Brand spanking new setup :: 2016 Gibson Les Paul Standard [9.3 lbs]

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A gorgeous brand new flame top Les Paul in for a setup.  The original setup was actually pretty decent but a little too low for this player.  I ended up straightening the neck and raising the bridge slightly.  I also filed and polished out the saddle slots to keep the strings from binding.  My only pet peeve with this guitar is the bridge location.  Note that the saddle positions are pushed all the way to the rear of the bridge.  This guitar is properly intonated with 10's and I'd like to see these saddles end up more in the middle of the bridge to allow for more flexibilty in string gauges (ie bigger strings need the saddles to be pushed back further).  Kind of odd considering Gibson has state of the art manufacturing facilities, but maybe I'm missing something in their decision.

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High fret dress :: 2015 New Era Senorita Stefan Grossman [4.4 lbs]

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I'm pretty reserved in my tastes but this absolutely works for me!  Well ... maybe not the jewels in the headstock but it's a recreation of a rare 1935 Bacon & Day Senorita S-6 guitar popularized by John Fahey.  This had a few high frets over the body transition that were leveled out.  This guitar sounds as good as it looks.

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Refret prep :: 1939 Gibson L-7

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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.

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

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

Stripping down and pulling frets from the daily vlog.

Finish work :: Martin-style dreadnought [4.6 lbs]

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Here's a brazilian rosewood Martin-style dreadnought from another builder that I did the finish and final setup work for.  Got to keep my finish chops up in between my own builds when I can.  Still trying to get a booth installed in my shops- someday.  Just takes time and money.

Finish work :: Martin-style nitro sunbursts

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Finish work :: Martin-style nitro sunbursts

I occasionally do finish / setup work to help other builders out.  These two Brazilian Martin-style builds were prepped for finish, then sprayed and buffed out in nitrocellulose lacquer.