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1952 ES-175 conversion help please

professor

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Joined
Jul 22, 2001
Messages
4,889
With the level of communication enabled by the internet, I find it hard to believe that anyone couldn't find a competent luthier, through a referral.

As to frets, pretty much the FIRST thing I do when I get a vintage piece is to have it refretted with 6105s, my personal favorite.

Just like I wouldn't buy an old car and expect to drive on 40-year-old tires, frets -- like strings -- are meant to be replaced.

Me, I buy guitars to play them, not to worship their authenticity. :salude
 

Dutch53GT

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Joined
Jan 18, 2006
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669
authenticity? :laugh2:

DSC01351.jpg
 

j45

Active member
Joined
Jun 14, 2002
Messages
9,081
Get a competent luthier involved and you should have no serious problems with devaluation.

I agree. I have guitars that will never leave me and I do as I wish with them. I'm all for a player making adjustments necessary to get the optimum performance out of his instrument....especially if it is one that speaks to him above others and selling is not an option. It's all about making music and if it serves you better with modifications, so be it. Most of the great players had their guitars tailored to their liking. Not too many of the guys we listen to were concerned about keeping an instrument stock. Most of them constantly tinkered with them. Some even created entirely new instruments capable of techniques never heard before with creative mods. What if everyone would have told Clarence White not to dig about a pound of wood out his old Tele Custom? Clapton disassembled several 50's Strat's to create one the most legendary instruments of all time. Page "butchered" his worthless burst and the list goes on. If this is the guitar that has the feel that you like and you can add more colors to your palette to help you create music, go for it!
 

Smiert Spionam

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Mar 19, 2007
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18
The Bigsby looks almost certainly like a reissue to me. The castings are way too clean and (in the pics at least) it has little of the patina that an old Bigsby would have.

I don't recall offhand when the first Bigsby tailpieces were available. The first Gretsch 6120 came out in '54, and it had a fixed arm Bigsby until '56.

An original Bigsby will have holes drilled completely through the bar on which the string posts are mounted. The reissues are only partially tapped, with the string posts set into holes that don't go all the way through. There are some other smaller distinguishing characteristics, too, that more pics could resolve -- but I don't think there's much of a question.

In any case, a lovely guitar. Personally, I think the bridge and middle positions really come to life with a Bigsby and an aluminum Bigsby bridge -- though that compromises the fat woody sound of the guitar as is. I have a '55 ES-175D, and I seldom use the bridge pickup alone. For that biting tone, I prefer a different guitar that's dialed in differently -- with a Bigsby and a different bridge.

You might or might not agree (I'm pretty sure Dave uses his in all positions with a wooden bridge) -- but you might find that installing a second pickup just sets you up for more difficult decisions. I'd be reluctant to do it, since I don't think it's a uniform net gain -- it's just asking for compromises to what the guitar does now supremely well.
 

Smiert Spionam

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Mar 19, 2007
Messages
18
There have been a few more posts since I started mine -- and I now see that you're talking about making it more like an ES-295. If that's the direction you're really inclined to move, go for it.
 

58dutchie

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Joined
Aug 31, 2006
Messages
602
I wouldn't do it, but it's your guitar. I think it's great you know you won't sell it, do whatever you want.

The hardest part is finding a shop that can do the job, the right way. My '53 needs new frets and I scared as hell some Dutch butcher will F. it up.

Hi Dutch, don't you have ANY suggestions concerning a decent luthier in Holland?
 

Walter Broes

Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Messages
196
I agree with the Professor - get a competent luthier to do the work and it'll turn out great if the pickups match.
I would try and find a period P90, but the Antiquities are nice indeed.
 

keef

Active member
Joined
Jan 27, 2002
Messages
5,006
Hi Dutch, don't you have ANY suggestions concerning a decent luthier in Holland?

I'd take it to a luthier who builds archtops for a living - NOT your standard repair guy..

Daniel Slaman and Richard Heeres in The Hague, Theo Scharpach in Limburg. Possibly there are more guys. Problem is they usually have a large workload and are not that interested in repairs, but they are the most qualified for the job.

50s P90s are plentiful on Ebay.

