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I've just bought this guitar on a whim as I fancied something very different to everything else I've got. The price was good (£400), I like black guitars and it's got a couple of cool mods/upgrades. This will be my first proper Gibson guitar, and my first guitar with a P90. It comes with the original wraparound bridge and tuners in the case, but I also get a properly adjustable Pigtail bridge (I looked, these ain't cheap) and Sperzel locking tuners (wooo!?) like some guitar from the future.

It's not here yet, so proper pics and first impressions when it gets here.

Love the guitar/hate the bridge. Flip it and put something prettier on x

(breaks my heart that they've got skinny necks, those).

See I've never tried a badass-type or normal wraparound bridge either, so that'll be a new experience. The one on there looks quite nifty. What do you hate about it?

benecol wrote:Love the guitar/hate the bridge. Flip it and put something prettier on x

(breaks my heart that they've got skinny necks, those).

Yay for skinny necks![/stubfingers]

timhulio wrote:What do you hate about it?

The way it looks, the way it feels (I rest my hand on the bridge loads when I play) and the principle of the thing: it's like fitting ABS, aircon and cruise control to a Land Rover* - it's meant to be spartan.



* I'm shit at car analogies, but hopefully you get my gist. But mainly the look, anyway.

NickS wrote:

benecol wrote:Love the guitar/hate the bridge. Flip it and put something prettier on x

(breaks my heart that they've got skinny necks, those).

Yay for skinny necks![/stubfingers]

+1 for skinny necks; my fingers stopped growing when I was 8.

Nice guitar, nice price. Would love to try one of these.

Congrats! Looking forward to more pics.

Pics soon!

I'm really not sure about these Sperzel tuners. They're all super modern and brushed metal, but they're so chunky they keep catching my eye when I'm playing. Who said the Mastery bridge was like the Terminator's knuckles? Ekwatts? Well it's like that.

I've got the original tuners. Sort of greeny tulips, but I'm not sure about them on a Jr as the vintage guitars had buttons. Which do you prefer?

(I'd go for individual tuners, not the plate as I don't want to make more holes!)

I've always wanted to see one of those with slot heads

White heads, always. Loev three-on-a-plate, too.

Tulips would look nice IMO. Better than Sperzels, definitely, though those are fantastic tuners. People rag on the Gibson tuners---strange, because they're made by Gotoh I believe, which has always been good for me---I've never had issues with them. They're not slot head though (not sure if that comment was related...)

You won't be able to put three on plate tuners, because three on plates are exact copies of original Klusons, they need holes in the peghead that are about 10 mm in diameter. Gibson's "Klusons" look like real Klusons but are made like Grovers (Spertzels) and request larger holes in the peghead. If you already have Spertzels then holes are too big for the bushings of 3 on plate tuners.

I was wondering about that too, and there are a lot of conflicting opinions on what Gibson actually uses nowadays. Some say 10mm, some say slightly smaller (.38" / roughly 9.65 mm). Kluson on the other hand, even the repros, those I read are 11/32" (roughly 8.73mm). That is, the ACTUAL Kluson branded ones. The Gotoh copies are different. Tim, do you know what year your Jr. is?

2011. I had wondered about this. Perhaps some conversion bushings are available if the existing holes are the wrong size.

Yes, I think what you'd want for a slot top is a set of these (8.8mm bushing size, too small):

http://www.g-gotoh.com/international/?btp_product=sd91

With something like these:

http://www.guitarfetish.com/Nickel-Vint ... p_559.html

Or these:

http://www.stewmac.com/Items.aspx?searc ... n_Bushings

Seems you'd need to measure the post hole size to determine what type of conversion bushing to get. I wonder why nobody makes 10mm tuners with a slot top?

Dunno about ones with a plate, anyway. Kluson makes some, but they don't list their products online, they only have a PDF "catalog". Might not be sold in the UK either. You can find them on eBay I'm sure, though.

Yes, Dillon you are right, I wrote wrong about the diameter. Original Klusons need 8.7 - 8.8 mm, Gibson/Grover version needs about 10 mm
Here are Gotoh's at Stewmac that are reproductions of original Klusons
Gotoh
And there are Grovers
Grover
You can see all the dimensions
EDIT:I post too slow

Oh, I forgot about Grover. That is actually what Gibson uses I think---rebranded to "Gibson Deluxe" instead of "Grover Deluxe". I got the two "G" names mixed up Those are likely exactly what Tim has and what the guitar came with originally.

sunshiner wrote:You won't be able to put three on plate tuners

The guitar pictured is the same model and year as mine. It's just a matter of what bushings were used.

Apparently the guitar had Tonepros Klusons (8.8mm hole). But the Sperzels require 10mm (unless some other Sperzels are available I'm unaware of) so the headstock could well have been drilled already (hmmm - would have been nice to have been told in the listing).
http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electri ... Specs.aspx

So it looks like a set of conversion bushings are in order...

Thanks for all the info Dillon!

Wow, I never would've guessed it had reissue Kluson tuners. Nearly every SG I've seen has the modern Grover ones (AKA "Kluson-style", not slot top), including the '61 Reissue. But then, this SG Standard Reissue has Kluson. Bizarre. Why not put Kluson on all "reissues"? Anyhow, if that's the case, then yes, yours was probably drilled out to 10mm for the Sperzels. Sounds like you've got it straightened out