Tiny Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 Let me start by saying I love, love, love my J-45. Sounds and plays awesome. It's a 2010 Standard, and there is not a thing wrong with it. Nevertheless, I always have the urge to mess with it -- trying new strings, changing parts, etc. Since I've had it (about 8 months), I've swapped out the Fibertech nut for bone, replaced plastic pins for Colosi bone pins, had it set up, tried a slew of new strings, etc., and I just ordered some Waverly tuners to replace the Rotomatics. I haven't had any real trouble with the Rotomatics, but I don't really like the way they look (compared to open-back, button Waverlys) and a lighter-weight tuner appeals to me also. I know it's just a matter of time until I go off guth-style on the misplaced pickguard. Do others suffer from this condition? If so, what does it all mean? Am I a repressed, stuck-in-the-closet luthier? Do I really just have GAS for a TV or another higher-end guitar but know I would get kicked out of the house if I dropped that kind of coin? I was not the kind of guy in high school who would trick out his Plymouth Horizon with tinted windows, sheepskin seat covers and big rims, so why am I doing the equivalent to my lovely guitar? Do I need to see a doctor about my GTS?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 It simply means you are a guitar geek, like so many of us here. This is a chronic condition that sometimes has acute manifestations. The treatment is simple. Spend all your spare time and money messing with guitars. Don't mow the yard. Don't wash the cars. However, you should at least listen to everything your wife says, as her cooperation may be key to your long-term treatment success. And by the way, there is no cure. Ultimately, you just have to come to grips with the fact that you are likely to suffer from this somtimes debilitating condition for the rest of your life. Join the club..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdd707 Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 What Nick said. Enjoy! Just adds an extra element to your music/guitar hobby (hopefully passion). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 I recently ripped the pickguard off a J-45.... on day 1 of owning it.... left it naked for a few weeks and now finally installed a J-50/southern jumbo style guard on it... first time I've tinkered with a Gibson, not an adventurous mod but I like it and it's my most 'beater' guitar of any of my Gibsons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry K Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 You are talking to a bunch of guitar nerds who are just like you. Hey, you didn't really spend much money, right? You're having a ton of fun customizing it (and making good choices btw), getting to know the ins and outs of guitar tweaking, and now the thing is cooking at optimal temperature, right? It's a respectable avocation, the craft ingredient in a noble art. Might even help you get girls, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 I recently ripped the pickguard off a J-45.... on day 1 of owning it.... left it naked for a few weeks and now finally installed a J-50/southern jumbo style guard on it... first time I've tinkered with a Gibson, not an adventurous mod but I like it and it's my most 'beater' guitar of any of my Gibsons. was there pics of that ? i was thinking of the same change for mine . started with a desire to maybe get the guard on straight , then imagining different ones . the j50 guard eoul give it a SJ look then ? right ? spooky oh , and where'd you get the guard ? and p.s. didnt mean to hijack the thread :) , but it'll let u see i'm not unlike you also , i've already swapped the tuners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack6849 Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Not to worry.... I've never been able to stand Grover Rotomatics since back in the 60s when I saw so many players drill out the headstocks on their vintage Gibsons and Martins to install them. They're great machines, but over the years, they've been an integral part of so many guitar atrocities, I've learned to hate everything about them.... (looks, weight, feel, change in tone and sustain, you name it... I hate 'em.) You might say that I suffer from your condition, but in my case I feel that there's a fair amount of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder mixed in with my need to tinker, customize and "improve" my guitars.As long as guitar factories install Rotomatics on any new guitar that I may purchase (acoustic or electric), my mission will never be at an end. (Actually, I avoid buying any new guitar models from Gibson or Martin that have them.) I love Klusons, almost all Waverlys, many "Tulip-style" tuners with the white plastic buttons, and even the Grover Sta-tites that were on my first Martin, a 1937 00-28 Herringbone. (That was almost forty-five years ago.....) Ah, but I was so much older then... I'm younger than that now. Good luck and remember.... "Fun is the one thing that money can't buy" Jack6849 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Do I need to see a doctor about my GTS?? You already do. And The Board will continue to be your reassuring doctor on almost any topic - from saddle heights and string gauge to highly complicated mentally mal-balanced states of guitar based confusion and apart tearing existential acoustically dilemmas - as long as you need it. Usually the pills prescribed will have one and the same name : FURTHER ! Here and there on these pages, threads about side-effects can be found - portrait of picking wrecks not to mention traces of later missing souls too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Run Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Bought a nice Songwriter Studio Deluxe a few months ago and it was love at first sight...but since then, I've tried many different strings brands and gauges (now waiting for Newtone Acoustic Guitar Heritage Phosphor Bronze Low Tension, .012 - .051 ) installed Colosi bone saddle but reinstalled the original, lowered the action a little by sanding the original, got softer fret edges with a special StewMac file, so now (according to my taste) I have a better sounding and easier to play instrument. Did the same when I bought a Martin and a Takamine12 strings a few years ago. I also make all the ajustments on my US Strat...never doing anything I don't really know (how to on a guitar)...so join the gang my friend and enjoy this great pleasure to tweak things to the better... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merseybeat1963 Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Just don't do something that will ruin it. What comes to mind is.. Refinishing a good old guitar into a shiny new thing....relic-ing a nice new guitar...flattening the fingerboard(opps! neck is thinner now and feels no better..I liked it the other way) On an electric guitar from a little experience,changing pickups is usually a only a small difference and wont make a poor sounding guiitar,good sounding...just sell it and get one that sounds good to you. : ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guth Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 I know it's just a matter of time until I go off guth-style on the misplaced pickguard. Ah yes, my legacy. In light of my name, perhaps in addition to moving the pickguard, I should slap a sticker on my J-45 that reads: "This Machine Now Has The Pickguard Where I Like It!" Do others suffer from this condition? If so, what does it all mean? Am I a repressed, stuck-in-the-closet luthier? Do I really just have GAS for a TV or another higher-end guitar but know I would get kicked out of the house if I dropped that kind of coin? I was not the kind of guy in high school who would trick out his Plymouth Horizon with tinted windows, sheepskin seat covers and big rims, so why am I doing the equivalent to my lovely guitar? Do I need to see a doctor about my GTS?? I'm guessing that when you were in high school, you didn't spend countless hours online fixating over Plymouth Horizons. Internet forums should come standard with warning banners: "Your perception of reality is about to become forever warped!" Don't worry, everything's going to be just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Tinkering, only mildly with the usual boning mod, but I did give my old CW a sex change and made it into a Bird ... I guess that qualifies as 'advanced tinkering' ..? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 was there pics of that ? i was thinking of the same change for mine . started with a desire to maybe get the guard on straight , then imagining different ones . the j50 guard eoul give it a SJ look then ? right ? Yes spot on, has a J50/SJ look. Haven't posted any pics of it, haven't even taken any, but will do..... oh , and where'd you get the guard ? From Terrapin, although I'll PM you..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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