Members Anderton Posted August 22, 2014 Members Share Posted August 22, 2014 I ask because I got to play a Gibson ES Les Paul yesterday, and the sound from the guitar itself without an amp was pretty tasty - not an acoustic, not an electric. I'm seriously considering going to the "Gibson Lending Library" to evaluate the recorded sound of the guitar itself, but thought maybe this was the kind of thing you might have tried in the past, given that you're not on the normal side of normal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted August 22, 2014 Members Share Posted August 22, 2014 I've done that before with a stratocaster. It really picks up the sound of the pick slapping the strings and, in the proper context, can give the guitar parts a nice acoustic flavour. I seem to recall hearing somewhere that they used to mic Buddy Holly's strat on some of those old records. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted August 22, 2014 Members Share Posted August 22, 2014 Gibson ES Les Paul - is that a carved out mahogany body with a maple cap or is it constructed more like a 335? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted August 22, 2014 Members Share Posted August 22, 2014 I agree with onelife. Depending on the mic position what could be picked up will likely be mostly string slap, string squeal, and pick noise micing. You probably feel the tone more when you play it then you actually hear it. If you had a contact mic of decent quality or a piezo bridge you'd likely get much better results. Maybe you could blend what you do get with the pickups. I have done that many times before to get some extra string slap playing rhythm parts, usually from an open vocal mic. It helps if the room has some reflection too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chordite Posted August 22, 2014 Members Share Posted August 22, 2014 I tried it (Shure sm58 setup I use for my vocals at about 8 in from the body) and it doesn't sound anything like it 'sounds'. The recording is far thinner and reedier than what the ear gets.Short of a degree in the Psychology of Hearing I am stumped on why there is such a huge difference, especially as my ears are if anything further away than the mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted August 22, 2014 Members Share Posted August 22, 2014 ^^^^ Maybe it has something to do with our binaural hearing - it would be interesting to hear it recorded in stereo. In order to get a musical (subjective) sound I had to blend sound of the mic with the sound of the magnetic pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 I ask because I got to play a Gibson ES Les Paul yesterday, and the sound from the guitar itself without an amp was pretty tasty - not an acoustic, not an electric. I'm seriously considering going to the "Gibson Lending Library" to evaluate the recorded sound of the guitar itself, but thought maybe this was the kind of thing you might have tried in the past, given that you're not on the normal side of normal Sure... it can give the part a kind of ghostly quality, a little something extra that can be interesting in some circumstances. I like to do it with my Casino, which as you know is a thinline hollowbody, but I've done it with solidbodies too. The ES Les Paul is a semi-hollowbody IIRC; more like a 335, so I imagine that would work quite well. I'm not quite sure how to take your "not on the normal side of normal" comment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 I tried it (Shure sm58 setup I use for my vocals at about 8 in from the body) and it doesn't sound anything like it 'sounds'. The recording is far thinner and reedier than what the ear gets. Short of a degree in the Psychology of Hearing I am stumped on why there is such a huge difference, especially as my ears are if anything further away than the mike Because your ears are further away than the mic is, you're getting a different perspective than the mic is. Have you tried variations on your mic positioning? Maybe consider trying a highly sensitive condenser instead of a dynamic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 Gibson ES Les Paul - is that a carved out mahogany body with a maple cap or is it constructed more like a 335? Laminated maple top, back and sides (similar to my Casino, as well as the ES-335) with a solid mahogany center block. IIRC, the ES-335 has a solid maple center block. Casinos and 335's also have somewhat larger bodies. http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/ES/Gibson-Memphis/2014/ES-Les-Paul.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted August 23, 2014 Members Share Posted August 23, 2014 I have an ES-137 which is similar to a 335 except the centre block is mahogany and only goes from the neck joint to under the tailpiece. I like to think of it as a Les Paul stuck inside a 175. It would seem from your description that the ES Les Paul is like a smaller version of the 137. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 Sounds like there are some definite similarities between the ES Les Paul and ES-137, but Craig would definitely know more than I do on that. I do like that Gibson is now offering some hollow and semi-hollowbody models with smaller body dimensions. I would think they'd be fairly popular with smaller players. That was one of the reasons I stayed away from Casinos and 335's for so long - I'm 5'8", and their large bodies look enormous compared to my size. Then I got older, started playing live a lot less, so now, who cares if I look dorky holding a big bodied guitar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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