C-RAM Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 Just came this afternoon - the seldom-seen Gibson All American G-II I'd been hoping to eventually come across one in nice condition and in the sunburst finish, but when I spotted this one, well... it was like the sad, pitiful little dog at the animal shelter. This guitar was built at the Nashville plant on October 10, 1996 and has unfortunately not been cared for much at all. These hearken to the Melody Maker line, but are very un-Gibsonlike in some respects: 24 frets (2) NSX single-coil pickups a Fenderesque vibrato a rear body contour, ala Stratocaster Nicks, bumps, scratches, chips EVERYWHERE. Even the fretboard is scratched, no idea how THAT happened ; best physical feature is the fat, wide neck, which feels great! Jumbo frets need a dressing/recrown, I'll have someone else do that... I couldn't help it, I removed the strings and started the process of disassembling the guitar almost right away; I'm no fan of abused guitars, so I'll have no qualms about stripping this down to bare mahogany (body and neck, BTW, w/ rosewood fretboard). The only thing I'll skirt around is the cool flag emblem at the headstock joint, I can't bring myself to disturb that - I guess that will compel me to shoot the guitar in black nitro again. If it wasn't for that, I'd go for a translucent cherry all over, except for the headstock face. As it is, the peeling topcoat on the headstock may require me to remove the Gibson logo - I'll ask the folks at Customer Service if it's possible to buy a replacement decal, if that's the case. Otherwise, I'll keep the guitar completely stock, maybe replacing some corroded screws here and there. I think these came with top hat knobs originally, so the speed knobs will go, too. Sigh. I've already got another couple of refinish projects lined up for this spring/summer, so this one's going in the queue... she should be purty again when all's said and done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 Nice! Don't see them much. Good luck with it! rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 Never knew this existed. Nice body shape. I'm wondering what the pickups sound like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-RAM Posted April 2, 2016 Author Share Posted April 2, 2016 Initial check showed the electronics to be all working, but I can't find much info on NSX pickups, save that they're wound for high output (6.60k resistance)- Plugged in, it sounded more like a Tele than anything - really bright, lots of top end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 Nice genuine relicing. Love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly campbell Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 Congratulations on your new axe but there is no way on earth I could treat a guitar like that not on purpose or unintentionally ..just not my thing I love the beauty of a new well kept guitar, but that is just me I am weird I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-RAM Posted April 2, 2016 Author Share Posted April 2, 2016 Congratulations on your new axe but there is no way on earth I could treat a guitar like that not on purpose or unintentionally ..just not my thing I love the beauty of a new well kept guitar, but that is just me I am weird I guess. Just to be clear, I BOUGHT this guitar in the condition shown... like yourself, I couldn't abuse a guitar this way either, and I think it's in pretty shameful shape for being only 20 years old. This is a philosophical subject, and I know people have strong feelings about it, but I personally don't like to see signs of neglect that are not related to actual play wear; hence, my plans to restore the instrument to how it USED to look, more or less. The guitars I've owned the longest show plating wear, fret wear, contact wear on their backs and evidence of wear from my right arm and hand resting on tops, bridges and tailpieces - scratches, dings and the like are eventually unavoidable, but reasonable care should keep these at a minimum. Just my .02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 Initial check showed the electronics to be all working, but I can't find much info on NSX pickups, save that they're wound for high output (6.60k resistance)- Plugged in, it sounded more like a Tele than anything - really bright, lots of top end. 6.6 is really low. A typical Strat pup would be about 7.5, and 7 or below a super "vintagy" sound. I think. Pretty sure. Maybe. Heck, I don't remember. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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