Questions on Potential Purchase

[PierM]

Tighten the tailpiece studs down far enough and the tailpiece won't rock back and fourth like that. You can see from the pic that the studs are NOT tightened all the way down. It's physics.

That Tailpiece is all down and cannot be lower than this. Studs are already kissing the top.



Said that, a bit of angle on the TP, when topwrapped, it is normal because of the tad of play you have between studs and TP.

 

[mudface]

That Tailpiece is all down and cannot be lower than this. Studs are already kissing the top.



Said that, a bit of angle on the TP, when topwrapped, it is normal because of the tad of play you have between studs and TP.

I think Wizzard of Doze believes you can mash them studs (and their inserts) into the body with a large hammer, thus the "physics" of brute force will flatten that tailpiece to the body. If so, he is correct. Or you can grind the bottom collar off the studs with a Black & Decker Pecker Wrecker and cut off some of the thread so you can screw those bad boys deeper into the body. Or remove the factory studs and replace them with 9/16 hex head 3 inch coarse thread carriage bolts using a DeWalt impact driver and tighten till...............

I'm going to get in trouble, I know it.

 

[Roshy Boy]

Maybe it's an optical thing, but the bridge looks like it's angled back a bit toward the tail piece. Does top wrapping pull the bride back?

 

[alnico59]

Guitar looked fine to me. But I understand the OP passing if he was not 100% happy.

As far as the top wrap debate. I have a '91 '59 flame top that is top wrapped. I prefer my action lower than most. With that in mind the strings were hitting the rear of the bridge. The culprit was a high neck angle something the newer Historic LP's don't seem to suffer from.

I will agree with others that the top wrap does give 10's a nice slinky feel. If it worked for Billy G, it's good enough for me!

 

[BBD]

@Ozz - I did suggest that doubling-down on being wrong was a bad idea...

 

[67SLP]

If the tail piece is tightened... all the way down... it will NOT rock foward... or move.

See below:

Try it.

 

[DanD]

If the tail piece is tightened... all the way down... it will NOT rock foward... or move.

See below:

Try it.

Those are Tone Pros (or similar) locking studs. Those studs do 'lock' the tailpiece down so it cannot rock and roll forward.

OEM Gibson studs do not lock. Gibson does use Tone Pros hardware on select models but not on all models.

SO, some may have a Gibson with locking studs and/or a locking bridge, while other models (none of my Historics have Tone Pros hardware but my '13 LP Standard does) do not use this hardware.

 

[BBD]

@67SLP

What DanD said. Those aren't Gibson vintage-spec studs. If you don't own a top-wrapped Historic, this may not be the thread for you.

 

[jamman]

Maybe it's an optical thing, but the bridge looks like it's angled back a bit toward the tail piece. Does top wrapping pull the bride back?

I see the same thing . It Might be the posts the bridge goes onto ,They (the threads) are cut at an angle(all screw threads are) and can be moved in either direction (back and forth or centered) when you re-string your guitar . It's something you could /can testy yourself and adjust if desired .

To add another Possible , to make head scratching part of this thread , would be .... Are the Studs and Stop Tail original and if not , what specs /tolerance were used in mfg'ing them ? A cheap part , could explain this nicely ..... Maybe the owner wanted an Aged part for cheap and this was the result ...

IIRC Gibson doesn't make "locking Studs", They use Tone -Pros . IDR if any "Historics use TP's either ...

 

[Cjsinla]

If the tail piece is tightened... all the way down... it will NOT rock foward... or move.

See below:

Try it.

It's not a question of tightening the studs down, it's a question of how big the space is between the head of the stud and the ledge below it combined with the thickness of the tailpiece. The OP has his all the way down and the tailpiece still rocks forward.