WIP: Old Battered Gordo

Well, after a weird kind of week, I finally got my hands on the old Gordon Smith guitar I was talking about, this weekend. As expected it has a few signs of decrepidness, and I'm not totally sure what model it is or how old it is  come to that. As the serial number has long gone, it isn't likely that I'll find out either, but I can't say it matters much.

I'm guessing it was originally a single pickup jobby a GS 1.0, or maybe a Single coil plus a humbucker - a GS 1.5 - but whichever, it has had a humbucker fitted at the neck and the coil taps aren't wired anymore.

The original scratchplate also seems to have been removed with less than forensic subtlety. At least there seem to be a couple of bits left behind.

Other than that the bridge is held in place by a piece of wire, the tuners are new locking ones - or were until I broke two of them somehow and generally it seems quite sad about itself in every way, even the strings were rusty, bless them.

All of which amounts to not a lot compared to the beautiful neck, amazingly buzz free yet low action, and great sounds the pickups put out. I'm guessing one of them is the original Gordo pickup, the bridge looks the right style compared to other Gordos I've seen, but not sure what the other is, there are no markings other than a number - 025520 if that means anything to anybody.

Whatever it is though, sounds pretty good, if slightly anonymous compared to the bridge pickup which has more of a 'throaty roar' (tm) Every Guitar Magazine Reviewer In History.

Anyway, I've now stripped it down, cleaned it with some heavy duty de-gunker (the same stuff I follow my daughter around with - dirt maget that she is) and amazingly there was some wood under there. As it is well scratched and scored, and I like such a lived in face, I gave it a gentle going-over with some wire wool (XXX or maybe AAA, I forget) and have given it a well needed dollop of Danish Oil. And even the first coat has made it look glorious - despite appearances, I love natural oiled wood finishes as long as the wood has lived a bit of a life first.

Other than that, as I mentioned, I knackered the existing tuners, so am going to replace them with a set I got off an Epiphone Casino. I might get something different in time, and could get Gordon Smith replacement parts, but that isn't really the vibe for this and to be honest I can't see it as a resurrection project. Nobody is going to be collecting this one for a couple of millenia at least. And then it will be because nobody remembers wood.

I am loving it though, and before I took it to pieces it just felt like home. I already know that this one is a serious 'keeper', which is unusual for me. I do love that it has obviously had some work done at some stage in it's life too - the fact that a replacement GS logo has been put on the headstock upside-down is brilliant. And though a quick Ebay search showed somebody selling replacement - official even - headstock logos, I don't think I want to make the change. In fact everything about it just feels right to me and it is a real where-did-that-hour-go? kind of guitar

It's funny, I've been craving a Les Paul for ages - years in fact - and I've gone through every combination of objet de lust: Gold Tops, Cherry Tiger Stripes, natural wood, Juniors, Customs - you name it - and even barely finished BFGs, and I've played and tried a load over the years.

I've also always wanted a Gordon Smith, but that was always a bit of a 'I should try one, some dim and distant day' kind of thing. But when I finally do, it's mad but I just love it. It truly is everything I want in a twin 'bucker guitar, fantastic neck, great sound and battered to bits.

But there we are, I've got a beater and man I've never played a Gibson that feels this good. Sod Nashville, Viva Les Mancs, and I never thought I'd be saying that.

(Maybe if I do change the neck pickup I should give The Creamery a shout, they're up that neck o' the woods an' all...)

*** 

I went to the Bristol museum last week as it happens and had something confirmed that I have long wondered about. I was looking at the dinosaur exhibits, and in small print it said that they had been illustrated as being green, but nobody really knows what colour they were as basically you can't tell from fossils.

Now I've always been bugged that every book shows dinosaurs as being green, and had an argument with someone once about it. You see, I've always felt that dinosaurs were more likely to be running around and stomping in a variety of day-glo colours. I remember the counter argument still, 'But they would have been green for camoflage purposes' - which firstly assumed that plants were green then, which I let past, but secondly, and most obvious of all - why would you assume that dinosaurs were good at camoflage when they're all bleedin' extinct?

So it was nice to realise that I was probably right all along.

What that has to do with guitars, I don't know.