NUGD: Gibson LP Special TV Yellow

[Sustainium]

i have one of these guitars (serial says made in 2022). I find the G to get out of tune mostly after I bend more than a whole step but I was prepared for that as many people mentioned the tuning issues. I put on that "nut sauce" stuff and it did seem to help. When I bend a lot I tend to go back while playing and tune the G slightly higher as a compensation.

I haven't gotten it serviced professionally yet. I'm wondering if I have some similar issues.

I do like it - the neck is comfy and the wide dynamics with the p90's is extremely helpful for a 1 channel amp guy like myself. Here it is through a practice amp.

Excellent!

 

[Jubilant]

Congrats on a sweet guitar! Sucks you have to deal with the alignment issues.I would try running the strings straight through rather than top wrapping them as mentioned above.Enjoy your long awaited p90 Paul!

 

[Georgiatec]

@scozz
The nut looks fine mate. It actually won't make a whole lot of difference anyways. The issue is the stopbar bridge. You can see how the strings are not running inline down the neck, they are at a very slight angle, dropping to the treble side. I would be tempted to re-align the strings at the stopbar and then cut a slight notch in it to stop them slipping. The root cause could be slight miss-placement of the stopbar studs. I'm sure there are after market versions available that allow sideways adjustment as well as up and down that solve this issue.
Like you I hankered after a P-90 equipped LP for some time. I've just bought a 2009 Studio P-90 for not a lot of money, but I wanted a tune-o-matic as I don't like the wrap over stopbar jobbies on the Specials for the exact issue you are having.

 

[John Stedman]

I would try running the strings straight through rather than top wrapping them as mentioned above.

A wrap-around bridge doesn't work that way, there's no tune-o-matic bridge part to raise the strings high enough after exiting the stopbar tail piece part. No amount of stud adjustment will raise them high enough either. A wrap-around is a bridge and stopbar all-in-one, top wrap is the only way.

 

[John Stedman]

The root cause could be slight miss-placement of the stopbar studs.

At first look I thought that might be an issue too, but on further inspection realized that can't be it. There's plenty of room at both bass and treble ends for proper alignment of the strings, and without saddles the stud alignment is nearly moot. As long as there's enough length on either side so that the strings don't slip over the end you can place the strings anywhere along that axis.

If you look at the close-up photo of the bridge you can see the high E string is close to falling off the end of the bridge/stop bar... BUT, it actually needs to be moved in the opposite direction to align with the pole piece and ball end, which would actually solve the whole, "the high E string is too close to the edge of the fretboard" issue. The other strings may need to be adjusted upwards/to the left as well to space them out evenly.

 

[scozz]

Thanks everyone for your input, I’ve come to the same conclusion as my friend from across the pond @Georgiatec, and @John Stedman, it’s the bridge. I’m going to try, once again, to align the stock bridge properly, I was able to get it better, but it’s still not right.

The guitar has a few high frets, so I’m going to level and crown those frets, and I’m also going to lower the nut slots a bit. I almost always do these two things when getting a new guitar, they play so much better when I do. When I’m doing all that I’ll see what can be done about the stock bridge.

I’ve contacted Gibson and I have received a case number and now I’m waiting for a human response, I’m don’t expect much, so we’ll see. I’ll post more pics later today showing what progress I’ve made so far to get the bridge aligned.

Thanks again everyone for their opinions, it’s much appreciated.

 

[scozz]

Here’s some pics comparing the high E strings’ closeness to the edge of the fretboard, before adjusting the strings a little at the bridge.

First pic is before adjusting the bridge, the second is after. I just did it quickly by loosing the strings and holding them over as I tightened them.

It’s better,… but not how I’d prefer it, if I didn’t feel it when playing the higher frets, it really wouldn’t matter. So I’m going to take another try lining everything up, starting fresh when I have the guitar apart.

Hopefully some better results will follow…

Before…


After…


Before…


After…

 

[John Stedman]

In the "after" photo of the neck pick up that low E string still looks outta whack, you sure you can't push it a little further north and then adjust the others accordingly? So hard to tell from photos what's actually going on.

This is my 2016 LPS and from photos it seems like it has similar issues as yours. The high E on mine is closer to the edge of the fingerboard than the low E as well. It plays fine and I don't find the high E slips over the fingerboard any more than usual.

Depending on the camera angle my high E string either looks like it's right over the pole piece or looks off center. In actual physical space the low E is dead center over the bridge pick up pole piece and every other string is shifted off center to the right just a little bit and the high E is barely over the pole piece, but at the neck pickup the high E is centered over the pole piece. Because the pickups are the same size the pole alignment at the neck pickup is going to be different than at the bridge pickup, due to the strings fanning out from the nut to the bridge.

A-ha! While typing this out I did some experimenting... try this: loosen strings slightly and adjust string spacing by centering the low E and high E over the neck pickup pole pieces rather than the bridge pickup. I just did this and now my low E and high E are much more equidistant to their respective fingerboard edges. The compromise is that the E/A and B/E string position over the bridge pickup pole pieces is slightly off center now, but not enough to make much of a sound difference, maybe even an improvement.

 

[scozz]

Took the bridge and strings off to do the fret level, obviously, and re-installing the bridge I was able to adjust it properly. It took a bit to do so but it’s right now, to my liking.

I made sure to hold all the strings in place while tightening them, it took a few time to get all six where I wanted, but it worked. This is my first time owning or having any experience with this type of bridge, so I guess I had a learning curve, lol.

I’m happy now, after a good play the strings stayed in place and the fret leveling make this guitar play really great!

One last thing to do and I’ll be all set, thanks everyone for your responses.

 

[fitz]

That looks WAY better.

 

[scozz]

That looks WAY better.

Thanks @fitz ,…. Yeah it does doesn’t it,..

 

[DirtySteve]

Glad you got it!

 

[CrystalBearer]

The bridge & neck are out of alignment...

That always happens with a regular stop tail-piece.

 

[CrystalBearer]

or get a lightning bridge w/ string notches.

Exactly what I have in mind.