Alas, it has begun. Potato vid of NGD.

[nightflameauto]

Hey, guys. New guitar day. Second in like a month and some change. Oh boy. New amp included in this one, though the amp hardly counts. I just wanted something to fuck with in the living room and this one didn't make me puke at the price-point they had it at on clearance.

This video is a classic case of burying the lead. Listen to my shit playing while awaiting the big reveal.






I may get around to pictures later, if I can see it and not be playing it. Came with the most boss-ass case I've ever seen in my life too. Like, I could run that sucker over with my truck and not expect any damage internally. SKB with locks on both the front and back of the case. Didn't even know they made such things. The guitar is old (1991 by serial) and scarred, like me. We're a good match. Still .

[spawnofthesith]

Well it sounds killer

And he’ll yeah!!! Only a Gibson is good enough!!!

[greatmutah]

I have a 94 Studio I love. I’ve had it for 27 years. It’s never leaving me. Yours sounds excellent. I’m assuming that’s the stock 490R/498T pickups?

[Beef]

That’s sweet man, enjoy it!

[I'MAPUNKROCKERDAMNIT]

Best sounding shitty amp I ever heard!!!!

...

[nightflameauto]

I have a 94 Studio I love. I’ve had it for 27 years. It’s never leaving me. Yours sounds excellent. I’m assuming that’s the stock 490R/498T pickups?

Not sure until I crack things open. There's enough after market part swaps on it I'm questioning the pickups, but then again, I'm not sure what other pickups would have that punch and beef without losing definition. Guess I'll find out in the next few days as I start working on it.

Best sounding shitty amp I ever heard!!!!

...

Right? Fuck me. I played some damn fine axes the day I bought this guitar in the 300-600 price range through this amp, on clearance for around the $200 mark, and kept thinking, "Some kid could have a legit rig for under a grand right now, including cables and a couple pedals." What a time to play guitar.

Some piccies.




The front pops much better in real life than I can capture in a picture. You can see the grain here, but in real life it's super deep looking grain. Maybe even a tiny bit of flame/quilt quality to it. Very nice looking in person.



Smooth rosewood. Mmm.



Not sure what's going down with the neck. My thumb sometimes picks up some white residue off of it. Almost like some fucknugget waxed it at some point. I'm sure it'll wear off soon, whatever it is. Or I may just blast it with a scotchbrite pad for a few seconds. In fairly decent shape, considering the wear patterns elsewhere on it.


Oooh. Aaaah. Headstock has some minor scuffing, but then again, so does my headstock. Us old-timers have earned our scars.



Pretty sure locking tuners weren't a stock item in '91. The bridge also strikes me as non-stock, though don't quote me on that. Basically, this is as close as any Les Paul in store has ever come to what I'd want a Les Paul to be. Wine red. Gold, somewhat worn hardware. Minor wear patterns on the body, but just broken in, not broken, and enough dings to say she wasn't a case queen at all.

Yup. It's . And then the tone. Can't wait to get the "real" amp setup all put together in my new recording room. This thing's gonna lay waste to the DSL once I get her crankin' again.

[VTM]

Atta' boy!

[Guitarbilly]

Very cool man, I have a LP Studio in the same color, mine is an '03. A good Studio is hard to beat.

I've heard good things about the Catalyst amps. Sort of a Line 6 Katana. Your clip sounds great!

[nightflameauto]

Thanks, guys.

And yeah, Billy, the Catalyst seems very much to be Line6's take on the Katana. The one big difference I've noticed is that you don't lose quite as much as you bring the volumes down on the Catalyst. Not that the Katana sounds bad at lower volumes, especially with the power settings (eerily similar on the Catalyst), but it has more of that "kinda tubey" response as the volumes get louder. The Catalyst is much more even across the volume spectrum, with only a touch of that fullness at volume thing.

I'm surprised they didn't get more traction. They're just Helix models specifically packaged to be easy to access with real controls.

Finally managed to stop playing the LP long enough last night to put the straplocks on. Still haven't opened it up to look at the wiring. I'm guessing the ground wire needs resoldered somewhere. Hoping desperately it's right out in the open in the control cavity and not some "trace the wires all over the guitar" situation..

[greatmutah]

On a 90s studio that ground wire should be pretty visible in the control cavity. Henry J had stopped the Norlin wiring shenanigans by this point so it should be readily accessible. Look around where the neck volume pot is.