Members _pete_ Posted September 15, 2011 Members Share Posted September 15, 2011 I wanted to keep a Gibson LP type guitar in the arsenal and found this on Ebay. I made a lowball best offer and to my surprise, they accepted it. I didn't expect them to. I love the Gibson Les Paul Axcess. For me it is the perfect Gibby LP. When I saw this I was intrigued by it's neck joint and figured that if I could get it cheap... I was shocked when it arrived. It looks way better than the Ebay pics. The sunburst has the identical colors of the Axcess LP I had. Dead on. The guitar was also very light. Right around 8 lbs. Usually MIC LP's weight a ton. There were some things I expected and some surprises here. First, the licensed Floyd on it is beyond junk. The allen screws are easy to strip and there are flat spots in the knife edges already. I expected that and will replace it very soon. I expected a dipped in plastic poly finish but this thing actually looks like nitro. It's not but it has that look. The neck joint is not sculpted as much as an Axcess but it does make a difference. I can get to all 22 frets without contortions. The inlays even look nice. The pups and electronics are Epiphone. That was a surprise. This is supposedly a brand new guitar. The pups are the normal chrome covered HOT/CH Epi pups that come in all LP Standards. The pots, wiring, caps, etc., are the same as every Epi I've owned. The guitar feels good and sounds surprisingly good but needed quite a bit of setup work to play well. I had to do a major fret level (frets are nice and big) and it took a few days for the truss rod adjustment to settle in. This will be an ongoing project guitar. When I get a wild hair to try something, I'll do it on this guitar. For now, I already replaced the bridge pup with a Tonerider Generator, rewired the stock neck pup to 4 conductor, added nickel covers to the pups, and changed the knobs from the stock speed knobs to bell knobs. I'm going to re-do the electronics next with CTS pots and a couple push/pulls for series/parallel wiring. I'm also ordering a Gotoh Floyd Rose (the best IMO). This stuff is needed right away just to make it playable to me. Eventually I may add piezo saddles, Graph Tech's Hexpander MIDI system, and maybe even a Sustainer. It should be a fun ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Geeter Posted September 15, 2011 Members Share Posted September 15, 2011 Congratulations and Happy New Fishbone Day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tweak'd Posted September 15, 2011 Members Share Posted September 15, 2011 That looks great! I have a EPI PRO/FX, which is a super guitar and close enough to an Axcess to make me happy. I hadn't heard of Fishbone guitars until this post and might have to add one of these to my collection. ...curious as to what you were able to get it for... HNGD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tweak'd Posted September 15, 2011 Members Share Posted September 15, 2011 This looks hot too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members VH5150 Posted September 15, 2011 Members Share Posted September 15, 2011 Nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members _pete_ Posted September 15, 2011 Author Members Share Posted September 15, 2011 That looks great! I have a EPI PRO/FX, which is a super guitar and close enough to an Axcess to make me happy. I hadn't heard of Fishbone guitars until this post and might have to add one of these to my collection. ...curious as to what you were able to get it for... HNGD! I would only recommend them if you really know how to work on guitars. It took a lot of fret work to get it playing well and I still think I can get it better. Your Epi is probably a better guitar but it doesn't have the slimmer neck joint and the Pro FX's I tried were heavy. ALL of the electronics in it were Epi. I think this thing was made after hours in the Epi factory if you know what I mean. It's a decent guitar and has the potential to be very good but it will take some effort. The store that sells them in Canada lists them for $1099. That's insane. This one had a buy it now of $475 but I offered around $350 and they took it. In retrospect even that was a bit too high. It had a $599.99 price tag on it when it arrived. The neck feels good, the body and finish are beautiful and the tuners are good. Everything else will be (or has been) replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tweak'd Posted September 15, 2011 Members Share Posted September 15, 2011 I would only recommend them if you really know how to work on guitars. It took a lot of fret work to get it playing well and I still think I can get it better. Your Epi is probably a better guitar but it doesn't have the slimmer neck joint and the Pro FX's I tried were heavy. ALL of the electronics in it were Epi. I think this thing was made after hours in the Epi factory if you know what I mean. It's a decent guitar and has the potential to be very good but it will take some effort. The store that sells them in Canada lists them for $1099. That's insane. This one had a buy it now of $475 but I offered around $350 and they took it. In retrospect even that was a bit too high. It had a $599.99 price tag on it when it arrived. The neck feels good, the body and finish are beautiful and the tuners are good. Everything else will be (or has been) replaced. I found the eBay listing and, from there, the website. I was a bit shocked at the $1099 price after seeing the $475 price on eBay. Maybe I'll pass, if you think $350 might still might be a bit high. I respect your judgement on that... Working on guitars is something I enjoy, but having to level frets is a bit beyond what I feel a brand new guitar should need to get it right. Tweaking is one thing, but "finishing" construction for the builder is not something I think a buyer should have to do...and level frets should be part of final finishing before making available for sale. However...if everything else is great, I wouldn't ignore a guitar because of that. That top looks sweet and the neck joint is interesting. I've been tempted to pickup another PRO/FX, as they seem to available at some great prices right now. I don't use the Floyd at all and even added 2 more springs to tighten it up a bit. Mine is Indonesian made and not heavy at all. Again, thanks for the info and :thu: on a HOT guitar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frets99 Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 I would only recommend them if you really know how to work on guitars. It took a lot of fret work to get it playing well and I still think I can get it better. Your Epi is probably a better guitar but it doesn't have the slimmer neck joint and the Pro FX's I tried were heavy. ALL of the electronics in it were Epi. I think this thing was made after hours in the Epi factory if you know what I mean. It's a decent guitar and has the potential to be very good but it will take some effort. The store that sells them in Canada lists them for $1099. That's insane. This one had a buy it now of $475 but I offered around $350 and they took it. In retrospect even that was a bit too high. It had a $599.99 price tag on it when it arrived. The neck feels good, the body and finish are beautiful and the tuners are good. Everything else will be (or has been) replaced. wow, we live in a great world!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Deadbeat Son Posted September 15, 2011 Members Share Posted September 15, 2011 HNGD!! I'm not sure how I missed this thread. It's definitely a cool guitar though, and interesting to see the G-style headstock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members j*h Posted September 15, 2011 Members Share Posted September 15, 2011 very nice!congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kherman Posted September 15, 2011 Members Share Posted September 15, 2011 Pete, Didn't you used to have an Edwards? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members _pete_ Posted September 16, 2011 Author Members Share Posted September 16, 2011 Pete,Didn't you used to have an Edwards? Yeah but I had to sell it a while back when I was unemployed (along with a Gibson LP Axcess). I also had a great Orville in the interim. I just picked up a PRS Singlecut and it has taken care of all LP GAS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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