Is this neck out of alignment?

terada

Here's a closeup of the Andertons one. Notice the hole on one side but not the other.

ICBM

The problem being that, exactly as with yours, you would need to take the pickup out to check if it's a potential issue or not. Not something the customer is going to be allowed to do in the shop!

Adamski

Yeah mine has that, although it’s not as pronounced. The left hand side I can see the join but it’s just a line, looks tight, and the right hand side is marginally wider but not by much. Surely a join line will always be there though, right? 

hyperben

You can only see that because of the gap between the pickup and fretboard. It’s probably present on loads of historic LPs that don’t have the gap but you’d never know. I certainly wouldn’t let it bother me if I really liked the guitar and it didn’t affect stability of the neck, which I’m pretty sure it won’t based on the pics.

armitaan

Dumb qs but why do some have the gap between pickup ring and fretboard ? I had look at my single cut set neck guitars a navigator Les Paul Custom, Collings 290 and a Maybach and on all pickup flush to fretboard ?

ICBM

hyperben said:

You can only see that because of the gap between the pickup and fretboard. It’s probably present on loads of historic LPs that don’t have the gap but you’d never know. I certainly wouldn’t let it bother me if I really liked the guitar and it didn’t affect stability of the neck, which I’m pretty sure it won’t based on the pics.

It's actually quite easy to tell.

Put the guitar on the floor resting on its back, and stand on it in the middle. If the headstock breaks off before the neck joint fails, the neck joint is OK. If the other way round, it wasn't.

armitaan said:

Dumb qs but why do some have the gap between pickup ring and fretboard ? I had look at my single cut set neck guitars a navigator Les Paul Custom, Collings 290 and a Maybach and on all pickup flush to fretboard ?

Because the necks are hand-fitted so the position of the end of the neck varies, but the pickup rout is done with a jig so it's always in the same place.

Good old hand made accuracy...

terada

armitaan said:

Dumb qs but why do some have the gap between pickup ring and fretboard ? I had look at my single cut set neck guitars a navigator Les Paul Custom, Collings 290 and a Maybach and on all pickup flush to fretboard ?

It's because in BOTB there are loads like that so it is seen as a vintage feature.

It's a bit weird but just one of those things. Flush or gap, it has no real relevance as far as I know.


Completely agree with @hyperben, having explored it a little in this thread (and seeing it a very large proportion of the instruments that have been through my hands), it appears to be relatively normal. 

Again, weird, but normal.

Twinfan

My R9 has slight indents on each end of the neck join, both egual in size.  I assume it's just a little over routing on the top end.  They're smaller than than the right hand side of the Andertons pic above though.

My R8 has no indents on either side, like the left hand side of the Andertons pic above.

TINMAN82

Have to say a gap is a checklist thing that I’d immediately exclude a Les Paul for (mabye not an original burst mind you..). Plenty of reissues don’t have the gap and its cosmetically less appealing IMO. Shame it’s showed up a routing flaw here too. Personally I’d send back but that’s purely on cosmetic grounds.

hyperben

They have the gap because the true historics have the gap and the 2017 historics inherited true historic specs. And the true historics have the gap because it supposedly vintage correct even though not every vintage LP has it (some do, some don't). But half way through 2017 they stopped putting the gap in. So higher serial number 2017 historics don't have the gap. So it's a feature of the true historics and the earlier 2017 historic LPs only.

Musicman20

The Iced Tea I just received does not have that small hole. Unfortunately despite being a lovely resonant pretty guitar, I don't think it's for me. 

hyperben

Musicman20 said:

The Iced Tea I just received does not have that small hole. Unfortunately despite being a lovely resonant pretty guitar, I don't think it's for me. 

Where did your iced tea from? I found finding the right guitar a very personal thing. It's difficult sometimes to pinpoint exactly why it works, and why it doesn't.

Musicman20

hyperben said:

Musicman20 said:

The Iced Tea I just received does not have that small hole. Unfortunately despite being a lovely resonant pretty guitar, I don't think it's for me. 

