Your opinion of top wrap to string a Les Paul

ICBM

DeeTee said:

What is it about the way Gibson put their necks on that causes such a variance? It doesn't seem to affect Epiphone etc.

That's because Epiphone use more accurate CNC tooling... Gibson do it by hand. And no, doing it by hand is not better.

Have you seen the famous cross-sectional photos of Gibson neck joints showing the 'wiggle room' they allow?

DeeTee

Oh yes, I think I have actually! I have to think that an experienced woodworker should be able to fit them by hand with a little more accuracy though. It just seems slipshod. 

ICBM

DeeTee said:

It just seems slipshod. 

Welcome to Gibson...

I think the problem stems from the sanding of the body top - since the fingerboard is glued flat onto that, it's the angle of the slope at that end of the body with determines the neck angle. The rough contouring is done by machine tooling, but the smoothing will be done by hand with a belt sander I think.

Whatever the cause, the bridge height when the guitar is set up correctly seems to vary from about 2-3mm under the wheels at the lowest (unusual) to as high as 9-10mm.

duotone

How do they send them out from the factory when purchased new?

ICBM

duotone said:

How do they send them out from the factory when purchased new?

Not top wrapped. If the bridge is too high they don't screw the tailpiece right down.

RaymondLin

I think there is a few Collector's Choice guitar comes top wrapped, to imitate the original owner and he/she made it famous. 

duotone

ICBM said:

duotone said:

How do they send them out from the factory when purchased new?

Not top wrapped. If the bridge is too high they don't screw the tailpiece right down.

RaymondLin said:

I think there is a few Collector's Choice guitar comes top wrapped, to imitate the original owner and he/she made it famous. 

Cheers guys, was just curious.

*Have never owned a Les Paul

RaymondLin

duotone said:

ICBM said:

duotone said:

How do they send them out from the factory when purchased new?

Not top wrapped. If the bridge is too high they don't screw the tailpiece right down.

RaymondLin said:

I think there is a few Collector's Choice guitar comes top wrapped, to imitate the original owner and he/she made it famous. 

Cheers guys, was just curious.

*Have never owned a Les Paul

http://www.guitarscollector.com/gibson-collector-s-choice.html

Check it out here.

Philly_Q

RaymondLin said:

http://www.guitarscollector.com/gibson-collector-s-choice.html

Check it out here.

I see their copy of Bernie Marsden's "The Beast" is top-wrapped, which made me go and look up pictures of the real thing.  It seems to be top-wrapped in some pictures and not in others.

Boromedic

Who cares, seriously!! I've done both, it matters not unless it's your guitar and you have a preference

johnl

What's the effect of the strings hitting the back of the ABR by the way? I've always thought the neck angle on my LP was pretty good as everything pretty low but can one of the more eagle-eyed on here give me their opinion please?



Chewed up tailpiece posts were courtesy of a "tech" who I won't be going back to anytime soon....

Fez

I was playing my Gordon Smith last night and noticed that the bridge was similar to johnl's pick above. So I will be raising the stop bar today to stop the strings contacting the back of the bridge. This will remove that point of friction which may help tuning stability.

ICBM

johnl said:

What's the effect of the strings hitting the back of the ABR by the way?

The strings touching the back edge of the bridge doesn’t actually cause a problem by itself, but it’s an indication that the break angle is too large, which puts excessive pressure on the bridge and over time can bend it.

It’s OK to have the top E touching - with the saddle being far forward it often does - but I would avoid it on the others.

johnl said:

I've always thought the neck angle on my LP was pretty good as everything pretty low but can one of the more eagle-eyed on here give me their opinion please?

That’s a good one, yes.

Fez

Don't know if the crappy phone pics will show much but here is before raising the stop bar.


Got a couple of thou clearance now.



Also learned you can select the image size in imgur.

So I will see if it makes any difference.

Had to use F big screwdriver as a coin wouldn't budge 'em.

duotone

RaymondLin said:

duotone said:

ICBM said:

duotone said:

How do they send them out from the factory when purchased new?

Not top wrapped. If the bridge is too high they don't screw the tailpiece right down.

RaymondLin said:

I think there is a few Collector's Choice guitar comes top wrapped, to imitate the original owner and he/she made it famous. 

Cheers guys, was just curious.

*Have never owned a Les Paul

http://www.guitarscollector.com/gibson-collector-s-choice.html

Check it out here.

Thanks for that @RaymondLin ;

Lestratcaster

I only do it on my Les Paul Junior as it has a different bridge tailpiece design, my normal Les Paul's I don't do it.

normula1

My CS339 was top wrapped with 11s when I bought it. When I re-strung it, I did so in "normal" fashion and it didn't feel as nice so I went back to top wrapping it.
It's the only Gibson style guitar I top wrap as I'm not keen on the look or the damage to the top of the tailpiece.