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seller confirms that there is no block underneath bridge and tailpiece. Just screwed directly into the plywood.
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01-02-2022 11:25 PM
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The master luthiers of the world are always busy.
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What could possibly go wrong with that?
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Maybe he doesn’t know or understand what directly screwed to the top means?!? For his and the guitar’s sake I hope so…… holy guacamole!
(Or maybe we are crazy and plywood is much stronger than we always assumed….. LOL)
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What would be the benefit of this mod? Seems to be risky forcewise, I am wondering how brave was owner with the strings, I mean would he dare put 11s on? (or 12s, 13s)
Soundwise it changes an important attribute, how the bridge transmits the string resonance to the top. Now instead of the full area of the bridge (or two rectangle area in case of such kind of bridge) it has two holes for the transmission. My guess it goes to trebly, with the risk of plinkiness on E and B, and also with the risk to lose the the best thing of an 175, the openness and the body of the sound.
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Originally Posted by Gabor
He probably would have been better off with a 335 in the first place. At the right price, that guitar may be a good buy for someone. That should not be too tough to get back to stock (assuming that the geometry of the guitar has not been all screwed up.)
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Originally Posted by Little Jay
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Originally Posted by Stringswinger
Gibson ES-175 Figured Natural w/Tune-O-Machic MOD 2003 | Miki | Reverb
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This guitar is at Miki Gakki, a big Japanese retail guitar shop. I’m just guessing that the mod was done in a somewhat reasonable way, but you may not be able to get an accurate answer about it from a salesperson.
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Originally Posted by ThatRhythmMan
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...and also there is no reasonable "reason"...
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Originally Posted by jzucker
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Originally Posted by jzucker
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I'd be more worried about the tailpiece pulling than the bridge. In any case I think it *looks* cool.
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I’ve seen “175 kits” with stop tail and bridge like that, and I can’t help but wonder about the possibility that this wasn’t originally made by Gibson. It’d take a lot of work to fake a blonde 175 even close to Gibson finish standards. It simply wouldn’t make sense to me to put that much effort into one that’s so far from factory spec. I don’t see how the holes in the plywood kit top could possibly be filled so well that they were undetectable without opaque finish over them, which would explain leaving the bridge and tailpiece rather than fitting “proper” ones. But counterfeiters are probably like used car salesmen. They know there’s always a buyer for a shiny one with a price tag low enough to interest but not so low it’s too good to be true. As they say on the car lot, “there’s an ass for every seat”.
Unless the neck was checked for fingerprints right before the pics were taken, those smudges are just plain weird. There’s no picture of the label. And the end pin area is not shown, so we can’t see the hole repair and any other evidence left by removal of the original tailpiece. On a 20 year old blonde, I’d expect to see some sign that it once had a proper tailpiece. And I don’t see Made in USA on the headstock under the serial #.
Just throwin’ it out there. Call me paranoid, but I wouldn’t buy it at any price.
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Originally Posted by jzucker
Or possibly just plain stupidity.
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I would accept that there is no block under the bridge. There is no way I know of to get one inside there without removing the back. You can't get much of a block through the f holes, and positioning and clamping it in place for gluing is a nightmare at best. Plywood is usually very strong, and plywood pressed into guitar plates is usually much stronger that plywood from the home improvement store. The force is lateral, and screws along with proper adhesive would probably hold things in place for some time, with thin strings. The finish would need to be removed underneath the hardware, though, because it's a very weak link. Gluing over nitro finish is a losing proposition. But like others, I wouldn't touch it for more than a couple of hundred dollars. If you can get it cheap enough, you could probably part it out and get your money back. But I don't think the seller would accept a fair price, so I'll just ignore it.
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Originally Posted by sgosnell
If I was in Japan and wanted a 175, I might check it out in person, but I sure would not take my chances on getting it shipped to the USA or EU.
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That's bizarre.. Mikki is a good shop, I wouldn't expect to find such bonkers lutherie from them. I played in their booth at Osaka Sound Messe demoing their Marchione guitars, but all their vintage stuff was well set up and maintained. Not sure if travel will open up safely any time soon, but if I'm ever in their shop again I'll see if I can check it out....
PK
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Yes, I assume there are nuts and washers underneath. That increases the strength by a lot, which is why I can accept the lack of a block. Simple wood screws wouldn't hold nearly as well.
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Originally Posted by sgosnell
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My 2017 Memphis Natural has the pinned bridge from the factory. It is also missing the added brace for the bridge to screw into. Haven’t had any issues. Keep thinking I should just find shorter screws and turn it back into a standard floating bridge.
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Originally Posted by TedBPhx
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You can back the posts out enough to get them back inside the base. Depending on the neck angle, they might protrude above the saddle a little. My Epi ES175 came with the bridge pinned, but I screwed the posts back to just barely inside the base, and they stayed inside the saddle. Now it floats, and the holes in the top are covered by the base.
It's possible to drill clean holes with the proper bits, and with wide washers that fit correctly under nuts a block may not be absolutely necessary. But it's still a terrible idea, and I wouldn't trust the mod to hold up long-term.
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Originally Posted by sgosnell
Ibanez pm200?
Today, 09:46 AM in Guitar, Amps & Gizmos