Gibson LG-1 Questions

[George Roberts]

I bought a Gibson LG-1 sn# 356822 about 15 years ago.  It was in almost unplayed condition except that the owner had left it tuned up for years in Fla. with super heavy Mapes strings.  The rod in the neck  had kept the neck straight, but it was dramatically angled up at the body.  The top under the fingerboard extension was pushed down, and the top behind the bridge was bellied up.  It looked like a major project, but the price was right.  I just took it out of the case for the first time in 15 years, and amazingly, it had returned to normal.  The braces are all solid and it looks like it should play with fair action.  Anybody had a similar experience?  Maybe it was just being back in Michigan.

I would string it up to see if it will stay in shape, but the back of the bridge is lifting up.  Which leads me to my next question.  The bridge is black plastic, and has at least 4 screws holding it on.  My inclination would be to replace the bridge with an identical ebony one.  Does the LG-1 have enough value that there would purists who would frown at such desecration of an original Gibson?   

Thanks, George

[Greg Mirken]

String it up; the gap is inconsequential. And nobody considers replacing those awful plastic things with real bridges sacrilege.

[Thomas James]

I agree with Greg. Replace the plastic and make it the guitar it should be.  Sounds like it needs some help with neck joint area. Did you string it up and see what's happening?

[Eric Steven Johansen]

Get rid of that plastic piece of junk, but the new bridge should be Brazilian Rosewood. The difference in tone will blow you away. Check the headblock and head brace carefully as they could be loose. The belly behind the bridge is normal for this model (ladder bracing). It looks to be in really nice shape.

[Steven D. Wilson]

About four years ago I replaced the plastic bridge with a rosewood one like the guys suggest and the improvement was huge. It sounded like a different guitar and the customer loved it. I suspect I plugged the screw holes under the bridge, but can't remember for sure.

[Ned Knepp]

We've been over this a couple of times before and the general consensis is to replace the bridge. There are some of us that even feel that it may enhance the resell unless the buyer is more interested in collecting than playing. 

Paul Hostetter has a page dealing with replacing one of these on his site here: http://www.lutherie.net/B-25_bridge.html

Good information. 

[Frank Ford]

[Kerry Krishna]

Frank..... is....... hilarious!  !!! 

[Hesh Breakstone]

Yeah.... let's all try to remember too that Gibson back then used only genuine BRP - Brazilian Rose Pl*stic..... ;)  Has a tap tone like an empty antifreeze bottle......

[Ned Knepp]

Truth in advertising?  At least the last sentence appears to be accurate.

[Hesh Breakstone]

I've got an LG-1 in the shop right now waiting it's turn for my attention and what it's in for is to have that nasty, stupid, lousy, p-l-*-s-t-i-c thing....  :) that someone once called a bridge replaced with a proper BRW shop-made bridge.  This was my suggestion to the "current steward..." of this very nice guitar and this fellow, my client, had no problem seeing the value of replacing this.... thing.... that was once called a bridge with one that will likely help the guitar sing sweeter than ever.

It's refreshing to not have to keep this guitar original and instead do something that will very likely improve how it sounds for years to come.  I also agree that in this case, which is likely an exception, replacing the bridge, the pl*stic bridge will likely not damage it's value.  These are not uncommon or hard to find guitars which makes it easier as well to not have to worry about future value by improving the thing beyond factory specs.

Two additional suggestions:  First look for loose braces, particularly back braces, I have worked on many of these LG-1s and at least the ones that I see in my area commonly have loose back brace ends.

Second you can see in my second pic that since Gibson originally used a bolt-on, pl*stic... bridge the finish was not removed under the bridge.  Be sure to prep the top well for any new, glued on bridge by removing finish as needed.  Although many of us have different sops (standard operating procedures) for removing finish under bridge reglues or in this case initial glue-ups one thing that the LG-1 really lacked from the getgo was the advantage of having a wooden bridge that is also, on guitars that have wooden bridges, one of the most important "braces" on the guitars top.  So a decent fit, great wood-to-wood contact everywhere, and proper clamping is advisable.  Be sure too to only use a glue that is "serviceable" in the future when/if the new bridge pulls up/lifts someday.  By serviceable I mean a glue that can be released with heat and moisture if need be in the future.  For me this means HHG (hot hide glue). 

If any of this seems a bit daunting it's not and pretty easy for those of us in the trade who have to reglue bridges frequently.  However it is important to have a good bond and if you don't feel up to this job it's not a very expensive thing to have done properly at a skilled Luthier's shop.

As for the purists - far too many wonderful old guitars are not permitted to sing sweetly these days in favor of someone stashing them away with a future profit in mind.  It's nice to see that you are more interested in having a player and resurrecting a cool guitar from the past to sing once again - good going!

[George Roberts]

Many thanks for all the input and advice.

I just strung it up with ultra-light strings.  The action is a little high at the 12th fret, but no signs of it returning to its previous contortions.  The back of the bridge is now up about a 32nd of an inch, and the bridge pins are easily visible through the crack.  Makes me a little nervous.

It sounds far better than I expected, but I'm used to 1  7/8 necks so its a little narrow for me to play.

The consensus seems to be for replacing the bridge with BRW.  I thought that the ebony would look more like the original appearance of the guitar.  I also happen to have a lot of ebony bridge blanks, but nary a one of BRW.

Hesh, thanks for all the tips.  I thought that I would take the bridge off, put down a wide piece of masking tape, replace the bridge, and scribe around the bridge, with an Exacto, just through the masking tape.  Then remove the finish only in the spot where the bridge was.  Any suggestions for removing the finish?

I tried to include these pictures earlier, but only the one of the bridge came through.

George

[Ned Knepp]

A very nice guitar, George. Ebony would be in keeping with the look of the plastic bridge but I think most of us say RW because it will match the fingerboard. One side benefit of RW is that it's pretty clear that the bridge is a replacement of the plastic pieces. Either one would be a vast improvement over the plastic.   

The finish under the bridge can be scraped away with razor blades. I think that some people use stripper but I've never has the courage to try it since I'm pretty sure I would get it all over the place.