Goldtone LS (8) Fans. I have questions.

[Stephen Schoenadel]

I love these guitars. This is the second one I have owned. I sold the first to by my D8 Stringmaster, which I still have.

I think these were introduced around 2000. Does anyone know how to date them, or know what changes have been made to them over the years?

The latest one I bought has plastic tuner buttons, making me think it is an older one. What I notice about this one is that the pickup sounds different than the newer LS8 that I had. It sounds better, to my ears.

Have they always had adjustable pole screws in the stock pickup?

I am also interested to see or hear about any upgrades or mods people have made to their GTLS's. Tone pot repositionong ideas?, metal nut?, pickup and electronic upgrades?

Both of mine need filing on the nut and bridge when I got them. Other than that and the tone knob position I find these to be superb.

Thank You,
Stephen

[Jack Gentle Jr]

I have a GT LS6. As received, the spacing at the bridge was such that the 1st and 6th strings passed outside the pickup pole pieces, so they sounded weaker than the other strings. I filed new slots into the bridge so that all strings passed over the center of pole pieces. I also converted it to string-through-body. I replaced the nut with a wider string spacing and slotted for C6 string gauges. The tone control was bad so I replaced it, then later removed it as it was in the way of my right hand. After a year the volume pot failed so had to replace. The threads on the jack are such that the jack can't be tightened down snug and continually gets loose. I plan to replace the pickup sometime in the future and then will replace the jack.