Up and Coming NGD!!

[DanDoulogos]

I ordered a brand new 3 tone sunburst Tribute Doheny a few minutes ago, from an online retailer in Quebec.

I had a coupon, and a discount I took advantage of but it still came in at $US 770.00.

I don’t expect to see it in the next six weeks, but I’ll let ya’ll know when it finally shows up.

I just been pining over a V12 lately, and thought this’d be a good distraction!

Dan

[sam]

Howdy Dan,

Looking forward to your review and all the pics we know you’ll share.

Now the waiting is the hardest part. Hum, sounds like a great song title.

[john o]

that's exciting, Dan, hope it comes sooner than anticipated!

[mutts]

Congratulations but wow, what a long wait!
I'd like to try the standard Doheny pickups. I'm less interested in the V12- too many switches for me!
Sadly, I'm not a fan of the neck width being used on new G&Ls. I suspect any G&L purchases I might make in the coming years will have to be used guitars- no Doheny for me.

[DanDoulogos]

I just got an email this morning from the vendor - the estimated delivery window is 2 - 4 months (yes.... months).

I endured this sort of wait when I bought my JB2 (Tribute) back in '22. I had ordered that a month before Christmas (as a Christmas gift for myself). It arrived in February '23.

So I knew what I was getting into when I made the order.

The only thing painful about the purchase (so far) was that a few days ago I saw a mint (used) seafoam US Doheny in my local craigslist for just $600 more than what I paid for the Tribute. I took a day to weigh the hassle of cancelling my order to buy the local Doheny, and paying a bit more to buy locally. Yet by the time I convinced myself to pick up the local one, it was already sold.

Sadness.

But to be sure I've owned six G&L guitars, three were US made, and three were Tributes. To be sure, the US versions are better - but not by much. I don't mean that to suggest that the US models are poor quality - but rather to say the Tribute models I've owned have been excellent -performance ready- guitars.

So I'm not put off by the delivery delay... well maybe a bit put off - but not surprised. I'm hoping for an April delivery. We'll see.

[tomanche]

It will be worth it, and after it arrives, the waiting part will fade into the distance.

[DanDoulogos]

UPDATE!!

So I got an email this morning notifying me that the shipment for the Doheny I bought back in February was delayed again, this time until November.

I blame the delays on tariffs. On Feb 1 Trump place a 25% tariff on all imported Canadian goods, and a 10% tariff on Canadian energy. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau famously responded 6 weeks later - on March 13, (Trudeau's last day as Prime Minister) he leveled an reciprocal 25% import tariff against certain US goods entering Canada.

The store where I purchased my Doheny was now in a bit of a fix.

I'd ordered a guitar at such and such a price before the tariff, but the store wasn't able to source the guitar I had ordered and paid for before the tariff came into effect upping the cost (to them) by 25%.

So rather than cancel my order, they delayed it. I suppose they reasoned that the tariffs would end after all the hoo-haw and they would at that point be buy the guitars at the previous - non-tariff price, at which point they could fill the order without taking a bath on it.

So they said the shipment was delayed - but there wasn't a shipment sitting somewhere delayed. What was being delayed was all order for the guitar. They were going to delayed fulfillment of the order until the tariff was lifted - pitching the whole thing as a shipment problem, when in fact it was because the tariffs meant they would lose money fulfilling the order - but they didn't want t cancel any order since the moment the tariff was lifted they could complete the order and make their profit.

If you've waded through all that - this is where the post gets better...

I cancelled my order this morning after I received an email letting me know that they've put me at the top of a very short list of people whose order will be fulfilled first - but not until November at the earliest.

So I found a used mint condition Doheny Tribute in Toronto (not that I was there, but rather I found one online), and I bought it.

My original order was for a 3-tone sunburst, with a rosewood fretboard on a maple neck. This one has a maple neck with the black block inlays, a white pickguard, and an "emerald blue" finish.

I'll put something together once it arrives, and I've set it up. It should arrive early-to-mid next week.

Looking forward to seeing it in person.

[tomanche]

Thanks for the update, Dan, and congrats! Looking forward to the report on the blue Doheny.

