NGD - Got my hands on something stripped and simple (the guitar not my missus)

nickb_boy

Yesterday was a very interesting NGD for me.  I've always been tempted by a Les Paul Jr with single P90 but could never justify the Custom shop price tags and the normal Gibson offerings I'd tried just didn't quite hit the mark.

Then I happened to stumble across a build made by John Palir who has an interesting take on reliced guitars and it just seemed to hit the spot with me.  I thought I'd stick in a very cheeky lowball offer (in the style of @Lew) on Reverb.com only to wake up the next morning to find it had been accepted.  Well after a very long wait with the surface mail shipping from Canada (nearly 10 weeks), and then fearing Parcelforce would have done their best attempt at knocking off the headstock it finally arrived in one piece:

The neck is stripped back and is so comfortable to play.  It's got a 60s profile neck which still feels like it's got a bit of meat behind it.  The pickup is a Porter P90 which really packs some punch when pushed but gives a great clean tone when rolling back on the volume.

The aging and relic is a in the Palir fashion which strays away from the repro style and just becomes more of an extreme art form.  It won't be everyone's taste but I personally love it.

Now I'm in the process of tweaking the set up to get it exactly to my liking.  It's giving me a bit of a challenge getting the intonation spot on with the wraparound tailpiece and lack of adjustment.  I'm thinking of fitting a compensated version if it proves to be too much of an issue but at the moment it's liveable with.

Does anyone here have any experience with the compensated wrap around tailpieces to let me know if they're worth a try?  I've been looking at the Faber offering but would be happy to be guided in the right direction for something that is tried and tested.  Cheers

samzadgan

HNGD...that is absolutely beautiful!!!

love the relicing...looks perfect to me. Also, personally i wouldn't change bridge....intonation is overrated anyway! 

RaymondLin

I said I don't like relic guitars....I take that back.

Because I'd be gladly have that along side all my PRS !

Niallmo

Top class! That is excellent.

Nunogilberto

Fantastic looking guitar. Good GAS!

breakstuff

Love it.Congrats.

Lew

Brill :-)

Dave_Mc

Sweet

toescantalk

Very nice indeed.

ESchap

Nice looking guitar.

The Faber stepped wrapround bridge is great.  Got it on an old Gibson SG special with 11's and it intonates pretty much perfectly.  Also, as it's Aluminium it adds a bit of zing into the mix. 

stonevibe

Ideally 11 gauge strings as they intonate pretty well. Lighter gauges tend to be a little 'off'.

That is a great looking guitar!

ESchap

Just noticed, is the bridge at 90o to the neck? or is it angled towards the high E?  

The Faber is designed for 90o having it's compensation in the built in stepping.

impmann

Nice - and good to see a custom guitar like this with the makers name on the headstock, not a well copied logo from Nashville.

Regarding the bridge - in the past I've found that wrapovers sound better than those with intonation adjustment (such as the BadAss) but there are lots more options these days and I haven't tried those. I tend to find that wrapovers do have minor intonation issues in much the same vein as 3 saddle Teles, so it becomes a compromise.

RMJ

Lovely. Congrats!

musteatbrain

I like that! Mojo axe do a replacement for vintage SGs that's good

DrBob

I've got an aluminium Faber on my JXG Jr strung with 10-52's and the intonation is as good as any of my guitars with tuneomatic sir six saddle tremolo bridges. I'd say do it

axisus

Very appealing guitar!

Sassafras

Very nice. The double cut juniors are my favourite shaped guitars and they sound great with plenty of bite.

RocknRollDave

Wow awarded! Even though I love neck pickups, I'd happily add a guitar like that to my weaponry. Looks great, really does.

IvisonGuitars

nickb_boy said:

Does anyone here have any experience with the compensated wrap around tailpieces to let me know if they're worth a try?  I've been looking at the Faber offering but would be happy to be guided in the right direction for something that is tried and tested.  Cheers

Very nice indeed!

I use the Mojoaxe compensated bridge on all my vintage juniors and the intonation is spot on, expensive but one of the best (the other being Pigtail) IMHO.

http://www.mojoaxe.com/

robwright

That should be mine! If you ever sell it ...........

Would it be rude to ask the bargainous price you paid? Was it that low that your were wearing the metaphorical mask and stripy jumper?