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Gavin1393
09-09-2014, 11:27 AM
Working on a number of projects simultaneously.
I will be using Gibson cream coloured Tuners, rosewood Fretboard with Gibson Crown markers. The neck is Mahogany. For the bridge I have contacted Joe Glasser who has supplied me with a compensated bridge and is currently setting up the trapeze arms for me. Pickguards will be cream. Gold 3 way switch, with 2 volumes and 2 tone controls.
In the bridge and the neck I have secured two Lindy Fralin P90's.
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/q8wug-GoldTop.jpg
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/eaenj-Gold-Top2.jpg

gavinturner
09-09-2014, 11:33 AM
Awesome Gav! What are you using for the gold paint? I've always wanted to do one of these, but I've never found a supply of decent looking paint.

cheers,
Gav.

Gavin1393
09-09-2014, 11:56 AM
Layers and LAyers of good old Aussie Auto paint!

ponch
09-09-2014, 12:48 PM
Soap bars and gold tops. There is none more stunning and classy.

Gavin1393
09-09-2014, 08:42 PM
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from andrew on September 8, 2014, 21:48
Soap bars and gold tops. There is none more stunning and classy.

I completely agree! :)

bargeloobs
09-09-2014, 09:20 PM
Now this is going be a cool build. Didn't the 52's have a dodgy trem or something? I hope you're not gonna replicate that too:)

stan
09-09-2014, 10:36 PM
love it Gav, looks nice.

Was that an old Holden or Ford colour?

ponch
09-09-2014, 11:06 PM
Kingswood gold?

Gavin1393
10-09-2014, 01:17 AM
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from bargeloobs on September 9, 2014, 06:20
Now this is going be a cool build. Didn't the 52's have a dodgy trem or something? I hope you're not gonna replicate that too:)

It did have a very dodgy trapeze set up, but this has been rectified... I'll be working with the rectified version!

Here is some really cool information on the history of this model.

The 1952 and early 1953 Gibson Les Paul goldtop models are not very playable as a professional instrument because of a shallow neckset, and a badly designed trapeze tailpiece. They do have some collector appeal though, as Gibson's first Les Paul generation. The trapeze tailpiece had two problems: first, the strings wrapped *under* the bar, not allowing the player to "mute" the strings with the palm of the hand. The second problem was if the trapeze was knocked from the side, the whole guitar could go out of tune. This happened because the trapeze tail's string bar was not anchored to the top of the guitar (only string presure and a felt pad kept the bar from moving side-to-side). In addition the neck angle is also very shallow on the trapeze models, so the strings could not be looped over the top of the LP tailpiece (the string action would be too high). Also converting to a 1953 style stop-bar or a tunematic was very very difficult again because of the neck angle. The very earliest Les Paul models also had fretboards with no edge binding and the lead pickup had diagonal mounting screws. Because of the funky Les Paul tailpiece on 1952 and early 1953 models, this version of the Les Paul Standard is generally looked down on by players and collectors.

Les Paul himself has said he told Gibson about the tailpiece design flaw when he saw the first production models. He explained that the strings were supposed to wrap *over* the bar, not under it, and that the neck angle should be steeper to accomodate this difference in action at the bridge. Apparently it took Gibson a whole year to figure out that maybe Les Paul actually knew what he was talking about! Because of the 1952 tailpiece problems and complaints, by early 1953 the "wrap around stop bar" tailpiece/bridge combo was adopted by Gibson on the Les Paul Goldtop. This rectified the playability problems (the strings wrap over the *top* of the tailpiece, allowing palm mutes). These models are quite nice (though many players still complained because the stop bar can not be intonated perfectly). The early 1953 wrap-around models still had a shallow neck angle, limiting the downward adjustment of the stop bar. But this had the added benefit of keeping the strings close to the pickups, making early 1953 models with wrap tails very loud guitars. But as 1954 approached, the neck angle increased allowing more downward adjustment of the wrap around tailpiece. Regardless the 1953 stop tail Les Paul Goldtops had better playing action, and the tuning was more stable since the stop bar was now anchored to the top of the guitar allowing no movement side-to-side. The previous problem of right-hand palm muting was solved, as was the tuning problems from tailpiece movement. Although this was a big improvement on the 1952 design, it still had its limitations in respect to intonation.

