http://www.jeztone.com/2006/11/18/jeztone-guide-how-to-buy-a-gibson-les-paul/ The web's best Guitarblog, witty, opinionated and informative Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:38:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 http://www.jeztone.com/2006/11/18/jeztone-guide-how-to-buy-a-gibson-les-paul/comment-page-1/#comment-24 Jack G. Tue, 16 Jan 2007 02:56:35 +0000 http://www.jeztone.com/2006/11/18/jeztone-guide-how-to-buy-a-gibson-les-paul/#comment-24 Well said, but as often happens, I also have two cents to add. An item not to be overlooked is the position of the bridge components. The bridges on very old LP's where carefully placed. When care is taken, the string notches in the saddles will occur on center of the saddle and centered over the adjustment screw. This does vary slightly but only a bit. Check the positon of the strings down the neck. Look for even spacing of the strings and look at where the E's are in relation to the edge of the fingerboard. If the strings are spaced properly, next look at the strings as they pass ove the pickups. They should be evenly spaced over the pole screws. They may not be directly over the center of each screw but they should be evenly spaced. That is to say that if one E is slightly to the outside of center of a its pole on a given pickup, the other E should be similar. Next look at the bridge and stop bar. If the neck-to-body angle is set correctly and the action is set proper, the tailpiece should be almost against the body. The bridge should be slightly higher with the E's just about touching the bridge. Many players like to lower the tailpiece so that the strings press against the bridge. This supplies more string tension but the guitar was not designed to be set up this way. Since set up is subjective, the following is a guideline. With the action set up "normal", the bridge should be quite low, the tailpiece should almost rest on the body, and the E strings should just clear the rear of the bridge. A guitar with too much neck-body angle will require the bridge to be set high and likewise, the tailpiece. This is what you want. It makes for the best coupling and of course, this is how the guitar was intended to be made. Another facet that compounds this problem is the carved top. The neck-to-body angle is the major component but if you look closely, you will see that the bridge and tailpiece fall on a portion of the carving, not a flat plane. Overall, the LP is a difficult guitar to make consistently. It seems that years ago when Gibsons where manufactured in Michigan, the builders could achieve this consistency. However, Nashville and computer operated saws and routers have made all of that history. Well said, but as often happens, I also have two cents to add. An item not to be overlooked is the position of the bridge components. The bridges on very old LP’s where carefully placed. When care is taken, the string notches in the saddles will occur on center of the saddle and centered over the adjustment screw. This does vary slightly but only a bit. Check the positon of the strings down the neck. Look for even spacing of the strings and look at where the E’s are in relation to the edge of the fingerboard. If the strings are spaced properly, next look at the strings as they pass ove the pickups. They should be evenly spaced over the pole screws. They may not be directly over the center of each screw but they should be evenly spaced. That is to say that if one E is slightly to the outside of center of a its pole on a given pickup, the other E should be similar. Next look at the bridge and stop bar. If the neck-to-body angle is set correctly and the action is set proper, the tailpiece should be almost against the body. The bridge should be slightly higher with the E’s just about touching the bridge. Many players like to lower the tailpiece so that the strings press against the bridge. This supplies more string tension but the guitar was not designed to be set up this way. Since set up is subjective, the following is a guideline. With the action set up “normal”, the bridge should be quite low, the tailpiece should almost rest on the body, and the E strings should just clear the rear of the bridge. A guitar with too much neck-body angle will require the bridge to be set high and likewise, the tailpiece. This is what you want. It makes for the best coupling and of course, this is how the guitar was intended to be made. Another facet that compounds this problem is the carved top. The neck-to-body angle is the major component but if you look closely, you will see that the bridge and tailpiece fall on a portion of the carving, not a flat plane. Overall, the LP is a difficult guitar to make consistently. It seems that years ago when Gibsons where manufactured in Michigan, the builders could achieve this consistency. However, Nashville and computer operated saws and routers have made all of that history.

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