I Did it Again

[spupilup]

Free time can be dangerous.

Early this morning I was killing time perusing the AMS Outlet Zone when I saw a Southern Fade 1959 Les Paul that would look so nice on the guitar stand next to my ADB 1959. I was able to get it for $699 with one of my coupons. Normally, I wouldn't buy two of the same guitar but my ADB has become one of my favorites and I figured I could go with 9's on the Southern Fade and leave it tuned differently. It could, conceivably, arrive tomorrow but I'm not really concerned as I have so much going on I wouldn't have much of a chance to play with it until after Christmas.

I also scheduled the big bridge swap for later next week as I will finally have all the pieces from Faber to install and ABRM and tail piece on my ADB. I went for everything so I'll have a really great opportunity to A/B the ADB with all the Faber hardware against the Southern Fade and its stock hardware. I even included a few titanium saddles for the round wound strings. I know there are people who will think I'm crazy for "wasting money" on these sorts of things but, hey, I'm 63, having fun and, in the grand scheme of things, this is all really just chump change. One could spend their money in far worse ways.

I don't have a Marshall or Hiwatt stack but do have a really nice old (1968) Ampeg 18 watt Reverbojet that's all original and a Tone King Gremlin which I find can be a very revealing little 5 watter that does a nice job approximating both tweed and blackface amps. So between the two I should be able to get a good idea of what the hardware upgrades do for the sound of these great guitars. We'll see.

 

[soulman969]

Sounds like a real nice set up to me. Those '60s Ampegs are very underrated amps. And then a howling little 5 watter for when ya' want to get a little nasty.

And I don't think there's anything wrong with owning two of the same guitar. I've had as many as four Teles at once plus a G&L ASAT. All had different pickups and bridges. You own what you like!

 

[Darkness]

The only thing holding me back from buying a Southern Fade is having a Dark Burst. Admittedly I like the Southern more.

 

[3bolt79]

The only thing holding me back from buying a Southern Fade is having a Dark Burst. Admittedly I like the Southern more.

I have one of each. Got the Southern Fade first, and liked it so much that I ordered the Dark Burst. The Dark Burst plays ever so subtly smoother than the Fade.

And the my Greeny is a different animal all together. Deep neck thickness with a little less shoulder than the 59’s and larger frets.

 

[spupilup]

Great, now all I’ll be thinking about is finding a deal on a Greeny In the next few months. But, I have to get through the holidays first! I really bought too many guitars this year.

 

[3bolt79]

Great, now all I’ll be thinking about is finding a deal on a Greeny In the next few months. But, I have to get through the holidays first! I really bought too many guitars this year.

Me too… I’ve bought 13 this year, got one for Christmas, and two free.

 

[soulman969]

Great, now all I’ll be thinking about is finding a deal on a Greeny In the next few months. But, I have to get through the holidays first! I really bought too many guitars this year.

Is there such a thing?????

 

[soulman969]

Me too… I’ve bought 13 this year, got one for Christmas, and two free.

You should contact Epiphone to see it they'll make you a dealer.....LOL.

 

[spupilup]

I got the guitar yesterday but have not yet received the Faber ABMR HYBridge. That is supposed to come tomorrow. So, in the words of a famous Casino user, "Phase one in which Doris gets her oat."

First things first. The ASF was built in August of 2023 so unlike my ADB which was built in December of 2021, this one doesn't seem to qualify for frequent flyer mileage the way my ADB did. Though it was a "blem" it was in far better shape. I guess the reason why the guitar was returned was because the bridge pickup was installed in a crazy way bringing the back of it up so high it was hitting the strings. WTF, right? About a minute of unscrewing the four screws, making and adjustment and everything was fine.

Now, did you know that some cases came with different interior colors. I thought the screaming, hot pink was standard but that is not the case. The ASF came with a magenta interior which I thought was much more appealing. There's even someone over on TGP who said that was more like the color of the case of a real '59 that he saw many years ago. In the end, it means little to me because both cases with just get stashed away in a closet.

As I said above, this is Phase 1. I have plans for this ASF which is much nicer that my ADB.

I removed the 9-42 strings. While they looked new, they were dreadful sounding. I intend on putting 9m-42's on this one so it was fortuitous that I had a brief opportunity to play it with the lighter gauge strings. I have 10-46's on just about everything else except for my Fender AO 50's Tele which has 10-46.5 Pyramid Flats but this ASF is getting Elixir Optiweb 9-42's. And, they were just delivered from AMS just a few minutes ago.

I removed the strings from the new arrival and the nut promptly fell off. The wood underneath and the nut itself looked like there never was any glue installed from the factory. It was the same thing with my LP Special but at least this nut was straight and sat perfectly. Out came the TiteBond and just like the worked pickup, all was right in minutes.