The conversion from the trapeze to wrap-around tailpiece happened around serial number "3 1300" (with "3 1314" for example having a wrap-around and "3 1359" having a trapeze, so there was some overlap no doubt). Earliest seen wrap-around is serial number "3 0995", so there was definately a mix of wrap-around and trapeze tail Goldtops in the "3 1000" to "3 1400" serial number range). By 1953 a rhythm/treble plastic surround on the pickup selector switch was added. By around serial number "3 22xx", Gibson changed the control cavity route slightly too (no longer routing the ground channel going to the end pin for the original trapeze tailpiece).

The 1950s Les Paul guitars were officially called the "Les Paul" model. This quickly became known as "GoldTop" due to the gold top finish. Although most Gold Tops have exactly that, a gold colored maple top with a natural brown back, a few were made with an all-gold finish. Personally I don't like the all-gold models as much, as the gold finish does not wear well (especially on the back of the neck). The gold finish was clear lacquer with bronze powder. As a result a greenish hue can be seen on many Gold Tops where the bronze particles in the finish oxidize (mainly due to human sweat contact). The green affect shows up much greater on the all-gold models, potentially making them look pretty ugly.

Gavin1393
10-09-2014, 01:22 AM
This is what I am aiming at. The first pi is the trapeze and compensated tailpiece. The other two show examples of the GoldTop but with a raised tailpiece. The one I am using will sit flush on the soundboard but has two pins that penetrate the top and hold the tailpiece in position and as such alleviate the problem that used to affect earlier Goldtops, namely that they would never stay in tune!
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/f7bib-MojoAxeTrapezeTailpiece-Goldtop.jpg
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/m7w1e-LesPaul_10.jpg
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/86668-p1030911.jpg

wokkaboy
10-09-2014, 03:11 AM
nice project Gav, presume all these builds aren't PBG kits being in non Pitbull section ?

Gavin1393
10-09-2014, 04:13 AM
Yeah, I needed NON Bass Wood bodies and I wanted some high quality necks with the skunk stripes, to complete the look.

wokkaboy
10-09-2014, 04:25 AM
good stuff Gav, any clues to where these kits come from ?

Gavin1393
10-09-2014, 07:51 AM
/<\\/p>[/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/]<\\/p>/Quote from wokkaboy on September 9, 2014, 13:25
good stuff Gav, any clues to where these kits come from ?

No REAL surprises that I went for TONE woods on the Alder Strat body and the necks, but I did STEW over the Tele decision until I saw how imMACulately the necks fitted the neck-pocket. ;)

wokkaboy
10-09-2014, 07:53 AM
haha nice code there Gav, so Strat from Realtone and tele from SM by the sounds

BenWA
10-09-2014, 11:54 PM
*facepalm*

cant wait to see how this turns out, will have to remember to keep checking this section of the forum

Gavin1393
03-10-2014, 01:11 PM
Lovely story:
The luthier that built the trapeze and tailpiece that KU uses supplied me with the tailpiece. But I really should have looked at the sales ad more carefully as they showed the tailpiece and the trapeze for the price. They ad did clearly say tailpiece and I assumed for the price I was paying, that it was both.

I was wrong and on returning to their site realised my mistake. Never mind, how difficult can it be to get a trapeze of 170mm off the internet particularly off e-bay.
Turns out - it's impossible!
So I get hold of Dan Glaser and chat to one of his colleagues who is intrigued that I am building a '52 spec'd gold top exactly like KU's. He knows exactly where he can source the trapeze I need from Gibson themselves for me (because Dan doesn't supply them - just supplies the tailpiece) and then he offers to bend it for me exactly as they did for KU! It's on its way to me at the time of writing this. Excellent service!

Well, here's the current progress report. As you might see I blissfully painted and made it look beautiful and then realised I was putting P90's into a hum bucker slot.....bit of bad planning...so a rework and here we are again!


http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/428w1-Photo-2.jpg
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/27r8r-Photo-9.jpg

Brendan
03-10-2014, 01:19 PM
Having seen all these builds in the flesh - they're all pretty amazing. Keen to see how they all sound once done!

bargeloobs
03-10-2014, 07:38 PM
Coming along beautifully Gav:-)

stan
03-10-2014, 09:07 PM
the colour is just right, love the look of this one - this is my favorite Gav build of late

Gavin1393
08-10-2014, 03:54 AM
...and quietly he sat appreciating the pure wonder of it all!
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/e56x9-Goldie.jpg

wokkaboy
08-10-2014, 04:53 AM
sweet finish on this one Gav, looks very close to a gold top colour. Is that naughty room oil ?
nice story on sourcing the trapeze well done !

