Thanks, that's good advice. I knew the gold will wear over time, but hadn't thought about oils accelerating it. But I will be sure and take care to do that.
It plays very nicely. I haven't plugged it into the tube amps yet, just through my little cheap Spark practice amp... but it sounds really good. The "clean" tones especially are very smooth. The humbuckers are set up for coil splitting, but there is NO hum even on single coil settings.
My sister was so excited she posted all about it on facebook, so people that I never mentioned the guitar to are coming up to me and telling me "That guitar is GORGEOUS!!!" And I'm like, "I *know*!!!" (read that in Mike Birbiglia's voice)
I'd recommend this guy to do it, if you decide to do something with your coffee table, but it's a bit of a drive. Might be worth it though, he's really good.
Aries
~Sign of the Rams