Where did your iced tea from? I found finding the right guitar a very personal thing. It's difficult sometimes to pinpoint exactly why it works, and why it doesn't.

I agree. It's from Peach and it's very well setup. I can't figure out why but my SG and cheapsr LP are more for me. Maybe I'm better sticking to modern Gibson.

mli3

Give it time mate. 

terada

Musicman20 said:

The Iced Tea I just received does not have that small hole. Unfortunately despite being a lovely resonant pretty guitar, I don't think it's for me. 

That's a shame mate, your iced tea was beautiful!

Then again, if it doesn't work for you, and you prefer something else, then save your cash and enjoy playing what makes you feel good.

johnl

terada said:

Musicman20 said:

The Iced Tea I just received does not have that small hole. Unfortunately despite being a lovely resonant pretty guitar, I don't think it's for me. 

That's a shame mate, your iced tea was beautiful!

Then again, if it doesn't work for you, and you prefer something else, then save your cash and enjoy playing what makes you feel good.

Every guitar I've ever bonded with I've bonded with immediately. Whenever I've picked up a guitar and thought "I'm not sure if this is for me" the discomfort grows until I eventually get rid of it. If it's not for you mate there will certainly be plenty of decently priced Les Pauls coming up for sale soon....

hyperben

johnl said:

terada said:

Musicman20 said:

The Iced Tea I just received does not have that small hole. Unfortunately despite being a lovely resonant pretty guitar, I don't think it's for me. 

That's a shame mate, your iced tea was beautiful!

Then again, if it doesn't work for you, and you prefer something else, then save your cash and enjoy playing what makes you feel good.

Every guitar I've ever bonded with I've bonded with immediately. Whenever I've picked up a guitar and thought "I'm not sure if this is for me" the discomfort grows until I eventually get rid of it. If it's not for you mate there will certainly be plenty of decently priced Les Pauls coming up for sale soon....

Totally agree with this. If I don’t know straight away I used to kid myself that it’s right and eventually sold it on anyway. When you’re paying this much money you don’t need to make any excuses for being fussy. If it’s not right send it back.

Schnozz

I'd be sending that back and getting something Japanese - Yamaha, Tokai or Bacchus etc. 

You may shrug it off as cosmetic now, but in 10-15 years time...

TINMAN82

johnl said:

terada said:

Musicman20 said:

The Iced Tea I just received does not have that small hole. Unfortunately despite being a lovely resonant pretty guitar, I don't think it's for me. 

That's a shame mate, your iced tea was beautiful!

Then again, if it doesn't work for you, and you prefer something else, then save your cash and enjoy playing what makes you feel good.

Every guitar I've ever bonded with I've bonded with immediately. Whenever I've picked up a guitar and thought "I'm not sure if this is for me" the discomfort grows until I eventually get rid of it. If it's not for you mate there will certainly be plenty of decently priced Les Pauls coming up for sale soon....

hyperben said:

johnl said:

terada said:

Musicman20 said:

The Iced Tea I just received does not have that small hole. Unfortunately despite being a lovely resonant pretty guitar, I don't think it's for me. 

That's a shame mate, your iced tea was beautiful!

Then again, if it doesn't work for you, and you prefer something else, then save your cash and enjoy playing what makes you feel good.

Every guitar I've ever bonded with I've bonded with immediately. Whenever I've picked up a guitar and thought "I'm not sure if this is for me" the discomfort grows until I eventually get rid of it. If it's not for you mate there will certainly be plenty of decently priced Les Pauls coming up for sale soon....

Totally agree with this. If I don’t know straight away I used to kid myself that it’s right and eventually sold it on anyway. When you’re paying this much money you don’t need to make any excuses for being fussy. If it’s not right send it back.

Hmmm, could be passing up some great guitars in need of a setup though

johnl

It's not really setup, I think you can tell when a guitar just needs a bit of tweaking. It's a combination of setup, feel, weight, looks and...something else. But if you don't open the case and go "fuck me that's incredible" then just keep searching until you do.