twangyt72 Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Hello everyone! I'm new to the forum and have been enjoying reading different topics for the last hour or so. It is good to see so many people exchanging info and professing their love for the Les Paul!!! I had a quick question that maybe someone could answer here: I bought a classic LP back in 1993 (bought the classic because I wanted a gold top which was not offered as a standard at that time). I ordered it and it only took about 3 months to receive it. When I got it I basically sent in the warranty info and put it away. I have had the LP in storage for the last 15yrs and it still has the original strings on it!!! Probably less than an hour of play time on it and never even been set-up. Anyway, I got it out last night and really enjoyed playing it. It is a great guitar and I can tell that the look and feel of this guitar is different from the ones that I see today. However, I have realized that the bridge is extremely high on this one. It looks like the bridge is about 5/8" off of the body. (The posts are a little crooked as well.) This kind of bugs me and I was wondering why this is like this - all of the LP's that I see today have the bridges sitting just off of the body. I am wondering if this affects playability? Was the neck possibly not set correctly? Is this a common thing? Well, I am really looking forward to dropping in some new burstbuckers and caps/pots in this baby and make up for some lost time - but, is this bridge placement something that I should be weary of? Any info of this? Thanks! Chad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueTone911 Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Is the action high? If the bridge is unusually high then the strings would be unusually high over the fret board. You can lower the bridge by turning the thumb wheels under the bridge. I usually lower mine until I start to get fret buzz and then bring it back up until the buzz is gone. The thing to remember is to tune it back up as you lower the bridge so you're checking for fret buzz with the strings at the proper tension. Neck relief can come into play as well so if you haven't had experience with that it might be best to have it set up by someone that's done that kind of stuff before. If you're the do it yourself type you can pick up a book and teach yourself how to do it. That's what I did. I picked up Dan Erlewine's "How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great" at Borders or Barnes & Noble and now enjoy setting up my own guitars as well as those of my family and friends. Hope this helps. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangyt72 Posted October 15, 2008 Author Share Posted October 15, 2008 Thanks TrueTone- However, the bridge is set at the lowest action possible and the bridge is still "high" off of the body. It plays fine, but the bridge is just higher than I would like it to be when string are at the proper height - almost makes me think that it could fall over one day. Maybe I can take a pic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueTone911 Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 A picture might be helpful. For the action to be fine and the bridge to be that high? Something sounds funny. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 I, too, would really like to see a picture. In the meantime, as a comparison, I can tell you that the height of my bridge, measuring from the maple to the base of the adjustment wheels is; 7mm bass side, 6mm treble. This gives a medium-low action. The bent bit sounds more worrying................:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeRom Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Mine is like that too. Hasn't affected anything and I'v had it for a few years. It's as low as I can set it without the strings contacting the back edge of the TOM but it's still rather high. One way around it is to top wrap the srtings. You'd be able to crank the stop bar all the way down to the deck doing that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryvincent Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 its the neck angle. most Gibson USA LPs have steeper neck angles thus the high bridge even with the lowest action. recent Historics have the correct 50s spec shallower neck angle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KennyF Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Yup! It's definitely the neck angle! I had an early 90's Classic and the bridge was just as you've described. They're great guitars, nonetheless. Here's a picture of my R8, which is much lower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueTone911 Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Some are talking about the bridge and some are talking about the tail piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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