Zeppeholic Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 I was wondering if anyone has anything to say about Historic Makeovers, located in Florida. I’ve been on the fence about getting my Black Beauty made-over. I would like to have a more comfortable Les Paul, I just don’t know if it is worth it or not. I’ve been hearing nothing but great reviews though I wanted to reach out and see what people who have gone through with a makeover have said. I want the following done: Historically accurate Top Carve slimmed down neck to vintage profile unplasicized nitro lacquer finish Fretless wonder frets installed My Black Beauty is based off a 1960 model but the neck is a little chunky for that, I think they just took a 1957 True Historic model and basically worked from there because the neck isn’t huge but it’s a little chunkier than I like. Also the Fretless wonder frets is something I've wanted from the start though Gibson didn’t offer it. I also have the option of either getting this makeover or purchasing a Marshall Bluesbreaker reissue amplifier and I’m really stuck. I always go back and forth between loving the feel of my Les Paul to not loving it so much. I’m kind of on the fence about a makeover so if anyone out there has had one done or has anything to say about the Fretless wonder fret profile I would love to hear. thank you for reading, any help is appreciated! -Antonio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 9 hours ago, Zeppeholic said: I was wondering if anyone has anything to say about Historic Makeovers, located in Florida. I’ve been on the fence about getting my Black Beauty made-over. I would like to have a more comfortable Les Paul, I just don’t know if it is worth it or not. I’ve been hearing nothing but great reviews though I wanted to reach out and see what people who have gone through with a makeover have said. I want the following done: Historically accurate Top Carve slimmed down neck to vintage profile unplasicized nitro lacquer finish Fretless wonder frets installed My Black Beauty is based off a 1960 model but the neck is a little chunky for that, I think they just took a 1957 True Historic model and basically worked from there because the neck isn’t huge but it’s a little chunkier than I like. Also the Fretless wonder frets is something I've wanted from the start though Gibson didn’t offer it. I also have the option of either getting this makeover or purchasing a Marshall Bluesbreaker reissue amplifier and I’m really stuck. I always go back and forth between loving the feel of my Les Paul to not loving it so much. I’m kind of on the fence about a makeover so if anyone out there has had one done or has anything to say about the Fretless wonder fret profile I would love to hear. thank you for reading, any help is appreciated! -Antonio It's your guitar. If you think it will feel and play better do it, but once you do there is probably no going back once wood is removed from your guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 (edited) or u could just opt out, sell it and buy something you don't have to mess with.. seriously, that's quite a list of things to modify, which to me translates to a list of "things that could maybe go wrong in the end" Frets are one thing that I guess is really personal preference. I do not like vintage frets. I don't like huge rail road rail size frets either, but medium jumbos feel right to me. I don't see what the benies there are in changing the contour of the top, but that's just me.. It's one of those, it is what it is for me. So they actually change the top country on this Make Over project? Hmm, never heard of it,, something new to me. But yea man, Sarge is right it's your guitar, and your dough, If you do go through with it, I'd be interested in hearing the results. Edited January 28, 2020 by kidblast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 Fretless Wonder frets only made people wonder why they had them. Seriously. low skinny frets are hard as hellz to control, they will not make you a shred master overnight, they will not increase the speed of your neck exponentially. They will be nothing but harder to play and if you have any kind of grip and strength in order to control things they will simply wear in too many spots too soon. There. I said it. Again. Different, but again. Sorta. rct 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NighthawkChris Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 I don’t ever think about a guitar “makeover”. If you don’t like something about the guitar you get rid of it. No value of dumping in a lot of money into a guitar that you might not be happy with after and no value keeping a guitar you want to makeover. If you want to replace something like knobs and such that’s a different story but to start dumping money for finishes, top carves, etc comes down to why not just count your losses and stop putting good money to bad. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryUK Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 I had a Les Paul in the 70's with the low frets and it was hard to bend so I sold it. As the the Historic Makeover question. Have you seen the red 59 that Joe Bonamassa has just had fixed by them? What a great job. It's now a new 59. I think I'd rather have them do a makeover than buy a new Historic one from Gibson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NighthawkChris Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 (edited) 9 minutes ago, LarryUK said: I had a Les Paul in the 70's with the low frets and it was hard to bend so I sold it. As the the Historic Makeover question. Have you seen the red 59 that Joe Bonamassa has just had fixed by them? What a great job. It's now a new 59. I think I'd rather have them do a makeover than buy a new Historic one from Gibson. I’d buy a used one if I had GAS for one. The point is that you have a Gibson that by default costs thousands - and to add you’re not the fondest of it - then you go dump more money into a guitar hoping that it works out... well like others said, not their money and guys like Joe have cold hard cash to blow. He also has more guitars than the rainforests have trees. Hell I’d be bored with them too where I’d say to try the whole makeover business for one of his million guitars he has duplicates of. Edited January 29, 2020 by NighthawkChris Courtesy of iPhone typos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 16 minutes ago, LarryUK said: I had a Les Paul in the 70's with the low frets and it was hard to bend so I sold it. Exactly! What's even worse are vintage sized frets on a strat or tele with a lacquered maple fingerboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelT Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 It's your guitar and you can do what you want but that's a lot to put into a guitar that you're not really sure you're going to like when it's finished. It might be better to find the guitar you like and play that and sell your old one. But, your guitar, your money, do what you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeppeholic Posted January 30, 2020 Author Share Posted January 30, 2020 Thanks for all feedback guys. I am definitely not going to sell this guitar as it was a graduation present from my wonderful grandparents, though I had to throw in a bit of my own money. I’m still amazed that we could even have afforded it honestly, lol! I think I’m going to go ahead and keep it the way it is. I mean, the more I play it and jam with it the more comfortable it gets. I haven’t taken it to a show yet because if you know what happed to Jimmy Page’s Les Paul Custom, that’s why. I did play a 1968/1969 Les Paul Custom that had the fretless wonder frets and honestly I thought it was absolutely amazing. Someone had painted over it in a gross brown color but it played so so good. The thing that puts me off it the neck is a little chunky when standing up after playing for an hour or so. I guess I was just over thinking it all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 On 1/30/2020 at 12:34 PM, Zeppeholic said: Thanks for all feedback guys. I am definitely not going to sell this guitar as it was a graduation present from my wonderful grandparents, though I had to throw in a bit of my own money. I’m still amazed that we could even have afforded it honestly, lol! I think I’m going to go ahead and keep it the way it is. I mean, the more I play it and jam with it the more comfortable it gets. I haven’t taken it to a show yet because if you know what happed to Jimmy Page’s Les Paul Custom, that’s why. I did play a 1968/1969 Les Paul Custom that had the fretless wonder frets and honestly I thought it was absolutely amazing. Someone had painted over it in a gross brown color but it played so so good. The thing that puts me off it the neck is a little chunky when standing up after playing for an hour or so. I guess I was just over thinking it all. oh man, no,, you're right you can't sell that axe. no harm in thinking or overthinking, they key outcome here is it was just "thinking" and never reaching the "doing" phase. You done good.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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