A Little Renovation to Old Red Goldie

[Barks67]

I've had this Goldstar ST50 since early 1987, and for about 10 years it was hammered professionally - 4 years of which were with The Pretty Things.



It was so hammered that the tuners wore out and the bridge rusted and grooved to the point a new string was guaranteed to break within half a set.
In those days I used 11-50 gauge.
A loud and tough band - so you had to dig in.

It is currently also on it's third set of frets.

So I replaced with a Gotoh bridge that seemed to fit ok around 94 or so - but I was never really happy with the guitar from that point onwards and it tended to stay in the case.

Step One was recently reusing the original Tokai steel block when I realised the Gotoh was not steel - great(!)- some resonance and character came back straight away and I started liking it again.

Step Two was also realising that though the Gotoh was a perfect fit with regard to the six body screws, the actual saddles where a tiny smidgen wider.
This meant that cumulatively, the Low and High where nearer the edge of the neck the higher up the you went.
It was tiny, but perceptible from a feel standpoint.

Soooo, I set about cleaning the old saddles and plate and putting it back together.

Here it is before:



Then after a bit of filing, wire brushing and oiling:



And back on:




What a difference it makes!
Feels and sounds great again acoustically.
Hopefully the filing of the grooves will stop string breakage.
I'll also have to keep it dry after gigs and give a little dusting with oil to help stop corrosion.
Somehow it just seems *right* now, and I'm pleased one aspect of the guitar is back to original.

a few history shots of me and my old pal:

 

[marcusnieman]

Cool. Wow, those saddles really were/are grooved..... heavy strings and high action?

 

[Barks67]

Yes, 11 -50 guage. Action high enough to not buzz when dug in.
I really threw it around. it has a micro split in the headstock across the A string peg after colliding with the bassist Roelf Ter Velt. Some glue injected sorted it.

 

[felixcatus]

A good read and some nice pics, thanks for sharing.

 

[Paladin2019]

Great story and good to see the instrument is still so loved. Looks almost new.

I'm also an 11-50 player but that's on a love rock so not quite so extreme :lol:

 

[Barks67]

Great story and good to see the instrument is still so loved. Looks almost new.

I'm also an 11-50 player but that's on a love rock so not quite so extreme :lol:

Well, all that glitters...



As for 11 gauge, definitely makes a difference on LP types.
I recently acquired and excellent 2008 LS160GT with P90. These pickups need the beefier strings - just think about what was available when they were designed in the 50's. A massive difference to tone. So much so that the stock hardware are excellent and now in focus.
I think it's much neglected how important gauge and tension are for tone, and some crazily swap pickups chasing it. Woods, hardware AND strings are all important.

 

[marcusnieman]

11's for me too and heavy pics (1.10mm - 1.5mm)
More metal and more plastic = more tone (IMHO). The guitar (any guitar) just sounds fatter. I don't use pedals either.

 

[JVsearch]

Great job on restoring that bridge!

Yeah I use 11s on Gibson scale guitars and 10s on Fender scale. Then they feel pretty much the same tension wise.

There are a few luthiers around who claim that anything lighter than 10 should never be used on any guitar. Depending on a few factors like fret height and the player, the lighter strings will likely produce a sour tone.

The shorter the scale the heavier the strings that should be used (which was kind of the point of short scale guitars anyway). Fender ships the USA reissue Jaguar with 10s but includes a set of 11s with it that should be put on straight away, otherwise you wont fully experience what the guitar is capable of. It's probably even worth trying it with 12s as well.

 

[Suki]

Great pics Barks!