Make up my mind new Historic or Historic makeover

[Mike60]

look forward to hearing how you like it.

 

[dwagar]

i must be a putz, because i dont understand the HM thing. I understand the process...but why spend 3k on an R8 and then spend $2500 having someone mod it? i guess this just goes back to the whole relic job thing. if it makes you happy and you can afford it, i suppose. me personally, i would buy another Historic. HM could use the wood from the Real Cross on my fretboard and I'd still play like shit.

HM isn't just a relic job.

- pull the new style truss rod, replace with 50's style rod, without the rubber condom
- replace the fretboard with Brazilian, using hide glue
- replace the inlays with the closest to 50's you could ever find
- reshape the neck to 50's profile
- refinish with proper, 50's style analine dyes and nitro (real UV fade and real cold checking only if requested)

so you see, HM IMO is more about a tonal upgrade than a "relic job". This is about as close as you can mod your LP to an original as it gets.

 

[Deus Vult]

besides replacing the wood on the fretboard, most of it seems cosmetic to me. or am i crazy? thats why i compared it to relic'ing...an attempt to make it look like a 50 year old guitar.

 

[Mike60]

...not all of the HM's are reliced...

 

[dwagar]

FennRx, I won't say you're crazy, but I will say you are missing the point. It's not cosmetic.

Tone:
- braz makes a difference
- the truss rod makes a difference
- no condom makes a difference
- hide glue makes a difference
- the proper finish makes a difference

the neck reshape is something that everyone that owns an Historic seems to complain about, that's a playability issue.

I didn't mention the bone nut and refret (by a Master Luthier btw), because you can get that done lots of places.

Mike (I know you like to attach pics), give us a nice clean full geetar shot of what a 1960 LP looked like in 1960.

relicing - yes, if you want, but they do a proper relic job, no razor blades here.

mine, by the way, was not refinished. So no, it wasn't an attempt at making it look like a 50 year old guitar. It was making it absolutely the best R9 I've ever seen.

 

[Mike60]

...photo wasn't taken in '60 but it is an extremely clean guitar...

 

[dwagar]

bonus is, your TP is in the right place, lol.

 

[Mike60]

here is another clean '60...

 

[Deus Vult]

FennRx, I won't say you're crazy, but I will say you are missing the point. It's not cosmetic.

Tone:
- braz makes a difference
- the truss rod makes a difference
- no condom makes a difference
- hide glue makes a difference
- the proper finish makes a difference

the neck reshape is something that everyone that owns an Historic seems to complain about, that's a playability issue.

I didn't mention the bone nut and refret (by a Master Luthier btw), because you can get that done lots of places.

Mike (I know you like to attach pics), give us a nice clean full geetar shot of what a 1960 LP looked like in 1960.

relicing - yes, if you want, but they do a proper relic job, no razor blades here.

mine, by the way, was not refinished. So no, it wasn't an attempt at making it look like a 50 year old guitar. It was making it absolutely the best R9 I've ever seen.

i didnt realize that all of those things actually affected the sound...in my ignorance i thought that these were things to make the guitar more vintage accurate, as opposed to making it more accurate in specs and sound. thanks for the info.

 

[dwagar]

yeah, for me it was all about the tone. If it was for looks, or vintage 'correctness', I wouldn't have spent the money.

Heck, I've still got the Gibson plastic (exc for the switchring, cause it was almost pink) on my R9 (much to Bobbo's chagrin )

 

[Motorcycle]

I want the relic job - but not TOO much wear & tear. I like the vibe of relics and I like the vibe of "shiny new" as well. But here's another thing - and I'm not trying to be overly morbid. I'm 53, I've had quad by-pass surgery, I've got asthma and I smoked from the age of 12 to 38, my father passed away at 56 of cancer and heart problems, my three older brothers died in their 60's of cancer and heart problems. If I were in my 20's or 30's I wouldn't relic it. But I don't have 30- 40 years to get it there naturally. I do own a 55 Les junior, that I've had the pleasure of owning since 1977. I've done quite a bit to relic that one all by myself. Looks a bit like a butcher block, but that's a story for another forum.

Thanks for all the advice. I was wondering if the makeover improved tone. I had some concerns about it playing as well as it does now with the factory plek.

 

[Motorcycle]

it depends on what you want. IMO if you want ONE fantastic guitar, then ship your R9. If you'd rather have 2 really good guitars, then buy another Historic. For me, one fantastic guitar is worth a whole lot more than a bunch of other guitars.

That's generally been my outlook on life but never having played an HM guitar I wasn't sure if it actually represented a quantifiable improvement - that is other than the mojo imparted to it from the relicing aspect.

 

[dwagar]

I hear ya. I'm 56 myself. My brother died of a heart attack at 55. The kids can look at self relicing for the next 25 or 30 years. I sure can't.
And for me, when I shipped my R9 to HM, there was a bit of 'how long do I wait to play the best guitar I can get?'.
Enjoy what you can now man, we never know.

and, oh yeah, it is quantifiable. Just the acoustic volume and resonance (after HM) will blow you away. Then when you start hitting the overtones, you'll be giggling like a little school girl.
IMO a really good luthier can dress the frets every bit as good as a plek job, I wouldn't sweat that a bit.

 

[sapi]

look forward to hearing how you like it.

Ahh, can't wait. I'm doin this as i def want to keep this guitar for good. This guitar sounded just great, it was a handpicked one out of a large bunch of RI's. I'm sure it'll sound awesome after HM.

I'm gonna let you know for sure ;-)

Best,

jo

 

[Fixxxer]

Here's what I'm starting with, 2007 59 Historic.

With flash

without

After reading your story, do what you need brother!!!!!!!!

 

[Mike60]

Ahh, can't wait. I'm doin this as i def want to keep this guitar for good. This guitar sounded just great, it was a handpicked one out of a large bunch of RI's. I'm sure it'll sound awesome after HM.

I'm gonna let you know for sure ;-)

Best,

jo

...you should at least get a quantifiable improvement or "opening up" in tone...the guitar also will feel more like a vintage one and well,it'll resemble a fifties LP more than it does now...

 

[Tim Plains]

Hmmm, I don't know anything about this subject. This is actually the first I've heard of HM packages.

I'm not going to ask the rookie "is it worth it?" question, but it would be hard for me to spend the money on this type of an upgrade without hearing it first...and it's not like I can just walk into my local shop and try one out. Another thing that would worry me is will I like the guitar afterwards?

What's their website, hmguitar.com?

 

[sapi]

Hmmm, I don't know anything about this subject. This is actually the first I've heard of HM packages.

I'm not going to ask the rookie "is it worth it?" question, but it would be hard for me to spend the money on this type of an upgrade without hearing it first...and it's not like I can just walk into my local shop and try one out. Another thing that would worry me is will I like the guitar afterwards?

What's their website, hmguitar.com?

Well you can do your research and go from there ;-) This place is a good start.
Historic Makeovers - "The most amazing Makeover to your Historic Les Paul"

 

[Motorcycle]

Which HM package are you considering ???

So Bobbo, since you have a multi-page, often referenced thread about your ability to tell the difference between Historics and real burst, I feel compelled to ask, In your opinion which outfit (other than a Gibson Murphy) does the best work in this area ? RS, HM, or some other company I don't know about ?

Any help would be much appreciated from anyone that wants to answer - remember I'm new here and don't know very many of the players.

My email address: [email protected]

 

[RCCola]

I should stop reading this forum...always makes me want to buy something.

Anyone know what the wait is like for a HM nowadays? I guess I could just contact them directly...but then they might convince me to get an HM...