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True Historic ´59 Bavarian Makeover

Orreman

New member
Joined
Jun 20, 2015
Messages
147
Shipped my 2015 True Historic to the amazing Florian Jäger for a full makeover last week.
Today he started working on it:)

I have chosen to go with the Bavarian Makeover 1 and 2.
So the guitar will get these new features:
- Brazilian fretboard with new inlays
- New 59 neck shape with less "shoulders"
- New correct top carve. The TH carve is much flatter than a real 59.
- New pore filler and aniline dye
- Real nitro. Not that plastic weird version that Gibson uses
- Tailpiece moved to the correct location and long iron studs.
- The serial stamped with the correct font


I have chosen to go with a Pearly Gates finish instead of the factory Dirty Lemon .

Also the guitar will be upgraded with these parts:
- DMC aged Pickup rings
- DMC switch knob
- DMC ABR-1
- DMC aluminium tailpiece
- Dave Johnson aged pick guard
- Creamtone Poker chip
- DMC Aged knobs
- Kluson machine heads with DMC buttons

Some of you guys will probably think I´m crazy for doing this to a True Historic guitar.
The thing is that I´ve tried a couple of Florians makeovers and they are on a completely different level than what Gibson CS puts out.

Will post more pictures soon.

The guitar before being shipped:
27y72vk.jpg



All parts taken off:
2lu446r.jpg
 

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Keefoman

Active member
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
576
Just curious: Didn't top carve and neck profile vary on the '59s as they were hand crafted? Not that I think you shouldn't do the makeover if you want to. Everything YOU want to do with either guitar that makes them special to YOU, is applauded by me. :) :applaude
 

Tim Plains

Active member
Joined
Aug 1, 2013
Messages
795
That's cool. It's your money, do as you wish, but why didn't you buy a regular historic to do that to? To pay a premium for (marketing) Gibson's most faithful recreation to date, and then give it a makeover, is sort of like paying twice for the same thing. You pay a premium to say "I have a True Historic" but now it's just a makeover no better than a non-TH makeover.
 

Orreman

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Joined
Jun 20, 2015
Messages
147
That's cool. It's your money, do as you wish, but why didn't you buy a regular historic to do that to? To pay a premium for (marketing) Gibson's most faithful recreation to date, and then give it a makeover, is sort of like paying twice for the same thing. You pay a premium to say "I have a True Historic" but now it's just a makeover no better than a non-TH makeover.

I only paid R8 money for this guitar. I want to see how close I can get it the the real thing.
The are actually big differences between a TH and a regular historic.

Here are some of the TH features:
- Lightweigt ribbon grain mahogny. Hand picked only for TH
- Hide Glue construction all over
- The cutaway is deeper on a TH. (the original bursts had a deeper cutaway)
- Thinner Holly veneer on the headstock.
- Control cavity in the correct position
- Tapered body
 

TM1

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Messages
8,349
Nice going on having Florian re-do your guitar. If I had a TH I would do the Braz board and the finish, but aren't the plastic parts suppose to be DNA replica's of the originals? I can see putting in a set of ThroBak's or Wizz's and replace the pots with some original Centralabs and some good caps. I would get an ABM Bell Brass stop & ABR-1 and they will make your guitar simply Sing!!!
Why change the plastics?
 

J T

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 20, 2005
Messages
10,501
Ya Gibson made a big deal about the TH plastic being EXACT. You are throwing it away?:hmm
 

Cav

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
214
Great! Can't wait to see the project progress.
I had my R4 refinished by Florian in the Spring last year, can't stop playing it! His job is excellent! :dude:
 

Orreman

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Joined
Jun 20, 2015
Messages
147
Ya Gibson made a big deal about the TH plastic being EXACT. You are throwing it away?:hmm

Hi, I'm not throwing them away:). The say that they are exact but I think the pickup rings are e bit too cream colored and the pick guard is a bit too yellow for my taste. Also all hardware will be aged on this guitar.
 

Orreman

New member
Joined
Jun 20, 2015
Messages
147
Never heard of these diffs. Can someone explain?

On TH guitars the control cavity is closer to the edge of the guitar, just like it was back in the 50.s
If you look closely on a 50.s burst you can see that the tailpiece is slightly closer to the ABR-1 on the high E side.
This of course differs a bit from guitar to guitar, but most of them are like that.
 

TM1

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Messages
8,349
Hi, I'm not throwing them away:). The say that they are exact but I think the pickup rings are e bit too cream colored and the pick guard is a bit too yellow for my taste. Also all hardware will be aged on this guitar.
The colour varied back the 50's on plastics. Seems to me, having seen a number of TH's and original Les Pauls that they pretty well nailed the plastics on the new ones. I personally think you're wasting your money on new plastic parts, but hey, if it bothers you that much, go for it. I've seen light colored rings, dark colored rings and all colours in between, same with guards and switch rings. It really comes down to whomever was mixing the CAB chemicals to make the batch/run of parts that day. I believe the company who made the rings was Hughes Plastics. They've been out of business a number of years/decades.
 

Orreman

New member
Joined
Jun 20, 2015
Messages
147
:2cool Looks awesome. :wow Which differences in sound did you overserve after the makeover?


The makeover is happening right now, so I don´t know yet:). I will post a "before and after" video when it's done in about a month.
 

ff1337

Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2016
Messages
375
That's cool. It's your money, do as you wish, but why didn't you buy a regular historic to do that to? To pay a premium for (marketing) Gibson's most faithful recreation to date, and then give it a makeover, is sort of like paying twice for the same thing. You pay a premium to say "I have a True Historic" but now it's just a makeover no better than a non-TH makeover.
+1
 

Davidos

Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2010
Messages
94
Beautiful Guitar... Good Luck!

I just PM/emailed you about buying the TH plastics...
Thx!
 

sapi

New member
Joined
Mar 7, 2007
Messages
1,292
Enjoy the process bro and let's see the results! I'm sure it will be stunning!
 
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