mihcmac

Tele's are about the same thickness but the face is larger but normally made out of lighter woods like alder, ash, poplar, pine, basswood or what ever custom wood you wanted. I am kind of a P90 freak, I had a desire to find a Tele with P90's and a Strat style tremolo. When I found the G&L Junior II with P90's but had a TonePros TOM bridge, I thought close enough. I did't even consider that its mahogany body would cause my old back problems. Even sitting its a lot for me to handle, but it plays so good....

No problemo. I do appreciate your technical accuracy..

If he paid the usual China price for his copy around $300 he could have a playable sudo LP. But if he paid the Gibson price for it, he should get his money back or go to court...

Yes you are absolutely correct. G&L stands for George and Leo, I was kind of doing a short cut to emphasize Leo. The G&L factory located in Fullerton Calif For the US built Guitars. The Tribute series, like my ASAT Junior II, are built in Indonesia. The forum forum for G&L guitars is at Guitars by Leo 🙂 The China built copies of just about everything are flooding eBay.

I recently bought a G&L (Guitars by Leo) ASAT Junior II a Tele style with P90's made in Indonesia. Its a really well built nice playing guitar, the only thing I didn't take into account was the weight of a solid mahogany telecaster, I think its over 11lbs. No regrets though the price was really good for a brand new Tele from an authorized seller on eBay. Its nice having another 25 1/2" neck that compliments my Blueshawks.. Its just so heavy..

The Gibson Qingdao factory in China builds excellent affordable Epiphone's, according to the guidelines that Gibson has set. I own several of the Gibson Qingdao Epiphone's, my personal favorite is the Epiphone Blueshawk. I also own a Gibson Blues Hawk..

I have been trying to find a 62 Wilshire USA Reissue built in the US in 2009 for a while now. They originally sold for about $1200, now used they are going for $1700 and up. They seem to have been mostly available in Japan. Currently the made in Japan Tamio Okuda Elitist Coronet's, like the one below, are selling used for over $1500 in Japan. I had different variations of both of these in the 60's and 70's, I would love to have either one of these double P90 types....

Pics help a lot in identifying what you have.... If it has a rectangular chrome plate on the back with 4 large screws going into the neck, like the web image below, its a bolt on. If not, no screws, its a set neck which is quite a bit more rare... See the Epiphone Les Paul Junior DC wiki....

Les Paul - 100 Studio ....... see wiki ........ without Les Paul on the headstock and Gibson on the nut cover would be prior to 2005, probably Aug 2002 product number 1581 from the serial number..

Ok it is a 4mm hex wrench. The "nut" is a misnomer, it is actually a 4mm socket on the end of a rod that threads into a captive nut down by fret 20, that you can't get to. Your 4mm socket may have something in it preventing the hex wrench from inserting all the way, or the socket got buggered up from the wrench not being inserted correctly. Usually if while you are putting the wrench in, it may feel like its not quite in all the way, work it in deeper even tap with a small hammer. It should go in at least 2 or 3mm. I you can't get the hex wrench in, file a very slight angle on all six sides and try it again. Sometimes the truss rod can be really stuck requiring you to use a small adjustable wrench to turn the hex wrench. Note: If you loosen the truss rod too much, releasing it from the captive nut close to fret 20, the whole rod can come all the way out. It is usually not too hard to thread it back in..

I would think that a 2019 LP finish would be too new to even try to force finish checking. I have a 20 year old Blues Hawk that had been in Washington, in a store hanging on the wall for a long time and I believe the AC dried it out. When I got it it looked pretty good for its age, but after about a month of being exposed to the humid Hawaiian climate, it developed severe checking to the point where the finish was flaking off. One of the techniques I had heard to restore and stop the finish checking was to use a hairdryer on it.. In the reverse I heard that freezing an reheating several times would also promote checking... (freezing removes moisture)... The link below, starting in 2010, has quite a few comments on checking.... How to crack the paint and age a Les Paul?

Nitrocellulose Lacquer continues to cure throughout the life of the guitar.

