Custom Chibson Experience (Internals vid added)

guitargeek62

New pic;

*edit* I don't know what's going on with the colour - it's not even close to that dark!?! 

*double edit* That one's a little better

thermionic

Oh no it isn't!

guitargeek62

You're right, it's not! Frikkin cameras...

sinbaadi

This is a great thread, and I can see people being tempted and others being put off by it.  I may fall into the latter camp, probably because I do not have such specific requirements as you did.  For you this was obviously worth a punt, even at the not-insignificant price you'll eventually have paid, and hopefully the building blocks are good enough even if it's not perfect.  Possibly others with very particular wishes will follow suit.

Have to say that whilst I'm not a fan of "flake" paint on gee-tars I'd make an exception in this case, it does look better with only darkness visible in the f-holes though.

Heartfeltdawn

guitargeek62 said:

Epiphone - The main reason is that they just don't seem to make guitars with neck profiles that I like. Even a generic C would be fine, but their semis always seem to be a D profile and that doesn't work for me. I'd have really liked to have bought one of the recent (now discontinued) Dot Pro models, but the one I tried still had the D profile. Even if I had, I'd still have swapped out the pickups & loom for something "better", and the tuners too as the stock ones have those hideous snot-green keys. 

Thomann are clearing the last of them out at £245, an amazing price for sure, but I'd never have kept it long-term because of the neck profile.

Abso-bloody-lutely. The necks on the Chinese Epiphone Dot for instance are horrible chunky lumps, very different to the earlier Korean ones. 

guitargeek62

sinbaadi said:Have to say that whilst I'm not a fan of "flake" paint on gee-tars I'd make an exception in this case, it does look better with only darkness visible in the f-holes though. Hmm, maybe I should clarify that this isn't a flake finish, it's just a normal metallic one but (correct me if I'm wrong) all metallic finishes get their effect from small flakes of reflective material held in suspension within them. In this case, the flakes are highly reflective so they pop very well in those sunlit pictures I pointed out.

For anyone not willing to perform work and maintenance on your own gear, do not buy one of these. You'll have an easier/cheaper job buying a normal guitar instead. That said, if you're comfortable enough to swap out like-for-like parts, do your own setups, or polish your frets at any level of competence then this Trini wouldn't have presented you with any problems at all... particularly given the lovely hole in the back to make fitting a new loom much easier!

Adolfhipster

Is it me or is it too big at the bottom?
maybe just the camera angle.

guitargeek62

Seems okay to me, it's a crap picture though!

Once this hand-in's done I'll take complete measurements of everything and post them here anyway. You've only got a week to wait.

The horns are a very-slightly-more-pointy version of the Mickey Mouse variety, not quite the same as the originals, but not odd-looking like the old Samick-built Dots. The outline & dimensions seem to feel much the same as my last ES-335 did, although I'm sure there's probably a few mm difference here & there.

guitargeek62

Here's a comparison pic of the Chibson's neck tenon against an original Trini Lopez's. The Trini was a restoration job and the pickup cavity had been (badly) enlarged to take dog-ear P90s so it's not fair to compare those routes, but I thought it might be interesting to some of you to see the similar construction here as I think the isolated picture gives a false perception about quality;

Playability update: There's a little bit of buzz overall, but the relief is quite small so I'm sure it can be corrected quite easily. I won't do a full setup until the end of next week when I polish the fingerboard & frets etc too, makes sense to do it all in one go. I could happily leave everything as it is, there's nothing happening here that makes it irritating or uncomfortable to play on, and none of the buzz is audible through my amp.

I cranked up the volume even more than normal earlier (sorry, neighbours!) and had a blast to some Foos tracks with the stereo up loud too... great fun.

marktheharp

Nice update ,
thanks for giving all of us your time

chrispy108

If I wasn't so terrified of the idea of a shitty Floyd (I'm not a fan of them at the best of times), I'd be giving this a go:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2013-New-Arrival-Ib-JEM-7V-Used-by-American-dream-theater-guitarist-JMP100-Color-Drawing-Electric/1689008946.html

WezV

guitargeek62 said:

Here's a comparison pic of the Chibson's neck tenon against an original Trini Lopez's. The Trini was a restoration job and the pickup cavity had been (badly) enlarged to take dog-ear P90s so it's not fair to compare those routes, but I thought it might be interesting to some of you to see the similar construction here as I think the isolated picture gives a false perception about quality;

Most people focus on the gap at the end because its the most obvious, but since end grain glue joins don't work very well a gap here is perfectly acceptable, no reason for it to be as big as it is on most gibsons but it doesn't do any harm

If we are to compare the two joins above i would instead focus on the visible glue join at each side.   The Trini is spot on, no gaps at all, yours looks like you could slide something in there.   they will both be functionally fine but the trini is clearly a superior join... unusual for gibson to get it so tight

guitargeek62

Hey Wez, 

As usual you're completely right, and I was trying to emphasise that any focus on the end-grain gap is pointless really. The joint seems really stable, I didn't give it a proper poke around though so, as usual, wait till the end of the week and I'll report back in detail as to how bad those gaps actually are!

Here's a recent Gibson Memphis 335 to prove your point - pretty shocking at that price-band wouldn't you agree?

My pickguard, bracket, dial pointers, and the rest of the loom parts that I needed arrived today btw. The pickguard'll need a bit of cutting to fit, but it was just a generic one from All-Parts so I didn't expect it to drop straight on. I mainly purchased it to use as template to make a couple more out of from some spare material I have here with the multi-thickness white plys, should have that done in a few weeks when I'm back up in Newquay next.

Jez6345789

That gibson looks well naff for the money.

Iamnobody

After seeing that Gibson tenon joint @guitargeek62 linked curiosity got the better of me and I checked mine out.

It's also a Memphis - '12 and thankfully looks to be a better effort!

guitargeek62

Much better!

guitargeek62

Might have to retract my point about that tenon, it looks like it could be a 339 instead?

guitargeek62

I've had the last couple of days spare to work on this and do some mods. Typically, I cocked up the soldering of the new loom and killed 2 (TWO!!!) of the pots so I ordered some more last night. Thankfully I'm away this weekend, or else I'd have been cannibalising 250k pots out of my strat just to plug it in!!!

Anyway, I did a few mods, which I'm going to detail in another thread in the Making & Modding section. I want to try keep this thread relatively on-topic and only discuss the stock build quality & parts.

With that in mind, here are some measurements for reference;

Neck

Width at nut: 42.8 mm / 1-11/16"

Depth at nut: 23.4 mm

Depth at 12th: 25mm

Headstock thickness: 15mm

Fretwire: .105 x .40 (Matches Dunlop 6140)

Nut spacing: 35.5mm / 1-⅜"

Bridge spacing: 51mm / 2.0"

Body depth at rim: 1.75"

Max. body width: 16-¼"

I've now polished the frets and cleaned up the fingerboard, haven't needed to do much else to be honest, it still plays really nicely although I don't "do" low actions so I've got it set fairly high on account of my heavy-handed playing.

There are a couple of niggles that I'm contacting them about first before posting on here, I don't want to jump the gun at all and encourage any misinformation. They're not deal-breaking faults, but I want some idea of consistency before I comment, hope you understand.

Even with the faults this is fast becoming one of my favourite guitars I've owned.

(Yes, I know the chair's fugly, but it's gloriously comfy)

guitargeek62

Also, on a (more) positive note, I had a fiddle with the tuners and they're working a little more smoothly now. I'll lower my "shit" verdict to one of "usable-but-should-be-upgraded".

underdog

It's a bloody beautiful guitar isn't it.