Dream Guitars

[Greg_L]

Gibson got caught out with CITIES and fewer other regulatory bodies since on their dodgy dealing on the timber market.

Even back in 1970?

[muttley]

Gibson got caught out with CITIES and fewer other regulatory bodies since on their dodgy dealing on the timber market.

Even back in 1970?

There is industry talk of all sorts of illegal logging and importing practices going way back. How guilty they were or are I have no idea but the recent convictions and allegations didn't spring out of nowhere. CITES started in 1973 way before I was in the game but for as long as I have been, talk of their activities in the trade has been rife. No smoke without fire. They claim to have cleaned their act up now though and I have no reason to dispute that.

I do know that in the 80's and 90's no one could get legally felled Honduran anywhere but Gibson seemed to have an endless supply of it.

[Lt. Bob]

What do you mean by pancake body?
I had a 70's custom ( burgundy-ish color ) and it floated in a flood and I had to completely disassemble the body and neck and reglue all the pieces and to my memory the body was a bunch of different pieces laminated and glued together.

Les Pauls from around 1970 to 1976 had "pancake bodies" - meaning they are mahogany slabs with a thin strip of maple cross-grain sandwiched in the middle. No one really knows why they did this, but the generally accepted theory is that it was cheaper to use two thinner pieces of mahogany for the body compared to one full chunk. The line is clearly visible in pancake body guitars from that time period.

As for the laminations, there are a few internet tales of the bodies coming apart but for the most part there are still tons of these guitars still kicking 50 years later. The usual headstock breaks are still the weak point. I've personally never seen or heard of the bodies coming apart.

Well this one floated in a house that was hit by one of the big Amite river floods in Denham Springs.
It floated or was submerged for at least a week .... maybe two.

We're talking maybe 40 years ago so my memory is sorta vague but now that you prod my memory with that pic, I think that was it.

I remember everything was obviously coming apart so I took off the fretboard and then actually took the neck apart into 3 pieces. The headstock was maybe 5 ...... really not sure.

But I do sorta remember that I took the top off ... 3 or 4 pieces ..... and under the top, the body didn't seem to be coming apart at that pancake joint so I left it alone.

And I seem to remember that the finish peeled off in sheets almost like plastic leaving some of the wood stained by that burgundy color.
It was actually pretty cool looking when I got it back together and it played well.

I snorted it up.

I imagine it's still out there somewhere being the only one of its kind.

[Greg_L]

There is industry talk of all sorts of illegal logging and importing practices going way back. How guilty they were or are I have no idea but the recent convictions and allegations didn't spring out of nowhere. CITES started in 1973 way before I was in the game but for as long as I have been, talk of their activities in the trade has been rife. No smoke without fire. They claim to have cleaned their act up now though and I have no reason to dispute that.

I do know that in the 80's and 90's no one could get legally felled Honduran anywhere but Gibson seemed to have an endless supply of it.

Yeah but 1970. No one cared about anything in 1969-1970. That's when they started doing the laminates.

[Greg_L]

Well this one floated in a house that was hit by one of the big Amite river floods in Denham Springs.
It floated or was submerged for at least a week .... maybe two.

We're talking maybe 40 years ago so my memory is sorta vague but now that you prod my memory with that pic, I think that was it.

I remember everything was obviously coming apart so I took off the fretboard and then actually took the neck apart into 3 pieces. The headstock was maybe 5 ...... really not sure.

But I do sorta remember that I took the top off ... 3 or 4 pieces ..... and under the top, the body didn't seem to be coming apart at that pancake joint so I left it alone.

And I seem to remember that the finish peeled off in sheets almost like plastic leaving some of the wood stained by that burgundy color.
It was actually pretty cool looking when I got it back together and it played well.

I snorted it up.

I imagine it's still out there somewhere being the only one of its kind.

Ok so there's different things there but that seems pretty standard Gibson for the time.

The necks from that period were three pieces, and with the headstock wings its five distinct strips that make up the neck and headstock.

The maple top on the body could be literally any number of pieces. Most of them are usually two or three, but five piece tops are not uncommon. And the pieces rarely match or run in any kind of symmetry. You can have a strip of beautifully flamed maple right next to the most boring scrap of maple ever grown. It's also pretty rare for a seam line to also be the center line of a Gibson unless it's intentionally built to have a nice top. They didn't worry about that kind of aesthetic in the 70s.

