Just looking ahead to this weekend. I need to make some music. I need to play some guitar. I need to play guitar through an amplifier and not just headphones. It is imperative. We’re getting to that point where not playing is affecting my mental state. Music must be made at volume. It is necessary.
No news on the Les Paul repairs front today. I’ve checked on the shop’s Facebook but the only posts are him working on a sweet Martin acoustic guitar. Based on the photos he posted yesterday, the new frets are in. I didn’t see a new nut yet, and he told me he had to order a new bridge as he didn’t have any gold ones in stock. Hardware on Les Paul Customs should be gold.
I was told I should expect to get it back next week. You know what I should do before then? Practice. I want to be able to play decently well when I pick it up on the off chance he’ll let me plug in and see how it feels before I leave. I don’t want to sound like a rusted over hack if that’s how it plays out. I want to sound like my usual normal hack.
What should be the first thing I play on my newly refretted guitar? “Smoke on the Water”? No… Some Jeff Beck maybe? I think I used to know how to play parts of “Freeway Jam”, that could be fun. No… I’ll probably just noodle over the minor blues scale in E like a typical wannabe. That suits me.
Not much else going on today so far. I’m working in the office. My group is in a big conference room. We’re going to have a group meeting shortly. It’s freakin’ freezing in here. I wore a fall jacket and a fleece when I left the house this morning. I put the fleece back on around the start of lunch and I am currently gazing longingly at the fall jacket wondering if it’s time to put that back on as well. Brrr, babie. Brrr.
Okay, back to work, Robert. Get yourself all prepped for the group meeting.
My 1978 Les Paul Custom through the years…
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.
Inside the Red Head's Head 