Sounds as though you made a rational choice in the circumstances. If only the circumstances were as rational...

[sam]

Hey Dan,

Sounds like the best possible compromise and still get the main guts of the Doheny.

Post pics and story when it arrives.

[DanDoulogos]

@Sam - The day after I purchased the Doheny in February, I found a local American Doheny in a nice pastel green - mint condition - and only $500 more than I had paid for the tribute. I knew that I could cancel the order, and scrounge the extra $500, but it'd be a bit harder selling my wife on the idea. So I hummed and hawed for a day or so before deciding that was what I ought to do. But by then that Doheny was already sold. I kicked myself to bed each night for the next month after that.

Had I been less risk averse - I'd have picked that one up and that would (and really should) have been the best case scenario. I wish I hadn't remember that now, as it still galls me.

@Tom - well said sir, well said.

For anyone who wants a sneak peek of the Doheny, I don't have it in hand, but this is an image of it from the site where I bought it:


I'm not sure how long they'll keep that image on their server now that it's been sold, but that's the guitar I should have in my hand by the middle of next week.

[DanDoulogos]

The Doheny arrived yesterday morning around 11am.

It came carefully back in a proper box with plenty o' bubble wrap (the BIG bubble kind). I gave it a quick once over after unpacking it. Neck was razor straight, electronics all work, heads were great, very little fret ware.

I pulled off the stock strap buttons to replace them with Dunlop strap locks. My first guitar (a 72 Les Paul Deluxe) came with Dunlop Strap locks and I've used them ever since - and that was back in the late 80s. Yeah there are probably better strap locks - but I give a northern exposed south travelling rat about what's better. I just like what I'm used to. I have one guitar and MJT relec'd Esquire that I haven't put strap locks on - but the rest in the nest have Dunlops. I likewise like Levy's Leather straps - so every guitar I get I buy a new strap and a new set of Dunlops.

I mention that only because that is typically the first thing I do when I get a new guitar. When I removed the old strap buttons, I was disappointed to find the drilled holes were a tad loose. I broke off a couple of toothpicks and put them in the holes and screwed in the new strap locks (for now). Even though I know full well that will hold "well enough" - the "just in case" part of me will definitely revisit that in the next week or so.

When my work day was over I went down to my work bench and pulled off the strings - which were not new, though not quite icky either. I like my own strings, so off with the old. I polished the frets and cleaned the neck more thoroughly - though it wasn't really all that bad.

I saw the strings were a lot higher than I liked, and that the Dual Fulcrum Vibrato wasn't perpendicular to the body, but rather was inclined inward to something like 20 degrees. So I lowered the saddles a fair bit. I don't know what happened to my 9.5 inch radius string gauge, so I made my own out of cardboard - tracing a 9.5 inch circle with a ruler - which worked surprisingly well. I ended up finding my gauge after the fact, but there was nothing to improve on it - the setup using my cardboard version wasn't and couldn't be improved with the metal gauge.

I dialed in the intonation to within a cent for each string, and I have to admit - this was the best setup I'd ever given any of my guitars. I've certainly improved over the decades, but this one turned out so good!

Anyway, my wife who had been out visiting her cousins for a few days returned just after I had finished the setup, and though I did my best to induce in her the same sense of accomplishment and joy, she wasn't having any of it.

I plan on setting some time aside this week to make a video about my first impressions on the guitar. I'm still fiddling with the pickup heights and dialing in the poles. Sound levels spike a bit on the lower strings in certain combos. I'll get that sorted out before I make the video.

[tomanche]

Congrats, Dan. An enjoyable read about your preferences and setup. Looking forward to audio samples.
I think predictive text has changed some of your intended words, with "Dual Fulcrum Vibrator" winning Best in Show!

[DanDoulogos]

Congrats, Dan. An enjoyable read about your preferences and setup. Looking forward to audio samples.
I think predictive text has changed some of your intended words, with "Dual Fulcrum Vibrator" winning Best in Show!

Hehehe... That made my day! I am pretty sure I didn't type that in, but Man Howdy! That made me laugh. I am going to fix the error though, even if it means less giggles. Thanks Tom!

[SUaPYG]

Looking forward to your assessment post.