Two Les Pauls

A Custom and a Standard. Maybe I should try playing them rather than just looking at them.

Insert exasperated “there aren’t enough hours in the day” sigh here.

My Guitar is Home!

I went to the guitar shop at lunch. I made excellent time despite a road closure somewhere in Andover, MA.

I played my newly refretted guitar with its new bridge and its new nut and my first impression is that it still feels pretty good. The frets are a lot higher than I’m used to on this guitar, but not too different than a couple of other guitars. The action is a little higher than it used to be, I think, but it’s still super low the way I like it. It felt good. First impression, again, is that I am really happy.

I took my guitar home!

What do you think, beautiful, eh?

He did mention that a couple of the inlays on the neck popped out while he was removing the old frets. That happens. He fixed them. That’s good. I didn’t see anything and I couldn’t feel any difference during my quick inspection. All in all… happy. Can’t wait to get the band back together so I can play this babie at practice and wind up the volume and let it loose. Anyone know anyone who lives near Haverhill, MA who can sing and wants to join a dad-rock cover band?

It Is Done!

I heard from the guitar shop this morning. My guitar is done! Oh happy day! I am going to head over there at lunch time and pick it up. Please please please no traffic so that I can get there and back before my lunch break is over.

I am so excited!

Self Manipulation Through Guilt

I really want to play some guitar today, but I don’t think I am going to have the time. Still, I took today’s photo a day picture as a specific attempt to try and guilt myself into playing. I do this a lot and it almost never works. Oh well.

The New Les Paul

I’ve been spending so much time stressing over my old Les Paul that I thought that today’s photo a day picture should be my new Les Paul. This is the one Jen gave me for my 50th birthday and I love it that much more because of her.

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.

Through the Years

My 1978 Les Paul Custom through the years…

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