Boogie Bill
New member
Re: Gibson factory setup ... sucks?
Let me recommend Dan Erlewine's EXCELLENT book, "How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great." A must have for anyone wanting to do set-ups.
Then, you might want to Google Frank Ford, and check out this luthier's web-site.
Get a copy of the Stewart-MacDonald catalog.
I learned how to work on my guitars early in my career. Back in the late '60s to early '70s, luthiers were few and far between. I had to learn some of this stuff while I was out on the road, away from big cities--because, "The show must go on!" I've learned a lot along the way--and saved myself some big bucks in the process.
My Number One guitars are G&L Legacy-bodies, but over the last few years I've gotten into Les Pauls. I've always liked Gibsons--in the early '70s, I had a ES-150DCN and a ES-330 TD long-neck; and then I picked up a 1975 '55 Special Les Paul in 1976. Still, the Les Pauls that I've bought in the last few years have not had the smooth action I knew they should have. After Looking through Erlewine's book, I used the plastic radius gauges to check the fingerboards and the tune-o-matics, and lo and behold--I discovered why the Gibsons had been giving me fits.
Rarely does a Gibson come from the factory with a bridge radius that correctly matches the fingerboard radius. They actually make the notches for the strings in the saddle by placing the string over the saddle and hitting the string with a hammer to form the slot! All of my guitars showed relative uneveness in the strings' heights. Now, it's true that the tune-o-matic is curved to a 12" radius; and some will tell you it doesn't need any adjustment or filing; but the radius gauge doesn't lie. My hands can feel the difference of a millimeter. And once I got the string radius set at the bridge to match the 12" radius of the Pauls' fingerboard, I was finally able to get the smooth playability of a GREAT Gibson.
And sure enough--several of my G&Ls started playing better after I got their bridges properly radiused!
Another common problem that I have with guitars is a nut action that is too high, causing the first few frets to intonate sharp. Martin, Taylor, Collings, Breedlove, G&L, Fender, Gibson, Heritage, Hamer--I've played guitars from all of them with high nut action. It's an easy fix.
BTW, I think most of the new Gibsons have Plekked frets, and I certainly don't have any complaints about the frets on my newer Plekked Gibsons. If your guitar was Plekked, I'd really thing twice about letting someone take a file to it--unless there is some demonstrable problem.
I don't waste my time, or my mental energy whining about what the manufacturer's SHOULD or OUGHT to do in a guitar that cost $XYZ. SHOULD is what the psychologist's call an "irrational thought". Listen to people who say, 'Well, it cost this much money, it SHOULD be PERFECT!" Accept that nothing man-made is perfect, and that it's irrational to think SHOULD. (Check out Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy by esteemed psychologist Albert Ellis for more information on irrational thinking.) The guitar is what it is. If it has a problem, I fix it.
So if you need to, take the guitar to a reputable luthier, and have him correct the nut action and check the bridge radius. If he doesn't know what you're talking about when you mention "bridge radius", take it to someone else. Get that guitar properly set up, and start making some great music on it. Give thanks, and don't forget to count your blessings.
Good luck.
Bill
Let me recommend Dan Erlewine's EXCELLENT book, "How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great." A must have for anyone wanting to do set-ups.
Then, you might want to Google Frank Ford, and check out this luthier's web-site.
Get a copy of the Stewart-MacDonald catalog.
I learned how to work on my guitars early in my career. Back in the late '60s to early '70s, luthiers were few and far between. I had to learn some of this stuff while I was out on the road, away from big cities--because, "The show must go on!" I've learned a lot along the way--and saved myself some big bucks in the process.
My Number One guitars are G&L Legacy-bodies, but over the last few years I've gotten into Les Pauls. I've always liked Gibsons--in the early '70s, I had a ES-150DCN and a ES-330 TD long-neck; and then I picked up a 1975 '55 Special Les Paul in 1976. Still, the Les Pauls that I've bought in the last few years have not had the smooth action I knew they should have. After Looking through Erlewine's book, I used the plastic radius gauges to check the fingerboards and the tune-o-matics, and lo and behold--I discovered why the Gibsons had been giving me fits.
Rarely does a Gibson come from the factory with a bridge radius that correctly matches the fingerboard radius. They actually make the notches for the strings in the saddle by placing the string over the saddle and hitting the string with a hammer to form the slot! All of my guitars showed relative uneveness in the strings' heights. Now, it's true that the tune-o-matic is curved to a 12" radius; and some will tell you it doesn't need any adjustment or filing; but the radius gauge doesn't lie. My hands can feel the difference of a millimeter. And once I got the string radius set at the bridge to match the 12" radius of the Pauls' fingerboard, I was finally able to get the smooth playability of a GREAT Gibson.
And sure enough--several of my G&Ls started playing better after I got their bridges properly radiused!
Another common problem that I have with guitars is a nut action that is too high, causing the first few frets to intonate sharp. Martin, Taylor, Collings, Breedlove, G&L, Fender, Gibson, Heritage, Hamer--I've played guitars from all of them with high nut action. It's an easy fix.
BTW, I think most of the new Gibsons have Plekked frets, and I certainly don't have any complaints about the frets on my newer Plekked Gibsons. If your guitar was Plekked, I'd really thing twice about letting someone take a file to it--unless there is some demonstrable problem.
I don't waste my time, or my mental energy whining about what the manufacturer's SHOULD or OUGHT to do in a guitar that cost $XYZ. SHOULD is what the psychologist's call an "irrational thought". Listen to people who say, 'Well, it cost this much money, it SHOULD be PERFECT!" Accept that nothing man-made is perfect, and that it's irrational to think SHOULD. (Check out Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy by esteemed psychologist Albert Ellis for more information on irrational thinking.) The guitar is what it is. If it has a problem, I fix it.
So if you need to, take the guitar to a reputable luthier, and have him correct the nut action and check the bridge radius. If he doesn't know what you're talking about when you mention "bridge radius", take it to someone else. Get that guitar properly set up, and start making some great music on it. Give thanks, and don't forget to count your blessings.
Good luck.
Bill
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