Crusader

Oh dear not to good! I once met a man who was constantly using a handkerchief and I asked if he had a cold. He said no, he has hay fever - all the time, night and day. Had been to the doctor numerous times and they had no idea, no cure. Consequently this fellow didn't have many children

Well I made a template today to straighten up the edges of the fretboard, which is one of the problems, they weren't straight in the first place. I made it so I can slide it along to get whatever width I desire. Once I have the edges straight I will see how square the edges are and take it from there

Yes using sandpaper dry is not as bad as wet but I have this issue with my finger tips during winter, the skin cracks and never heals. I go through packets of bandaids. Regardless its a good idea and thanks for the tip!

Has it ever been used to sharpen knives? Even if the stone is brand new I don't know that there's any guarantee that it's dead flat. I vaguely remember trying a sharpening stone and also had no good results Eventually I dug deep and bought a Stewmac radius bar (~$200AUD) Got better results but the trick with using that is keeping it straight. As soon as it goes sideways (even just slightly) it makes things worse. That's why its better to use something flat Something else I don't think has been mentioned, how straight was the fretboard before installing frets? Whatever you do, don't stress, and don't become impatient. If you've seen my topic with the over-sanded neck, that was due to impatience

Thanks guys yes I'm a Goose! Bizman62 I thought that was some weird kind of "Smiley-Face" and then realised it represents fingers. Yes thats a good idea. However it reminds me of something else you use wet-n-dry for; have you ever polished the ports on a Honda CR500? ...wear gloves!

Yes the most important thing to consider is how much it means to me, how much I want it to be like a Gibson and how much effort I want to put in. The thing is once I've chosen which path I take I can't bail out and decide to go another Thanks for all your replies, it does help Bizman62 I didn't mention it but I considered that idea, it would end up virtually being a 3-piece neck and would lose any benefit of being one-piece. But good call though, thanks for the suggestion. I might consider a variation of that idea - just router the surface and glue on a piece which would end up just being a thin layer. I've done such things before and had good results but not in such a critical area However I think it would be wiser to stick to doing something simple and not be concerned about the fretboard edge not being square. Thanks for those suggestions guys So just for the record here are some photos showing just what the problem is, they are mostly self-explanatory

Ah-huh! - I did more Googling and found what I was looking for. I thought I would just post this up for any readers in the future. I can't find any with the natural finish but they were Les Paul Classics https://www.guitar-list.com/gibson/electric-guitars/gibson-les-paul-classic-series https://www.lespaulforum.com/forum/showthread.php?149607-Les-Paul-classic-how-it-started

ADFinlayson - No the frets aren't sticking out, what cuts into the palm is the edge of the fretboard and that could be solved by Curtisa's suggestions. What is most annoying is that the fretboard is straight-edged over the body then starts to curve past the 16th fret Curtisa - thanks that's good advice

Yes it is playable but after a while you notice it cuts into the palm. I agree I don't think using thick layers of Lacquer is an acceptable option. Being a Les Paul part of the fretboard goes over the body so there is a transition from being straight to curved. If it was on an angle for the whole length of the fretboard it would be less of an issue. Painting the guitar doesn't solve the problem of the fretboard edge being on an angle. Unless I put binding on it and come to think of it, that introduces a whole range of difficulties Yes I walked away to get over it. I did this about a month ago and I'm just looking at it again now. Good advice though, thanks! Taking a photo of this is a challenge. Especially as I have no batteries for my camera and had to use my phone. I took a photo from different perspectives as some people may see it in one photo and not another I think the best option is to square the edges and make narrow string spacing for people with smaller hands. I met someone recently who said she can't play guitar because of this reason, so that's where I got the idea The issue with any fix is the section that goes over the body. Really want a straight edge along whole length of fretboard

I made a Les Paul a couple of years ago modelled on a 59 Reissue although I left the neck thicker by 2mm. I recently decided I wanted to bring it down to match but in the process I sanded the edges of the fretboard making them angled. If I squared the edges of the fretboard it would end up being about 3mm too narrow at the 5th fret and way too narrow at the Nut I have a couple of ideas on how to fix this but none of them are easy. Here are the ideas I came up with 1) Spray massive amounts of Nitro along the edge and shape it from there 2) Pull frets, square edges of Fretboard and add Binding. This would leave a step under binding which I would fill with Nitro 3) Same as 2 or 3 but use 2-pack Lacquer to fill with 4) Re-shape width and make narrower string spacing for people with smaller hands 5) Cut Neck off and replace 6) Sell as "unfinished project" and let it be someone else's problem Here is how the damage was done Anyone else been in this situation? Any suggestions appreciated Cheers, Doug