Thanks I love my G400. I upgraded my G400, that was fully functional before, with 200 US in parts. Hmmm semantics. The LP Special, I think with all of the things it needed to be fully functional, I think it would qualify as rebuilt. If you replace the crank or the engine in a car is that a rebuild? 🙂

I just recently rebuilt a low end 97 Epi Les Paul Special built in Indonesia. The 20 year old finish was surprisingly good and very little fret wear, the tuners, pickups were toasted and the TOM bridge had cheesy threaded rods with thumb wheels holding it up making it unstable for intonation. I was attracted to this guitar because it had a really good playing bolt on neck, which I discovered has a 14" radius fingerboard. So anyway I installed some Epi keystone tuners (Kluson style), some GFS P90s and real bridge studs. The end product is killer and didn't cost very much. Not too long ago I also upgraded one of my favorites, a set neck G400, with GFS P90's and a Les Trem II, total investment about 390 US. This was my least expensive guitar until I finished the LP Special with total investment about 180 US... I have found that the humid Hawaiian environment is causing my nitro finished Gibsons to disintegrate, so lately I have been leaning towards Poly finished Epi's that I have a Great time rebuilding...

Living on an island I buy a lot of my guitars off of the net, the few local stores that are here don't have that great of a selection, unless you want a Strat. So eBay has a 90% success rate with me, which I think is pretty good.

Current SG's Profile descriptions........ Brian Ray ’62 SG Junior - Custom 1962 Slim Taper SG Modern - Asymmetrical Slim Taper SG Standard - Rounded SG Standard Tribute - Rounded 1961 Les Paul SG Standard Reissue - 1960 Slim Taper 1964 SG Standard Reissue Vibrola - Authentic '64 Medium C-Shape 1963 Les Paul SG Custom Reissue Vibrola 1960 - Slim Taper SG Custom 2-Pickup 1960 - Slim Taper SG Standard ‘61 Vibrola - Slim Taper SG Standard ‘61 Sideways Vibrola - Slim Taper SG Standard ‘61 - Slim Taper SG Special - Slim Taper SG Junior - Slim Taper ........ Other terms used loosely, sometimes used together or in different combinations or singularly .............. C, Rounded, 50's Style, Fat D, Slim Taper, 60's Style, Thin You can expect variation within each model style....

After scanning the current SG's, almost all model configurations have slightly different neck profiles.. SG Models A difference of .08" is pretty small, about the thickness of the binding, but sensitive hands could tell the difference and be able to adapt.. 🙂

The SG neck shape has been evolving since its introduction in 61. I believe that the SG neck has possibly changed more than any other Gibson. There may always be preferred year neck shapes, like the 61 slim taper, that dives little but provides the easiest access all the way to fret 22... I think its good Gibson continues to experiment with variations... The image below from the web, shows major differences in older SG's neck tenon that seems to effect the neck shape. The tenons also effect the button location and CG.

Explorers are an interesting investment. Gibson stopped making them a few times, opening the doors for massive coping by other manufacturers. They seem to hold their value no matter what label is on them, the Gibsons do seem to increase at a steady rate. It is an Iconic Design, I think I gaze at mine more than I play it, the Wild Goose is just so mesmerizing to me, it is truly a work of art. Playing it on stage is interesting, having to be aware of where both ends are. I built mine from a US kit so I could configure it the way I wanted, the kit was exactly patterned after a 58. Anyway it is an an absolute joy to play..

The Les Paul Standard Sparkle Flake "Gold Flake GF" according to the Wiki was produced between 1995 to 2000, so guessing yours might be a 97 built in Korea.. This could be the correct era with "Gibson" on the nut plate instead of the current style "Les Paul Standard". Excluding Japan built, the Asian built Epiphone's generally resell for around 65% of what new models are selling for, depending on model popularity and condition. Les Paul Standard Sparkle Flake Wiki

Need the old style accoustic strap that ties to the headstock..

You have 2 retro guitars selected and 1 more modern Standard. The retro Specials have 2 P90s with a solid metal wraparound bridge. These Specials have a really wide usable tone range and are usually used with the volume control backed off a bit to help reduce noise. I adjust my amp and effects for use with both P90s on most of the time. Both the Neck and Bridge pickups individually are pretty killer clean or dirty. The SG Standard with Tune-O-Matic bridge and humbuckings, primarily use the bridge pickup, usually safer and easier to control when using lots of overdrive. These usually tend to get muddy as the tone control is applied, several high powered humbucking guitars are made without tone controls.. So..... You need to play them all and don't settle for anything less than total love...

