Jeff R

He wanted to ship it in a palette crate. I could imagine a FedEx loader driving a fork lift into it. I helped someone else figure out how to use two boxes for shipping me a larger Rick Nielsen numbered RNK Korina to me no problem. He even made it thinner. When I shipped a Standard to Switzerland 20 years ago, I went a local packing and shipping store that makes custom boxes using a fabrication machine with a ton of presets. The guy who knows it all there took one look at the Standard case, without taking out his tape measure, and said out loud "baby bed mattress box." He took me to a small stack in their warehouse - said they kept them in stock for people moving and/or storing baby beds in attics between childbirths. Takeaway: Check in with your local mattress superstore, they may give you an adequate box before they dumpster or recycle it.

Dremel should be Plan C or D, in that if you don't have the reps, a Dremel with a sanding barrel will get away from you and remove too much in too ugly a fashion. AND it can create enough friction to ignite (as in melt) guards made of highly flammable material. Modern faux tortoise guards alert! I thought it was bullsh!t until I was Dremeling the OEM faux tort guard on my G&L Legacy for a bridge H and it started belching a nasty chem-smell and likely toxic smoke. If you try it, have a respirator handy.

I see that same problem often with old P- and J-basses with old shrinking guards, in particular tort guards. I use a mill or flat file on the flats, a pencil-like rattail file inside the corners and then again inside the four mounting tab arcs, all as needed, test fitting as I go. GO SLOW. You can always take away a wee bit more material but you cannot put even a wee bit back. Test fit as you go (slowly) and you'll be fine.

Or the even-better feature the "experts" critique and the RI subsequently omitted - the pancake bodies. Classic example of we fickle guitarists spending more time clicking a mouse versus becoming better players, and making consumer decisions with our eyes and our innerwebs "expertise" versus our own ears, hands and ribcages. Every time someone bashes on pancake body Norlins in my shop, I respond that I can't remember if a '58-60 Standard has headstock ears, but I know they typically have absolutely no less than six glued-up pieces of wood (don't forget the holly headstock veneer). So be sure to include the Holy Grail LPs on your blanket "they suck" list. Edited to add eye candy that doubles as a "disclaimer" note ... my very cherished '76 Standard.

I have no clue because I got my dream Centaura derivative about 10ish years ago and I haven't tracked Hamers in general on the used market since. The last time I recall discussing a 2HB on the HFC was in this thread ... Usually a refin and upgrades detract from a guitar's street value, but those are all quality and desirable upgrades in the opinions in the big picture shreddysuperstrat market. I like yours better than the two I had before!

Specifically and officially, the rarer Centaura 2HB. I've owned two over the years. Considering the graphic is an exact copy of a Lynch tiger, with no clearcoat yellowing as opposed to the headstock (that logo should be white) ... I'd bet the farm it's a refin. Non original tremolo (that's a Gotoh 1996T derivative with what appear to be FU-Tone upgrades). Added claw upgrade, added trem stop, non factory knob. Sweet piece!

I have two of String Swing's version in my shop. I've hung tens of thousands of dollars in clients' and my own guitars with zero problems whatsoever (knock on rosewood). Not only incredible sturdiness but also zero issues with hook padding/foam reacting negatively with finishes. BE SURE to research that aspect of the rack on Amazon. You can always beef up the wall mount scheme as you see fit, it's the padding where you really need to do your homework. For single unit mounting hooks, I've had the Hercules GSP series wall hooks in the shop for 10 years now. They are the type that the instrument's weight closes the ears of the hook, and it is going NOWHERE. $20 apiece from your mouse-click storefront of choice, slightly cheaper bought in bulk, and absolutely zero issues.

Monitor the binding itself, not with a clock but with your thumb testing its "give" ... you want the binding warm enough to stretch into the arc, but not so hot that it distorts. If you aren't getting the results you seek as quickly as you'd like, I usually use a hairdryer nowadays. It's quicker.

Look on Facebook for this post ...

If you saw Bukovac's video a few days ago at Blackbird Studio Rentals, you may have espied this soapbarred Strat on a stand in the rental guitars area. That's a Carondelet S with three Carondelet 90s and the newest addition to their rental fleet. I dropped it off with BSR last week during an artist relations mission in Nashville. Here's a better shot of the S with BSR GM Mike Simmons (also in TB's vid). Here's the video. Here's my pal Matt Schultz showing what it can do ... Mike told me Buk test-drove the pink S and said he "loved" my soapbars. I'll wear that feedback like a veteran wears his war medals!

