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></o>
<o> </o>
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></o>
<o> </o>
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></o>
<o> </o>
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></o>
<o> </o>
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></o>
<o> </o>
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></o>
<o> </o>
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></o>
<o> </o>
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></o>
<o> </o>
<o> </o>
Thank you Mike for making thisguitar Historic of the Month, <o></o>
<o> </o>
David (Django2014 on the LP forum)
<o>
Last edited: