R7

[paddyopossum]

Yesterday I called Wildwood, and ordered R 721125, and they overnighted it to me, and I got it about an hour ago.
This thing is awesome. Just another world. The neck is just HUGE. They can't get too big for me. I love it. What a beautiful axe. So light, too, after the other one.
Thanks to the Forum for the expertise and info, and for leading me to Wildwood. It is a real pleasure to deal with these people. Many thanks to Bruce. High recommendations from me.
Even the 10's don't feel funny on this one. How odd.
This guitar and I are going to have a long and productive relationship. :dude

[CAPT CRUNCH]

Very cool!!!!,,,,,,congrats!!:dude

[Adwex]

Welcome to the club.

[paddyopossum]

Thanks guys, Happy to be here, more than I can tell you. I can't believe how light this thing is. Barely heavier than my SG Standard. My other Les Paul must weight in at 10 easy if this one is 8.6.

[SFK]

Welcome. Enjoy it!

[Goldtop Dude]

WAY COOL!!!

Feather weight Gold Top with a gigantic neck That's as good as it gets.

I am actually looking around for an the same guitar in an R6.

Congratulations, you have obviously made a very good choice, and I have heard very good things about Wildwood on the forum as well.

[paddyopossum]

This thing just begs to be played. I used to use 10's all the time. I tend to like them cuz I find 18's kind of hard to intone. That's just me. Alot use them, on 11 sets, and I'm all for whatever makes someone happy. It was only taking up fiddle that got me away from the guitar for several years, so when I came back to playing alot of electric, in '98 or so, I stayed with the 9's the others I got came with. That'll change,,it is now. 10 is a great utility gauge, it seems. I'll leave it pretty stock for the time being, just to get used to it. It's SO different from the other,,,better, of course. It's so pretty I'm almost scared to touch it. I'm glad it's nickel plated, so it'll dull out, and the tailpiece is screwed down pretty low.
I'm going to plug into the PX4 in a bit. Just been savoring its acoustic response, which is very nice. Lot of resonance. I think it comes with Brite Wires,,that's what the site says, and those are nickel plated steel. I prefer pure nickel, but it's ok for now.
I played with the tailpiece on the other Std. a little bit, but never tried the wrap yet. With something brand new, I tend to just look at it for awhile, and don't mess with it. You know how it is. I'll play it no end though.
Then I'll plug into the Maverick. I'm selling the Blue Angel next week(not the least reason being to help pay for this), and 3 other electrics, and some other stuff. Just trimming down. I've got the studio pretty much where I want it, for the time being. Just unloading excess. Getting the 'right' stuff. Like this R7. This is really nice. You all know this well. I'm just finding out. So light!!!
I can't get over that.

[paddyopossum]

I sure do like it. I see, and hear, the difference. I can't put this thing down. I just finished a session with the PX4. This thing outsustains the '91 Std. silly. No contest. Those PAF's sound just awesome to me, too. I realize I've not had years of playing different pickups through different amps to have the kind of ears for the finer differences of these pickups some of you fellas have, but I'm impressed. This tree trunk neck is too much. I'm really happy I made this purchase.
In '68 I got a Deluxe. A Goldtop, but it was heavy, as I remember, and it had the mini-humbuckers. A nice guitar in its own right. I didn't keep it all that long, though. But now, at 51, I feel satisfied I've found something I can really grow to love.
Thanks Goldtop Dude, and Guild700~, for your input. I think you'll find Wildwood leaves a good taste in your mouth. Nice guys. Distancewise, I don't know if they're closer or not, from the other approved dealers, from where I am,(things really spread out as you go into the Great American West) but overnight had it at my door scarcely 24 hours after I ordered it Well packed, too. I called to let them know I had it, and didn't talk to Bruce right off, but he called me back personally a few minutes later. Nice touch. Professional, and I know the service is good, and why they're on the dealer list.

[Johnnytone]

Originally posted by Guildx700~
Congrats! Joine the club! Great guitar and a great value.

I've been playing the snot out of mine for a year now. I've kept it stock except for leveling/polishing the frets, radiusing the saddles and making a bone nut.

This week I cleaned her all up so I'd though I'd try the tail wrap seeing I'm really familiar with how it plays now, I had the tail up about 1/3 of the way of it's travel, so I tightened it back down and restrung with the wrap. It takes a while for the strings to settle in due to the wrap, but I like it even more with the wrap, the feel is perfect, my guitar's geometry works out perfect with the wrap for my tastes, I was a bit concerned it'd be too loose feeling but it's just fine!

I do believe I'll keep the wrap!:dude

I've had mine for 9 months and tried the wrap a while back and love it.

