My latest ‘50s Les Paul conversion project- eye popping original flame top!

jumping@shadows

meltedbuzzbox said:

jumping@shadows said:

It’s a shame what should have been a fun read about a cool guitar immediately descended into the gutter thanks to one member, with apparently such flippant and personal attacks being pretty normal on TFB overall, and other members looking on in exasperation and commenting on the general sour, negative attitude of late, but the subsequent discussion has been cool...it’s just disappointing the one U.K. forum of any size and vitality is one I’m really not motivated to participate in, thanks to the lack of the most basic social decorum, and notable and telling how so many others feel the same.

Let it go now. Jesus, read the post from ttony, shake yourself off and go about your day

It’s all good man, I have gone about several days since, but that doesn’t make my observations any less true, and it’d probably be more constructive to suitably penalise those who transgress rather than hush those who bring up issues- perhaps it’s the British thing ;-) 

guitars4you

I'm awe at the ability of some FB guys who can handle such 'historic' projects - I have no where near these skill levels - @jumping@shadows , @WezV and @miserneil for starters but there are others

I sometimes watch the car restoration programmes and again I'm  in awe at their ability - Not always, but often though they will restore with upgraded edits  - improved suspension and certainly more BHP for starters - So in many cases they are not restoring to an nth degree regarding pure original - So why can't we do likewise on a guitar - However many upgrades are 'under the bonnet' (no pun intended) so you don't see them - They will improve the cars performance but no change to the actual image - I'm talking here more about restoration/re-builds as against hot rod ZZ Top style changes - I often wonder if we could do likewise to many poor 70's Fenders, Gretsch and Gibson models, with a view to creating a far superior guitar  - have spoken to Jon @FelineGuitars on a couple of occasions about this - it is possible but only on the basis of acquiring them at the right price in the first place

But in this instance with @jumping@shadows project then I dare say any initial thoughts as to what the outcome would be changed on viewing that maple top - Plenty of character in it without looking OTT - I asked early on in this thread about what hardware, loom and p/ups would be going into this as that would have a big impact on the final asking price - No use putting a pair of original pafs in it, that are worth £3000/4000 (or more if sold separately), if you are not able to get such funds back on the completed project

I'm not sure what the asking price difference is between a P90 gold top version and a '59' burst conversion - the cost of the loom and hardware is the same on both projects but a vast difference on the cost of the p/ups, so not sure what extra financial gain there is, but IMO that is his choice and the buyers 

Personally I don't see an issue with converting the P90 routing to humbuckers as the project is not original anyway - Knowing it is such a nice figured top, it does seem a pity to cover it up again with a gold top finish - I think if it was being restored for me and I now know the score on the top, then I'd go for the 59 burst option - However I am a P90 fan, so normally would always be interested in a gold top 56 style conversion - On a vintage style restoration, I would not want a P90 with that curly top and a burst finish - I'm sure it would be nice, but not quite right somehow

Total credit to @jumping@shadows - equally we all have our views and opinions, so I can see why some will not agree with the project at all, or the idea of a P90 to humbucker conversion appalls them, but as per many points raised above by others, then I wish we did not have to spend 1/2 the blog in fight mood

brooom

Personally I would really like to see that guitar restored to it's P90s glory. Unfortunately I don't own it, so it's not my call.

WezV

Why do people keep attributing negative behaviour to “the forum”.  

 I hold the individuals involved responsible, not the collective.

if you see negative comments either flag or ignore them and post something positive.. don’t post “the forums shit” , because you are actively contributing to the issue when you do.

normula1

Being the sort of person who quite happily stuck a drill into most of my guitars in the 80's, I just want to see how the holes in the control area are going to end up.

poopot

P90 neck, strat middle and hb in the bridge!...
Some sort of active circuitry maybe!.

just putting it out there. 

roberty

normula1 said:

Being the sort of person who quite happily stuck a drill into most of my guitars in the 80's, I just want to see how the holes in the control area are going to end up.

