pissed off and wanting to revolt against everything mainstream. If you don’t understand the metal culture you won’t understand why Lars is reviled then. Not saying I wish anyone death here but as far as supporting Metallica, then days be done and over with decades ago. And to add, the Napster ordeal was just another symptom of proof how flipping greedy these guys were. Fans don’t care about how much you make. We care about what you give us. Being he was a main figure in opposition to peer to peer sharing of music, he can suck a butt for that and how he influenced the direction of the band once they were world famous. Not being fanatic here nor have I lost sleep over it, but I call it out... Metallica sucks, I found better bands thereafter. If there’s a discussion about Metallica like this that goes on, I’ll join in and give my input. I love heavy metal and just don’t consider this band one I enjoy listening to no matter how popular they made metal back in the day. It all ended up here. In a marital divorce, you don’t stay together because of the good days. If you cheated let’s say, all that good washed away when you did another woman. Haha somewhat analogous. Like I said it hurt to see those Load albums and St Anger...

Looks like your wife should have paid for lessons instead of the guitar... JK man nice guitar BTW really like those Specials too. If I didn’t already have 13 guitars I’d have picked one up already 😉 Happy Birthday and congrats!

Lol apparently they thought we needed not one, but 2 album covers with loads 🤨

Metallica is a sellout story and by the time the SKOM vid came out I was done with those turds. Saw segments of it and it was depressing - for me that is. I spared myself the dignity of having to sit through that s***. For those wondering why Metallica comes up with Dave, I guess because he was an integral part of Metallica starting out - and Dave like him or not is a metal riff genius IMHO. He’s played with a lot of talented lead guitarists as well as having some pretty decent chops himself. I was under the impression that Metallica shat all over him for years (using his riffs and such) and now it’s Dave’s time. I don’t think of Dave as a sellout. He’s stayed pretty metal over the years aside from a few albums I don’t care for here and there. But Metallica turned into a bunch of vag’s over the years. Glad Jason left them and sad Cliff died years ago. anyhow it isn’t just about Lars and Napster or anything of the sort... no it’s much worse than that... Before Load I was into the band, but once that thing came out and we played it not knowing what was going to happen, I felt something shrivel up inside me. My friends and I were some metal heads and we got high AF listening to Load back then, and we were just like W.T.F... It was all over for me after that. The black album all of a sudden started to sound s***tier and yeah, there’s my gripe. It’s legit. It was like telling the courtroom where you got touched with a f’n doll. Rant over haha!

I can say 2 words about Metallica and the guy who had a lot of say in Metallica’s direction- Lars: Load Reload

@01GT eibach I am starting to get a bug for a V. They aren’t too bad to play sitting but take a bit of getting used to. I agree his sig V looks pretty nice in the pic you shared. I like all of them I’ve seen thus far TBH.

Yeah very true 😀 you don’t have to get too close to me to see I’m a flipping wreck haha!

Ditto man my R7 GT isn’t perfect cosmetically but it is a perfect guitar if you get what I’m saying 😉

If I were you, I'd go for the Chy-na special 😆

What's wrong with this picture? https://saginaw.craigslist.org/msg/d/montrose-gibson-les-paul-custom/7279476025.html

What's up with everyone trying to sell their late 70s early 80s LP Custom Silverbursts and blowing up the prices? I get it about the whole Adam Jones - Gibson thing right now, but man, these old LPs with severe buckle rash, chips and dings are going for crazy dough just because of AJ and the flipping silver finish? I am not looking to get my hands on one, but just because it has that nothing-special silver finish that it demands a few thousand more. Oh well, I get the whole in-demand thing and seems like some sort of fad - IDK. I guess my question is where these silverburst guitars always going for the prices they go for today or is it just that whole AJ thing that blasted up the prices? I never was interested in these before therefore I never minded looking at the going rates in the past. Apparently, the prices are right though, because there are some people spending the dough on these today. To add, who am I to say anything bad because I buy expensive guitars too - not knocking anyone if it's their thing. Just curious if the prices are the way they are today because of this AJ appeal and what others may thing on the topic. Maybe the wrong thread to ask this sort of thing...

Yeah, I'd do this, but the tools necessary aren't too much or expensive. Maybe want to buy that 64ths" card from Stewmac - great investment and can do string action setups consistently every time. Either way, how low the bridge goes depends on the neck angle when the guitar had it set in production as all of them are different. Once it is made one way, it never changes, so I think once you get the guitar up to spec, you'll find that adjustment room can be had. If you eye it out at manufacturer spec, the string action will "look" high, but in actuality, it's as designed and will not be hard to play. No need to have action like a shredder on a LP - i.e. traditional-like guitar. Again, best wishes and good luck. Share pics or it didn't happen!

Measurements? The Gibson spec is 5/64" on the bass side and 3/64" on treble side at the 12th fret. Also, how's the neck relief (measurement). How's the first fret action? Usually want no more than 0.020" at first fret on each string give or take 2 thou. If all these are checking out, you probably will have no other option than to do some filing on the bridge to get action lower so you can adjust upward and not be decked out. I have never had to do bridge filing though and don't advise to have just anyone do this... This would be my last measure IF I really had to go down this path TBH. Was the bridge a replacement - i.e. not OEM so to speak? You mentioned this was used, so no telling what the last guy(s) did here. FYI, my action is 4/64 on the bass and 3/64 on the treble. Anything lower usually I don't like and typically start getting choking out/buzzes going on. Specs are a good baseline, but these are not rules you have to live and die by... I know that some will say that all these specs are a bunch of BS, I've played for 100+ years, never had to mess with this... I'm just trying to help and the only way we can collaborate here to give you best advice per my experiences is to use quantitative measurements. I want your guitar to play good and for you to have confidence that it works for you. Nothing worse than buying a guitar that you have regret for... Luckily as you said, it plays good and hopefully we can somehow improve what you got going on. Good luck and best wishes.

