Rog wrote:During the "Norlin Era", Gibson Les Paul body designs were greatly altered, most notably, the change to the neck volute. Because the Les Paul had the reputation of having an easily broken neck joint, the volute strengthened the neck where it joined the headstock to avert breakage. To further increase the strength, the neck woods were changed from mahogany to a three-piece maple design. The LP body was changed from a one piece mahogany with a maple top into multiple slabs of mahogany with multiple pieced maple tops (also called a "pancake body').
Yup! I have a Norlin era Les Paul Custom, 3 piece maple neck (no volute) ebony fretboard, mahogany body and 3 piece maple top. Mine's not a pancake body though.
The most common brand I've seen that's used scarf joints in their necks are Ibanez
robnobcorncob wrote:
The most common brand I've seen that's used scarf joints in their necks are Ibanez
no wonder Rog hasn't seen much in the way of a scarf joint.
Some Bozo wrote:dogs represent the qualities we like to see in a friend, and cats represent the qualites we'd like to be able to get away with in ourselves
Ok luthiers, are my frets stuffed? The pics are from my '89-'90 Epi Les Paul Custom which has fairly small flat frets. The intonation is shot on this thing, and it really needs a pro setup. I'm wondering how much impact the fret damage has on intonation and whether I can just get the frets leveled and dressed, or whether they need complete replacement. And yes, I realise a should probably just take this to a shop, but its 6.20pm and I'm sitting in Masterton so my options are a little limited at the moment.
Ironbird13 wrote:back to the neck/headstock construction....
what the hell is going on here?
You mean the laminated strip? Gibson did the smae thing of the original explorers. It's a reinforcement that stops the headstock from snapping along the short grain.
ash wrote:
Half stuffed. A proper fret dress will leave you with about half the frets' life to play with.
Yes, it will be affecting intonation a little bit and it will take careful crowning to ensure an improvement.
Thanks ash, appreciate your expertise on this. After posting I actually got new strings, wrapped them round the tailpiece (which I had never tried before), changed the tune-o-matic back to the original (had a cheap nashville style bridge for more adjustment) and got some noticeable improvement in intonation. Still not real good, but definitely better.
Hades wrote:
Me thinks your frets are the least of your problems
Playing a well intonated gat would sure help me get over the Masterton blues though.
Frey wrote:What is the solution for a loose and resonant truss rod?
Tighten said rod with handy-dandy nut?
Hurdy Gurdy.... some how... and I'm not entirely certain how mind you, an instrument that sounds like someone has shoved a nest of angry hornets into a goose with a kazoo bill and is randomly slapping the poor creature with an accordion.... Sounds amazing.
