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Tex Mexico Frets: 1198
August 2014 in Guitar
I'm a tinkerer, I can't seem to help myself.
After getting my Les Paul Classic back, as described in the other thread, I decided to tart her up a bit. I always wanted upgrade the pickups, but I had an idea the other day which led to other ideas.
I have a Wayne Kramer signature strat with a Seymour '59 in the middle position, which I never use. I've just bought a Seymour lil' 59 to put in its bridge, so that's me sorted for that (I only ever use bridge pickups), but it gave me the idea that I could have basically the same pickup in my Les Paul. So I decided to swap it out with the 500T in the Les Paul's bridge position.
I'd already been thinking about a set of nickel covers for the Les Paul, since I'm not a huge fan of the double-black look. I guess I think it looks a bit cheap, I don't know. Since the Seymour '59 already comes with an aged nickel cover, I've bought another nickel cover for the 496R in the Les Paul's neck. I'll need to rough it up a bit to match the other cover, but what the hell.
In the meantime, I came across a Faber bridge on eBay. I'd wanted to swap out the Nashville on the Les Paul for an ABR-1 anyway, but that involves yanking the plain 4mm bridge posts to fit the threaded ones and I'm rarely up for that kind of woodwork. The Faber I found however is an ABR that has holes which retrofit the 4mm Nashville posts directly. As a bonus it has nickel-plated brass saddles, and the whole unit comes very highly recommended as it's milled, not cast - Sustain city. So that'll be going on too. Never understood why Gibson started using Nashvilles on everything. Cost, I guess.
Finally, to round it off I decided to do something about the stock pickup rings. My best friend has an R8 and I've always loved the way the rings look on it, with the pickups flush with the rings and the whole thing flat and tall and very vintage-looking, so I bagged a set of historic Gibson rings. I'll need to sand the bases out a little to fit the contour of the top (Les Paul Classics have a rounded top whereas the carve on historics has a flat bit in the middle).
Once I've dome all that no doubt I'll make other plans, but that's it for now. Photos to follow. Any thoughts? Have I missed anything?
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stickyfiddle Frets: 28127
August 2014
No idea on pickups but big +1 for Faber stuff. I have the full locking kit on my SG and it's ace
The Assumptions- UAE party bandfor all your rock & soul desires
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p90fool Frets: 32219
August 2014
Tex Mexico said:
Never understood why Gibson started using Nashvilles on everything. Cost, I guess.
They just work. The don't collapse as easily, and the studs don't bend. If they'd been invented by an aftermarket company and cost $300 dollars people would actually see them as an upgrade, rather than a non vintage-correct piece of crap. .
Faber stuff is well engineered and I'd fit one too just to try it, but bear in mind it will probably change the tone of your guitar, and not everyone likes the way it does it.
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fretfinder Frets: 5145
August 2014
Tex Mexico said:I only ever use bridge pickups.
Seriously?? On a Les Paul you never use the front pickup or both pickups? :-O
260+ positive trading feedbacks: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/57830/
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Neil Frets: 3766
August 2014
Tex Mexico said:
I have a Wayne Kramer signature strat with a Seymour '59 in the middle position, which I never use.
Nice.
Wayne is a bit of a hero of mine.
Don't see many of them over here.
My trading feedback http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/62723/
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impmann Frets: 12736
August 2014
I for one prefer the feel and solidity of the Nashville (plus they don't rattle like the ABR1, nor collapse) - never seen a problem with it.
Never Ever Bloody Anything Ever.
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lustycourtier Frets: 3434
August 2014
fretfinder said:
Tex Mexico said:I only ever use bridge pickups.
Seriously?? On a Les Paul you never use the front pickup or both pickups? :-O
Im exactly the same with Les Pauls. Neck sounds awful to me. On SGs and My Duojet, Neck PUps are usable just not on LPs
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Tex Mexico Frets: 1198
August 2014 edited August 2014
p90fool said:
Tex Mexico said:
Never understood why Gibson started using Nashvilles on everything. Cost, I guess.
They just work. The don't collapse as easily, and the studs don't bend. If they'd been invented by an aftermarket company and cost $300 dollars people would actually see them as an upgrade, rather than a non vintage-correct piece of crap. .
Faber stuff is well engineered and I'd fit one too just to try it, but bear in mind it will probably change the tone of your guitar, and not everyone likes the way it does it.
My problem with Nashvilles has always been that after I've set them up the way I want them, at least the high E and B strings bend over the rear of the bridge in such a way that can only be corrected by raising the tailpiece way off the top. That kind of goes away with a lower neck angle which allows a lower bridge, but that then creates its own set of problems.
I've heard a bunch of stuff about how the Faber's going to change my tone, but most of it has to do with giving me more top-end definition, presence and sustain, but that's cool with me because I really like "clanginess" on Les Pauls. I don't like it when they're too dark and thick.
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Tex Mexico Frets: 1198
August 2014
fretfinder said:
Tex Mexico said:I only ever use bridge pickups.
Seriously?? On a Les Paul you never use the front pickup or both pickups? :-O
Nope. And on my strat I never use the other two pickups either. I've just never really found a use for anything but a bridge sound.
It's not that I don't like the sounds of the other positions. I think what it is is since I started playing I've always focused on changing the tone of what I play by altering my technique rather than flipping a switch, so now when I want a different sound I'll instinctively just change my hand position or attack angle or picking dynamic or whatever.
