J200WC Fretboard Planing Job - Photos Added

[Buc McMaster]

From an earlier post, some of you know I had taken my guitar to the the local mechanic for some work......a neck reset that became a fretboard planing job. Most of you seemed quite concerned about this and rightly so, I might add. I too had some trepidation about this "old school" approach to correcting the situation. I picked up the guitar today during lunch hour and I am pleased to say it's perfect! A neck line sighting puts the fretboard right at the top of the bridge and the action is lower overall and very consistant from nut to the end of the board. Plays like a righteous guitar should! There is no evidence the work was done...... The neck binding shows no sign of tapering; break angle over the nut is excellent; no fret rattle; the refret job is excellent. Of course I will go over it with a fine toothed comb when I get home but it looks and feels like I got the result I wanted. It's good to have the old warrior back!

 

No evidence of a taper in the neck binding......

 

Taller saddle. Ramping is still helpful due to distance between pin holes and saddle.

 

Good, clean fret work, too.

 

Plays better than it did before the work.......I'm pleased. The radius of the saddle does not quite match the fretboard. I may order a Colosi saddle in the future. I've had a couple of Bob's saddles before and his radius matches perfectly.

[Gibson101]

Awesome news!! I'd love to se some more pics of the whole guitar looks like it is a real beauty!!

Congrats and hope you love it.

[Em@rel]

Great to hear that it worked out well.

[Jinder]

Buc, she looks great!!

 

I love that neck binding with the black stripe atop it and alongside it too. Hugely classy.

 

Don't guitars feel tremendous after a refret? Better than new sometimes.

[Dove Histronic]

What a beautiful non-bullion gold finish

 

Glad it worked out --- nuthin' left to do but play it...

[jt]

It looks great! This si very good news, indeed.

 

Play it in good health.

[BigKahune]

Man, that's is a really nice job. Looks factory fresh in the pics. And you're diggin' the setup.

 

That's a damn fine "mechanic" you've got there.

 

And the guitar is pretty damn fine too.

[Xylophile]

As you know, I replied to your earlier thread with a different advice than planing/tapering. At the time, I didn't know that the luthier was already at it. Had I known, I would probably not have replied (although it did seem opinions were invited), since it's not my habbit or wish to rain on someone's parade. But since I'm into this now anyway, I might as well reply again. Perhaps I even owe you that.

 

Going by the one picture of the fretboard (we don't see the thicker end), I must say it doesn't look overly thin. I do miss the binding on the fret ends, though. Obviously and fortunately, the tapering was done subtly. This subtlety was only possible of course since there already were severe tapers cut through the pearl, especially at the high E. And even now, the break angle there doesn't seem to be ample. But that will always be the most problematic string.

 

On the one hand I can understand how one thing can lead to the other. The repairman, for instance, was confronted with an earlier "repair" or attempt and apparently took it from there.

But I still believe that

1(st time around). The guitar should never have left the factory with such a neck set. For starters, it's a pretty expensive instrument (but even if it wasn't), plus guitars with this type of bridge needs some extra neck pitch (and care) to begin with. So Gibson should have reset it from the getgo.

2(nd time around). The ramps through the pearl should never have been made. Again, the guitar needed a neck reset, preferably under warranty, but regardless.

3(rd time around). I maintain that the tapering of the board is yet another compromise that does not acknowledge and/or address the true issue here which simply is an underset neck.

I honestly believe the guitar and you deserve better.

 

Another step in the future could be shaving the bridge. Not so easy to get the proper roundings back on the moustache wings, but it would be doable (though not desirable). BTW, I recently saw a new J-200 in a shop that had a much thinner than usual moustache bridge. Hmmm........... Anyway, that wouldn't be a good idea, either. It's a big guitar that needs some leverage there (=string height off the top). And again, it would be "looking away" from the real issue IMO.

 

If over time (better make that "when") the guitar folds in just a little, again you will be faced with a decision to make. Just remember that anything you do other than the reset will have to be repaired, too.

 

OK, enough. Please don't shoot me. Believe it or not, I mean well.

 

I'm pleased.

 

That is what counts. Now go and play that beauty and enjoy! And as long as there are no further problems, forget what I've said.

 

 

 

X

[Jinder]

I like Buc's attitude that it's just a guitar...and it is, albeit an expensive and impossibly lovely one.

 

I know there are "by the book" ways of doing things, but if the instrument is a lifer and is a working tool, then it's the player's prerogative to have whatever repair or setup work done he or she fancies, IMHO.