Good call I am interested to see how it's done!

RMJ

poopot said:

P90 neck, strat middle and hb in the bridge!...
Some sort of active circuitry maybe!.

just putting it out there. 

PRS headstock?

poopot

RMJ said:

poopot said:

P90 neck, strat middle and hb in the bridge!...
Some sort of active circuitry maybe!.

just putting it out there. 

PRS headstock?

Not a bad shout!

jumping@shadows

WezV said:

Why do people keep attributing negative behaviour to “the forum”.  

 I hold the individuals involved responsible, not the collective.

if you see negative comments either flag or ignore them and post something positive.. don’t post “the forums shit” , because you are actively contributing to the issue when you do.

I think it’s because it’s de facto OK to post such comments on the forum, as there’s no penalty aside from having that comment deleted, or others flag it or most charmingly ‘ignore’ it as if it’s not going on, so why not just blurt out whatever you want, whenever you want? 
MLP is pretty lawless on the whole, and there’s numerous flare ups, and they even have a kind of ‘homecoming’ ritual for temporarily banned members who come back and apologise and have a laugh about doing their time, and it’s all very jovial and healthy I think, and reflective of the mood there.

I don’t want to comment too much as I’m hardly a regular poster here, and it’s not the subject of this thread, but that’s my observation as a long term, multi fora user  

jumping@shadows

Also, a massively flamed original maple cap isn’t necessarily an impediment to having a great looking flamey Burst conversion if you have the vision ;-)

gringopig

.

Modellista

WezV said:

Why do people keep attributing negative behaviour to “the forum”.  

 I hold the individuals involved responsible, not the collective.

if you see negative comments either flag or ignore them and post something positive.. don’t post “the forums shit” , because you are actively contributing to the issue when you do.

^ This.  One person says a naughty word and everyone gets their knickers in a twist.

99% of the forum is healthy, respectful discussion.  The occasional outburst is to be expected.  Let's keep things in perspective.

All I want from this thread is a record of how the rebuild goes.  And how that nice top looks when it's been restored.  And how many kidneys I need to sell to buy it!

WezV

jumping@shadows said:

Also, a massively flamed original maple cap isn’t necessarily an impediment to having a great looking flamey Burst conversion if you have the vision ;-)

Can’t believe you ruined it like that

jumping@shadows

WezV said:

jumping@shadows said:

Also, a massively flamed original maple cap isn’t necessarily an impediment to having a great looking flamey Burst conversion if you have the vision ;-)

Can’t believe you ruined it like that

You’re so fucking pleased with yourself eh @WezV, ye dickhead! ;-)

WezV

Seriously, it’s a beaut.... although I am more interested in the single bound custom behind it, since I have recently destroyed the original red wine finish on an 81 to do something similar. ( and got a little flak for it??)

normula1

Ooooh that's gorgeous.

jumping@shadows

WezV said:

Seriously, it’s a beaut.... although I am more interested in the single bound custom behind it, since I have recently destroyed the original red wine finish on an 81 to do something similar. ( and got a little flak for it??)

Thanks man- the one behind is a ‘52 on which I OPTED NOT TO DESECRATE THE HALLOWED P90 CAVITIES, despite it having a total brown varnish refin, a headstock break and a trench cut into the top for a dog bone/B7 term combo- phew! Absolutely mega guitar, and looks too cool for school! 

goldtop

Yuuki - how's the neck profile on this? I'm guessing that will be the only significant departure from '59 Burst norms once it's all done.

jumping@shadows

goldtop said:

Yuuki - how's the neck profile on this? I'm guessing that will be the only significant departure from '59 Burst norms once it's all done.

It’s medium chunky, definitely not a big ‘59 neck, and I am mulling over adding a ~2mm shim under the board to add mass to the neck, as well as add a touch more effective neck angle for humbuckers, but I’m not massively motivated as yet