Standards

This is a follow up of last weekend's activity- playing my Gibson Standards. Both of them do not hold true to their original specs; the Les Paul had a set of locking tuners (GOTOH Magnum Lock) in there which improved tuning stability quite markedly, while the SG had the pickups swapped out to Seymour Duncans. Despite the industry's recognition of them being flagships of their respective series, I don't deem them special. I don't quite fancy Gibson in terms of tone & playability in the first place, maybe that's the reason why I don't click with them as well as my other guitars. However, I make it a point to own Gibsons as a mark of respect to the craftsmanship & playing these 'difficult' guitars forces me to re-evaluate my technicalities & playing approach.

Phoenix: Headstock

 

The tuners featured in ESP's Phoenix II are a set of GOTOH's Magnum Lock by default.

This means the Magnum Locks will lock/ clamp down your strings as you tune. What's the benefit? These prevent strings slippage as you tighten your tuners, making your tuning more stable.

Gibson LP Std: Tuner swap

This is my LP Std, the original tuners were Gibson's own Deluxe Kluson-type 'tulip' pegs. These do not hold tuning well so they were duly replaced by Gotoh's Magnum Locks, identifiable by the slit-top machine heads. I have played the guitar in question for 1 hour after the new tuners were in place & the tuning retention was so much better.

The good people of Gibson would have their reasons for including non-locking units in their instruments but having paid so much for a Gibson in general, one would expect some considerations for the above-mentioned issue.