E-minor7 Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 The neck meant to go on my refurbished and altered 1966 Country and Western arrived today. It seems to be in good shape. The board needs a doze of oil, but it is straight and there's no fret-ware or board craters. The zone close the sound-hole is slightly uneven for some reason – there's an edge between the bindings and the tree as if it was re-glued in the past. Nothing big and the guitar will take some cosmetic loss after this operation anyway. Besides there is some headstock checking and I believe it'll be one of the ragged knights (or princesses if you please) not least due to the replacement of the bridge. Remember this is a long-scale 90's J-1000 neck and the '66 C&W is 24,75. Anyway, , , , I really like the diamonds and have them on my home-drawn 12 fret also – in fact they're even painted several places directly on the walls here in the temple. Now the answer remains : Can the old guitar bear it, will it keep the sound and balance, can the woods make a blend, , , will it all be worth it. No doubt in my mind this has to be tried. Thought back and forth a whole year and I cannot pick the guitar up without feeling the 9/16 limitation. Cross fingers for me fellow forumites – here we go. …......................................... …........................................... …...........................…........................................................... ….....................................….......................…..................................................................... …........................................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 This will be an interesting experiment. What is the pin-to-pin measurement on your bridge, and what is the nut width on the new neck vs. the old? What is the difference in the board widths at the 5th, 12th, and 20th frets? Trying to figure out how much you are actually going to gain on this one. Cleaning up that board properly is my idea of fun, believe it or not. That's similar to the state the board on my '47 L-7 was in a couple of months ago when I bought it, and it cleaned up perfectly, although it was a full day of tedious work for me. I assume your regular luthier will at least be doing the neck removal and re-install. I do love a project like this! Will it pay off? We'll see, but I'm guessing "yes". Will it be worth it? Only you can judge that one! The neck re-sets I've had done recently were typically about $400-$600 US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Good Luck, Em7. Now, when the surgery is done, I imagine you would need to stay tuned fairly low - like at least a tone to tone and a half down - or the guitar top may end up on Mars with a lot of the tops from Gibson 12 strings of the sixties. What do the experts think? Tuned down is nice for some things - get that mojo humming - good for vocal experimentation as well. Though I do have a thought of handling the first tuning like a nuke device - behind a safety glass wall using those gloves they handle the moon rocks with! And it may need a Frankenstein bolt sticking out the side of the neck to complete the look! We wait with baited breath. BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 The neck meant to go on my refurbished and altered 1966 Country and Western arrived today. It seems to be in good shape. The board needs a doze of oil, but it is straight and there's no fret-ware or board craters. The zone close the sound-hole is slightly uneven for some reason – there's an edge between the bindings and the tree as if it was re-glued in the past. Nothing big and the guitar will take some cosmetic loss after this operation anyway. Besides there is some headstock checking and I believe it'll be one of the ragged knights (or princesses if you please) not least due to the replacement of the bridge. Remember this is a long-scale 90's J-1000 neck and the '66 C&W is 24,75. Anyway, , , , I really like the diamonds and have them on my home-drawn 12 fret also – in fact they're even painted several places directly on the walls here in the temple. Now the answer remains : Can the old guitar bear it, will it keep the sound and balance, can the woods make a blend, , , will it all be worth it. No doubt in my mind this has to be tried. Thought back and forth a whole year and I cannot pick the guitar up without feeling the 9/16 limitation. Cross fingers for me fellow forumites – here we go. …......................................... …........................................... …...........................…........................................................... ….....................................….......................…..................................................................... …........................................... I like it Em7!! Good luck on this endeavour and please keep us updated with the progress. We wish it the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfox14 Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 You certainly have your work cut out for you. Best of luck with the project. Keep us updated on your progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del Nilppeznaf Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Good luck. I like the diamonds also Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 Nick- I have 2 extra Gibson bridges here and intend to listen to the luthier before deciding. You wonder how much will be gained – fact is that extraordinary little is needed. I would be pleased with a 11/16, but they are hard to find. The J-1000 is like the modern Gibsons – 1.725, a width I know and like. Recall you did a good job gettin' the L-7 up and shining. Though I'm far from a handyman, it's nice to nurse around. Have been sanding and cutting a bit over the weekend. The sharp edges between bindings and board by the upper frets are now evened. The luthier will have to add his final touch. BluesK- The reborn guitar will be tuned half a step down. I'm not afraid of the bass and mids, , , but yeah, the trebs worries me a little. They have raw side to them that could increase with the potential higher volume. However this 'primitive' thinny distortion usually disappears when I get the guitar warmed up. When that happens, the old western sends on a frequency of its own - the reason this raid was launched. …................................................................................................. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajay Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Great project. What happened to make this procedure necessary? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted February 20, 2012 Author Share Posted February 20, 2012 Great project. What happened to make this procedure necessary? To sum up the story I long-distance bought the guitar from an old geezer who claimed it was a 1964, thus a 11/16 width (I asked him and he just thought all were the same). As this was a trans Atlantic bargain, the situation got awkward when it turned out the nut was a 9/16. I was disappointed, but happened to like the sound of the C&W - a lot. Not least due to fact that it had a new top installed in the early 80's made by a colleague to the seller, who then worked at the Gibson plant. This new top - made from Gibson materials - had scalloped bracing and besides the sound hole was moved half an inch back towards the bridge – an immaculate job. The result therefor was an unique guitar – still somehow a Gibson. The seller told me all this during our pre-dialogue and it tempted me as I imagined this colleague would have done his best to please his friend. A theory that in many ways holds up. And I tend to believe the seller didn't think about the width thing. He was mainly a mandolist and had worked in the mandolin section of Kalamazoo. A cool fellow, , , until it came to dealing with the mistake. The serial # is diffuse and hard to read and he kept claiming it was a '64. When I told him the only solution was to make a new nut with wider spacing and suggested he should pay for that, he backed totally off and said he had no doe. A bit absurd as he just received mine – the guitar btw, wasn't that expensive. Soooooo wasting my time I chose to let the fish go, , , what could I do. - May he swim in peace. Between X-mas and New Year 2010 I then got a nut replacement with wider string spacing. A black one in water buffalo horn, which kind of works, but is unable to make me forget that I am narrowed in. Thinking back and forth I decided to go for a replacement last fall. Had been looking for necks all the time anyway, but they are hard to find. Finally spotted the diamond-neck and here we are. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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