[OLIE J]

Congratulations paddyopossum!:dude :dude
I got my R7 from Wildwood this past August so I know exactly how happy you are. Play it hard, play it loud.

[lure555]

I've had my R7 GT since June. It's the guitar I'm playing in my avatar. With it, and the truly magical LP Classic that's my main guitar, I've got everything I need!

[paddyopossum]

Thanks guys, Funny, my fingers aren't even that sore this morning(it's 5:04 am,,I get up early). which seems odd. Maybe those 10 callouses are just lurking beneath the surface, closer than I thought, and they never really go away. 10.5 years on the fiddle has taught my hand new tricks, so you never know. I see enough flame on the backs of those babies to not need to see it on the guitar top.
The only other guitar I'm keeping is the Reverend Slingshot, to satisfy my Fender and P90 jones,,it's a piece of work itself, besides this Gold Top. Those two are all I'll ever need. The Two Gibson USA's are going out the door. The SG Standard is a nice piece in its own right, and the '91 LP will make someone happy, I'm sure. The Fender Cyclone is a nice little piece too. But I've got what I need and want, now.

I notice the neck binding does a sort of orange peel number. Not complaining, just remarking. It doesn't bother me in the least, barely noticeable. You couldn't part me from this for love or money. Can't be checking of any sort. Seems this would be the opposite, and stem from shortly after completion. It was well above freezing when the FedEx guy got here, and even if it had gotten real cold during flight, by the time it got to humid south Louisiana(it was fairly dry yesterday, though), it was put on an above freezing truck, and driven from 8:42 am till 1:30 pm, when it got here, and I wear a coat in my house anyway, so there was no sudden introduction of cold guitar into over warm environment. It had warmed up sufficiently by the time is got to my not so warm house.
I see the completion date was 8/7/02, and the heat of summer suggests a more causal relationship to this.

It was warmer, but dry, in my front room, but I just opened the case to have a look, and there was no bluish mist or anything. Before I got it out for good, I had opened the front door, and turned off the heater, to make sure the room was colder, anyway. There's certainly no checking anywhere.
I've had my guitars get colder on the floor of my bedroom in their cases, and never had trouble, cuz it's nowhere near freezing, inside the house, even if I do have a coat on(old frame house),,more like in the 50's/low 60's, and it was in the 50's outside when the FedEx fella got here.
Last night, after playing for all afternoon, I was noticing the sticky thumb phenomenen, like I did on my SG Standard. I play thumb behind neck, mostly, even though I do whole note bends(with my pinky, too, backed up by the two fingers before it), indicating a not completely dry neck coat, but rubbing with a cotton cloth corrects this. That went away with time on the SG.

[Sean]

Photos dude!

(Yeah, I know they all look the same, but I never get tired of a good-looking Goldtop )

[paddyopossum]

OK, I'll haul out the digital camera, see if I can get something that's small enough to put on the forum here. Gotta make sure the batteries are charged. If not, need some time to recharge. I guess you need to use Enhanced Mode? I selected that. On the Tascam Forum, they have the photo thing activated.

PS Hmmm, guess not. I may need some guidance. I checked the IMG button, and it seems to require an http, that is, it needs to be residing somewhere on the web. That'll take longer, cuz then I need to upload to my Angelfire site. On the Tascam Forum(where I'm fiddlpat), we can just tell the Forum engine where to go get it on our hard disk. This Forum uses the same BBS.

Oh wait. I remember, the last time I tried to put a link to an image at my Angelfire site, there was an upload block in place, put there, do doubt, by Angelfire. Can someone tell me if there's a image grabbing cabability here on this board, one that goes to your hard disk? like on the Tascam 788 Board? On the Tascam board, there's an 'Attach File' option I don't see here. Both use the same BBS company, though.

At any rate. There's good photos at Wildwood, still. It's number 721125, and they had more than just 3. They had 6 photos up, of it. I'll be working on it.

[OLIE J]

Here's a link to paddyopossums guitar on the Wildwood site.
http://www.wildwoodguitars.com/elect...pr_721125.html

[paddyopossum]

Thanks Olie, I'm sitting here trying to figure out how to do this. The reason for the upload block at AngelFire, is, I_think_, cuz I had just put the image on AngelFire., but not on my viewable pages proper. But, I see you guys getting images on posts, and they just come up as part of the post, and I'm wondering how y'all are doing it, cuz I don't see the attach file portion of the reply page, that IS visible on the Tascam 788 site(same BBS people) I see at the bottom corner here, the 'you may NOT post attachments', and I'm wondering what y'all do.

