SG Special Upgrade Day...

Gahr said:
By the way, how is the Vibrola holding up? Does it hold the tuning well? Have you done anything to the nut to make tuning stability better, or was ist well cut to begin with?
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The vibrola is perfect, keeps tune well; I rarely use it, but the guitar goes straight back into tune after I do.

I had a good go at the nut - I used strings to cut the nut because I didn't have files, an 11 to cut the highE, a 16 to cut the B, a 26 to cut the G, a 36 to cut the D, a 46 to cut the A, and a good wiggling 46 to widen the lowE. Gibsons clearly have problems with the D and G (especially the G), so I rounded the angle a bit at the nut coming from the tuning pegs - seems to have worked well.

People seem to have different ideas of how strings should sit at the nut, and when the guitar came the strings were sitting on the nut, maybe halfway in (if that), but I like the strings to be in the nut, in a smooth space with a bit of room and with a bit of angle going towards the tuning pegs. Gibson seems to cut the nut slots straight which produces more string binding at the nut, imho.

I'm very happy with tuning stability now; the work on the nut along with the locking bridge studs (the locking faber studs really keep the bridge straight and rigid) has worked perfectly. These two areas are kinda vital for a Gibson, and I reckon a lot of owners should consider upgrades in this area (I'm sure most posters on here do already).

Do you reckon the nylon saddles in your DT SG help? The vibrola certainly helps to improve a Gibson wraparound - without the vibrola, the Specials could probably do with a heavier locking bridge like the one Sysco put on his Special. I'm not sure that the standard lightening wraparound is stable enough - it'll be interesting to see what bridge solution SG John goes for with his 2019 SG Special; he certainly knows his SGs!

Before:

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^ you can see a couple of things: 1) the highE is kinda going over a little mountain at the nut, strange (the A has a similar problem and thus binds at the first corner before dropping down into the nut as the string leaves the nut); 2) the D/G do have a bit of angle, the slots aren't absolutely straight, but especially the G is being caught on the corner which makes the string bind at the nut.

After:

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^ pretty ugly effort on my part, but the strings can move smoothly through the slots which is what I was after...
 
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Looking good!

I have no way of telling whether the nylon saddles help or not, but they certainly does not make the stability worse. It seems kind of logical to me that nylon allows for a smoother "glide" over the saddles than metal, but I have no references to prove it. I know that my Derek Trucks SG holds the tuning better than the 2005 Special Faded I put a Vibrola on a couple of years ago, but that could be the nut as well (I didn't do anything to the nut of the Faded other than lubrication). Honestly, I mainly put the nylon saddle bridge on the guitar to make it look a bit more 1964 "authentic".

Regarding widening the nut slots using strings: How easy was it to widen the slots of the high E and B strings? I would think that since the B and G strings are unwound, they wouldn't work as well as the more abrasive wound strings?
 
Gahr said:
Regarding widening the nut slots using strings: How easy was it to widen the slots of the high E and B strings? I would think that since the B and G strings are unwound, they wouldn't work as well as the more abrasive wound strings?
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The smaller gauge strings are more difficult to manipulate accurately and hold, so it takes a bit longer. The bigger gauge strings are easier because of the size and the grip of the wound strings. So, yeah, you are right, but it's not difficult, just takes a bit longer.
 
Mr Grumpy said:
The smaller gauge strings are more difficult to manipulate accurately and hold, so it takes a bit longer. The bigger gauge strings are easier because of the size and the grip of the wound strings. So, yeah, you are right, but it's not difficult, just takes a bit longer.
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For fine tuning those nut slots here's a good and inexpensive tip: Welding Tip Cleaners!

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A hardware store with welding supplies should have them. $3 to $10! ... Your welcome... :fingersx:
 
Mr Grumpy said:
Thought I'd start with the tuners.

The old ones on the right, the new ones on the left.

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The bushings are a bit different, so I just took my time taking the old bushing out and putting the new bushings in - not difficult, but worth a bit of care/

One side done, front and back:

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1) You can see that the buttons are whiter on the new ones. Actually, the old ones better matched the binding (although the pickguard is white, so you could say the new buttons match that better.

2) The new tuners are the latest Klusons, 18:1, so they will probably work well. They weren't expensive, about $50 delivered to me Korea. The MjojoAxe was about $60 delivered to me in Korea, and the posts were about $20 delivered to me in Korea, so I didn't spend much on this stuff. The worker costs were free, but of very low quality... me... :)

3) Screw holes? The old tuners had 6 screws whereas the new tuners had 4; the bottom hole was exactly the same; the other 3 were very slightly different, so new holes. I see no reason to ever change back to the old tuners, so shouldn't be an issue.

Both sides done, front and back.

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It was easy work, and I'm happy with the outcome.
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I like the way the new tuners look on the back. Makes it more stout/tough looking.
 
Mr Grumpy said:
as if they were putting minimal effort into getting a good nut position.
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YOU ARE NOT SLANDERING THE BIG "G" are YOU!?!?!?

they would NEVER EVER NEVER put out a product that wasnt 124.5% perfect

YOu better take that back or Gibson will send Mark Agnessi to your house to sleep on your couch while farting alot and he'll try and pee on your dog -----

the nut was perfectly FINE -- it would have worked well for decades -- your just being "picky"

ACCEPT THEIR AUTHOR-a_TIE !!!

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Gibson is all knowing --- dont go against the family!!!!!!!


you have been warned!
 
This will help Mr. grumpy, GraphTec
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I decided to put some Seymour Duncan Antiquity pickups in the Special. &, in my neverending drive to get the US economy back on track, I ordered from the US of A.

A bit worried by my tracking:

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It looks like a nice place to live, but sadly I don't live there...
 
The guitar is worthless Grump --- the truss rod cover screw hole is .00000145 of a centimeter off to the right --(typically SHODDY modern Gibson work)

Send it to me for destruction --- my neighbor has a half track -- we will run over it and film it for youtube ;)
 
Some more detailed pictures of the puppies; they are aged (I won't be using the rusty screws...).

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The values are quite pokey, but these are quite pokey puppies!

Front and back:

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Construction:

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I'm off for the next couple of weeks due to the CoronaVirus coming to town, so I have time to get the work done; I wonder how long I can avoid the soldering for??? :D
 
Thomann got back to me saying that they can't get hold of a bridge until July/August, can I think of another solution. I said just give me a credit. They said how's 25Euros? I said, that'll buy 25% of a Gibson bridge or half of a MojoAxe replacement bridge. Awaiting reply...
 
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