AZG to the rescue!

By Tom Palecki
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Genebaby
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AZG to the rescue!

Post by Genebaby »

A few (9 or so) years ago there was a well known tiff between myself and Lee Garver who runs GMW Guitars over some issues I was having with my new custom guitar.

There were a few issues, which Lee did sort out when the guitar eventually came back to him, except the biggest issue I had, the frets were not stable.

I had had them professionally redone to no avail. Lee just milled them flat again and they were again uneven by the time I got it, and also quite low at this point.

Trying to get the guitar going myself I had a new board ordered to the same style, initially glad it was thicker, until it was ok and I realised that changed the feel of the neck to where I didn't like to play it. How annoying!

Part of my trip here included a visit to GMW to see Lee in person, to patch things up and try to get my neck fixed.

Unfortunately Lee did not really want to do anything further to this guitar past the bare minimum, which entailed shaving down the existing too thick board, adjusting the radius along the way. If an inlay or two is lost then that creates new problems which are annoying so there was no telling how it would all end up.

So, I may have missed meeting him in person bit I spoke to Tom earlier and he is taking on the build of a new birdseye maple board with ebony sharkfins to the thickness of the original faulty board.

How did GMW stuff up my guitars board when they are known for impeccable fretwork? It was another example of fixing something the easy way rather than the proper way.

During the build I mentioned the sharkfins inlays and reply was that the guitar had dots. I referenced the build sheet which said sharkfins. No problem, we'll fix it. So they planed a bit of the top and put a thin laminate over the top.

The original shots were still there and didn't line up with the new top. I discovered this as we removed the original board to replace it. Finally it was clear why this board had problems.

Thanks to Tom I hope to finally be able to enjoy playing my one and only total custom ordered guitar.

Thanks Tom, I will ship it to you before I leave the US.
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Re: AZG to the rescue!

Post by shramiac »

Have you still got that blog with all the photos, Vic?
Promises made, crying in vain, all empty. Never accepting the blame and not letting go of the shame. A river of tears, as months turn to years, all wasted. On someone not willing to change.Now only a shadow remains! :(
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Re: AZG to the rescue!

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I don't have that anymore but most of the story is here though the pictures are gone. The only pic is of my lovely Strathead that was from the same timeframe I offered the GMW.

http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/GMW-Guita ... #comment_1

So it got discussed all over the internet, like here:. http://www.talkbass.com/threads/things- ... mm.250060/

There are two big threads about it on the JCF, I'll try and find some pics when I get home, or take new ones, we still have the board in question .

http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/31284- ... experience

Then I discovered the real issue with the fretboard and was angry all over again.

http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/49989- ... -piece-of-*
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Re: AZG to the rescue!

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The neck is on its way to Tom now.

It was funny, finding those links I had forgotten a lot of the details as to why certain things happened. Like GMW being a custom shop that could not put an R2 nut on a neck, memories.
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Re: AZG to the rescue!

Post by shramiac »

Genebaby wrote: Like GMW being a custom shop that could not put an R2 nut on a neck.

That's a good thing! :twisted:
Promises made, crying in vain, all empty. Never accepting the blame and not letting go of the shame. A river of tears, as months turn to years, all wasted. On someone not willing to change.Now only a shadow remains! :(
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Re: AZG to the rescue!

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Not if you want one!
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Re: AZG to the rescue!

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Ok, I'm getting excited about this guitar again now that Tom has the neck.

I was discussing with him a couple of changes I'd like to make, one being to replace the black plastic binding with ebony, so it's all just wood but will look like it's bound and contrast nicely with the ebony sharkfins, which is a look I was always after.

Secondly I think I'll reverse the sharkfins to go with the reverse headstock, what does anybody think? One thing that's different about this guitar and almost all other Jacksons that I know if, it has a sharkfin on the 24th fret, something I always wanted as I figured it was doable, so why not do it? :D

Here are some pics of what was going on underneath the original fretboard and what the guitar looked like with the improved, but thicker board on it.

The guitar when I first got it in 2004.

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Underneath the original board. Oh the horror.

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Here it is with the new fretboard and the Floyd recessed into the body.

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Re: AZG to the rescue!

Post by poserboy71 »

I think it would be in your best interests to have Tom shape a BRAND NEW neck for you . He is basically reconstructing this anyway. I believe it may be easier and cost efficient to start from scratch.
Let him have this neck as a portion of the payment.
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Re: AZG to the rescue!

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It is super easy to replace a fretboard rather than do a neck from scratch, the old one comes off in half an hour or less from memory and the new one is put on just like you would if you had built the rest of the neck.

The fretboards have been going on this neck to save the matching paint and the Jackson logo I added.

Looking back at my old writing I had forgotten but this was going to be another Strathead but Lee could not construct the neck like I wanted so it became a Jackson headstock that matched the graphic.
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Re: AZG to the rescue!

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Have Tom make the neck that you originally wanted. Strat headstock,etc...
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Re: AZG to the rescue!

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I'm invested in this neck now for this guitar, it's what I want. I could have a strat neck made here but I wanted the Jackson look this time.
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Re: AZG to the rescue!

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cool
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Re: AZG to the rescue!

Post by 1031 »

:D
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