'Nother back bench project done

[Default]

Since I'm not supposed to be doing much, Im clearing the backlog of stuff I've been meaning to get to. I found the envelope with the Will Ray pickup and finally popped it into the guitar. It was strung with .09s when I got it, and I'll put those back on when I find a set. 90% of of my time seems to consist of wondering where the heck I put the blamed thing, and 10% actually working on stuff.
I know, "pics or it never happened".
Tomorrow, I'll string it up and adjust the pickups, but that's it for the time being. Tomorrow's project is making my 2015 Les Paul Special DC the guitar it should have been from the factory.
Night, all!

 

[GGJaguar]

Looking forward to your report about the extra oomph from the WR bridge pu!

 

[Default]

I know that the Tribute line isn't as highly regarded as the California made G&Ls, but this is a nice bit of kit. Back before things got completely nuts, I saw a video on FB about Bennie Cintioli, a long time Philly music dealer, running his shop by himself, trying to make enough money to bring his wife home from a rehabilitation center. I went over and really kind of felt sorry for the guy. He was almost 90, and he was trying to run it with the help of this young woman, and he really didn't have much in the way of stock. Now Benny is legendary for having all kinds of stuff in his garage, and he lived in a big old house in some bad part of the city, filled with music parts. I really didn't see any of that in his store. I felt bad for the guy, and as I had some disposable income, I thought I would buy a few things. There were a bunch of what I could characterize as "bargain leader" instruments. Tons of '90's era low end gear. I was looking through the rack of Vantage s and Hondo's, and this was the pearl among the swine.
Come to find out, one of the guys he helped start his own store, gave him some G&L stuff, and this was one of those. It didn't have the gigbag, or any of the other stuff that originally came with it. I threw some money in Benny's direction, and got this, an Art digital delay, a Egnator TOL combo, and the banjo-mandolin. I'd always meant to stop back, but work started getting intense, and I wasn't able to. Then he passed away, still working, still trying to get his wife home.
Hey, at least I made him happy for a bit.

 

[Default]

The hardware is pretty good, over all. The pickups and bridge are solid G&L units, same as used on the Cali's, I understand. The locking tuners do the job well, and the b-bender is both fun and infuriating at times, not in function, but in practice. There is no shielding until the wire from the volume to the output jack.

It could stand a higher quality switch and pots, but I'm not sure if I'm going to bother. I'll bang on it a bit to see if I hang onto it, or move it on.

 

[GGJaguar]

The bridge is the same as on US made G&Ls, but the reality is that it's the US made guitars that are fitted with the Tribute bridge. G&L stopped using US-made bridges (SAE) over 10 years ago. The Tribute (metric) bridges are what is used. Call me a skeptic, but I'm not 100% sure about the pickups being US-made either.

 

[Opsimath]

I know that the Tribute line isn't as highly regarded as the California made G&Ls, but this is a nice bit of kit. Back before things got completely nuts, I saw a video on FB about Bennie Cintioli, a long time Philly music dealer, running his shop by himself, trying to make enough money to bring his wife home from a rehabilitation center. I went over and really kind of felt sorry for the guy. He was almost 90, and he was trying to run it with the help of this young woman, and he really didn't have much in the way of stock. Now Benny is legendary for having all kinds of stuff in his garage, and he lived in a big old house in some bad part of the city, filled with music parts. I really didn't see any of that in his store. I felt bad for the guy, and as I had some disposable income, I thought I would buy a few things. There were a bunch of what I could characterize as "bargain leader" instruments. Tons of '90's era low end gear. I was looking through the rack of Vantage s and Hondo's, and this was the pearl among the swine.
Come to find out, one of the guys he helped start his own store, gave him some G&L stuff, and this was one of those. It didn't have the gigbag, or any of the other stuff that originally came with it. I threw some money in Benny's direction, and got this, an Art digital delay, a Egnator TOL combo, and the banjo-mandolin. I'd always meant to stop back, but work started getting intense, and I wasn't able to. Then he passed away, still working, still trying to get his wife home.
Hey, at least I made him happy for a bit.

Good story, and so nice of you to help out Mr. Cintioli. I hope the guitar is everything you expect it to be.

 

[Default]

The bridge is the same as on US made G&Ls, but the reality is that it's the US made guitars that are fitted with the Tribute bridge. G&L stopped using US-made bridges (SAE) over 10 years ago. The Tribute (metric) bridges are what is used. Call me a skeptic, but I'm not 100% sure about the pickups being US-made either.

You would know about that more than I would. That explains why the z pickup isn't available left-handed. For Pete's sake, it's put together with superglue. All you need is a left-handed cover, and I'm not quite there with cad, but that's within my skill set in a month or two.

 

[JohnW63]

I have a Tribute G&L and I took pictures of my standard non Z shaped pickups and they confirmed they were the USA made ones. It's entirely possible Defaults Tribute has USA made ones as well.