@brad1, that’s cool man your ears aren’t mine. I just have this awful memory of Dave doing the most tone deaf outro of Peace Sells last time I saw them live in Detroit and each time I listen to that song I laugh haha! All that aside, MD f’n blows Metallica out the water. Their riffs are levels above Metallica. I love MD. Maybe not the most hardcore fan, but I have quite a bit of their albums going way back. Put it this way, I can listen to MD all day whereas Metallica I can’t listen to anymore. MD can get my blood flowing whereas Metallica... meh... And Peace Sells is a great song on a great album. The conjuring is one of my faves with my last words. A half hour of pure metal. Loved hearing wake up dead live too. F’n love that song! Yeah MD is a great band and F Metallica for being sellouts. They can take their load and shove it up their (Lars’) a$$. I wouldn’t even Napster that s*** back in the day haha!

Megadeth is awesome I don’t even think about comparing to Metallica. Although Megadeth isn’t that great live - Dave’s vocals are sort of cringe when in the flesh. I’ve gotten used to them on albums though and have no issues really there. Metallica does a better show but again they have f’n Lars in the band whom I absolutely think is overrated AF. I dig the new Vs and personally like the green V. I think there’s a Kramer one too that wasn’t in the video and I like that one better than the Gibsons. I miss my old Focus...

MegaDave!

I have an R9 from 2019 that has Bolivian rosewood - Pau Ferro - and it’s pretty nice. Also have a 2015 LP Custom with Richlite. Both look nice but TBH I can’t tell the difference it makes in tone. I’m a pretty good player too so I am in the belief that if you play well you won’t have major issues with a fretboard material messing with your style. Another R9 I have has the Indian rosewood and it is dark. But this is a higher end guitar compared to the USA lineup. Again to me it is mostly cosmetic and won’t make your playing better or worse whatsoever.

When you condition a fretboard you don’t marinate it. Apply, then wipe off. That’s the best you can do. You don’t want to play a fretboard that is all oily and has s***on it. If you don’t like the color of the board, pass on the guitar. @sbpark said it best about availability. What are you gonna do about that... Want dark rosewood today, gonna pay for it. Buy a used model if you want darker rosewood.

Ok your first post with a new account is to tell everyone to buy a Heritage guitar... And you resurrect an old a** thread from one of the biggest DBs to contribute here. Nice start pal. You must do good with the ladies too.

@Crids, I got a few reissues to share some pics of, lol! Nice Goldtop BTW. Maybe if someone makes a "guitar appreciation" thread or something of the sort, I'd be happy to participate... Check out Mark's Guitar Loft in NH if you're in the market. You need to poll his site from time to time and see what comes in new. He's very professional and courteous to do business with.

I'm testing an image too... I used the lower right hand corner of the text box in this forum that allows us to reply to a message and there's a drop-down menu that by default says "Other Media". There's a selection item that says "Insert image from URL". Then, went to Imgur, copied the BBC code link that Imgur let me copy, removed the [img] stuff surrounding the link, and I made sure that the link had the ".jpg" extension. Voila!. Was much easier before just using the surrounding tags... Oh well, as long as it works. Enjoy the pic. 8.3lb R9 60th Anniversary in dark cherry burst. Bought it from Mark's Guitar Loft FYI. Cool guy...

When I bought my R9, it arrived with the switch tip exploded. No issue getting a replacement though - I actually got 2 from Gibson directly (of course no charge). So yeah, you have to be careful transporting your LP in the case as these switches are prone to "exploding" if it takes a bang. Luckily, the guitar was not messed up... So the moral of the story is that if you use this case to transport your guitar, take the switch cap off if you don't want any issues. Maybe save that foam piece too as it can't hurt. I even save those extra foam inserts that cushion the headstock. As for the impression, well I explained what happened to my R9, so that's not surprising you have an indent in the case where the switch touches the top of the case lid. The worst that could happen it seems is you'll lose a switch tip if again the case takes a bang.

I still think the 3 by 3 headstock looks weird on these. High fret access isn’t as good as it should be for a 24 fret guitar IMO. Stainless steel frets would have been good too.

+1 Yamaha THR

@jdgm, I fail to believe that water weighs less when it solidifies compared to when it is in the liquid state. What is interesting is that water expands when it freezes unlike many other molecules. But generally speaking, if the "count" of water molecules are kept constant in a particular sealed vessel let's say, the weight (or mass for that matter) will never change. The volume will change though by virtue of its expansion when frozen. So the rule in buoyancy states that if something weighs less than the volume it displaces of another substance, it will do what we call float in this particular instance. Being that the volume increases with frozen water and more "space" is taken up as compared to liquid water, the ice which is less dense will weigh less than the more dense liquid water of equal volume. Water is an interesting molecule. It is non-compressible as well. But now, I'm babbling on about H2O. Lol, sorry man, I was just talking about how water expands when frozen with my son. I really have to get out more and talk to people, haha! Too much time at home these days. Cheers mate!