yoslate

You'll never convince me that, like a sentient being, instruments don't respond to attention like this! What you have here is the checklist for a basic setup. And I think that in doing this sort of thing, you're actually doing a setup on yourself, as the player of this piece, hence the result. The only difference in our approaches, JAM, is that for mine, a good single malt Scotch is on the list. And as a side-note, I have used .009's maybe three or four times in the last fifty years. Just last week I put a set on my Jack Dent, which has a long scale and has always been kind of "tight" to play. Wasn't expecting much.... I'll never put anything other than .009's on that guitar again.

Currently favoring D'Addario NYXL's. They have really good staying power (staying bright, staying in tune) on my working guitars! 10-46.

Masterful playing! Right hand is brilliant! What gorgeous tone! As for the Badger 30, Rich, I used one for larger venues. The cleans are just incredible!

Nothing new there, over time, in terms of the full Gibson line and certainly not just the Custom Shop.... Brand identity's always been an issue for Heritage, relative to the "G" word headstock.

Well played! That should scratch the itch for a bit! Beauty!

Me, too, Lou! The only gig bag I'll use for a set neck guitar. Lots of load-ins and outs with those! Nary an issue!

Missed SNAFU, Richard....

The editor in me suspects this statement is what happens when what you do doesn't match your intentions....

Wow! Can't have any secrets around here.... Bingo, Dan!

H-137: A ribeye steak, rare, and a baked potato. H-150: Beef Wellington with fingerling potatoes, warm wilted winter greens, and Waldorf salad.

Hunh.... I'm actually really digging' the 535!

Nice! I have a '73. Same thing, except mine, incredibly enough, has a two-piece bookmatched top, with a little bit of flame in it (more like the center piece in yours). How'd that happen?! I've had it since '75! Routed it for humbuckers not long after I bought it. Put in a set of DiMarzio PAF's from the first year they were available (can't recall what's in there now). A number of years later, I had the volute removed, the headstock shaved down, and the neck, back and sides refinished in straight-ahead mahogany to get rid of the burst on the neck, back, and sides. Left the top alone, of course. It's an anchor, but you're right JFW, plays wonderfully and sounds as it should!

That's a particularly beautiful 150, Roland! Welcome to the forum.

Man, you do have a nose! So...maybe oranges to tangelos here, but I'll stick my neck out in comparing these to an actual set of PAF's. First, it's a video...on a computer. OK. Second, it's a 335. Third, he's playing into a Blues Jr. Nothing in common with my experience. Fourth, we all hear differently. That (and it is a bunch) having been said.... Since putting my '61 PAF's and harness into the 8.4 lb. Custom Shop Goldtop, I've tried to figure out (completely unscientifically) how to characterize what, if anything, they have that clones might not, or might not have to the same degree. So let's get this out of the way: Maybe the fact that I dropped a bundle on them? But, after countless hours playing them through a bunch of different amps, live, in the studio, at the house, in rehearsal, I'm here to say there is something about my PAF's, to my ears. Diamonds are all different stones, cut differently, but according to certain basic principles. Different, but the same. Pickups, different components, wound differently. Different, but the same. With diamonds and pickups, some just have desirable characteristics in more pleasing combinations than others. This set, right here, really seems to have whatever combination of facets, whatever refractive quality of that set of PAF's with which I have a lot of experience. Jeez these sound great!

Well, that, and the fact I'll likely not be excommunicated for doing it is probably enough to get me to heat up the soldering iron tomorrow. All any of us needs is a little enabling. Thanks, Dan'l!