Here’s a recent beauty that came into the shop.  This picture really shows the nitro cellulous finish starting to haze a bit where your arm rubs the top, in addition to the general neglect of the chrome.

 
 

The real problematic issue with this guitar was the nut.  First of all, it’s WAY too close to the binding.  It’s gives “life on the edge” new meaning.  This nut also allowed strings 1-3 to rattle against the 1st fret.

 

After removing the nut, we can see a terrible, TERRIBLE thing:, a shim made with a piece of duct tape!  Gibsons are made to be tone machines, but this shim completely reverses that.  Who ever did this should be tied to the whipping post.

You can also clearly see the transformation of the fretboard and frets starting here at Straight Frets.  I usually do this step 1st thing after the strings come off, so that I can put 2-3 coats of conditioner on the wood with 2-hour intervals.

 

 

Here’s a pic of the patented Buzz Feiten shelf nut (with a 12' radius) before it’s fit to this guitar…

 

 

And here it is once it has been fitted to allow maximum contact with all of the wood surfaces, including the top of the rosewood fingerboard.  This is a bit tricky to fit like a glove, but it’s worth the extra time, as the extra contact improves resonance.

 

Here’s the nut getting cut with the proper sized nut files.  I have14 different sized cutters for accurate groove width.

 

And here’s the final product, next to the original and the list of pros and cons:

 

OLD NUT:.

  1. Too close to the edge
  2. Too close to the 1st fret
  3. Shimmed with wrong material
  4. Standard shaped nut allows for 1st fret notes to sound audibly sharp.

 

NEW NUT:

  1. Properly spaced between the strings
  2. Correct height allows for clear open strings
  3. No shim = best clarity possibly
  4. Buzz Feiten shelf overhang not only allows the first fret notes to sound in tune, but also for more contact with the the rosewood board.

 

 

Finally I buffed the entire body with cotton buffing wheels and high quality 3M compounds, added some white felt strap button washers, cleaned the chrome, restrung it, checked the truss rod, and set the intonation.  It’s now ready to rock.

 

Here’s the itemized receipt for this bill:

 $120.00        Buzz Feiten shelf nut: 

     40.00        Buffing out of the body, neck, head, and chrome.

     55.00        Labor for setup:  Polished frets, conditioned fretboard,

                       restrung, adjusted truss rod, set  action, set intonation

       5.00        D’addario 11’s

    

 $220.00  Total

 

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