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gibson archtop

New archtop pickguard :: 1933 Gibson L-12 [4.9 lbs]

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New archtop pickguard :: 1933 Gibson L-12 [4.9 lbs]

A gorgeous 1933 Gibson L-12 archtop in for a new pickguard.  The guard was supplied by the customer without any hardware so I needed to source the appropriate parts.  I did not want to drill any new holes so I used the same mounting points on the guitar.  Gibson neck mounted some of these but this one was anchored in the top.  First I made a wooden spacer and found an old slotted brass screw that looked right.

The tricky part of this installation is finding the best elevation over the top.  Too close to the top and you will not be able to mount a floating pickup in the future.  Too high and the guard interferes with your right hand.  Another consideration is the angle in which the guard gradually falls away as you move from the strings towards the lower bout.  This is more of a cosmetic thing that just looks good or odd.

Note that I had to add spacers to both ends of the bracket to get the angles right.  There is even a little piece of leather on the bracket spacer where it comes in contact with the body binding.

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K&K Devinity pickup & new frets :: 1939 Gibson L-7 [5.5 lbs]

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K&K Devinity pickup & new frets :: 1939 Gibson L-7 [5.5 lbs]

A big and beautiful 1939 L-7 archtop on the bench for a bunch of repairs.  You can see some of the work done here.  These repairs include new frets, new relic Waverly tuners, back binding repairs, side cracks and a K&K Devinity system pickup installation.  I must say that I'm not normally impressed with acoustic pickups but this newer K&K pickup sounds very warm and transparent.  I installed one of the older K&K archtop pickups in a 1940's Epiphone Emperor years ago and found it sounded very hollow and out of phase (even with correcting the phase with a preamp).  Archtops can be difficult to amplify acoustically.  After hearing this pickup I recommend that you give the K&K Devinity a try.

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Refret prep :: 1939 Gibson L-7

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Refret prep :: 1939 Gibson L-7

It's been a mini run of early vintage Gibson archtops in the shop lately, and by a run I mean two (see the 1957 Gibson ES-175).  This L-7 is in for new frets, new tuners and a K&K acoustic pickup.

You can really see Gibson's early banjo styling carried over in the headstock and fingerboard inlays.

Below is a quick video breaking down the guitar and pulling the frets.

Stripping down and pulling frets from the daily vlog.

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Slip sliding bridge :: 1957 Gibson ES-175 [5.7 lbs]

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Slip sliding bridge :: 1957 Gibson ES-175 [5.7 lbs]

This nearly 60 year old beast came in strung with 10s which was not enough tension to hold the floating bridge in place during bends and heavy strumming. We switched to 12s that added roughly 40 lbs of tension and locked the bridge down solid. The frets are pretty chewed up so when this guy gets new ones in the future it will play like butter. Love, love this guitar.

The serial number dates this gorgeous Gibson ES-175 to 1956, but it's most likely a 1957 since research tells me Gibson switched from P90's to humbuckers in 1957.

Setup video from the daily vlog.

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