Single cut Les Paul Jr - new pickguard!

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
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Despot
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Re: Single cut Les Paul Jr copies? NGD on page 3!

Post by Despot » Fri Jan 25, 2019 4:51 am

Nice score!

I've never played one of the Armstrong Juniors - but I'm actually okay with the guard/truss rod cover and think that it works well with against the black.

The loudest and most resonant unamplified solid body guitars that I've played have always been Juniors - there's something about the construction (maybe the big old slab body, or the way the bridge is anchored) that seems to make them ring out like that. I've had newer and vintage ones ... and they've always been great.

Re: the headstock break - that looks well ... and nothing wrong with buying a well repaired headstock break (it's how I was able to buy my Firebird after all). As they say - the glue bonds stronger than the wood around it ... so it'll never break in the same place again.

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Re: Single cut Les Paul Jr copies? NGD on page 3!

Post by mynameisjonas » Fri Jan 25, 2019 5:07 am

PorkyPrimeCut wrote:
Fri Jan 25, 2019 4:34 am
Pickguard & truss cover aside, that looks great! What would you do, throw money at Spitfire or go down the solid colour route (some kind of off-white would look killer!!)
I'm thinking either black, or single ply tort like you find on double cut Jrs. I really like how it looks on black finishes:
Image
At a quick glance it looks black, but in the right light you see the tort pattern.
But off-white could definitely look cool too, it would be a good match for my Cabronita-ish Tele.

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Re: Single cut Les Paul Jr copies? NGD on page 3!

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Fri Jan 25, 2019 5:36 am

mynameisjonas wrote:
Fri Jan 25, 2019 5:07 am
...single ply tort like you find on double cut Jrs. I really like how it looks on black finishes:
Image
At a quick glance it looks black, but in the right light you see the tort pattern.
Yeah, that looks great.

I wonder if this is the same stuff they used on the old LG acoustics. Some of those 50s ones are exactly how you describe.
mynameisjonas wrote:
Fri Jan 25, 2019 5:07 am
But off-white could definitely look cool too, it would be a good match for my Cabronita-ish Tele.
Ah yeah, you already have that Tele with the black/white combo. Forgot about that.
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Re: Single cut Les Paul Jr copies? NGD on page 3!

Post by mynameisjonas » Fri Jan 25, 2019 6:06 am

Despot wrote:
Fri Jan 25, 2019 4:51 am
Re: the headstock break - that looks well ... and nothing wrong with buying a well repaired headstock break (it's how I was able to buy my Firebird after all). As they say - the glue bonds stronger than the wood around it ... so it'll never break in the same place again.
Yeah, I'm more comfortable buying a Gibson with a repaired headstock than one that's never been broken. It feels like a rite of passage every Gibson needs to go through, and it's nice to have it over and done with. ;)
Despot wrote:
Fri Jan 25, 2019 4:51 am
The loudest and most resonant unamplified solid body guitars that I've played have always been Juniors - there's something about the construction (maybe the big old slab body, or the way the bridge is anchored) that seems to make them ring out like that. I've had newer and vintage ones ... and they've always been great.
I've come across a few ones that weren't like that over the past few months, coincidentally they've all been from the Les Paul 100 year anniversary run (the ones with robo-tuners and brass nuts), so I'm really happy I found a good one.

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Re: Single cut Les Paul Jr copies?

Post by mynameisjonas » Fri Jan 25, 2019 8:20 am

mynameisjonas wrote:
Mon Jan 21, 2019 12:15 am
krib wrote:
Thu Jan 17, 2019 1:21 pm
That Hagström Deluxe on the wall :? :?
Is it for sale? Thats my all time fav guitar.
I think so, but I'm not sure. They've always had a bunch of them up on the walls and in the ceiling, so it could be that they're just there as decoration. But hit them up of you're interested: http://hellstonemusic.se/
Oh, btw, I asked about the Hags, and they are all for sale :)

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Re: Single cut Les Paul Jr copies? NGD on page 3!

Post by rumfoord » Fri Jan 25, 2019 8:37 am

Ooh beautiful!! Quite a happy ending to this story as well! Congrats!

You didn't ask, but I might do it like this :)

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https://www.ebay.com/i/223224880526?chn=ps

Image
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Antiqu ... rk:12:pf:0

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Re: Single cut Les Paul Jr copies? NGD on page 3!

Post by mynameisjonas » Mon Jan 28, 2019 2:07 am

The wooden pickguard isn't really my thing, but I love those knobs!

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Re: NGD!

Post by zhivago » Mon Jan 28, 2019 4:15 am

mynameisjonas wrote:
Fri Jan 25, 2019 4:16 am
I went by the shop and the guitar was still there, so here it is! :)
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

There are some good news and some bad news, lets start with the bad:
  • The headstock has broken off at some point (as you can see in the last pic)
  • It has the unpopular original stacked P90 (which btw is a H90, not a P100), which for some reason isn't hum cancelling
The good news:
  • The headstock repair seems to have been done well, and it knocked down the price quite a bit
  • The pickup sounds really nice, it's a perfectly serviceable typical P90 sound. Maybe the previous owner disconnected the dummy coil or something, I'll have to investigate...
  • The guitar is really reasonant, by far the most 'lively' solid body electric I own. It's loud and punchy unplugged, and has a nice piano like sustain.
  • It was well set up out of the box and plays effortlessly. The neck profile is more modern than I'm used to, but it takes just a few seconds to readjust.
At some point I'll probably replace the bridge, the pickup and the pickguard + trussrod cover, but the guitar is great as it is. Really happy I got it :)
Completely missed this for some reason!!!

Awesome Jr! Happy NGD! 8)
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Re: Single cut Les Paul Jr copies? NGD on page 3!

Post by mynameisjonas » Mon Jan 28, 2019 4:28 am

Thanks! :)

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Re: Single cut Les Paul Jr - need pickguard advice

Post by mynameisjonas » Thu Jan 31, 2019 12:45 am

I've been trying to find a source for a single ply tort guard, but there doesn't seem to be that many options. WD and Pickguardian make them of course (WD even has a specific BJA signature guard), but they're pretty bad at providing sample images of their materials and the guards, so it's hard to know what you're going to get. I'd like a sorta brownish kind of tort, and non-beveled edges.
Creamtone make a nice looking guard, but the tort is bit too red for my taste. But maybe that varies from batch to batch.

Does anyone know any other sources?

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Re: Single cut Les Paul Jr - need pickguard advice

Post by rumfoord » Thu Jan 31, 2019 1:50 am


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Re: Single cut Les Paul Jr - need pickguard advice

Post by mynameisjonas » Thu Jan 31, 2019 4:14 am

Thanks, but those are for the double cut version, so they won't fit mine.

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Re: Single cut Les Paul Jr - need pickguard advice

Post by rumfoord » Thu Jan 31, 2019 4:17 am

Oh whoops, I see now, I didn't realize there was a BJA DC model too. I must have seen "BJA" and checked out. They do custom orders too, it looks like.

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Re: Single cut Les Paul Jr - need pickguard advice

Post by zhivago » Thu Jan 31, 2019 1:33 pm

I would try to get in touch with Dan at Mojoaxe, he has a great rep, and frequents the Les Paul Forum. :)
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Re: Single cut Les Paul Jr - need pickguard advice

Post by mynameisjonas » Mon Feb 04, 2019 11:06 am

I found a sheet of bakelite in my parts box, I think I’m gonna make a black guard first and see how I like it.

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