Plugging holes

Yeah is does look as nice as expected - one of the nicest looking SGs for sure.

If your arm is too stiff, if you remove the maestro there's a locking bolt under the arm which you can relax a bit which will enable you to turn the screw at the top to allow more movement/less stiffness; it shows this in the video I posted.

Did the new maestro fit in the same screws as the old one? If not, if you one day dcided to put the DK maestro back on would any maestro screw holes be visible?

Tuning stability, how is it compared to before with the fixed tailpiece? Also, any change in tone?

Both guitars are really lovely. Nice to see you have a great time with playing those lovely guitars and drinking some quality IPA. I've been preferring IPAs recently, but not so much the rather boring GreenKing IPA type, but some of the American speciality breweries such as Goose Island IPA.
 
Mr Grumpy said:
Yeah is does look as nice as expected - one of the nicest looking SGs for sure.

If your arm is too stiff, if you remove the maestro there's a locking bolt under the arm which you can relax a bit which will enable you to turn the screw at the top to allow more movement/less stiffness; it shows this in the video I posted.

Did the new maestro fit in the same screws as the old one? If not, if you one day dcided to put the DK maestro back on would any maestro screw holes be visible?

Tuning stability, how is it compared to before with the fixed tailpiece? Also, any change in tone?

Both guitars are really lovely. Nice to see you have a great time with playing those lovely guitars and drinking some quality IPA. I've been preferring IPAs recently, but not so much the rather boring GreenKing IPA type, but some of the American speciality breweries such as Goose Island IPA.
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The arm is pretty stiff, yes. But I don’t use it very much, only for a light shimmer with chords, so I usually just keep it pointing backwards, to keep it out of the way of the knobs and my picking.

It fit perfectly in the excisting holes. No new holes needed.

I haven’t noted any problems with tuning stability. But then again, I don’t use the Vibrola very aggressively. It takes a bit longer for me to change and tune new strings, but I’ll get used to it quickly enough.

Tonally I honestly can’t tell any difference when I play. The guitar has always been quite loud and resonant acoustically, and it still is. No difference plugged either.

Goose Island IPA was the first imported American IPA available in Norway, we used to drink it all the time. Butworking in a brewery I have become extremely spoiled when it comes to the freshness of IPAs, so I very rarely drink imported ones anymore... I still like Gosse Island, though.
 
That's all good news, Gahr - I was worried about tuning stability, perhaps some loss in tone and and some ugly new screw holes, but it looks like it has worked out really well; great job. & the guitar just looks so beautiful with the full maestro.

My new maestro equipped SG has just popped up at Korean customs, so I hope to do a new guitar day next week and experience a Maestro vibrola for the first time.
 
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Mr Grumpy said:
That's all good news, Gahr - I was worried about tuning stability, perhaps some loss in tone and and some ugly new screw holes, but it looks like it has worked out really well; great job. & the guitar just loos so beautiful with the full maestro.

My new maestro equipped SG has just popped up at Korean customs, so I hope to do a new guitar day next week and experience a Maestro vibrola for the first time.
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I'm waiting for the report on that Special. The thing about Vibrolas is that you simply cannot expect the same as you would of a Floyd-style vibrato system. They are simply not made for dive bombs. Shimmering chords are their thing. And their function depends on well cut, well lubricated nut slots and bridge saddles. I wonder if me using nylon saddles on the Derek Trucks will in any way make a difference compared to metal saddles?

The Lyre Vibrola is beautiful, but there is something to be said about the more "utilitarian" looking short Vibrolas as well. They have a very rustic charm; simple yet (if used and set up properly) effective. The only guitar I really feel is "lacking" in my small SG collection now is a dual P90 Special. I don't have a Custom either, but for some reason I have never really gased for one.
 
From looking at some reviews of the new 61' maestro, there seems to be plenty of stability problems, but like you, I reckon it's a bridge and nut slot problem ( the strings gripping in the slots causing the problems?) - if they are right then the vibrola should be stable for gentle use, shimmery use. You've done a really good job with yours.

On the special, the bridge is pretty chunky, so as long as the nut is ok, there should be decent stability - we will see.

The special should be interesting, and I reckon, if I wanted to, there's always the option of sneaking on a DK maestro end piece if I wanted to change the look at some point (probably wouldn't bother, but I reckon it might be possible).
 
