Brand spanking new setup :: 2016 Gibson Les Paul Standard [9.3 lbs]

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A gorgeous brand new flame top Les Paul in for a setup.  The original setup was actually pretty decent but a little too low for this player.  I ended up straightening the neck and raising the bridge slightly.  I also filed and polished out the saddle slots to keep the strings from binding.  My only pet peeve with this guitar is the bridge location.  Note that the saddle positions are pushed all the way to the rear of the bridge.  This guitar is properly intonated with 10's and I'd like to see these saddles end up more in the middle of the bridge to allow for more flexibilty in string gauges (ie bigger strings need the saddles to be pushed back further).  Kind of odd considering Gibson has state of the art manufacturing facilities, but maybe I'm missing something in their decision.

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Half round setup :: Schecter Stiletto Studio 5 [9.2 lbs]

The player wanted to try a new set of strings on his 5 string bass.  He decided to go with a set of Ken Smith Slick Round [44-62-84-106-130].  These strings are similar to flat wounds but still retain more of the brightness found with regular round wound strings.  These strings are also known as half rounds.  Check them out, they're a really cool mix between flats and rounds.

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

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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.

Tricky truss rod :: 1999 Brubaker B-1 [7.8 lbs]

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A beautiful Brubecker with a bolt-on, neck-through construction.  The fit and finish is super, super clean with builder-wound pickups.  The only issue was that the truss rod is somewhat difficult to adjust.  It's accessed between the neck pickup and the end of the fingerboard by a 3/16" allen wrench.  The tricky part is that even using a ball-end wrench, the angle to mesh with the nut didn't give me comfortable leverage.  I felt that I may slip and end up dinging the top.  Luckily the guitar is a bolt on so I removed the neck to make the adjustment.  The neck design is really slick as it slides into the body and is locked in place by screws in the back.  The carve on the neck is slightly asymmetrical (more meat favored on the treble side) and super comfortable.

New bone nut :: ~1995 Ernie Ball Musicman Sterling [8.8 lbs]

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The original nut spacing on this Musicman was very odd.  It was inconsistently spaced string to string and the G was pushed in too far from the edge of the board.  Along with those issues, the bass came in with small paper shims in each slot in an attempt to minimize open string buzzes.  We went for a new properly spaced bone nut to bring the bass back to prime playing condition.  I love the thump of a Musicman pickup.

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