NHD... almost

[MPR]

On Sunday, I ordered a 2005 Newport Pro in Vintage Natural from Empire Music. UPS delivered a guitar box today, I opened it up, and inside was… this Newport Pro with an amber flamed maple top and victory inlays on an Ebony board. They did send me the right case, though—in the guitar I actually ordered, someone had swapped out the Seth Lovers for Lollar Imperials and put different knobs on it, and the original pickups and knobs were in the case pocket. Seeing as the guitar they sent me is listed for a $999 more than the one I bought, I'm surprised they weren't a bit more careful.

Anyway, they sent me a return shipping label and promised to overnight me the other Newport (in the maple Newport's case) as soon as they see I've dropped this one off at UPS.

[Saul Goodman]

I don't see a problem here.

[velorush]

You’ve really got to be shoveling out guitars by the truckload to make a mistake like that! 
 

… or really need some sleep

… or really need to lay off the cannabis 

[mrjamiam]

9 hours ago, velorush said:

You’ve really got to be shoveling out guitars by the truckload to make a mistake like that! 
 

… or really need some sleep

… or really need to lay off the cannabis 

Carhartt had a TV ad out a while back - "Every day is someone's first day on the job."

[Steve Haynie]

16 minutes ago, mrjamiam said:

Carhartt had a TV ad out a while back - "Every day is someone's first day on the job."

That means screw-ups are to be expected.

[MPR]

12 hours ago, velorush said:

You’ve really got to be shoveling out guitars by the truckload to make a mistake like that! 
 

… or really need some sleep

… or really need to lay off the cannabis 

Yeah, I'm guessing someone had a rather uncomfortable conversation with the manager after my phone call.

[topekatj]

16 hours ago, MPR said:

On Sunday, I ordered a 2005 Newport Pro in Vintage Natural from Empire Music. UPS delivered a guitar box today, I opened it up, and inside was… this Newport Pro with an amber flamed maple top and victory inlays on an Ebony board. They did send me the right case, though—in the guitar I actually ordered, someone had swapped out the Seth Lovers for Lollar Imperials and put different knobs on it, and the original pickups and knobs were in the case pocket. Seeing as the guitar they sent me is listed for a $999 more than the one I bought, I'm surprised they weren't a bit more careful.

Anyway, they sent me a return shipping label and promised to overnight me the other Newport (in the maple Newport's case) as soon as they see I've dropped this one off at UPS.

Tell ‘em you’ll ship as soon as they credit you $999 on the guitar you actually *WANTED ! Nyah, AH Ahhh

[MPR]

Got the right one delivered late this morning. It does have a bit of binding separation at the upper waist and lower cutaway, but that was in the description. Bridge pickup cover has a fair bit of pitting. I was planning to swap in some TV Classics on this one anyway, but I plugged it in to test as-is with the Lollars, and it sounds ace. I recorded an A/B of this and my Artist Custom (with the stock Seth Lovers), and I was surprised that the Lollars are quite a bit lower output. I recorded the Newport first, then without changing any settings on the rig, I plugged in the Artist and was immediately clipping the recording interface on the clean channel, had to cut about 12dB to get roughly the same perceived loudness clean. Anyway, the hollowbody and slightly lower output definitely make this sound smoother and more open than the Artist. The Seths have a bit more quack. Two different flavors of good.

I'm still thinking one Newport with Firebird pickups, one with Filtertrons, an Artist with Seth Lovers, and Artist Korina(s) with 3 P90s gives me a pretty killer stable.

I actually wanted to move the Firebird pickups from my other Newport (vintage orange transparent with Bigsby) to this one and put the 'trons in that one, to complete the nod to Gretsch, but I'll gonna have to get or make custom pickup rings to do so, since that Newport came from the factory with the bigger chrome rings that TV Jones's Gibson-style mounts won't fit.

Edited 11 hours ago by MPR

[velorush]

1 hour ago, MPR said:

I'll gonna have to get or make custom pickup rings to do so, since that Newport came from the factory with the bigger chrome rings that TV Jones's Gibson-style mounts won't fit.

These are only $8.00 each and come in short or tall, black or cream: https://tvjones.com/em1-gibson-style-pickup-ring-with-mounting-screws/

ETA: sorry, I failed to congratulate you on a spectacular purchase. Fantastic! 

Edited 9 hours ago by velorush

[MPR]

1 hour ago, velorush said:

These are only $8.00 each and come in short or tall, black or cream: https://tvjones.com/em1-gibson-style-pickup-ring-with-mounting-screws/

I got a pair of those, so I'm good to go if I want to put the 'trons on the new Newport Pro. But my orange Newport with the Bigsby doesn't fit the regular Gibson-style rings. I measured the chrome rings that came on it as 92 mm x 46 mm, and the length between screw holes as ~84.3 mm x 37.5mm.