Tonepros makes a nice roller bridge also.I think Gahrs nylon bridge saddles make his tuning stability better.Strings slide over nylon alot easier than they slide over metal. i pre prepped my SG JR i put the Trapeze tailpiece on with a nickel plated Gotoh TOM bridge because if i go with a B7 or Maestro ect the metric Gotoh TOM bridge uses huges bushing inserts and the metric posts are twice the size of stock Gibsons.So if i ever went the Vibrola route Tonepros makes a nice drop in roller bridge for the metric posts.
 
Plus the Gotoh metric TOM bridge post bushings are the same size as tailpiece stud bushings so these bridge posts go down and hit my original ground wire where the wrap around bridge was.I never did understand the logic of a Vibrola on a Gibson SG that uses a lightning bolt bridge ???? I had one and it just rocks all over. Makes no sence to me.20200104_044416.jpg20200104_044424.jpg20200104_044435.jpg
 
Mr Grumpy said:
Probably. Looking at the video I posted, the ABR 1 was flexing far too much, and the strings were sticking in the saddle slots horribly.
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That seems to be a very common problem, yes. I can't say I've noticed it yet with this one. I don't know why that is, though. I haven't done anything special to avoid it, really. The saddles are nylon, all I have done to slot them is give the strings a very light whack with a small plastic hammer to create tiny dents in which the strings can rest. And I lube the saddles and the nut slots with Big Bends Nut Sauce every string change.

I think expectations and mindset are key factors here also. For most of my musical "career" I have played less than ideal guitars; My Tokai Stratocaster was really a killer Strat, but I never really dug Strats that much, and Because of a badly set up tree and worn nut, the tuning stability was below par. My second guitar, the 1975 Gibson SG-II had a wraparound compensated for a wound G and was thus impossible to intonate properly, But those were the tools I could afford, so I learned to work with what I had. There is nothing noble about this whatsoever, but I think it taught me a couple of lessons. I can make do with almost anything, I just need to adapt to how things work. Sure, I love modding guitars, and could probably mod all of them into stable tone monsters, but sometimes I mod just for the sake of (my very personal) mojo. And that's were the Maestro Vibrola comes in. There are certain things it just cannot do. Dive-bombs and heavy-handed action are among them. What it can do is light shimmers and subtle coloring. And if the guitar goes slightly out of tune, I just tune it. That's how I have always done it with all of my guitars, and they have served me well. Of course, a lot of guitarists will disagree with me here, but that's ok. Whatever floats your boat. Maestro Vibrolas are slightly finicky tools that do a very specific job.
 
Gahr said:
Tonally I honestly can’t tell any difference when I play. The guitar has always been quite loud and resonant acoustically, and it still is. No difference plugged either.
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This is good news!


JohnnyGoo said:
I think Gahrs nylon bridge saddles make his tuning stability better.Strings slide over nylon alot easier than they slide over metal.
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Interesting observation... :iagree:
 
SG John said:
Looks great Gahr. Nothing like a Lyre on an SG.
Except, maybe a Bigsby. But the Lyre still is classier.
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Ya know . . . I put a Bigsby on my SG for awhile . . .and I ended up taking it off and selling it to @eSGEe .
I do have a Gibson Lyre tailpeice that I have considered installing as a DT mod.
 
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I've been playing my baby again tonight. I absolutely love this SG. I was thinking about putting a Bigsby on, but I think I would rather buy a different SG for that. This plays too nice as it is. Gahr is completely right about the factory style trems only liking minimal movement. My 68 had the same spring steel vibrato, but without the fancy tail section. If you try a dive you could feel the side with the lever moving more than the other side. Huge tuning problem. The nylon saddles certainly help a lot. The string saver saddles would be even better as they self lubricate.
 
JohnnyGoo said:
I think Gahrs nylon bridge saddles make his tuning stability better.Strings slide over nylon a lot easier than they slide over metal.
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All of the SGs with Vibrolas (Except Specials and Juniors with Stop-Tailpiece) came from Gibson with nylon saddles. My '69 had them, and I believe that the were that way until the seventies. That is also why the pickups are voiced the way they are. It was a collective sum of the parts involved. I believe that even the ABR-1 bridges on early Les Pauls had the nylon saddles, and that had a big part to play in their original sound.
 
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