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February 2015 Historic of the Month - Meet "Dawn"!

MikeSlub

Administrator
Joined
Jul 15, 2001
Messages
15,166

The Story of "Dawn", as told by David (Django2014 on the LP forum)

This is "Dawn", a 2008 Historic G0 Les Paul that I have been lucky enough to own for the past 3 years.The G0 models are special 1960 Historic reissues made to specs taken from a1960 Burst that Guitar Center had in its Hollywood Store. They were made between 2002-2012 for sale in the Guitar Center Platinum rooms. This guitar is hands down my favorite Les Paul I've ever played (including vintage LP's) and is still my main guitar. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>
After spending months searching forthe right historic Les Paul, I wound up buying this guitar from my local Guitar Center in January of 2012. Before I bought this guitar, I had spent a lot of time looking on Ebay as well as in local shops for the right Historic, butnothing had caught my eye. I remember looking at used G0's on ebay and seeing that they were in my price range and they seemed to be quite well liked on many of the gear forums. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
One day I went down my local Sam Ash and was excited to see that they had a used 2005 G0. I asked to play it and was immediately disappointed, it did not live up to the great reviews surrounding the G0's. The sound wasn't all that great, It seemed sort of dull and didn't really speak to me. Even for a plaintop it didn't have great grain on it. The guitar was also a little beat up. It had taken one good hit right in the center of the dish on the top that stuck out like a sore thumb. This all being said,Sam Ash was asking way more than I was willing to pay for that particular guitar, so I passed. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
On a whim I wound up going to Guitar Center the following day just to kill some time. As soon as I walked in the door I saw what looked to be another G0 hanging on the wall. I took it down and looked at the headstock and saw that it was in fact another G0. I spent sometime playing it through various amps around the store and fell in love immediately. It was a completely different experience to play this guitar compared to the other G0 I had played the day before. The salesman told me the guitar had come in the day before from the Hollywood store. It seemed someone had bought the guitar used on the Guitar Center website and had it shipped tothis store. The picture that was displayed on the website must have been of a different guitar. The guy who bought it wound up passing on it because he had been looking for a cherry burst Les Paul. After playing the guitar for a while, I asked the saleswoman that was helping me what the best they could do for the guitar. She wound up talking to the store manager and after some haggling back and forth, they said they could come down about $500. I decided before I committed to the deal that I would test out the guitar a while longer. As I was putting the guitar through its paces, I noticed 2 people eyeing the guitar. Eventually a salesman came over and asked if I would let another customer he was helping play the guitar since he was looking to buy the guitar. I don't remember exactly what I told him, but I told him no, and then continued playing. Then another salesman came over and asked if his customer could play the guitar, to which I refused again. Then a third salesman came over, apparently the guy who had originally ordered had changed his mind and wanted it, I knew there was something special about this guitar, and that it spoke to me like no other guitar did, so I made it clear that I was interested in the guitar and that I was in the middle of trying it out. After spending a couple hours trying the guitar out I decided to buy it and wound up walking out of the store with it the same day. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
The guitar was stock when I bought it but I am a believer that great guitars can be made superb by making the right upgrades, and now this really is a superb guitar. The first thing I had done was have the stock Kluson tuners changed to Chrome Grover Rotomatics to improve the tuning stability. I eventually wound up changing the tuners later on to the nickel vintage reissue Milkbone Grovers that are on there now. I alsohad a metal jackplate put on as well as dunlop dual design straplocks, and nickel pointers for the knobs. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
The next thing I did was change the pots and caps to get a clearer sound and better response from the knobs. I wound up going with CTS TVT pots from Retrospec and Emerson PIO caps (a .015 in the neck for added clarity, and a .022 in the bridge for a thicker sound). Unlike most I chose to leave the guitar with modern wiring since I like the stability it provides. This made a huge difference in the sound of the guitar, it now has that nice open, airy, woody tone I associate with real 50's LesPaul's. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
I didn't really dig the look of the stock amber knobs, so I changed them first to Gibson gold bell knobs, and then to gold reflector caps from Crazy Parts. To me the color of the gold on the Crazy Parts knobs and the reflector cap gives the guitar a very classic vintage look. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
I also changed the bridge and tailpiece to Callaham machined steel parts. This makes a big difference in the clarity and fullness of the sound. I also installed a Bigsby"Batwing" plate from Crazy Parts under the bridge. After the Collector's Choice 3 came out with that plate under the bridge I went crazy trying to find that plate. Eventually I called Historic Makeovers, and they said Crazy Parts sold them. The plate doesn't serve any purpose, but I reallythink it gives the guitar a killer look. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
Thank you Mike for making thisguitar Historic of the Month, <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
David (Django2014 on the LP forum)

Dawn_1.JPG

<o:p>

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</o:p>
 
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Stoj

Active member
Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
3,514
Nice - Thanks for sharing your story :salude
 

Django2014

New member
Joined
Sep 24, 2014
Messages
330
Thanks guys! And thank you Mike! I am really excited to have my guitar featured as Historic of the Month! When I get a chance I'll post a few more pics of it.
 

ourmaninthenorth

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 28, 2009
Messages
7,119
Fabulous. The colour is absolutely top drawer - puts me in mind of my very favourite colour of the 1950's ES's.

Thanks for the pictures and the narrative, a really great thread. :salude :peace2
 

Django2014

New member
Joined
Sep 24, 2014
Messages
330
Thank You for all the kind words everyone

I am working on putting up more pictures I just gotta figure out where to save them so that I can use the URL to post them
 

Ken Fortunato

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Feb 26, 2006
Messages
2,742
Re-read this story again today and thought to myself; "Yup"... "That's what it feels like to own a guitar that "does it" for ya"... I know the feeling well...

Awesome stuff... :salude
 

AliGZero

New member
Joined
Oct 17, 2014
Messages
142
Beautiful guitar and great story, Django. With two other guys circling, I'm surprised the GC sales guys let you do a two-hour test drive AND gave you the $500 price cut.
Given the different screw sizes in the upper and lower strap buttons, did your strap lock install require any drilling, reaming or toothpicking?
 

Django2014

New member
Joined
Sep 24, 2014
Messages
330
I'm actually not sure, It very well could have, The original straplocks were attached with what looked like 2 different screws, I'm not entirely sure if the guy I had install them had to do any of that.

On an unrelated note, where can I store pictures online so as to have a valid URL with which to post additional pictures.

***Edit***

The only thing I'm not in love with on the guitar...

The fretwire...

I like small frets, I played the 55 Goldtop that Rumble Seat Music in Ithaca has, and those frets were great!

I don't know about getting it refretted, It doesn't really need it right now, It could probably use a dressing though, there are some dents and obvious low spots where I bend the most.
 
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Django2014

New member
Joined
Sep 24, 2014
Messages
330
Sorry to resurrect such an old thread, but if anyone is interested in this guitar, I just put it up in the classified section with a link to the reverb.com listing.

Django
 
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