New archtop pickguard :: 1933 Gibson L-12 [4.9 lbs]

September 3, 2016

A gorgeous 1933 Gibson L-12 archtop in for a new pickguard. The guard was supplied by the customer without any hardware so I needed to source the appropriate parts. I did not want to drill any new holes so I used the same mounting points on the guitar. Gibson neck mounted some of these but this one was anchored in the top. First I made a wooden spacer and found an old slotted brass screw that looked right.

The tricky part of this installation is finding the best elevation over the top. Too close to the top and you will not be able to mount a floating pickup in the future. Too high and the guard interferes with your right hand. Another consideration is the angle in which the guard gradually falls away as you move from the strings towards the lower bout. This is more of a cosmetic thing that just looks good or odd.

Note that I had to add spacers to both ends of the bracket to get the angles right. There is even a little piece of leather on the bracket spacer where it comes in contact with the body binding.

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JJB Electronics pickup install :: 1951 Gibson SJ [3.8 lbs]

June 20, 2016

This super killer, previously refinished '51 Gibson SJ is back in the shop for a pickup swap. The old Fishman was giving the player trouble so he supplied a JJB Electronics pickup for me to install for him. These pickups are pretty much identical to the K&K Pure Mini's. Check the video below for the install.

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K&K Devinity pickup & new frets :: 1939 Gibson L-7 [5.5 lbs]

March 20, 2016

A big and beautiful 1939 L-7 archtop on the bench for a bunch of repairs. You can see some of the work done here. These repairs include new frets, new relic Waverly tuners, back binding repairs, side cracks and a K&K Devinity system pickup installation. I must say that I'm not normally impressed with acoustic pickups but this newer K&K pickup sounds very warm and transparent. I installed one of the older K&K archtop pickups in a 1940's Epiphone Emperor years ago and found it sounded very hollow and out of phase (even with correcting the phase with a preamp). Archtops can be difficult to amplify acoustically. After hearing this pickup I recommend that you give the K&K Devinity a try.

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Muted high e :: 1951 Gibson Southern Jumbo [3.8 lbs]

February 17, 2016

An extremely responsive 1951 Gibson SJ that was refinished a long time ago. This mahogany back and side slope shoulder has been in the shop a couple times before and it's always a pleasure to play when it stops in. This time it was in for a minor tweak. The player was having troubles on a recent recording session where the high e was not ringing out clearly. I ended up shimming up the saddle about 1/32nd and removed the string bite in the top of the saddle. The high e string had worn a groove into the saddle which (along with the low action) was choking it out.

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Refret prep :: 1939 Gibson L-7

December 31, 2015

It's been a mini run of early vintage Gibson archtops in the shop lately, and by a run I mean two (see the 1957 Gibson ES-175). This L-7 is in for new frets, new tuners and a K&K acoustic pickup.