The inspiration for the guitars I'm making came from Les Pauls I saw with a natural finish. But I have Googled and found no trace of them. I'm wondering if they were 1960 Reissues or Historics or whatever...What was this guitar? I think it was around 1994 but it might have been 2000+ In Park Music, Perth WA I saw Gibson Les Pauls with clear finish and "1960" on the pickguard. It had the narrow binding that revealed the maple top in the cutaway. There was an explanation about the clear finish - Back in the 1960's A big shop in the US reckoned Gibson weren't doing the sunburst properly and asked for shipments to come un-finished. Gibson responded saying they had to put a finish on as it was illegal not to and agreed to let them out of the factory with a clear finish I'm sure I saw these LP's in other shops and they may have had various other finishes. I'm wondering if they were Custom Shop jobs or not. Did they have long neck tenons? all that kind of jazz Does anyone remember them? Any comments appreciated cheers, Doug Here's two I've made

The value is the usual Gibson 223 Okay so it sounds like my caps are still good but in hindsight I would have left them alone. When you muck about with things if you hear something that doesn't sound right you conclude it must be because of what you did Just for the record my aim was to get the ES to sound more like my R9 which is why I changed the cap arrangement to 59 wiring. I also dropped in a Seth Lover set which is all I needed to do really Thanks guys for your input, cheers

I mean overheating with a soldering iron, sorry I should have pointed that out, cheers Thanks Curtisa, what effect there will be if their value goes down?. What I'm experiencing with my ES-137 is when the tone is down to zero the sound is rather "blurry" - a bit more than other guitars when compared. Is that the sort of thing one might expect?

I was talking to an Electrical Engineer yesterday and I asked him "If capacitors are over-heated will they be partially damaged or will they just die suddenly?" He said it depends on the type of capacitor etc. So I'm asking the same question here, as he had no definitive answer cheers

I did some testing yesterday and no I don't think I've fried the caps and altering the harness to 50's wiring was unnecessary. I've done so much testing, comparing and experimenting over the past 30 years I'm sick of it and didn't want to do all this LOL

I think I fried the caps

I got some more done today. I altered the tone circuit to 50's wiring and I'm sure it sounds brighter. I will check it again tomorrow and see if I still think the same thing

LOL yes of course with everything on full there is no difference. With all this deep thinking I forget things like that! In regards to the wiring that makes a 500K pot act like a 250K, I was thinking along those lines. Apparently ES-137's used to have 300K Vol Pots then at some stage they changed to all 500K. I wondered if they wired it somehow to get the same effect as having 300K pots I think the easiest test is to connect the pickups straight through Thanks for your comments and replies, it all helps Cheers

I suppose the question I really should have asked is, does the ES-137 have Modern wiring or 50's wiring? After studying the differences I think its Modern

Putting pickups back in and stringing up again is still a fair bit to do, and in any case I think if I was to desolder that wire the Tone wouldn't work would it? By the way what was that wiring you said would make it like using 250K pots? Just for the record this is the LP Axcess. If I remember correctly the green wire is hot from output and the black is hot to switch. I think it essentially does the same thing as the wire in question on the ES

Not quite, lug 3 on Tone pot is just cut off and goes nowhere What happens when I remove the link.... Good question but it would take a lot of work to try the experiment Here's some pictures to help. The pickup is actually unsoldered but you should get the idea The wire on the bottom left of picture goes across and curls around and ends up on the Tone pot lug on top rhs of picture And here's the lug that's cut off. And I'd say the pot is earthed through the Cap. As mentioned the LP Axcess Cap was also wired this way

I have an ES-137 which sounds quite "dark" and I want to brighten the tone up. I heard they use 300K pots but I took the harness out last night only to find they are all actually 500K So I'm wondering why it sounds like its got 300K pots Looking at the harness I notice the Cap goes from the middle lug on the Tone control, then earthed to itself (like on a Les Paul Axcess) But it also has a wire going from the lug on the Vol pot that you wire the pickup to, to the opposite lug on the Tone pot Could this wiring setup achieve a similar result to using 300K pots?

Yes I was thinking that. I Googled around and found a similar question and it was suggested to sing into the sound hole. And the feedback should achieve the same result. So if that is the case then it seems that the accoustic resonance is the same as the tap tone Thanks for your reply Curtisa

The most recent guitar I've made is like a large Les Paul in shape and is fully chambered. While not being an accoustic it has a lot of accoustic properties. It has f-holes, a Bone Saddle with an LR Baggs piezo under it, but also has two humbuckers, so a bit of a hybrid. The question I have is more to do with the accoustic side of things It has quite a boomy sound when I play around B or C, whether its single notes anywhere on the fretboard or chords. It feeds back like crazy when playing any of those notes or chords One of the things I have experimented with on guitars is their "Tap Tone" and this thing tap tones at B1+40 cents. So my conclusion is that's what causes the boominess when playing those notes HOWEVER It occurs to me that because it's hollow that the problem may also lie in its accoustic resonance. What if the accoustic resonance is also B? How could I determine what it is. Blow over the f-holes like a bottle?

Its interesting, one of my recent projects is a Les Paul shape plus 1/2 an inch round the outside. I also have plans to do an ES, but not bent sides, that is way beyond my scope of abilities! It looks like a great project you've got there, hope it goes well!