Part 2 - Chibson Les Paul Custom Modifications & Upgrades; Installing New Gotoh Locking Tuners

This Guitar looks like a Gibson Les Paul Custom in black... however, upon closer inspection, it appears to be a replica or Chinese (Chibson) copy. The owner told me as much and was not hiding that fact at all. It is in the shop for some upgrades - Tuners, Pickups and Controls - as well as fret leveling and a Nut repair. This will be published in 3 or 4 parts to keep the video length shorter. Enjoy the video and make your comments below! Thanks.
-Steve
Manotick StringWorks
Ottawa, Ontario
[e-mail]
#gibson #chibson #lespaul #custom #guitar #guitars
GOTOH Locking Tuners
g-gotoh.com/product/sg301/?la...

[@zebulongrasko]

Most pleasant footage of your video ist a view ofyour toolshed! That makes me calm.

[@kennethmeeker6369]

I did the same thing got a fender vintage reissue at a pawnshop for 150 , didn’t know what it was and thought the decal was supposed to be under the finish and the finish was cracked all over lol , 91 model 👍

[@danhusband6154]

Amazing videos!… I’m so excited to have found someone so close to me to work on my guitars that IS NOT that big box music store… I’ll be booking an appointment SOON!

[@ManotickGuitarTech]

Great- send me an email

[@keithcollins9080]

Nice job thank you so much for sharing your expertise 👍🏻

[@ManotickGuitarTech]

Thanks, Keith - I hope you have subbed to my channel too?

[@keithcollins9080]

@@ManotickGuitarTech sure did

[@sullie35]

Thanks for the video! You can use a straight edge block and lay it flush on the back of headstock then press it against 3 tuners at a time and then make them flat with the straight edge and you will be perfectly straight every time.

[@ManotickGuitarTech]

Good tip, Sullie!

[@sullie35]

@@ManotickGuitarTech your welcome sir! I enjoy your videos

[@patrickshannon4516]

Try some good pick ups like Seymour Duncan Blackouts or EMG pickups they are active pickups and it's a process installing them but it's worth it you will hear a big difference.

[@thewatcher1120]

Rule No.1 “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sows ear”. 😂

[@28mmRPG]

Rule No. 2 "lipstick on a pig, doesn't make it sexy"

[@Jethlin2020]

Hello... love the channel. I just purchased a Chibson from FB marketplace for a very reasonable price. The pots are marked CTS 500k. Do you think the previous owner may have upgraded them? I had the nut replaced and I must say it plays very well.and sounds great. I believe the pups were changed to a Gibson 490t and another 490 variety. I'm debating whether it's worth upgrading the hardware.

[@ManotickGuitarTech]

Since it seems a lot of mods have been done already, you might as well upgrade the tuners and the bridge assembly then you will be all set!

[@Jethlin2020]

@@ManotickGuitarTech thanks....very true...I gues its 3/4 there, may as well finish it.

[@hadtodoit2647]

That was a good video. Have you ever typed in $4,500 chibson part one and two? Really neat to see what we do to theses

[@ManotickGuitarTech]

Well, it is fun to mod and upgrade but Chibsons will never be worth as much as a real Gibson. They are good platforms for experimenting without risking too much.

[@hadtodoit2647]

@@ManotickGuitarTech that's true and some time when I feel my playing is good enough for people to see I will let them hear my chibsons will kill a real gibson in sound all the parts I put in are gibson but it's the weight there about 9 lbs and the wood that make them sing thank you u for looking at my video

[@RozsaAmplificationLLC]

Anyone that puts $4500 in a Chibson....well, they are foolish, stupid, or both!!! Complete waste of money and that $4500 you put into it, is only worth about $150!! Does that sound like a "smart" decision?!?? Nope!

[@hadtodoit2647]

@@RozsaAmplificationLLC I understand stand that I just built them the way I've always wanted a guitar on a payment plan all 5 I've been building on sence 2011 before they were even every were .

[@hadtodoit2647]

@@RozsaAmplificationLLC that $4,500 was just one I've done the same to all five

[@22AH26]

I really love these videos. I’m stuck between saving a few paychecks for a used Gibson custom or to buy a chibson and just upgrade everything. My problem is I have very little patience when it comes to purchasing guitars so I just want to know your opinion!

