spupilup
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2023
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If you 've been reading my other thread about a recently purchased Special in TV Yellow they you probably already saw a picture of this new guitar. After the tremendously positive experience picking up a "blemished" Les Paul Special for $359 from an online dealer, when I saw they had a "blemished" 1959 Les Paul Standard that with all my discounts coming to just $745, I figured I had to buy it. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as nice as the Special but it sounded great so I figured I'd put some time in to see if I couldn't make this guitar work for me.
To me, when I see a "blemished" model for sale I think it's usually a customer return and I count on having to do a little work to make the guitar play the way I want it. The Special took very little work at all and spoiled me. The first think I noticed when I opened the box for the 1959 was that it had been resealed more than once or twice. Uh oh, I thought, this doesn't bode well. The next thing I noticed was that the fretboard looked like dried out and colorless. That's what I have linseed oil for and a few well rubbed in dabs of it gave new life to the fretboard. I also notice a small imperfection in the paint about an inch below the lower volume control. It certainly wasn't offensive but it looked like there was a small bubble under the top coat of poly. Had the guitar cost me $999 I probably would have either sent it back or asked for a discount, most likely the later. As a "blemished" model, I just shrugged it off. Then I noticed that the guitar was made in late 2021 so it had plenty of time to travel all around the world including trips to purchasers who later returned the guitar for whatever reason.
The frequent flyer miles this guitar had obviously accumulated led to another cluster of issues with the neck. First, due to the different climates this guitar had experienced over the last couple of years, there was some fret sprout. I whipped out my file and got down to business but not before attacking another even more serious issue. Along with sprout, more than eight frets were unevenly installed on the neck. Plus, there was so much junk on the frets they made the guitar look like it actually was from 1959.
For the last 90 minutes or so I have been tapping into place, errant frets that have reacted, as is to be expected, by wild swings in temperature and humidity. The same goes for the fret sprout but one nice thing was that as I was pounding (
) the frets back into the neck, they didn't seem to cause any additional sprout. Nevertheless, it was a big job tapping all the frets back in place so there was no rocking of my fret tool. I had five or six frets that needed help to be introduced to my file now all it good. Finally, a good cleaning with some Nomad fret polisher and the neck was better than new. BTW, the Nomad stuff isn't bad and they even throw 3 fretboard guards in the box for $20. It was the only purchase I had to make to sort the neck out because I must have thrown out the last of my Gorgamyte away when I was cleaning my 594 SE. My final touch is a light dusting of graphite at the nut.
I put a new set of Elixir Nano Web 46-10's on the guitar and it's like an old dog straight from the pound, so excited to have been rescued, all it wants to do is make me happy, and I'm happy, very happy.
To me, when I see a "blemished" model for sale I think it's usually a customer return and I count on having to do a little work to make the guitar play the way I want it. The Special took very little work at all and spoiled me. The first think I noticed when I opened the box for the 1959 was that it had been resealed more than once or twice. Uh oh, I thought, this doesn't bode well. The next thing I noticed was that the fretboard looked like dried out and colorless. That's what I have linseed oil for and a few well rubbed in dabs of it gave new life to the fretboard. I also notice a small imperfection in the paint about an inch below the lower volume control. It certainly wasn't offensive but it looked like there was a small bubble under the top coat of poly. Had the guitar cost me $999 I probably would have either sent it back or asked for a discount, most likely the later. As a "blemished" model, I just shrugged it off. Then I noticed that the guitar was made in late 2021 so it had plenty of time to travel all around the world including trips to purchasers who later returned the guitar for whatever reason.
The frequent flyer miles this guitar had obviously accumulated led to another cluster of issues with the neck. First, due to the different climates this guitar had experienced over the last couple of years, there was some fret sprout. I whipped out my file and got down to business but not before attacking another even more serious issue. Along with sprout, more than eight frets were unevenly installed on the neck. Plus, there was so much junk on the frets they made the guitar look like it actually was from 1959.
For the last 90 minutes or so I have been tapping into place, errant frets that have reacted, as is to be expected, by wild swings in temperature and humidity. The same goes for the fret sprout but one nice thing was that as I was pounding (
) the frets back into the neck, they didn't seem to cause any additional sprout. Nevertheless, it was a big job tapping all the frets back in place so there was no rocking of my fret tool. I had five or six frets that needed help to be introduced to my file now all it good. Finally, a good cleaning with some Nomad fret polisher and the neck was better than new. BTW, the Nomad stuff isn't bad and they even throw 3 fretboard guards in the box for $20. It was the only purchase I had to make to sort the neck out because I must have thrown out the last of my Gorgamyte away when I was cleaning my 594 SE. My final touch is a light dusting of graphite at the nut.I put a new set of Elixir Nano Web 46-10's on the guitar and it's like an old dog straight from the pound, so excited to have been rescued, all it wants to do is make me happy, and I'm happy, very happy.
