Click this link and see if you can see the post…
Whitsett Guitar Works Facebook Post
That is my guitar… on the work bench… you see the old frets, you see it without any frets (yikes!), and you see it with new frets.
I’ll probably steal the photos, but I don’t know if I will be the kind of guy to share them here without permission, and I am not likely to ask permission. Whatevs, right?
I just had a chat with the guitar shop. My Les Paul Custom is getting new frets. It’s getting a new bridge too. It’s also getting a new nut, but I guess that is a given when you get new frets.
It will probably be done some time next week and then we can start asking the real questions. That being, how does it feel and how does it sound? Does it feel like an entirely new guitar? Does it sound like an entirely new guitar? The most important question will be this one… do I still love it?
I have been afraid of this for years, and downright terrified ever since I finally pulled the trigger and started the process. Right now? Now I am still terrified, but I also have a new feeling… an unexpected feeling… excitement. I kinda can’t wait to play this guitar with new, clean frets. Oh boy, I am excited. Excellent!
Forgive me for hyper-focusing on the whole guitar-in-the-shop topic, but this is just a little nerve wracking to me. It’s like sending an old friend off to the hospital with the knowledge that the old friend might never be the same again.
Are these the last photographs taken of my beloved 1978 Les Paul Custom before the neck is ripped to pieces?
Probably
Oh my poor little baby Les Paul Custom. I hate leaving it behind, but it’s time.
I am scared. I am nervous. I am sure nothing will go wrong but it doesn’t matter.
My baby, aka my oldest guitar, is going to the doctor, aka a repair shop, tomorrow.
I think it needs frets. We’ll see what our friendly neighborhood Luthier says about it, but on the phone today he agreed that it probably needs frets.
Yikes!
I’ll be dropping my baby off at the doctor tomorrow at 11:30. Fingers crossed.
Enough talking about it. Enough thinking about it. It’s time to actually do something.
I have two 40+ year old guitars that need to be taken to a luthier for a consultation and possibly some scary repair work. I’ve been thinking about it for years. I’ve been talking about it for almost as long as I’ve been thinking about it. The work that needs to be done is terrifying. Assuming of course that the two guitars actually need the work that I think they need.
I am going to try and schedule something for this weekend. Failing that, next weekend. It is time to stop thinking about it and actually do something about it.
I am scared for my two babies.
My 1978 Gibson Les Paul Custom that I bought in 1990… does it need new frets?
My 1979 Gibson ES-335 Pro that I bought in 2000… does it need frets along with a wiring harness?
Like I said, I am scared for my two babies.
It’s November 1st. Welcome to National Solo Album Month. Am I going to take part this year? Probably. I started a Trello board and today’s photo-a-day picture is a guitar. The signs are pointing to yes, but I am not feeling terribly motivated yet. We’ll see how it goes.
I took a few pics this morning but I couldn’t decide which one should be today’s photo-a-day challenge pic. These were the front runners.
I went with the guitar. I probably should have gone with the hand weights because it would be something different. I did use the weights today. First time in a long time. I need to make it a daily habit. Get to it, Robert.
I’ve only seen Jimmy Page live once. He was one of the guys who made me need to learn to play guitar. Led Zeppelin was very important to me as a young musician, but as I got older they sort of became less relevant. Every now and then I can put on a record and feel much of what I used to feel when I was a kid, but they don’t persist for me the way Cream or Jeff Beck do. Of the three ex-Yardbirds, Page became the least import to me.
He did a tour in 1988 and I was a little nervous. His guitar playing through the 80’s seemed like a mere shadow of what it was in the 70’s. Was he losing it? Maybe. There was no way I was passing on the chance to see him when his band came to the Centrum In Worcester though.
I was really surprised by not only how good the band was, but by how good his playing was. He was outstanding. It was so good that the cynical part of me wondered if I had just gotten caught up in the moment and it wasn’t as good as I thought.
Jimmy Page posted this on Instagram. Maybe the cynical part of me should just shut the hell up, right?
If you are looking for a gift to give me and you have a couple of million dollars burning a hole in your pocket, might I suggest bidding on this:
It’s a 1964 Gibson SG that was originally owned by Eric Clapton. He played this guitar with Cream. It is named The Fool, after the art team that painted it. It is probably the guitar that you hear when you listen to Cream’s second album, Disraeli Gears.
It is going up for auction soon. If we win Powerball tonight I will be bidding on this puppy. That’s a financially idiotic promise that I make to you all right here and now. Win the lottery tonight… bid on The Fool next month. Bank on it.
Inside the Red Head's Head 