[paddyopossum]

After playing endlessly for 5 days or so, and having my little finger starting to ache. I first noticed this with fiddling, and reaching alot with my pinky for high notes on the E string. I'm not so young anymore. I relented and put on the heavy 9 set. The D'Addario XL120+. 9.5, 11.5, 16, 24, 34, 44.
The guitar seems happier. My fingers are. I finally got the kinks worked out of the intonation, pretty much. I like 16 better as a G string, even on a 10 set. The 34, and 44 respond really nicely, and the 26 seemed too heavy on the D. The tuner itself didn't seem to like it. Amost as if it were binding in the nut, not sure. The 24 is nice. I think they're still pulling hard enough to not throw the torque off.
The resonance is more apparent. The lighter the gauge(if not taken too far), the more sophisticated and finer the upper harmonic partials are, to my ears, and with the shorter scale, the slightly thinner strings make the neck seem longer. I'm glad they've seen fit to make the inbetween gauge sets.
What a dream guitar. Still trying to get used to the fact I have it. Thanks Wildwood!

[Fredman]

Gang,

I couldnt agree more. I have a Dec 2002 goldy that is also light and has a baseball bat neck;which I love. I alternate betwixt the goldy, my blonde 335 reissue and a stock firebird V. Since the 335 and the goldy have those 57' classics, they have a faintly similar sound. The firebird sound with the mini humss sound way raunchy compared to the others.

In my opinion every house should have a les paul..

fred

[SteveB334]

I am glad you love your 57 I sure do love mine

[BluesForDan]

Hey Paddyopossum, how's the goldtop treating ya? What did wildwood end up charging you for your R7? You can email me if you don't want to post it out loud...er...in print? You know what I mean! spin

I saw something about sticky thumb. Did that go away? Somebody else posted about the necks, too.

I think I'm getting gold fever..Heeyaaa !!

[Goldtop Dude]

"I think I'm getting gold fever..Heeyaaa !!"
There is only one cure!

[burst59]

just ordered my 57 Gold Top murphy aged # 71407 from wildwood should have it this friday . very cool guitars ! try this http://www.wildwoodguitars.com/ronnie

[paddyopossum]

From the looks of it, all they've got is one left, till they get some 03's, or put up the pics. Nice axe. I hope you enjoy it. :dude

[Goldtop Dude]

Wildwood has some great wood! IMO

[burst59]

thanks paddyopossum , I missed out on one 4 weeks ago from wildwood ,and was web shopping last night and found # 71407 can't wait ! yours looks great ! hope you enjoy it , the guys at wildwood are just the best to deal with . peace .

[MKIIC]

Glad to hear you are enjoying your R7. I have one as well; GREAT AXE !
Concerning the wrap. I have been wrapping my 'Pauls since the '70s when I read Billy Gibbons does that. I immediately noticed an increase in resonance (stud tail all the way down) both acoustically and plugged in.
Have you tried 9.5's ? To me they are a great compromise; same great tight bottom, but a little slinkier.
Speaking of Wildwood Guitars, I am glad to hear that a lot of people are using them......they truly are the best. Steve, Bruce, Tim, & Marilyn have been nothing short of outstanding to me and go completely out of their way to help. Not all stores are this way. As far as I am concerned, everyone should give them first shot, bacause I guarantee that once you do, you will probably always go back......So much for my plug.

I am new to the Forum. Glad to see all the dedicated Gibson people. I used to play only PRS.....now I play Gibson & Fender, no PRS. Personal choice I guess.

[paddyopossum]

I'm loving mine. It's a wonderful instrument. The finest I've ever played. Really. When Gibson goes out of their way to do it, they just don't come better.
I have 9.5's on now. I might go down to 9's, though these are nice. The 9's I have are the pure nickel wrap 'Vintage Re-Issue Strings' by Gibson. I bought two sets and had put one on an SG Standard I had, but put back the original 9 Brite Wires before I unloaded it. Hardly any wear on that set, though they might be cut a little long. I find on this GT, the holes in the string post are so low, I have to use less wrap length(more like 1 over and 2 under rather than 1 over and three under) than I would for the other type of tuner post you find on the Gibson USA. So, still have two sets. The 9.5's are nickel plated steed wrap XL120+ by D'Addario. They're ok, but I prefer pure nickel wrap.
I haven't tried wrapping the TP yet. It came pretty much screwed down all the way. I just left it as is, so far. The resonance of this guitar blows me away.
It's just a regular GT. Not authentic, nor TM aged, though those are great. I'll just have to age it myself. Everytime I open the case, I trip out on he color, and looks. It's either there or in my hands. No stand for this guitar. Just can't risk it.