Because of that I actually find that the sound changes too much when I switch pickups. If I want a "neck" sound I'll be playing for a fuller, rounder, smoother sound with my hands anyway so switching to the neck position makes everything too full and round and smooth.
In the same way I'm also a single-channel amp guy, and increasingly I've even stopped using the volume pot to alter how much gain I have, I just leave it full up and pull back my playing for clean sounds.
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Tex Mexico Frets: 1198
August 2014 edited August 2014
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GuitarMonkey Frets: 1883
August 2014
p90fool said:
Tex Mexico said:
Never understood why Gibson started using Nashvilles on everything. Cost, I guess.
They just work. The don't collapse as easily, and the studs don't bend. If they'd been invented by an aftermarket company ...
It was - Schaller designed it and still make them in Germany even though Gibson has mostly switched to cheaper (and inferior) Far East suppliers.
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Voxman Frets: 4860
August 2014 edited August 2014
The only mod I've considered for my Stock LP Custom is to have a 'Jimmy Page' wiring with push-pulls on the 2 vols and tones to give all the phase, series, parallel positions - I won't go for the two buttons under the fingerboard though because that would mean cutting into the guitar itself to channel the wiring, and I don't want to do anything that couldn't ever be undone. It's just something that I've always meant to do but never got round to it, partly because I now have a 'Quasi-Tap' pedal which gives me instant coil-tap tones. But I'd still like to have my LP modded JP style - I'll get round to it one of these days.
I started out with nothing..... but I've still got most of it left (Seasick Steve)
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p90fool Frets: 32219
August 2014
Tex Mexico;333640" said:
fretfinder said:
Tex Mexico said:I only ever use bridge pickups.
Seriously?? On a Les Paul you never use the front pickup or both pickups? :-O
Nope. And on my strat I never use the other two pickups either. I've just never really found a use for anything but a bridge sound.
It's not that I don't like the sounds of the other positions. I think what it is is since I started playing I've always focused on changing the tone of what I play by altering my technique rather than flipping a switch, so now when I want a different sound I'll instinctively just change my hand position or attack angle or picking dynamic or whatever.
Because of that I actually find that the sound changes too much when I switch pickups. If I want a "neck" sound I'll be playing for a fuller, rounder, smoother sound with my hands anyway so switching to the neck position makes everything too full and round and smooth.
In the same way I'm also a single-channel amp guy, and increasingly I've even stopped using the volume pot to alter how much gain I have, I just leave it full up and pull back my playing for clean sounds.
Fair play, I'm leaning this way myself lately, though I'll always be a volume pot addict.
I have to have a neck pickup because of the cover band stuff which pays my mortgage, but when playing for my own pleasure I almost never switch to the neck pickup, despite being primarily a clean player.
Your approach intrigues me, I'd love to hear you play.
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Tex Mexico Frets: 1198
August 2014
p90fool said:
Your approach intrigues me, I'd love to hear you play.
I'm really nothing special. I think it also had a lot to do with playing a lot of acoustic guitar, especially when I was starting out. With an acoustic you're limited to what you can do with your hands, and very quickly you have to develop a whole palette of different approaches to playing so you can have different sounds. I think I was fortunate in that sense that I didn't join a band right away and instead spent a couple of years accompanying myself (or learning how to), so my playing really had to develop a complex voice so I could move beyond three-chord strum-strum covers. If I learned anything from that, it's that you can tell a really amazing guitar player by watching what he does with his right hand.
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ICBM Frets: 73516
August 2014
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
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Tex Mexico Frets: 1198
August 2014
ICBM said:
Ahh.
Yeah, I've been down that road a couple times. Put it this way - when this is one of my Les Pauls, rather than my only Les Paul, then I'll stick a Bigsby on one of them. Might even get a Les Paul with a Factory Bigsby, since they do some real nice ones. For the minute though this one will stay a hardtail.
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57Deluxe Frets: 7367
August 2014
/\ look to the future then....
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Tex Mexico Frets: 1198
August 2014
57Deluxe said:
Oh my, that's a beaut.
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p90fool Frets: 32219
August 2014
Tex Mexico;333814" said:
p90fool said:
Your approach intrigues me, I'd love to hear you play.
I'm really nothing special. I think it also had a lot to do with playing a lot of acoustic guitar, especially when I was starting out. With an acoustic you're limited to what you can do with your hands, and very quickly you have to develop a whole palette of different approaches to playing so you can have different sounds.
Well I'm nothing special either tbh, but I think I probably approach it the same way as you, having a lively, super dynamic instrument with vast range of tones available depending on how you use your fingers.
I started from the other end though, using a fair bit of gain. I find having that much compression depressing to play these days though, almost as flat and unresponsive as an "electric guitar" patch on a synth.
A lot of high gain players seem to only have three expressive choices, Palm mute on, Palm mute off, and Pick Squeal, and the meters never budge from the red.
Give me Jim Campilongo any time!0
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ThePrettyDamned Frets: 7521
August 2014 edited August 2014
Plenty of folk agree with you @Tex Mexico. Lots of single pickup guitars on here, and all the owners say they're very lively and dynamic.
I'd argue there is more to high gain players than that, though
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