Just a quick tip for any recent or soon-to-be R8 and R9 blowout buyers.
My R8 came from Peach and the team there had clearly done a great pre-sale fettle on my guitar. It played and sounded great out of the case, although I tweaked the action and neck relief to suit my own personal tastes.
My R9 came from GuitarGuitar and it was nowhere near as good out of the case. I suspect it was sent to me straight as it came from Gibson. However, I could tell it was a good 'un and after a quick tweak it's now on a par with my Peach R8. Here's what you should check if the guitar isn't quite playing or sounding right to you:
1. Check the neck relief. I use a capo and a 0.010" feeler gauge to set it accurately to my tastes, but for a quick check you can fret the low E string at the first and last frets and then look at the 8th/9th frets. There should be a slight gap between the string and the frets. If there isn't, loosen the truss rod a bit. If there's a large gap tighten the truss rod a bit to straighten the neck.
2. Check the action. I measure it at on the open E strings at the 12th fret using a metal ruler and aim for the gap between the fret and the string to be between 1-2mm. Adjust to taste and to avoid string rattle.
3. Check the bridge saddles. On my R9 the saddles were really badly cut, so bad that the top E string was vibrating against a burr and creating a sitar-like sound that stifled sustain. Realising I didn't have the appropriate tools to fix the problem, I went on eBay and ordered this for £1.65 delivered:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gas-Welding-Nozzle-Cleaners/172839188403 I've tidied up all the saddles now using the various thicknesses of files and finished off the job with a bit of wet and dry sandpaper to remove any sharp edges. The guitar now sounds great and I have a pair of superb instruments.
I hope that helps anyone who has a slight setup issue with one of these great guitars.
Comments
They are quite handy for nuts as well if you don't want to pay for proper nut files (which are silly money). On one of these I might pay for someone good to do it, but I don't mind messing with nuts on cheaper guitars.
Jeez..
Although my main observation is..... you bought both an R8 and R9? That's a good 5 or 6k splashed out right there. Will they ever leave the confines of your house?!
BTW. Nice thread @Twinfan, I'm sure many will find this info very useful