Gavin1393
08-10-2014, 06:32 AM
No, Wokka, it's actually an acrylic topcoat.

wokkaboy
08-10-2014, 06:33 AM
oh ok cheers Gav, still won't get you out of the naughty room mate. We got to talk DB into extensions in the naughty room its getting crowded and I need backup pouring pints !

jarrod
08-10-2014, 08:16 AM
Nice job Gav, welcome to the naughty clear coat shed. Unfortunately DB has not connected the power here yet so it's bring your esky

stan
09-10-2014, 04:03 AM
gotto say I love this axe.
I am inspired to try a Joe Bonamassa gold top gibson tribute , gold top, black bits...

This is awesome Gav

bargeloobs
09-10-2014, 09:59 PM
This is looking unbelievable!! What's your plans for the headstock Gav? From what I can gather this model used a pearl inlay "Gibson" logo along with a silk screened "Les Paul Model", how you gonna replicate this?

Gavin1393
09-10-2014, 10:03 PM
I want the world to know I put this together, so the headstock will have the 'G' style shape, but it will be clear that it's MY guitar and not Keith's! :)
I have 'toyed' with the idea of 'GaviN' in MOP as opposed to "GibsoN'.

Stan, it's not hard to get the GoldTop finish!

bargeloobs
09-10-2014, 10:31 PM
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from Gavin1393 on October 9, 2014, 07:03
I want the world to know I put this together, so the headstock will have the 'G' style shape, but it will be clear that it's MY guitar and not Keith's! :)
I have 'toyed' with the idea of 'GaviN' in MOP as opposed to "GibsoN'.


I'm hearin' ya, should look sweet:-)
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/j290i-253452345.jpg

wokkaboy
10-10-2014, 01:16 AM
Barge did you use a program to get that Gavin lettering on the headstock ? that will look off the chain man !

bargeloobs
10-10-2014, 03:02 AM
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from wokkaboy on October 9, 2014, 10:16
Barge did you use a program to get that Gavin lettering on the headstock ? that will look off the chain man !

Just a quick jimmy up in Photoshop...

stan
10-10-2014, 04:12 AM
that would be so cool!

I hear ya Gav, and I want to try one, yours looks perfect in colour

gavinturner
10-10-2014, 04:42 AM
Hey Gav,

Could you give more information on the auto colour you used on this one? Brand and colour name?
Love to do one of these :) .

cheers,
Gav.

Gavin1393
11-10-2014, 01:44 AM
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from gavinturner on October 9, 2014, 13:42
Hey Gav,

Could you give more information on the auto colour you used on this one? Brand and colour name?
Love to do one of these :) .

cheers,
Gav.
Australian Export "Gold" from Super Cheap Auto....$2-50 a can when on special....

Gavin1393
11-10-2014, 01:49 AM
Thought I might do something like this with the headstock.

http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/t1q4m-Photo_2.jpg

stan
11-10-2014, 04:11 AM
Yep - do it!

AJ
11-10-2014, 06:49 AM
/<\\/p>[/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/]<\\/p>/Quote from Gavin1393 on October 10, 2014, 10:49
Thought I might do something like this with the headstock.

http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/t1q4m-Photo_2.jpg

NO DONT! You'll go blind Gav..LOL
Looks the part matey :)

Gavin1393
11-10-2014, 08:55 AM
A sneaky first look at the body and neck of the 52 Goldtop now that it has been glued together with some 'meltable' hide glue, in case I get the neck angle all wrong! :)
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/li7a7-Photo_5.jpg

Fretworn
14-10-2014, 12:39 AM
I don't envy you trying to get this intonated. Your therapist is going end up owning your soul.

wokkaboy
14-10-2014, 02:38 AM
looking nice and shiny gold Gavmiester, well done and love the headstock and truss rod cover. Should look very nice once its finished. $2.50 Supercheap paint, you wouldn't believe it looking at the finish you got !

