capmaster Posted May 12, 2014 Posted May 12, 2014 Did you ever know that? I just found out by accident Marc Bolan must have been a top-wrapper for a certain period:
BigKahune Posted May 12, 2014 Posted May 12, 2014 Top-Wrapping Obviously Is An Old Idea B) . Obviously - 1952 Les Paul 1953 Les Paul
Tman Posted May 12, 2014 Posted May 12, 2014 Did you ever know that? I just found out by accident Marc Bolan must have been a top-wrapper for a certain period: Top wrapping is an old idea but apparently trimming the strings at the headstock is a new one? Love that photo of Jimmy.
NHTom Posted May 12, 2014 Posted May 12, 2014 yeah, but like everything else in the world, Marc Bolan just makes it cooler......lol. NHTom
capmaster Posted May 12, 2014 Author Posted May 12, 2014 Top wrapping is an old idea but apparently trimming the strings at the headstock is a new one? ... Perhaps he had no string cutter at hand...
Ryan H Posted May 13, 2014 Posted May 13, 2014 1952 Les Paul That tailpiece has been replaced/modified. The strings originally wrapped Under...terrible for muting. -Ryan
Karloff Posted May 13, 2014 Posted May 13, 2014 Top wrapping is an old idea but apparently trimming the strings at the headstock is a new one? Love that photo of Jimmy. Jimmy ?
quapman Posted May 13, 2014 Posted May 13, 2014 Did you ever know that? I just found out by accident Marc Bolan must have been a top-wrapper for a certain period: T. Rex was a Rapper? Who knew?
BigKahune Posted May 13, 2014 Posted May 13, 2014 That tailpiece has been replaced/modified. The strings originally wrapped Under...terrible for muting. Absolutely. Bad design - it didn't take Gibson long to replace it with top wrapped stop tail in '53. For those with trapeze '52s who wanted a solution - a top wrapping mod.
milod Posted May 13, 2014 Posted May 13, 2014 I think a lotta stuff "we" did in the '60s - probably also after - was simply to try stuff and maybe we thought it was okay, or we came up with an excuse to like it. Or... equally probable, because others didn't and "we" were by golly gonna be different. As for the bad hair day strings at the peg head... heck, I never trimmed mine either during the "hair covering the ears" era that ran for me up to around '72 or 3. ... Then I got to thinking I might poke myself in the eye and started clipping 'em. m
pippy Posted May 13, 2014 Posted May 13, 2014 Great snap of Marc. As it still has the Standard neck it's from earlier on. Later the neck was broken and he replaced it with one from a Custom. The Marc Bolan Sig is fashioned after the later version. That tailpiece has been replaced/modified. The strings originally wrapped Under...terrible for muting... Absolutely. Bad design - it didn't take Gibson long to replace it with top wrapped stop tail in '53... The problem with the '52 LP wasn't the trapeze tailpiece per se; rather the fact that the neck was fitted at too shallow an angle in relation to the body. For reasons unknown the tooling was set-up incorrectly and the guitars were almost unplayable as originally shipped-out. Apparently Les himself was pretty furious about this whopper - after all it had his name on the peghead - but instead of rectifying the angle Gibson decided to bring out the McCarty stoptail instead. Ted McC. wasn't a big fan of the trapeze design (by Les Paul) so that probably played a large part in the process. Many owners of '52s have had the neck re-set at a steeper pitch in order to allow for the trapeze t'p to be used as originally intended. FWIW : ex-forumite Thermionik has an all-original (low-pitch) '52 to which he's fitted that very same type of bridge as shown in the first snap. He says - and I believe him - that it's the finest guitar he's ever played. And he's played a great many - including the ex-P.G. / Gary Moore '59. P.
Bender 4 Life Posted May 13, 2014 Posted May 13, 2014 B) . Obviously - 1952 Les Paul 1953 Les Paul LLLLLLoLLLL the Pic on the CD Tin cover of Baby JLH w/his '52 LP.....it's topped too!!
pippy Posted May 13, 2014 Posted May 13, 2014 ...the Pic on the CD Tin cover of Baby JLH w/his '52 LP.....it's topped too!! ... Perhaps he tried out both systems to see which worked better for him, Bender? FWIW here he is with his '52 (second batch or later as it has a bound neck) with it understrung; P.
Bender 4 Life Posted May 13, 2014 Posted May 13, 2014 Perhaps he tried out both systems to see which worked better for him, Bender? FWIW here he is with his '52 (second batch or later as it has a bound neck) with it understrung; P. oops.....my bad Pippy......the pic on the viewers left <<<< is the one i'm referring to, but it's not as clear on the silkscreened Chinese Tin cover. but by GRACIOUS there's some wonderful music in that tin !!
BigKahune Posted May 13, 2014 Posted May 13, 2014 . @Pippy - Checking this thread again I see it's become quite interesting and informative. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and the way in which you do it. Thanks. . B) On the mute - reminds me of why I took the ash tray off my Tele and never put it back on. .
capmaster Posted May 13, 2014 Author Posted May 13, 2014 . @Pippy - Checking this thread again I see it's become quite interesting and informative. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and the way in which you do it. Thanks. . B) On the mute - reminds me of why I took the ash tray off my Tele and never put it back on. . @ Pippy: Heartily share this opinion. Dear Pippy, thank you very much for enriching this topic by sharing your valuable background informations. @ Big Kahune: It's an interesting fact that Fender mounted these "ash trays" to guitars and basses. They obviously didn't expect players muting strings in a controlled manner with the picking hand. In contrary, the foam rubber favored then completely ran out of style soon.
Tman Posted May 13, 2014 Posted May 13, 2014 Jimmy ? Oops you're right. Looks like him though? I should have read the first line.
Bender 4 Life Posted May 14, 2014 Posted May 14, 2014 but....how did/does anyone play w/o muting.....is that even POSSIBLE???
capmaster Posted May 14, 2014 Author Posted May 14, 2014 but....how did/does anyone play w/o muting.....is that even POSSIBLE??? Very good question. Most players instantly removed these bridge covers. I often use the fretting hand for muting, too, but that isn't easy for open strings sometimes. In general, the both of my hands are sharing in this task, on guitar as well as on bass. Any bridge cover would severely foul up my performance.
capmaster Posted May 14, 2014 Author Posted May 14, 2014 Just read on this website reluctant to link photos and paste text here http://sglguitars.s5.com/Custom%20Gallery.html that Marc's famous and later re-necked Les Paul featured 1° neck angle only. Never heard about such a shallow value appearing on LPs which came with Tune-O-Matic and stop tailpiece stock. Viewing this picture seems to confirm that for the guitar with the original neck: taken from http://www.marcbolanmusic.com/guitars.aspx
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