[@ManotickGuitarTech]

Dont buy a chibson- better off buying a top of the line Epiphone or save up and buy a used Gibson. I hope you have subbed to my channel?

[@WalkenDead]

I agree with the show runner. I've heard good things about the Epi runs lately, seems most of the QC Issues they had are taken care of. Depending on the sound you are going for you have allot of options too. I have a Epi Prophecy Extura and it is awesome, they have that new Jerry Cantrel set, and the Standards and customs. If you can do the work yourself, then it may be different, but if you are going to have to pay someone to do the changes on a chibson, don't bother

[@22AH26]

@@ManotickGuitarTech yes I did! And thank you. I think I will take your advice

[@22AH26]

@@ManotickGuitarTech yea definitely. I’ve had a few epiphones past 2 years and never had an issue with we unless it was the very cheap epiphones. I’m thinking either saving up for a custom or just get the epiphone black back.

[@williamdon3442]

Epi 59 reissue

[@SilentNightBodomNight]

The only reason I would ever worry about buying one of these guitars is if the truss rod stopped working, or doesn’t work to begin with. And with me living in a state where weather climate changes effect my neck relief every few months, I’d hate to buy one and not be able to to adjust the neck relief, leaving me with a pile of wood.

[@ManotickGuitarTech]

Very true- the truss rod is the most important adjustment mechanism...if its broke, very hard to fix. Almost everything else on a guitar can be easily replaced.

[@SilentNightBodomNight]

@@ManotickGuitarTech I’ve read that some people bought these chibsons that don’t even have one to begin with lol, it’s like WHAT!?!

[@ManotickGuitarTech]

That would definitely suck

[@Popskull_666]

Sum Ting Wong with this guitar

[@bigbasil1908]

Ah, you so bruddy lacist!!!

[@walterwilliams268]

Long Duck 🦆 Dong….

[@jmanzemail]

Anyway if you're going to do this right you need to pop the plastic nut put the bone nut in there correct that truss rod cover placement and restore that headstock with a new peghead! One that's correct so you can fool yourself properly!

[@user-hb3wx1oi4z]

Are you from manotic Ontario. Near Ottawa?

[@ManotickGuitarTech]

@@user-hb3wx1oi4z yes...

[@emidioteixeira_]

Why dont you install gotoh 301 instead of 381? The 301 model is more similar to the original grover ones.

[@ManotickGuitarTech]

Those are the tuners the owner supplied.

[@emidioteixeira_]

@@ManotickGuitarTech ok. Therefore, great work! 👏🏻👏🏻

[@2dazetake]

I'm very curious, do these guitars even feel,like a real Gibson in your hands,I mean after you set one up, this guitar sure looks nice, all for under $300 most likely, I don't think a real one is worth it anymore, if this guitar is even as good as an epiphone LP, it would be,more than worth it,I would just paint over the logo, love that open book headstock and the binding, I don't want to give the wrong brand kudos, for making one of these, or hurt guitar snobs feelings,but I have a chibson cherry burst standard,and it feels great,why do people say that these are nothing like a Gibson, is it the frets? What am I missing, that makes a Gibson so much more better than these.

[@alexnajarianmusic]

I have lots of guitars and just bought a Chinese Les Paul. I changed the strings, cleaned up the fretboard and frets. I also adjusted the truss rod and the string height, pickup height and intonation. It plays great. I will swap the pickups for Duncans. I believe that the quality seems to get progressively better on these guitars as time goes on, and at this point, they are excellent, at least the one I got is. Check reviews on KZbin, most people are very happy with them. Gibson has gotten greedy, and this is the result of their greed. it doesn’t make sense for practical people to spend $5000 on a guitar when you can get one for $250. Is the Gibson better? Maybe a little bit but those things can be modified and you can save yourself thousands of dollars. I just bought mine last week, so it is the newest generation, and it looks much better than the one in this video. I highly recommend these guitars and to keep them in the context that they are, not trying to perfectly emulate a Gibson. With a good set up they are absolutely excellent but you need to change the pickups and pots. I usually put Duncan pickups in all of my guitars anyway. These pick ups in the Chinese guitar are junk. They have microphonic problems and sound dull.

