GTX 36 Les Paul Copy

[jrsdws]

Can anybody offer any info on a LP copy GTX 36? All I can find is that they were Korean made in the late 80's/early 90's by Kaman Music Company.

I am picking up a gorgeous example today for weekend examination and playing. It appears to be a solid carved top tobacco burst with top binding and all original. It's super heavy. I can't wait to weigh it...I'm guessing 12lbs.

Can anybody offer any insight into quality and such on these guitars? I know GTX was known for some kind of plywood body strat but not much info out there on the LP style guitar.

[louis]

Hi !

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Take care!...............Louis

[jrsdws]

Thanks Louis....not having any luck there either..LOL

I got the guitar home yesterday and the kid gave it a little play last night. First impressions are pretty good....the strings were dead so he strung it new last night.....still needs to be tuned and played some more but I think it's going to be pretty solid.

All I can say with the little bit of playing on dead strings is....it doesn't suck!!

[OldSchoolDave]

I used to deal with Kaman back in the mid-80's, but don't recall any details of that brand.

The extremely heavy weight makes me wonder about the body construction. Unless it's priced very attractively, I'd probably look to a modern Epi LP as being the better bang for the buck.

Dave

[jrsdws]

$250 is the asking price. Upon another measure on the ole bathroom scale...much closer to 10lbs...Here are a couple of pics...maybe something will jump out at you that I don't know or see. The workmanship looks very good. I can't see where this has any laminations thickness wise...leading me to believe it is a solid mahogony body....unless the binding hides like a maple top or something. Maybe you guys can tell by the wood grain in the finish?

[Zells]

It's impossible to really judge a guitar without playing it. Some Fenders and Gibsons are winners and some are dogs. Maybe Kaman made some winners, I dunno. It's important to plug the guitar into an amp and get a feel for the frets and tone/sustain of the wood.

If you do purchase the guitar, then I suggest swapping out the pickups, pots, wires, and tone caps. I have upgraded several cheap guitars to make them sound 100 times better with a little labor and not much more additional cost. Can you take a picture of the wiring on the pots? If you have CTS pots with stout wiring and tone caps, then there may be no need for a change.

[jrsdws]

It'll get a good work out tonight when my son gets home from work. The old strings were so dead it's impossible to know anything except the pots all worked...not scratchy or anything...pickups seemed to have promise but again impossible to tell with those strings.

We're thinking she could be a good project guitar....maybe try some bucker sized P90's in it even.

Here is a couple of shots of the control cavity.....now I wish we'd have pulled the pickups to see what they are before we put new strings on it.

[OldSchoolDave]

Zells is our resident "Mad Scientist" when it comes to guitar guts . I'll let him comment on that aspect.

I'll just say that the mahogany graining on the back looks good in those closeups. Are those tooling marks in the cavity or was the mahogany laid up in three layers?

Dave

[Dr.HI-TONE]

it looks like three layers.

I would make sure those pots are all 500k and replace those caps with some cheap russian PIO caps ideally or even some Mallory 150's

[jrsdws]

Opened it back up for a look...hard to tell for me because they have sprayed that shielding paint in there. There is a slight step at each layer...whether it be laminated layers or tool pressure from the router I don't know for sure. I don't see the same layer appearance in the switch cavity.

The mahogany grain is really nice on the back and neck. I assume that the top is a carved maple cap? I guess this would make it layered right?

The pots are all 500k.

All will be replaced if we keep it and opt for new pups. This will make the third LP in the house so it'll have to have a different flavor to it to make it worth keeping around. The Gibby Silverburst has Fralin PAFs....Epi Custom has GFS VEH pickups (inexpensive but surprisingly decent). That's why we're thinking P90's would be a nice change.

[jrsdws]

I don't know if it helps as far as the debate over a solid mahogany vs a layered body...but here is a close-up pic of the side...just outside the control cavity....I don't know about finishing processess but I don't see any laminates here...solid mahogony grain up to the binding.

[OldSchoolDave]

I assume that the top is a carved maple cap? I guess this would make it layered right?

Yeah, but that's typical for a LP.

The edge does appear to be solid. Perhaps they had to route it in multiple steps, leaving the ledges?

Dave

[jrsdws]

Yeah I'm thinking that's the case after close examination of the edge profile.

After a couple of hours of playing with new strings the verdict is in. She's a cheap keeper.....worthy of the money...although I'll likely try to bust him down a few bucks.

The pickups are interesting....nothing special....kinda blah until you dig into the strings a little then they have some nice snurl and sound pretty decent.

We're going to keep it....do a little research and think about what he really wants out of her for tone...then replace pups, pot, and switch accordingly....as well as a good set-up.

[Zells]

As expected, those are likely some cheap Asian made pots and caps. I would use CTS 500kΩ pots and either Hovland or Sprague Vitamin Q tone caps (0.012 µF or for more treble roll off 0.022 µF). For pickups, Fralin P92s would be a good choice for a humbucker-sized P90s.

New pickups, pots, and tone cap(s) typically make a huge difference....especially through a LOUD Hiwatt.

[Bryce]

From what I understand they aren't laminate, they're solid. We had one + sold one at the shop I worked at a few years ago and that was everyone's verdict, anyway.