First new build since 2022, and a little 'gift' from Gibson

[orpheo]

I went on hiatus since 2022. I just... did not have the mental strength to build again. But lately, I felt discombobulated. Uneven. I had to make a guitar. So with leftover parts here and there, I made this. Actually... Just the fretboard and neck were "leftovers", the rest was all new. But hey, you gotta squeeze the narrative where necessary!

The top is roasted quilt maple, finished in electric tiger glow. The bodyback is Swamp Ash; NOT mahogany. I knew that swamp ash is sonically very similar to lightweight old growth mahogany, so I went with that. The neck is a bocote/maple/wenge/maple/bocote laminate, and the fretboard is rosewood with MoT trapezoid inlay, maple binding, 22 frets, 16" radius, stainless steel frets and luminlay side dots. The bridge and tailpiece are made by Graphtech. I will get new brass saddles without a notch, so I can properly align the strings. They are off just a scouche. That's because the neck pocket template slipped just a wee bit as I was milling the neck pocket. Oh well... Nothing that I cannot solve?

Gibson is not happy with me. I got a cease & desist letter from them, concerning trademark infringement. Really? I am NOT commercially active, I work by myself for myself. I do not accept customers, and... I'm in the EU.

Wait, wait wait! there's a meme about that:



even if I was commercially active you have no power here over me.

Okay. the guitar.









The red is so dark and deep, you can hardly see the grain, it's insane. I need to fix the nut height, I need to fix the saddle issue, I need to polish up some parts, and fix up some others. But this guitar is 99% done, and all the issues are not visible in the photos!

The neck by the way, is a baseball bat. it's 25mm tapering to 25.5 at the 12th fret. Oh, and the funny thing? The guitar weighs just 8 pounds.

As always, all done by hand and hand-tools, except the headstock overlay, that was done by laser.

 

[orpheo]

Ah, and the pickups... well.

I designed a set in my head, and I asked Johan Lundgren to make it for me. Johan is a great guy, but he said at first: "what, 4 wire types for 1 set? that's too much!". But he made it anyway. Alnico II in the bridge (15k; awg43 and awg44), and alnico IV in the neck (awg42 formvar and awg42 plain enamel).

You know what I made. We all know what I made here.

 

[Hsb]

That top is gorgeous man, nice build.

Oh and Gibson can F Off

 

[Mincer]

Well, that's certainly nicer than anything Gibson has put out in quite awhile. Maybe they can learn some things from you.

 

[Artie]

Drop dead gorgeous. I admire your skills. Gibson's just jealous.

 

[Chistopher]

I would politely inform Gibbons that the letter they delivered was marked with the wrong address.

 

[GuitarStv]

Damn, nice top!

I wonder what triggered the Gibson thing? It's a different headstock, very different neck, and different carve. There's really just the body shape that's similar.

 

[misterwhizzy]

They’re furious because there’s no way that headstock is going to break if someone drops the guitar.

 

[beaubrummels]

Beautiful guitar!

I don't get how Gibson even found out about it?

 

[jeremy]

that looks fantastic! sucks to have to fix the string alignment issue, but as you said, nothing you cant handle

 

[Mincer]

Beautiful guitar!

I don't get how Gibson even found out about it?

I think they have a team trolling the internet for anything that they think violates their trademarks.

 

[orpheo]

that looks fantastic! sucks to have to fix the string alignment issue, but as you said, nothing you cant handle

Indeed the graphtech saddles sound GREAT, but I think the new brass saddles aren't going to be worse. Brass in aluminium should work?

Gibson has (legal) teams going on the internet. I think my fault was that I named a guitar once the 'les paul', and they flagged that, because the LP trademark features very, very specific features.

* body shape (one could argue I'm stealing that body shape but EU and Japanse courts decided that the body shape is generic at this point!)
* trussrod cover; i don't do a trussrod cover
* neck and headstock angle: i have a totally different neck and headstock angle
* neck to body connection. Mine has that upper fret acces, the LP does not. truly different. My set neck design is also totally different.
* My headstock shape is different
* my font for my logo as well as the angles are different
* I have recessed tuner bushings!
* My entire top carve is different
* my neck design (trussrod access, nut design, the veneer pinstripes, the maple binding) is all different

 

[orpheo]

They’re furious because there’s no way that headstock is going to break if someone drops the guitar.

You may have been joking but you are correct. I have made close to 100 LP's and none ever broke by a fall. I had to jump on the neck to snap off the headstock, AFTER it broke cleanly off the body

 

[orpheo]

Damn, nice top!

I wonder what triggered the Gibson thing? It's a different headstock, very different neck, and different carve. There's really just the body shape that's similar.

I think accidentally naming it a LP, or LP-style singlecut. They're just very controling about their trademark.

 

[orpheo]

Drop dead gorgeous. I admire your skills. Gibson's just jealous.

Making guitars is not a skill or talent issue. It's a materials issue. It's easy to make a guitar with the right tools, I learned that much over the years. I also learned that each step builds on the last way more intensely than you think, so all the work you do before you spray the finish and press in the frets, will make your life easier in the end, and those steps are NOT hard! To fix it in the end, THAT is the hard bit!

for example: porefill. If you porefill it in various stages, the finish you will spray in the end will have an almost flat surface to lay on, and then it's just supereasy to buff it to a high gloss.

If you prep the fretboard (proper radius, flat/level all the way) and bend the fretwire in the appropriate radii, stainless steel frets are NOT hard at all. I am not struggling with stainless nowadays because I know what to look out for. After gluing the board you have to level it anyway. Spend a wee bit more time on leveling and the radius, and press in neatly, and then it's done.

I leveled this fretboard and fretted it in an hour. That means; leveling the board to grit 320, turn the fret wire to the right radius (16 inch in this case), nib out the tang for the binding, lay out the fret on the board, cut to size, cut the other side of the tang, and that 22 times. Pressing in ended up taking a whopping 5 minutes. I pressed it and checked with the fret rocker as I went, so when Ihad to level the frets, it was just a check if I did the rest right instead of fixing mistakes I made before

Finish is the same. Spraying the finish should be a check if you did the porefill right. That's how I look at things.

 

[orpheo]

Oh, and I will likely finish another 3 if not 7 (!) guitars between now and the next 10 days. stay tuned folks

 

[Chistopher]

Does Gibson have a trademark on trapezoids?

 

[orpheo]

Does Gibson have a trademark on trapezoids?

No, they have a trademark on the "Les Paul', and it includes a couple of things. It's not like, 1 trademark for the inlay; 1 for the neck heel design; 1 for the etc etc

they have a couple of specific trademarks, like the trussrod cover, headstock shape, inlay and script, but trapezoid, no. However, the trapezoid is part of the les paul trademark, and the question is: is 'my' guitar different enough to not infringe on the trademark.

And I think it is different enough, looking at the logo, the font, the Stork inlay, the heel, the trussrod access (lack of cover, different kind of TR as well), and the entire side profile is different too because my neck angle is constructed differently than on a LP.

 

[Chistopher]

See thats interesting to me. I guess none of the big company's want to toe the line on that. Kinda like how no one has any "kinda double cream" humbuckers.

 

[80's_Metal]

That's beautiful!