 

I've always tweaked and customised my guitars to suit me best, be it pickup changes, refrets with different gauge wire, bridge shaving, saddle/nut replacement, machinehead changes, pickguard changes...hell, the only original thing on my SJ200 is the player!

 

The job looks extremely well done, and I, for one, don't miss those pesky fret-end binding nubs on my SJ200...my top E was forever getting entangled with the damn things whilst soloing with a spot of left-hand vibrato.

 

Play the nipples off that sucker, Buc, and don't think about repair whys and wherefores whilst you do it!

[Buc McMaster]

If over time (better make that "when") the guitar folds in just a little' date=' again you will be faced with a decision to make.[/quote']

 

Yep. I had a decision to make.......and I made it. Sounds like you would have decided differently. Good thing it wasn't your guitar, huh?

[Gibson101]

Yep. I had a decision to make.......and I made it. Sounds like you would have decided differently. Good thing it wasn't your guitar' date=' huh?

 

 

[/quote']

Does that mean no more pics?

[BigKahune]

... as long as there are no further problems' date=' forget what I've said. [/quote']

 

 

That whole rant and then . . . forget it. . . .

[Xylophile]

Guess I should have known better.

 

 

X

[Jinder]

Xylophile, with regard to your ramping opinion, in all my years as a working musician, I have never met an SJ200 player with an instrument more than four years or so old who hasn't had their bridge string slots ramped like that, through the pearl and all.

 

It's an incredibly common thing, as the SJ200 bridge, as beautiful as it is, is a fairly silly bit of guitar design. The pins are WAY too far back to achieve anything close to a sensible break angle, however tall the saddle and extreme the neck set.

 

I had mine ramped years ago, and noticed an immediate improvement in volume and bass response, plus a far better efficacy from my UST.

 

You have very strongly held opinions, are you a luthier or just a purist at heart?

 

I have to say I disagree with your comments about Buc's saddle, that looks like a healthy chunk of saddle to me. Do remember that Gibson saddles are radiused and set into flat bridges (unlike Martins, as was observed in a previous thread, which sport radiused bridges to accommodate a better break angle at the extremities) so the top E in particular will always have less break angle than the rest of the strings.

 

This has been observed in many new Gibsons recently, particularly J45s.

 

Maybe it's true that Buc's WC should have had a steeper neck set from the factory, but the "right" solution is different for every player. It seems to me that the work has been carried out in an extremely competent and, certainly cosmetically, neat and tidy fashion.

 

Buc is happy, the guitar plays well and sounds great, has no imminent structural issues and has had all it's work carried out in a professional way. What more could you ask for?

 

It's also worth bearing in mind that second-guessing future structural changes and possible issues in an acoustic guitar is like shooting arrows into the sky and waiting for one to stick. Absolutely everything is changeable, be it due to temperature changes, humidity, string tension, gauge changes, whatever...I say enjoy a sweet playing and toneful guitar now, and worry about future issues when they come up. After all, virtually everything is fixable.

[torca]

.....If you post,expect to roast....

The end result is of a favourable outcome for Buc so that is all that matters personally to this particular guitar.

And that said, I agree wholeheartedly with X, that it was a compromised solution to a already somewhat compromised(ramped bridge slots)guitar.If it were to be sold used,I would not buy it with the previous alterations made that were addressing percieved issues.But that is not the case, we were only bouncing ideas based on an already decided course of action.With all due respect Jinder,I have owned more than a few 200's well past 4 years of age and never ramped pin slots,shaved bridges nor planed fretboards to compensate for less than adequate neck angle/pin/saddle break.I HAVE sold guitars that had this issue and now deem it the main criteria when I am buying the moustache bridge J-200 guitar series.The design demands a healthy neck set which provides a very generous saddle, and this allows the freedom to adjust the saddle as the top begins to settle.The neck set issue is THE main building factor Gibson needs to focus on IMO because they do not offer the generous provisions for correction as does Martin does warranty wise,for original owners.I think that the forum allows Gibson owners the difference of opinions to give educated options to people who solicit these opinions to make a decision,by posting the issue at hand.A different solution only matters to the owner in that it works, or does not for their guitar.I am glad that it worked as expected by repairmans' sense of direction in dealing with the issue.I hope it also opens up other potential options for others as we all want our guitars to play easily.That I would not have chose this method is only another opinion.

Mission accomplished.Keep on pickin'.

T