Gavin1393
14-10-2014, 11:31 AM
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from Fretworn on October 13, 2014, 09:39
I don't envy you trying to get this intonated. Your therapist is going end up owning your soul.

Easiest guitar i have ever had to intonate.......

Used my special SM tool to get the two 'E's and then there is my MojoAxe bridge. These guys were fantastic. Service was flippin awesome. Can't rave enough about them.


http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/8980m-image.jpg

stan
14-10-2014, 10:16 PM
wow, looks amazing, just love this one

wokkaboy
15-10-2014, 12:33 AM
looking sweet Gav, must be close to completion ?

Nickosaurus
15-10-2014, 12:51 AM
How do you actually adjust intonation on those fixed bridges? Is it a fore-aft movement with those bolts on the tail piece?

wokkaboy
15-10-2014, 01:03 AM
hey Nick, looks like as you described.

Gavin1393
15-10-2014, 01:35 AM
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from Nickosaurus on October 14, 2014, 09:51
How do you actually adjust intonation on those fixed bridges? Is it a fore-aft movement with those bolts on the tail piece?


Absolutely correct! Plus it has some double sided screw at each end of the tailpiece bridge that raises or descends the height of the bridge.

Gavin1393
15-10-2014, 01:37 AM
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from wokkaboy on October 14, 2014, 09:33
looking sweet Gav, must be close to completion ?

Already been playing it since Sunday morning (12th October)...

Love the P90 sound. Lindy Fralins!

wokkaboy
15-10-2014, 02:01 AM
good stuff Gav, so did your Lindy Fralins turn up in the post or is it the JR-1DC build you are still waiting ?

Gavin1393
15-10-2014, 03:39 AM
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from wokkaboy on October 14, 2014, 11:01
good stuff Gav, so did your Lindy Fralins turn up in the post or is it the JR-1DC build you are still waiting ?

Got the set of Frailins direct from Lindy's website. There were on order for a month. For the JR I went to the local Aussie supplier as they claimed they had stock and I expected to get the pickup in under 5 days.
Turns out I had to approach Paypal and open a case as Tone Bros ignored all my telephone calls and all my email messages. B-Man also sent them an email enquiry to their e-mail address on their website. He too is still awaiting a response.
Unfortunately, these guys are destroying the Lindy Frailin Brand name in Australia. After PAyPal contacted Tone Bros they claimed the pickups weren't in stock and would only arrive in 8 weeks time. So, despite my clear statement in the PayPal case that I want the pickup, I just want someone to tell me it's on its way...these bunglers cancelled the sale and refunded my money. They certainly don't seem to want good business. They also can't have much of a social network media monitor as you would expect that they would be a bit more attentive to the negative stuff on the premier guitar building forum in Australia?

wokkaboy
15-10-2014, 04:05 AM
oh well at least you got your money refunded Gav but wasted alot of your time. So you going to order the pup direct ?

Gavin1393
15-10-2014, 05:02 AM
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from wokkaboy on October 14, 2014, 13:05
oh well at least you got your money refunded Gav but wasted alot of your time. So you going to order the pup direct ?

Thinking I might really splash out on a Kinman P90....

wokkaboy
15-10-2014, 05:08 AM
sounds good Gav, so these fellas
http://www.kinman.com/guitar-pickups/p90/

hopefully Kinman take their customer service more seriously !

Gavin1393
15-10-2014, 06:55 AM
You and me both Woks, otherwise going to have to go with SM Golden Age which I have had for a while but not used...:(

SIMpleONe89
12-03-2015, 05:13 PM
Gavin has this guitar been finished? Would love to see the results!

And wouldn't the supercheap gold paint take very long to cure and dry, seeing that it's enamel?

wokkaboy
12-03-2015, 06:20 PM
I saw it couple of months ago complete SimpleOne, it looked awesome. Gav seems to not be on the forum much lately, hopefully he'll see the post and post some pics

SIMpleONe89
17-03-2015, 05:41 PM
Aww that's a pity! Was hoping to see everything up and running! Am thinking of a goldtop project in the future!

Brendan
17-03-2015, 08:24 PM
Simon - have seen it. The matched set is amazing - especially the level of detail that the Gavmeister went to with the whole Keith Urban set. I'll drop him a line and see if he can post a pic.

SIMpleONe89
18-03-2015, 09:01 AM
Oh don't worry about it Brendan! I can visualise it!