I don't know why the finish would come off like that though. That's kind of weird for nitrocellulose.

[Armistice]

Well you learn something every day around here...

[JD01]

My Crimson is maple and ebony laminate

[Armistice]

This got me curious about guitar weights...

My Les Paul Standard is 4.2kg / 9lb 4oz (16 oz in a lb isn't it? Can't remember) - don't actually recall if it has weight relief / chambering - I think it must as the Traditionals which they were also selling at the time (2017) didn't, that being part of the "traditional" thing.

Burns Bison is 5.0kg / 11 lb - it was my main guitar back when I was regularly gigging doing 3 and 4 hour shows and the weight didn't bother me then. I'm sure it would know though.

The others will all be lighter. No point weighing them.

[Greg_L]

My Les Paul Standard is 4.2kg / 9lb 4oz (16 oz in a lb isn't it? Can't remember) - don't actually recall if it has weight relief / chambering - I think it must as the Traditionals which they were also selling at the time (2017) didn't, that being part of the "traditional" thing.

Your LP probably has the "modern weight relief". It's not as gutted as being fully chambered, but it's a little more thought out than the old school 9-hole swiss cheese weight relieving.

[Lt. Bob]

I don't know why the finish would come off like that though. That's kind of weird for nitrocellulose.

I'm not 100% sure how it came off but I definitely didn't strip it and it definitely came off without much effort ....... I'm gonna guess you don't have experience with guitars literally submerged in river water for a week or two to compare though.
Maybe soaking enough can do it

[Greg_L]

I'm not 100% sure how it came off but I definitely didn't strip it and it definitely came off without much effort ....... I'm gonna guess you don't have experience with guitars literally submerged in river water for a week or two to compare though.
Maybe soaking enough can do it

Maybe. I don't know shit about guitar paint or soaking guitars underwater.

[Armistice]

My Les Paul Standard is 4.2kg / 9lb 4oz (16 oz in a lb isn't it? Can't remember) - don't actually recall if it has weight relief / chambering - I think it must as the Traditionals which they were also selling at the time (2017) didn't, that being part of the "traditional" thing.

Your LP probably has the "modern weight relief". It's not as gutted as being fully chambered, but it's a little more thought out than the old school 9-hole swiss cheese weight relieving.

That rings a bell. I'm sure I read something like that in the blurb at the time.

[Armistice]

I'm not 100% sure how it came off but I definitely didn't strip it and it definitely came off without much effort ....... I'm gonna guess you don't have experience with guitars literally submerged in river water for a week or two to compare though.
Maybe soaking enough can do it

Maybe. I don't know shit about guitar paint or soaking guitars underwater.

Send it to @JD01 - he's about to get flooded.

[Greg_L]

Send it to @JD01 - he's about to get flooded.

No thanks.

[JD01]

What you guys think of this?
https://www.fenderfever.com/guitars/fen ... 1989-black
I've never come across a short scale strat before - this seems like a genuinely quirky one and could be quite fun to play.
I'm really impressive with my the quality of my MIJ Mustang but I don't really like the sound of it. I'd probably sell it to fund this.

[Greg_L]

What you guys think of this?
https://www.fenderfever.com/guitars/fen ... 1989-black
I've never come across a short scale strat before - this seems like a genuinely quirky one and could be quite fun to play.
I'm really impressive with my the quality of my MIJ Mustang but I don't really like the sound of it. I'd probably sell it to fund this.

You keep inching closer and closer to your true calling.

[JD01]

What you guys think of this?
https://www.fenderfever.com/guitars/fen ... 1989-black
I've never come across a short scale strat before - this seems like a genuinely quirky one and could be quite fun to play.
I'm really impressive with my the quality of my MIJ Mustang but I don't really like the sound of it. I'd probably sell it to fund this.

You keep inching closer and closer to your true calling.

Blues dentist with a PRS?

[Greg_L]

Blues dentist with a PRS?

Nu-metal shred wanker.

[JD01]

Blues dentist with a PRS?

Nu-metal shred wanker.

haha, I think I'd prefer to be a blues dentist with a PRS. Just think it looks a bit like Kurt Cobain's black strat, I like the idea of a short scale strat and the fact its got a bridge Humbucker probably means I'll get more use out of it.

[muttley]

For me a 24 and 3/4 Strat is an abomination but each to their own.