[@zebulongrasko]

I think this guitar needs Bigsby!

[@hariowen3840]

Should have cut the points off those wooden picks.

[@rodnyg7952]

modifying and upgrading a chibson is mostly a lost cause. i've worked on a bunch of these for clients for different reasons, and in the end you get what you pay for. It's a 300$ guitar, which means it's worth about half that.

[@dukenukembubblegum7311]

Buying a 10k les Paul is kinda a lost cause because my buddies who have them rarely play them, and they’re basically just a collector item. Buying one of these upgrading electronics and tuners and you can have a guitar you can shred up and if it gets damaged so what never planned on getting anything back for it anyway, but at least it looked like one for a little while lol

[@dj_jru]

@@dukenukembubblegum7311 exactly

[@ryant3600]

That's not true, yes some especially back in the day you got crap. They've gotten a lot better. My oldest that I still have and still play all the time is a Chibson Custom. I bought it 9 years ago. When all the hype on YT started up and I wanted to see what it was all about and at the same time I had been watching a lot of upgrading guitar video's, so I got inspired. I ordered the guitar, new Seymour Duncan pups, new bridge/tail piece, new tuners, Tusq nut, new switch and pots, I knew I was going to need to strip all the hardware and electronics. When I got it, it looked amazing. no sharp frets either. I was surprised, the neck was straight, everything looked and felt great, sounded horrible of course, so came the work. I spend an afternoon, soldering in the new jack, switch and pups, took off the old nut, put on the tusq nut, put on a decent roller bridge and replaced the tuners. It quickly became a favorite guitar of mine, I played it everyday for a couple years. Then my collection started to grow and it just sat in a guitar rack for years. A couple years ago i took the Seymours off to put on a different guitar, so it sat with no pups for about 8 months. By this time my eye sight is not what it once was and soldering is no longer in my life, but thank you EMG for making their pups solderless. So this guitar now has EMG 57/66's, and it is once again a favorite of mine to play. It's a great guitar, I got it with some custom requests, like a the color and quilted maple top, I had them give me an ebony fretboard with "Supreme" inlays. Etc. w/ a case i got it back then for 250.00. I've put in about 350.00 worth of parts and electronics, and it smokes my Epi 60s standard. Which cost around the same when everything was said and done. It's still one of my best feeling, playing, looking and sounding LP guitars I own. I have 5 Lp s tyle guitars including an Epi, Gibson, and 2 Harley Bentons. Whats funny is I prefer my Harley Benton Sc550 plus' over those bigger "authentic" brand guitars that I have as well.

[@rodnyg7952]

@@ryant3600 nice chunk of word-crap. You expect anyone to read it?

[@ryant3600]

@@rodnyg7952 if you're to lazy to, or unable to read then move on

[@alanjones4188]

Why spend all this money on polishing a turd? I don't get why anyone buys a crappy fake and then spends good money on replacing all the crappy electrics and hardware with the same as you will get on an original. It's still a fake. A secondhand real Gibson LP isn't expensive in the US compared with what they sell for overseas because of all the import taxes. Why not buy a real one, or if you want to tinker, buy a bashed-up real one and fix it up.

[@StevenB237]

In my case, I have a real one and an exact replica that is a "crappy fake". My real one is worth thousands. The last time I checked, it's sitting on Ebay for just under 7 grand USD, and I keep it in its case exclusively. My replica is nearly identical in every single way. I even had the serial number custom ordered to match my original. It can hang on the wall, fall down, get played by the kids, stolen, and I don't have to care what happens to it. With minimal money and time, I was able to get my crappy fake to sound and play as well as my original. Obviously there is still a quality difference between the two, but the average person, such as my wife, could not tell the difference from touch or sound alone. And don't try to convince me that I can "pick up one cheap", because I can guarantee you that my Chibson cost considerably less, and I could drive over it with my truck and not shed a single tear.

[@samepage3762]

Pros play them. Go ask them why THEY do it and come tell us about it. 😂