Half of a Les Paul refret (part 8)

Jason from The Musician's Den in Evansville, IN demonstrates part of a refret on a '78 Gibson Les Paul Custom "Black Beauty". In part 8, we talk a bit more about the Erlewine Neck Jig a bit more and discuss a very common bridge problem on many Les Pauls. And finally, leveling of the newly installed frets begins.

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[666jony666]

Holy Crap!! What is the name of the colour of that green Les Paul? Looks amazing!

[smbstressfest]

@666jony666 Gibson called it Gecko.

[guitartec]

Crush the bridge?

[smbstressfest]

@guitartec Yes. A Gibson tune-o-matic style bridge will collapse to some extent under pressure from a stop bar tailpiece that is screwed all the way down to the top. ABR-1's are most susceptible to this, but the Nashville bridges can be crushed as well. When this happens, you won't have anything close to a bridge radius that matches the fingerboard.

[guitartec]

@smbstressfest In 35 years of repair, I've never seen a "crushed" (bent) USA-made Nashville. I'd love to see one, though. I've seen plenty of crushed ABR-1s, regardless of the tlpc anchor screws height. The alloy is much weaker, and so is the design.

[smbstressfest]

@guitartec The only picture I personally have in my possession regarding a smashed Nashville tune-o-matic is of my crude little setup for clamping it back to the proper shape. If one comes into the shop for repair, I'll try and remember to snap a picture. It's not as common as with the ABR-1s, but Nashville models can deflect under pressure too.

[Marcusisit]

Excellent series again, Jason.

I am always impressed by your work.

[Glockenator]

I learned the hard way that putting the stop bar all the way down wrecks your Tune-O-Matic

[guitartec]

@smbstressfest Okay, thanks. I'll ask around and see if anyone's seen that.

[crazyiommi]

@guitartec OH YEAH! Especially with the wider Nash style. All the down press will put little notches on the backside of the Nash bridge 'frame' as it goes sharply over the backside. There's a point, its known as diminishing returns. It's NOT needed and causes more problems than it supposedly fixes. It's also gonna push that bridge forward, now changing scale length over time. & angle the inserts (LOOSEN) SO much for the enhanced string transfer now too.It's overkill! MY 2 cents! FWIW...

[crazyiommi]

@smbstressfest I agree 110%. I've been doing this for 35 yrs.Every time I go into a GC (UGhhh!) Every Gibson TP is ALL the way down against the body on LP's and SG"s. {I'm an SG guy not LP unless its a 61-62} They play like shite! TOOOOO much tension MAY? enhance tone & sustain but I think they 'feel' like u r fighting the tension at all times. Shallower angle plays better, bends like butter. and stays in tune too. Never had a problem in 35 yrs. and over 20 SG's & 4 LP's. 4 me shallow works fine

[kaptainbastard]

they didnt seem to drill the bridge on les pauls at a 45 degree angle to the angle of the neck, Do you know what I mean?

So when you intonate the bridge bits.the string height raises as you move individual bits toward the neck and the height decrease as you move them bridges back toward the tailpeace.

Its slight I know but its important if you like low action.