HNGD Lee Malia Custom Artisan - Pic Heavy

[Hedon09]

The little dents aren't an issue to me. Even if it had been flawless, give it some months of playing and there are marks.
Also, letting the nut aside, there is no real flaw in the craftmanship, just some cracks in the laquer. Even my Custom Build Telecaster had some when i got it new from the luthier. After giving it some lemon oil the color of the fretboard has become dark enough so that there is barely any visible edge, and the nut would have been replaced anyway. After some days of getting used to her i can only praise how nice this guitar feels. Would enter any stage in the world with it and, although it bugs me to say so, i will propably play it more often than my custom tele (a shame that it took me a Custom Build to realize how much a les Paul guy i am ).

 

[cybermgk]

After some days of getting used to her i can only praise how nice this guitar feels. Would enter any stage in the world with it and, although it bugs me to say so, i will propably play it more often than my custom tele (a shame that it took me a Custom Build to realize how much a les Paul guy i am ).

Feel the same about mine. It has become my number 1.

 

[Hedon09]

So, the Graphtech stuff showed up today. After a good amount of carefull sanding this is what she looks like now:

Fitting the nut was not that big deal, as i had anticipated. Narrowed it down step by step to the point where i was happy, glued it in and that was it. I did not need to change the height, just took away some of the thickness and on the sides (maybe i could have taken of a tiny bit more on the low-e side). Loosening the old nut was a piece of cake following the instructions given on the epiphone setup guide on mylespaul.
Looking at the picture of the first fret one might get the impression that it sits a bit to much to the left but my ruler says the high and low e-strings both sit 4mm from the edge of the fretboard. This tells me either that the inlay is a tad off center or that i'm not able to make a correct measurement ;-)
Sonically with the new nut and bridge fitted, the guitar lost a bit of the 2kHz bite you get from a metal bridge since there are string saver saddles now but it gained a good amount of mid-range ooomph. Maybe someday i will try the U.L.F.-equipped Resomax but for now i feel very happy with how the guitar feels and sounds.

 

[JohnnyGoo]

looks good to me.ive been puttin graphtech nuts on all my Epis.big improvment.and yes sometimes the inlays are a tad off center.hell no worse than Gibbys that cost 3 times as much.

 

[JohnnyGoo]

Beautiful geetar by the way.only new Epi im gassing for other than a Casino.

 

[Hedon09]

I checked back the inlay, it's 0,5mm of...who cares!

 

[JohnnyGoo]

ya who cares.no kiddin ive seen nice Gibbys with things more out of whack than a inlay 0.05 mm off. just sayin it happens. when ya line the nut up you also got to take into account how much wider the low E is over the high E string.those machine cut string nuts are pretty dead on as far as the spacing goes.and usually the way the low and hi E string tuners are on the headstock if you put those two strings on it will line itself up.course they can be off to.looks like you did a proper job.and ya ive had to sand some off the ends to fit the neck.

 

[Hedon09]

Got a reply to my question wether these do have a maple top:

Dear Mr Fender,


Thank you for your query. We have updated the product page for the Ltd. Ed. Lee Malia Signature Les Paul Custom with the maple top spec:


http://www.epiphone.com/Products/Les-Paul/Ltd-Ed-Lee-Malia-Signature-Les-Paul-Custom.aspx


If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us again or refer to our webpage at www.gibson.com


Kind regards,


Boris

It seems they have

 

[frogfur]

I like it. Wish they made a lefty too.

 

[Hedon09]

So, 2 month after the purchase of the Lee Malia I'm still in deepest love with it! It's become my number 1 guitar recently.
Inspired by the wait for the new Ahab-Record I had another recording quickie with her and my T+ today.

https://soundcloud.com/hedon09/doom

I must admit, i'm really satisfied with the way it turned out! Sound's massive.

 

[eS.G.]

GORGEOUS guitar Hedon09 just gorgeous.

 

[blind radish]

wowzer