The guitar arrived today and the seller wasn't kidding. There are a couple of surface marks on the case and the usual light marks on the black plastic cover plate on the back of the guitar but other than that it's absolutely perfect. I know it's crass to talk about money but after seeing the cases for sale separately at £99.99 I think I got a bit of a bargain at £142.00. There were even a couple of picks in the case as well as the key which was still sealed in it's little plastic bag. Result!

And today's "resurrecting a stone-dead thread" award goes to... 

I finally got round to taking a photo of my Les Paul, which I've just fitted with a tremolo.

It hasn't had a proper workout yet. It is going out of tune a bit, but I think that's probably due to the new set of Fender nickel nines I've just put on it.

I have some advice for you, Paul.
If you're already aware of some of the things I raise I apologise - others might find it useful.
I am not trying to teach anyone's Grandmother how to suck eggs.

The locking tuners will help tuning stability a little bit provided that you pull the strings in tight and lock them.
Additional wraps around the tuner posts do not improve the situation.

Most tuning instability issues on Gibson guitars are down to a poorly cut nut.
The way the strings splay out from the nut is the first point that needs attention. Very often the slots are too narrow, and the string grabs instead of sliding through the nut.
In truth it's not a great design, and it's not exclusively a Gibson problem.

The nut is often too tall - you need it nice and low with around 0.010" clearance on the top E at the first fret.
It needs to be a touch higher on the low E, but not by much, and you need to get things so the gradation is constant between the two E strings.
You obviously need to have the truss rod adjusted properly, and the action somewhere near to where it needs to be before you attempt to sort the nut out.

You do not want to have excess nut material above the strings in the nut.
There needs to be sufficient material to hold the string in position, but no more. The excess material needs to be dressed away so that it looks nice and feels nice.

Lastly, lube your nut.
Big Bends nut sauce is one of a number of concoctions out there, and it does what it says on tin.
A syringe of the stuff lasts for ages.

Once fettled the guitar's tuning stability should be more or less sorted.
It won't be as dependable as a Floyd Rose or similar, but you won't be forever tuning the damned thing because the G and D strings have drifted out just enough to be annoying.

If you're not comfortable with the idea of doing the above work yourself take it to a highly recommended guitar tech/luthier.
The work I've outlined shouldn't take that long to do - a couple or three hours at most.


What I've just typed out is part of the troubles Gibson find themselves in today.
You spend a not inconsiderable amount of money and the bastards don't send out a properly fettled guitar.

Thanks for all of the info, especially the recommendation for the Nut Sauce. Once the strings have settled in I'll try giving it a "proper" setup. The strings are a good height against the nut already but I'll break out the radius gauges/action gauge etc. and see what's what elsewhere.

£12.80 on eBay, plus I got my Nectar points. 

Enjoy your 19p
How much is a Nectar worth these days?

I like Nectar points, they accumulate quite fast if you buy your shopping and fuel with them.

I hope it goes well with your steak.