Play that Anthem, Scott!

Check out our friend, Scott Allan Mathews, burning it up on his Anthem equipped Yamaha in this video.  In past years Steve here at GTS had installed the older Dual Source system for Scott.  After Steve installed an Anthem for him, Scott came back and had the Anthem installed in all of his acoustics! 

From L.R. Baggs:

The Award-winning Anthem series, featuring our patent-pending TRU•MIC technology, seamlessly combines a proprietary condenser microphone with our acclaimed Element pickup to deliver the warmth and fidelity of a studio-mic’d guitar anywhere you perform.

TRU•MIC TECHNOLOGY
At the heart of the Anthem is a revolutionary microphone engineered to capture a dynamic studio-mic’d sound for any live performance. The TRU•MIC mounts to the underside of the bridge plate and hovers just 3 mm above its surface to take advantage of the PZM or “boundary” effect. This proprietary mounting system, combined with noise cancellation, frees the mic to perform as if it were outside of the guitar in a studio and maintain remarkable feedback suppression for the stage. The result is a balanced frequency response with excellent clarity for the purest sound you have ever heard amplified. We have paired the Element pickup with the TRU•MIC to provide solidity and punch for low frequencies.

GTS stocks the Anthem system as well as many other L.R. Baggs products, with 20 years experience in expert acoustic pickup installation.  Come by and see us!

Check out Scott's music at www.scottallanmathews.com

Do not adjust your television set.

This is a '58 Gibson TV Model Les Paul.  The story goes that Gibson marketed this yellow finish saying that it would not cause unsightly glares on the black and white televisions of the day, but would appear white.  That way when you got on Ed Sullivan you wouldn't have the control booth cursing you.  This particular guitar is just beautiful with great finish checking and natural worn dark mahogany showing through.  After a full re-fret and setup this beauty is ready to rock another half century in broadcasting.  

It's Twins!

Lately something odd has been happening at the shop.  Twins.  The phenomenon of having at least two instruments in the shop from different owners that are very similar.  

Couple a' lookers:  Gibson J-45's

Brothers from another mother:  Fender P-Bass, young and old

"You guys are tall."

Freaky Space Sisters: Electra MPC Bass

Pretty dang rare to have two in the shop!

MPC stands for Modular Powered Circuits.  You plug cartridges in the back for two separate on-board effects!

Conjoined twins: Gibson double neck console steel

"Take 'em back to Tulsa!"

Guitars in Traction, Mixed Nuts, and Rare Finds

We haven't made any posts in a while, so here are a few fun pics from the shop.    

Various forms of traction

Mixed nuts

Bone

Brass

Bone nut with overhang over binding

Original nut and new nut with overhang

Rare finds

Items removed from an old Harmony

Mediterranean House Gecko found in the shop

Knockin' Fender Frets Out Sideways

This 70's Tele was in for a re-fret.  So let's pull up those frets and get started!  Not so fast.  The rumors are true!  Fender drove their frets in from the side of the fingerboard up until 1984 (some say 1982.)  So what do we do?  You have to drive them out sideways, the same way they came in, to prevent severe chipping of the board.  So here's how we do it!

First we scored the finish, where the fret meets the neck, with a sharp tool to minimize chipping when the fret is driven out.  This is no easy task on a 70's neck covered in very thick finish, which has been nicknamed "Fullerplast," after George Fullerton from the original Fender days.  

Next we took a sharpened steel punch and hammered a small divot into the top of the fret near the treble side.  This will give the punch a place to catch when we hammer the fret out.  You can see that the fret has some solder on it. This is from where we heated it to loosen up any finish or gunk that would keep the fret from sliding out.  

You can see how the punch fits into the divot and is ready to be hammered out.  The frets went in from the bass side, so we hammer them back out the same way.   

The fret will take quite a few blows sometimes, before it starts to move.  Above you see the fret after being hammered out about halfway.  Some finish damage is almost inevitable, and a touch up will be needed later.  

Here is a video of one fret being hammered out. 

After all the frets are removed and finish is carefully filed at the fret slot edges to prevent more chipping, we continue on with our normal re-fret.  Here is a shot of a new fret after installing, leveling, dressing the ends, re-crowning, and polishing.  Some original finish wear is also visible.

We hope you found this interesting!

New tall frets on a cool vintage instrument really make for a good "player."  If you have low flat frets come on in and we will be happy to do the same for your instrument!

Big, tall, level, smooth, Stew Mac 154 frets make bending effortless!

Tele MANIA!

We had so many Tele's in at one time, we thought we'd line 'em up and take some pictures!

Ask us about all the cool pickup, control, bridge, and tremolo modification and customization that we can do for Telecasters.  Contact us!

A Deluxe, Doc's new Mexican with high output Fralin's, and a John Cruz Fender Custom Shop.  American standards in the back.  

Another John Cruz in New Old Stock condition and a custom Warmoth build we did a few years ago.