Tag: les Paul custom

It is Quiet… a Little Too Quiet

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.

On the Bench

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?

The Last Pics

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

65/365
65/365
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My Baby is Going to the Doctor Tomorrow

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.

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50’s Wiring

I am still planning on getting my old Les Paul, the 1978 Custom, some work. As in possibly a complete makeover.

When I do, I am absolutely doing this:

Add in a couple of 50’s PAF clones for pickups and some new frets (if necessary) and it’s going to be a brand new baby. After that I get the new Les Paul done in the same way and I end up with two spanky guitars. Oh yeah, then there’s the ES-335 and the SG to consider too.

Sorry… nerding out in a major way right now. I’ve been watching all sorts of Les Paul videos on YouTube while I try to finish my exercise for the day. I’m almost done. Maybe one more video. Let’s go.

The YouTube file wouldn’t embed on my first try. I tried a second time, but if it still doesn’t work you can click here to see what all the fuss is about.

Chasing the Green Sound

Prior to the 50th birthday super gift, a new Les Paul Standard 50s, I was thinking about the future, post Covid and post college bills, where I was going to modify the shit out of my ’78 Les Paul Custom. I was going to go full blown boutique, cork sniffing snob on it. I was going to find the best sounding clones of original Gibson PAFs possible and put them in, and replace the wiring with a 50’s style harness and basically try and make my Custom as 1950’s-ish as possible.

Now that I have the shiny, wonderful new Standard, I’ve changed my plans to updating the holy hell out of the Standard and leave the Custom alone (except for the frets… and maybe the wiring harness). The question then is, do I try to turn my guitar into a modern knock off of a Les Paul from the late 50’s, or do I go for a modern knock off of Peter Green’s Les Paul?

I don’t know. What if I go for Peter Green and decided I don’t like the out of phase stuff? boutique, cork sniffing pick ups are expensive. I don’t want to have to play this game twice.

So we’re being goofy on the youtubes today, checking out some pick ups. I am going to say without a doubt that I will not be buying a set of Monty’s Guitars Bethnal Green PAFs. Partly because they don’t seem to be available yet, and also partly because the website makes me think they won’t be available in the US. That’s okay though. Let’s file this under research and Gear Acquisition Syndrome and just being a totally unabashed guitar nerd.

ADDENDUM: So I wrote the post while watching the video for the first time. After I published the video mentioned that you can buy them from Andertons if you’re in the US, and it’s not that they aren’t available yet, it’s that they are making them in small quantities and running out.

Junior

I’ve been playing a Gibson Les Paul Custom since 1990.

Before that I played a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe (before it was stolen and my heart was crushed).

I’ve never said this before…
I’ve never thought this before…
I never dreamed this before but…
but…

I think I want a Gibson Les Paul Junior.

Partly because a vintage Junior is cheaper than a vintage Standard and my chances of actually owning something from the 1950’s is a lot higher.. but even just in terms of the current models…

I think I want a Gibson Les Paul Junior.