The seller, Lance, is one of my best friends, actually more like my surrogate little brother, for well over 30 years. He just opened his first fretted brick and mortar, more specifically an exclusively vintage and high-end used gear storefront, in the north end of our state a little over two hours east of DFW. Because of the nature of the vintage and used gear market, Lance does a LOT of gear trades in both the storefront and on Reverb. I haven't asked him about this guitar specifically, I have no interest in it. But I can say just from Lance being my pal forever that his price is as flexible as it is optimistic... and it's in direct reflection of inquiries putting equally unrealistic, I mean, "optimistic," values on their prospective trade-ins. If you want to make what you feel is a more realistic cash offer, or trade(s) offer, on this guitar, reach out directly to Higher Octave Guitars & Gear, ask for Lance, and tell him Jeff from Carondelet and The Fret Shack sent you. Lance will bend over backwards to make something good happen for you.

Greg a couple years ago shared with me the specific Gregwind HB recipe he gave other winders over the last couple of decades. After reviewing the recipe and winding a few to traditional Gregwind spec, I suggested a slight revision that likely wouldn't change the fundamental tone or feel but would significantly improve durability and ultimately lifespan. Outside of us both having to warranty our work, we ultimately want our work to outlive us, I reminded Greg. He agreed and said go for it, and upon testing my revised recipe, Greg said the prototypes were actually better than any of their predecessors. And because I erroneously wrote "Gregbuckers" on the packaging instead of "Gregwinds," they got a happenstance rebrand too I absolutely ADORE your guitar! No spec revisions to the time-tested "Uncle Greg" blueprint fyi, that pickup is absolutely righteous in the ears and under the hands.

Greg has me winding one of his custom Gregbuckers for his ... he's VERY VERY excited about it!

Diaperburst?

The price is probably not that much out of line considering the number of Jem/Vai collectors out there compared to those who DON'T have an LNG, much less a clean one. I seem to recall there are only 777 out there and someone out there is willing to pay big $$$ for the right one. This one looks well taken care of, signature's still intact, case number matches, relatively unfaded neons (those pink Dimarzio pickups fade even on case queens), no neck joint finish cracks, intact and unpitted hand rest on the trem, etc. I don't know if he'll get that price on a local CL ad, even in a market the size of Atlanta, but I'd bet an eBay listing with many detailed photographs and open to international bidders would yield some really serious money.

And THAT'S the reason why when I filled out the UPS shipping forms, I ignored HFC tradition and declared package content value substantially higher than $350 LOL

She ships to Houston tomorrow. Get ready, Ken!

That opens a host of possibilities, considering it's not a guitar grounding issue (or seems not to be). Wiring/lighting in the room where the high volume is applied; poorly shielded cable(s) somewhere between the guitar and the amp; AC disagreements between stuff on pedalboard, the list goes on. If you're seeing similar problems with other axes, Jim, start w/guitar-main cable-amp and slowly integrate pieces of the puzzle one by one to isolate the culprit(s). If it's only the LP that's doing it, try my external wire trick and see if that helps - you can't "over-ground" the internal circuit and it may help. I have no idea what type of metal the FR bushing is made of, but it could just be a poorly-conductive alloy, just a thought. We know (or fairly assume) the claw, springs, trem block and base plate together are sufficient conductors.

Sounds like no ground wire to claw. Without going all crazy with the job, you may just take a spare long piece of wire, and see if you can tie it and/or tape it around ground on the claw (unused spring tongue) and on a ground connection in the cavity (maybe electric-tape it to a pot housing). You don't even have to run it through the body cavity, and that should answer the question in no more than 2-3 minutes with no evidence of solder tampering.

Update from Baton Rouge, Louisiana ... "#5" has undergone a truss rod adjustment due to her national tour, and a subsequent saddle and pickup height adjustment. Pardon my Cajun French, but this fucker smokes. Glamour shots from the work bay. Bil is absolutely smiling from heaven right now.

#5 arrived just fine today at my office, so her "tour list" now includes time in the complex that houses the tallest state capitol building in America. Me and this one are gonna have some fun in some interesting locations o'er the next few days

The closest I've come to "living" thing in a piece of gear was a wah pedal with a wasp nest (the dirt dauber kind) inside the casing. No wasps, just those muddy cylinders. The craziest thing I've seen in an amp was in a college buddy's Marshall head. The amp didn't have the back grille on it, and Joe had a cat that would often get up in the head box atop the chassis, I'd assume because the chassis would be hot/warm after Joe would play it. One time I met up with Joe to jam around and the most disgusting stench ever began overtaking the room. Turns out the cat took a big shit on top of the chassis and the turds started simmering/melting under the chassis heat. Despite several cleaning attempts by Joe, the smell never went away completely - everytime Joe would fire up the amp, a faint whiff of cat shit would fill the room be it the apartment, a small club, wherever.

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