Gordon Smith GS1-60

[woold]

Just brought a Gordon Smith GS1-60, The guy I brought it from told me his parents had brought it for him this to learn on and he never did. It had sat in a box under the bed ever since and it shows! No fret wear at all.



Can't believe the tone this thing has and the neck is the best neck of any guitar I have owned.

Slab body and neck made of mahogany with a rosewood fretboard.

More info on Gordon Smith guitars can be found here.

http://www.gordonsmithguitars.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[fillmore nyc]

VERY, VERY nice!!! A big ol' slab of mahogany, with a wrap tail and a single humbucker?? Thats gotta be a kick-ass rock machine!! Do you know what pickup is in it?

Looks cool as all hell to boot!! I like it!!

[woold]

The pickup when I got it was the original Gordon Smith pickup, it is a very smooth sounding pickup with the single coil option it sounded as good as my US strat. However I wanted a bit more bite so I have now swapped it for an Irongear Dirty Torque pickup and it now really rocks.

This is a great sounding UK pickup at a price you wouldn't believe.

http://www.irongear.co.uk/irongear_042.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I love the feel of the neck more every time I play it, which is a lot.

[demonufo]

The original pickup is actually made by Gordon Smith, is quite low on output, and can be improved upon BIGTIME. I use a Gordon Smith G-60 as my main guitar (hard to get decent lefties) and run mine with Pearly Gates (which seem to complement the ultra thin mahogany body really nicely. Mine is the twin-pickup model though (I actually ordered it direct from Gordon-Smith many moons ago). I always thought that the standard pickups sounded really dull and wooly coil-tapped in comparison to Pearly Gates or Alnico Pro II's, which do a real good effort at a strat-like tone in that particular guitar (especially the neck pickup on mine, the bridge not-so-much)

On mine I run a Badass wraparound with fine tuners though, as I used to suffer terrible string breakage on that standard wraparound all the time, unless I used Fender Bullets, but the only Bullets I could get used to sound like old, dead strings to me. (Still prefer Slinkies to ANYTHING else). The downside of the Badass, is you have to replace the bridge inserts as they are a different thread. I did mine slightly different since I didn't want to do any woodwork. I actually used the threads of the old studs, cut the tops off, drilled and tapped them and turned down the threads on the new studs and tapped them to fit into the old stud threads (if that makes ANY sense at all! )

Decent pickups really make these guitars come alive, and those skinny necks feel fantastic, despite being a cheap guitar (although I know the build quality has changed a fair amount since I bought mine in about 1995). The only thing I worry about is when it comes to re-fret time (mine is sailing real close) since those fingerboards are just a little sliver of wood.

[fillmore nyc]

On mine I run a Badass wraparound with fine tuners though, as I used to suffer terrible string breakage on that standard wraparound all the time, unless I used Fender Bullets, but the only Bullets I could get used to sound like old, dead strings to me. (Still prefer Slinkies to ANYTHING else).

I ONLY use EB Slinkys on my electrics... Have you tried soldering the wrapped end of the string? I've soldered the whole wrap including the solder "web" that gets formed between where the wrap ends and the core goes around the ball.
If you keep the soldering clean so the string still easily passes thru the hole in the bridge, it solves string breakage at the ball end on a wraptail.

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[demonufo]

I don't think it would've helped much at the time. IIRC, the old bridge seemed to have the strings seated a little further in than normal wraparounds, and the break angle was pretty severe. It was probably more down to me having a really heavyhanded technique at the time anyway, to be honest.
Also, it used to p!ss me off a little digging holes in the edge of my hand when palm muting. Not even sure I have the original tailpiece here anymore (have a feeling I fitted it as a tailpiece to a Les Paul copy I refurbished on the cheap), and I certainly haven't got the hardware to fit, since I cut both and joined them together.

BTW woold, be careful when cleaning those things. Put too much effort into it, and the satin finish soon ends up clear gloss. However, I prefer the clear gloss look, since the older Gordon Smith's were like that originally. (Also fitted tulip Kluson replica's to mine to give it an earlier, more Les Paul-like vibe).
If you do want to "gloss it up", a little T-cut and a piece of rag and a few minutes is all it takes.