Here's a useful link:
http://www.gitaarnet.nl/magazine/artikelen/artikelen/adam.php3
 
T

Troels

Guest
I'd take it to a luthier who builds archtops for a living - NOT your standard repair guy..

Daniel Slaman and Richard Heeres in The Hague, Theo Scharpach in Limburg. Possibly there are more guys. Problem is they usually have a large workload and are not that interested in repairs, but they are the most qualified for the job.

50s P90s are plentiful on Ebay.

Here's a useful link:
http://www.gitaarnet.nl/magazine/artikelen/artikelen/adam.php3

Funnily enough... but it's not too difficult for a Dane to read Dutch... interesting page.
 

58dutchie

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Aug 31, 2006
Messages
602
I'd take it to a luthier who builds archtops for a living - NOT your standard repair guy..

Daniel Slaman and Richard Heeres in The Hague, Theo Scharpach in Limburg. Possibly there are more guys. Problem is they usually have a large workload and are not that interested in repairs, but they are the most qualified for the job.

50s P90s are plentiful on Ebay.

Here's a useful link:
http://www.gitaarnet.nl/magazine/artikelen/artikelen/adam.php3

Thanks a lot Keef!!! Just what I was looking for! :applaude
 
B

bharat.k

Guest
Since you were born on the same day as this lovely guitar and are bound with it in this way, I think it's only fair that you have something aditionally surgically attached to yourself as well. Maybe an extra mouth on your stomach? After all fair is fair!
 
T

Troels

Guest
Since you were born on the same day as this lovely guitar and are bound with it in this way, I think it's only fair that you have something aditionally surgically attached to yourself as well. Maybe an extra mouth on your stomach? After all fair is fair!

Maybe it's about time for a facelift for the owner himself... (one year older than me...) :) :) :) :)
 

Dutch53GT

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Jan 18, 2006
Messages
669
I'd take it to a luthier who builds archtops for a living - NOT your standard repair guy..

Daniel Slaman and Richard Heeres in The Hague, Theo Scharpach in Limburg. Possibly there are more guys. Problem is they usually have a large workload and are not that interested in repairs, but they are the most qualified for the job.

50s P90s are plentiful on Ebay.

Here's a useful link:
http://www.gitaarnet.nl/magazine/artikelen/artikelen/adam.php3

Does the guy who builds archtops for a living ever held or modified an original?

Vintage and building new are two different things.
I know a lot of builders who love to change frets, put in a new bridge, nut or tuners because it works better. Which is true. But not vintage.

(I never dealt with the names you mentioned, I'm not implying that they don't know what they are doing. Just a question.....:jim )
 

cherrick

Les Paul Froum Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2002
Messages
5,730
Oh man, I'm looking at that P90 equipped Gold Top with all that mojo, and then I'm looking at that Strat/Kohler tailpiece, and then I'm looking at that Gold Top and then back at that tail piece, and man I'm crying.

OK, 'nuff of that.

if you're going to add the second pickup,I would recommend that you buy a pre-wired wiring harness from RS Guitarworks, with 500K matched super pots, and consider going to one of the pickup builders on Les Paul Forum for your bridge P90.

Consider Zhangliquin or Lollar or Lindy Fralin.

Too bad they didn't choose a B7 for that Bigsby.

How about some more :photos
 

Dutch53GT

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Jan 18, 2006
Messages
669
Oh man, I'm looking at that P90 equipped Gold Top with all that mojo, and then I'm looking at that Strat/Kohler tailpiece, and then I'm looking at that Gold Top and then back at that tail piece, and man I'm crying.

Too bad they didn't choose a B7 for that Bigsby.

How about some more :photos

If you look at it some more you'll start loving it, that's what happend to me..... :jim

(this is not my thread, no pic's of the GT how about some more of the ES??!!)
 

58dutchie

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Joined
Aug 31, 2006
Messages
602
Well, you asked for some more pics so here they are!

Gitaar217.jpg
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1952es1755.jpg
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1952es1753.jpg
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1952es1752.jpg
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1952es175.jpg
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oud5.jpg
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Concerning the last one: the original owner had 'T P' engraved in the pickguard, in pearl (Tom Petty? haha). I don't like it, so I applied a pinup-girl decal on it (don't know if I like that actually...), but most of the time I play it without the pickguard.
 
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