With the strings off, I took to checking the frets and three needed a little persuasion so they would sit evenly with the rest of the crew. Then I had at it with my files. I really want this one to be as close to perfect as I can get it so I went over each and every fret so that the neck was a smooth as silk. Hey, I'm retired and have plenty of time on my hands.

I then removed the pick guard, pickups, knobs, switches, bridge, tail piece and all the studs and proceeded to polish the guitar with some Meguir's Ultimate Polish. I had used it on the ADB and thought it worked pretty well without to much trouble. With that accomplished I put everything back together and proceeded to apply some Linseed oil on the neck. It's a bit lighter and streakier than the ADB but the wood responded nicely to the oil. The final step for the neck was a light application of graphite to the nut slots. This nut seems even better cut than the other one and needed no filing.

With the body and neck taken care of, it was time to install the new Faber tailpiece. That took about five minutes and now, since I'm sitting waiting until tomorrow for the ABRM, I'm trying to decide if I want to continue any further or simply wait until tomorrow. I know that I could reinstall the dead strings that came with the guitar but that's not really appealing. I don't want to use a new set of Elixir's either. The guitar is going to need intonation once the new bridge and strings are installed and I use witness points when doing so. As a result, I really don't want to have to do this more than once for a set of new strings.

I'm going to post some pictures after I go about reducing their size and figure out what I want to do with the rest of the afternoon.

 

[chadbrochills]

Wow, quite a difference in the interior colors of the cases! Looks great.

 

[spupilup]

Wow, quite a difference in the interior colors of the cases! Looks great.

I agree. Personally, I think I like the darker magenta over the bright pink but YMMV!

I couldn't resist restringing the guitar with the awful strings it came with. Keep in mind, the tailpiece has been upgraded to the Faber, complete with the removal of the cheap steel studs and the installation of the new Faber studs. Suddenly, the original strings don't sound so bad! Now I can't wait to get the ABRM HYBridge in tomorrow. If there's only half as big a leap in the quality of the sound and sustain, I'll be amazed. Already, it is so much more alive and touch sensitive than my ADB which has not had any upgrades and I love that guitar!!! Now, I'm going back to playing. Tomorrow, installation of the new bridge and strings along with setting the action and intonation and I'll be all set!

It's turning into a really nice holiday week!

 

[chadbrochills]

I agree. Personally, I think I like the darker magenta over the bright pink but YMMV!

I couldn't resist restringing the guitar with the awful strings it came with. Keep in mind, the tailpiece has been upgraded to the Faber, complete with the removal of the cheap steel studs and the installation of the new Faber studs. Suddenly, the original strings don't sound so bad! Now I can't wait to get the ABRM HYBridge in tomorrow. If there's only half as big a leap in the quality of the sound and sustain, I'll be amazed. Already, it is so much more alive and touch sensitive than my ADB which has not had any upgrades and I love that guitar!!! Now, I'm going back to playing. Tomorrow, installation of the new bridge and strings along with setting the action and intonation and I'll be all set!

It's turning into a really nice holiday week!

I definitely like the darker interior over the light pink.

 

[spupilup]

Sadly, USPS has my ABRM bridge stuck in Philadelphia for two days now. They’re threatening to deliver it tomorrow but there’s been no movement in tracking since Tuesday when delivery was stated for today.

if it arrives tomorrow I’ll post pictures and install it. I can’t wait to hear what titanium saddles will do for the round round strings. I’ll restring my ADB with new Elixirs so I’ll have a chance to A/B the Faber bridge and tailpiece against the stick Epiphone hardware.

 

[spupilup]

The bridge arrived this afternoon and I just finished installing it. It only takes a couple of minutes to install the studs, thumb wheels and bridge. I had already installed the studs and tailpiece the other day. I had the action set in no time and five out of six strings were within 2-3 cents when I checked intonation. Overall, including installing the new Elixir Optiweb 9-42's, I think I was done in just a little over 30 minutes. I have not had an opportunity to compare it to the ADB which is still stock. It has the heavier 10-46 Elixirs on it but I'll have time to play with both tomorrow so I can provide a reasonable comparison. My initial feelings are very positive. The guitar has sustain forever and the round wound strings have a bite and growl, even in the neck position, that I certainly hadn't experienced with the guitar straight out of the box on Tuesday. Even with the installation of the Faber tailpiece, I only had a glimpse of the transformation of this guitar. There is absolutely no way you couldn't hear the transformation through the steps I've taken over the last few days.

 

[3bolt79]

I might just do that too. I’m gonna mod one of my 1959’s with the greens mod just for kicks.

 

[spupilup]

I might just do that too. I’m gonna mod one of my 1959’s with the greens mod just for kicks.

Faber has 20% off until midnight tonight so I bought a complete ABRM HYBRIDge and tailpiece with all the trimmings for my ADB. Even with the extras, with the deal I got on the guitar from AMS, I still paid less than the current street price for one of these ADB’s. After changing strings and playing the ADB against the ASF, there was no comparison. I had to do the upgrade.