No Strats or Tele's... but lots of variation in the 310 series... I was looking for a T310 Tele style for one of my projects, but found very few good ones surviving.. Not to worry though there are lots of E, EM, ET, G, I, S and X series, to name a few, showing up from time to time.. Unofficial Epiphone Guitars Wiki

The G400 set neck, "full batwing style" fits under the bridge and could effect how low the bridge can be adjusted.. In addition the pickups mount directly to the pickguard.. Not to be confused with the G310 SG with the bolt-on neck below that has a different shape pickguard. There are aftermarket suppliers on the net for almost all types of Epiphone pickguards..

The information below copied from the Czech made unofficial Epiphone Wiki The Bohemia Musico-Delicia The images of the Bohemia Musico factory on this page are screencaps from a documentary depicting Eastern Europe's transition from communism to capatalism entitled :Transition From Communism To Capitalism" by Albert Clack. Note: Most of the photos depict guitars being made at the Bohemia factory other than Epiphone, such as Spector basses. Though not Epiphone products, these instruments were being produced at the same time and along side of the Epiphone Les Paul in 1996. The Les Paul images below the Bohemia factory photos are from various Czech-made Les Pauls found on the internet in an attempt to show the different parts and alternate construction used in the production process. Delicia Accordian Works The Bohemia Musico-Delicia factory, originally called Harmonika, and later after nationalization, Delicia Accordion Works, was founded in 1947 and produced accordions, harmonicas and a variety of Latin-American musical instruments. By the late 1980's, Delicia was partnered with Kramer guitars until 1991 when Kramer went out of business. When Delicia was put up for privatization in 1993, Petr Vykydal, a former employee, and a few other former Delicia colleagues out-bid the former management for ownership of the company. By the mid 1990's, Delicia was renamed to Bohemia Musico-Delicia and was producing guitars for companies such as Epiphone, Hohner, and Spector for the European market. The Bohemia Musico-Delicia company is now owned by Zdenek Koutny - AKORDEON SERVIS Epiphone Epiphone began producing guitars at Bohemia Musico sometime around 1996, most notably, the Les Paul. Other models that we know were made at the Bohemia plant were the G-400 and Korina Explorer. More models may surface over time. The Epiphone Bohemia guitars were made until approximately 1999 or 2000. Under the direction of Petr Vykydal, and with approval from Epiphone, the guitars made at the Bohemia factory were of higher quality and slightly different specifications than that of their Korean, Indonesian and Chinese counterparts. Many Epiphone owners claim that these particular guitars were almost, if not on par with the Japanese-made Epiphones, though the actual similarities and differences between the two have not been officially noted. Differences Since the Les Paul model was the most prevalent model made at the Bohemia factory, we will focus on some of the difference between a Czech Les Paul and the Asian Les Pauls. Please keep in mind that the differences in construction and hardware may not be consistent through all Bohemia Les Pauls. Later models seem to fall more in line with the Asian Les Paul models as far as hardware is concerned at least. Some of the differences between an Asian-made Epiphone Les Paul and a Czech-made Epiphone Les Paul are as follows: Neck Tenon: Like the Japanses Les Paul, the Czech Les Paul had a long neck tenon, whereas the Asian-made version has a short tenon with exceptions for certain models. Truss Rod: The Czech Les Paul had a truss rod like that you would see on a Gibson guitar with a nut instead of a hex bolt. Bridge: It appears that many or all of the early model Czech Les Pauls came with what seems to be a Nashville-style bridge, as the diameter of the post is different than the Asian-made and ABR bridges. Many of these bridges are also stamped with "Made in Germany". Tailpiece: Again, the diameter, as well as the length, are different than the standard Asian-made tailpiece posts. These are also stamped with "Made in Germany". Pickup Rings: These seem to be a bit wider on the Czech Les Paul than the Asian-made Les Paul. Pickups: We arent sure exactly what type of pickup was used in the Czech LP other than that it is marked with an "X". Asian-made Epiphones from this time period are typically marked with the pickup model on the base plate, while others may not be. However, no others that we have seen have been marked with just an "X" Wiring: It seems that the wire used for the Czech models was thicker than the typical wiring used on common Epiphone guitars. This is the list of differences we have thus far. As we discover more differences and anomolies, we will list them accordingly. Again, please keep in mind that these differences may not have been consistent throughout the run of Les Paul guitars made at the Bohemia Musico-Delicia factory. Serial Number Variations: Example: B09091234 = Bohêmia Musico-Delicia, Czech Republic / 1999 (09 = 1999, 10 = 2000 11 = 2001) Example: B9091234 = Bohêmia Musico-Delicia, Czech Republic / 1999 (7 = 1997, 8 = 1998, 9 = 1999 )