
ratkent
New member
I posted this on the Les Paul Forum so it should be interesting to see what I get there. Here I am only looking for the Kage seal of approval since it's purple and there's a Floyd Rose involved.
It's almost finished and I'll take more photos when I get it my hands on it for good. It's a 96 Studio given to me by my wife's uncle. The finish was in pretty bad shape and it had been sitting for years. The purple has a 3D, pearlescent quality that is hard to get in these quick iphone photos. Other than the obvious refinish and Floyd Rose install this is what else I had done:
- Neck radius flattened a bit
- Jumbo stainless frets
- New pickups (Suhr Doug Aldrich bridge and Duncan Jazz neck)
- New electronics with push pull tone for coil split
- New tuners
- Graphite saddles on Floyd bridge
It played great the 5 minutes I spent with it. The neck is a not quite as thick as some 50s profile necks but it still seems a bit fat for me. As least it's fatter than the neck in my 92 Custom but I am hoping I get used to it. The action was almost too low and while there was no buzzing but I still may raise it a bit. The bridge floats and I can pull a step and a half up on the G without the need for a recessed cut. It was a gamble we took but it worked out great. My biggest fear is that the bridge would feel uncomfortable compared to a TOM but it didn't feel weird at all.
I am having a different truss rod cover made and switching to the string gauge to 11s so I should have it by the end of the week and I'll try to get more photos.
All of the work was done at Pace Guitar Repair but Ron Pace, Vu and Wang. The best guys in the world.
It's almost finished and I'll take more photos when I get it my hands on it for good. It's a 96 Studio given to me by my wife's uncle. The finish was in pretty bad shape and it had been sitting for years. The purple has a 3D, pearlescent quality that is hard to get in these quick iphone photos. Other than the obvious refinish and Floyd Rose install this is what else I had done:
- Neck radius flattened a bit
- Jumbo stainless frets
- New pickups (Suhr Doug Aldrich bridge and Duncan Jazz neck)
- New electronics with push pull tone for coil split
- New tuners
- Graphite saddles on Floyd bridge
It played great the 5 minutes I spent with it. The neck is a not quite as thick as some 50s profile necks but it still seems a bit fat for me. As least it's fatter than the neck in my 92 Custom but I am hoping I get used to it. The action was almost too low and while there was no buzzing but I still may raise it a bit. The bridge floats and I can pull a step and a half up on the G without the need for a recessed cut. It was a gamble we took but it worked out great. My biggest fear is that the bridge would feel uncomfortable compared to a TOM but it didn't feel weird at all.
I am having a different truss rod cover made and switching to the string gauge to 11s so I should have it by the end of the week and I'll try to get more photos.
All of the work was done at Pace Guitar Repair but Ron Pace, Vu and Wang. The best guys in the world.

