QUESTION

I just inherited 3 vintage guitar from my father. I went to have them appraised and my father had custom truss rod covers made with his name on them . What are the correct truss rod covers for these 3 guitars. One is a 1953 Gibson Les Paul goldtop , the second is a 1959 Gibson Les Paul jr and teh third is a 1958 Gibson Les Paul gold top with the big pickups . any info you give me would help greatly

REPLY

Thank you for your e mail I will go over the various truss rod covers that were found on vintage Gibson les paul guitars for you. again i am going by what you told me i have not seen the guitars so by the information you gave me i will tell you teh correct one

The first Gibson Les Paul standards which were in gold have a truss rod cover 2 ply black white black material. there was no name or model on these cover. These early covers had fine lines or ripples running horizontally across cover only seen upon close inspection called roll marks  and are  back is white. these have a wide bevel or white border around them compared to the new ones. The Les Paul customs has the words Les Paul custom in script on the cover. the script is finer than the late 1960′s Les Paul customs

The next version on on the 1957-1959 les paul standards both goldtops and flametops were basically the same . Again the Les Paul customs bear the same script and wording on the top of covers. By 1960 the truss rod cover looks exactly the same but there will be no lines visible in the plastic . 1960 was a transition years for Les Paul’s in the fact that several features changed on the Les Paul including some of the plastic parts so this an important thing to remember

The 1954-1960 Gibson Les Paul jr. truss rod covers are totally different they are one ply black plastic . they look and feel very cheap as would be expected because these were basically student guitars. they have no ripples in plastic and are very hard to describe except that eh plastic is a bit thinner on the original ones than the repros I have seen today

Finally one model you did not mention but I will mention is the 1960 -1962 gibson Les Paul sg model. These just have the words Les Paul in script on the covers and agin it is a two ply with a wide white bevel .

I hope this helps o make sure you can e mail me pictures at THE PARTS DRAWER and i can tell you exactly what ypu need

JIm Pasch

QUESTION

I am confused about a few questions concerning the Fender Stratocaster tremolo block from the 1960′s. First of all did the sting hole depth in the back of the  block change over the years , and is it normal for the top bridge plate to have rough cast edges . I know there is a bunch of posts on this subject but i figured you would know with all your hands on experience.

REPLY

Thank you for your kind words. I Will give you info from what i have found over the years. The back of the block were the ball end of the string goes in had two depths. In the 1950″s to mid 1960″s the holes dilled in the block were more shallow. for instance when you look at the back of the block you can see the depth of the  hole about 1/2 of an inch  or a tad more i do not have one to measure the exact depth but it is visible lets say . By the later part of the od the 1960 ‘s say around 1967 the hole in the block to accommodate the strings ball end was much deeper lets say and inch or a bit more . This was to accommodate for new string designs i was told by an old timer.  Both are correct and both are real but that is the approximate time line i believe for the change . Again for the 1967 era remember Leo Fender never threw anything away so it is possible lets say in 1968 or earl y 1969 to still see a shallow hole block sometimes old stock was found and used .this is just a reference year but I have seen deep blocks from around 1967.

The bridge plate that screws onto the top of the block does has rough cast edges. Why I have no idea and fender certainly had the technology to clean them up but all era fenders have this rough cast edge on the blocks and that is a fact. I wouldassume it was just another cost cutting and time saving method since it does not look bad and most do not even notice,  I hope this helps you can always send us  the block to evaluated for you for free or if you a re not sure or send us pictures we will be glad to help.

A quick note to a company retrospec makes a vintage Fender Tremolo block that is virtually impossible to tell they even age them so be careful. These are the best I have ever seen and I am sure many crooks will try and pass these as real so buy from someone who will guarantee authenticity . If you have any further questions fee free to e mail me at THE PARTS DRAWER and I Will answer all e mails within 48 hours

Jim Pasch

2010 has arrived and I am sure you like the rest of us is glad that 2009 is over. What a ride and a terrible one at that. Just when you thought it could not get worse it did and finally we can say goodbye to the mess that was 2009. There are some glimpses of hope I see for 2010 so lets keep our fingers crossed.

In the vintage guitar and vintage guitar parts world much was the same as the rest of the world gloom and doom with brief glimpses of hope. The vintage guitar market took the real hit and the good news was vintage guitar parts although down significantly still sold on a regular basis and pulled us through. It showed me that even in bad times one needs relief and if you cant buy a vintage guitar restore the one you had seems to be the message i got.Basically with limited funds people put their guitar back to stock rather than buying other more original ones. This solved their vintage guitar jones at a fraction of the price. The result is that parts sold people were happy and now their guitars are worth more a win win situation.

From a business stand point I would be lying to say we rocked and had a great year. The truth is we got by and thank God parts are selling but business was off. around November we got signs of a stronger recovery and it appears to be continuing and as of today sales are still good and we are also still able to buy great parts. I hope this year will be better for everyone.

The other good news for both is prices have come down on parts . This is great news  for the consumer and us as a buyer. We can sell for less because we are buying parts for less. Unlike the frenzy two years ago now seems to be a good time for everyone to buy vintage parts because the prices have settledand there is a good supply around. The fact that great parts are flowing out onto the market again is because people need money and they realized all those parts sitting in drawers are found money. I know from experience that people have been sending us literally photos of piles of parts they have and this has not happened in ages . People were holding on to them like stocks in the frenzy seeing crazy prices but realize now that now is as goodas anytime to sell. So I expect a great year for parts because of this fact.

Thanks again for all you support and help any questions please send me an e mail at THE PARTS DRAWER and i will answer all e mails within 48 hours

JIm Pasch