Members zosoKing5 Posted October 10, 2008 Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 Ill keep it simple. i have a 2003 les paul supreme, picked it up for 1900 a week ago. absolutely gorgeous guitar, flawless finish, but it needs some help in the tone department. 1. comes with 490r 498t pickups, rythm is too muddy and treble is hot but it squeals.2. nut needs to be filed and the action set up properly. 3. has the grover bell tuners, which are ok, but ive used better. 4. stock saddle and bridge on it. My question is this- Should i leave this one as is, or is it fair game to swap out for better pickups and hardware? on one hand it will be fully original (better resale?). Conversely, it would look and play flawlessly, perfect action, intonation, and would have nice shiney new reliable gold pickups and hardware. waddaya think? as it sits, it plays better than my friends' r7 goldtop. Id really like to throw some bareknuckle blackdogs or vhII's in this thing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ten56gibby Posted October 10, 2008 Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 Do not mod. Only mod Gibson standards, specials, or faded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zosoKing5 Posted October 10, 2008 Author Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 cool. a good set-up is fair game though, right? i need to get the nut filed for sure. i guess im just afraid of killing the resale on it, since its all original. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators The Eristic Posted October 10, 2008 Moderators Share Posted October 10, 2008 Changing the pickups and the like isn't going to hurt resale much (if at all), especially if you keep the original parts. However, you really don't want to have to take a soldering iron to anything in a Supreme. Huge pain in the ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zosoKing5 Posted October 10, 2008 Author Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 seriously. not having the rear cavity over the pots is looking like a real bitch. the matched top and back are too pretty though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Meowy Posted October 10, 2008 Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 No need for new pickups...If you are handy with electronics and pickups, swap the magnets betweeen the 490 (A2) and 498 (A5)The bridge becomes warmer / less shrill and the neck gets some tightnessIf you've got enough pickup lead and a good work area, you don't even need to disconnect the pups I did it in my Studio.Assuming you are comfortable with doing this and you are going to take your time to be careful it's a 1 - 2 hour first-time project Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zosoKing5 Posted October 10, 2008 Author Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 hmm...im gonna go look for a magnet swap thread. thanks for the advice people. i buy guitars to play them, not look at them, and this is my first guitar venturing into the high dollar arena. so far im in love with it, but after 2 guitars completely tailored to my needs this on is alittle rough around the edges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A3C Posted October 10, 2008 Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 hmm...im gonna go look for a magnet swap thread. thanks for the advice people. i buy guitars to play them, not look at them, and this is my first guitar venturing into the high dollar arena. so far im in love with it, but after 2 guitars completely tailored to my needs this on is alittle rough around the edges. let us know how that goes if you decide to do the swap. i'd like to know how hard it would be for me to do this to my studio faded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Meowy Posted October 10, 2008 Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 Here's the article I used: http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/barmagswap.htm I did not use a Dremel to open the covers, but instead I used a straight edge razor blade to cut through the solder. Just be careful not to cut too deep Also I did not repot the pickups I simply heated them up for a few minutes with a blow dryer to reflow the little bit of existing wax. Even cutting a few corners it worked GREAT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Karma1 Posted October 10, 2008 Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 When I got my Les Paul it had the same pickups as yours and I didn't like them for the same reason. I swapped them out for Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers and it sounded way better. However I understand your considerations on modding out a Supreme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members _pete_ Posted October 10, 2008 Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 It's just a guitar. Make it sound the way you want it to sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jamiegaskin Posted October 10, 2008 Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 if you're gonna keep it for a while and play it daily, just do whatever you want to it. plus you can keep the original stuff, and just stick that in if you want to sell it later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jacobhf Posted October 10, 2008 Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 Theres no point in having the guitar just because it looks nice, so if youre not gonna sell it within the month you might as well mod it to get the most enjoyable tone possible. It seems silly to spend $1900 on a guitar for looks, guitar players normally buy guitars to play them and HEAR them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tumbleweeed Posted October 10, 2008 Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 At least play with the pup height on it before you switch um out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wagdog Posted October 10, 2008 Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 The setup work won't effect the resale value. Set it up. As for the pickups, swap 'em and keep the originals in case you ever want to sell it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zosoKing5 Posted October 10, 2008 Author Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 At least play with the pup height on it before you switch um out. its funny you should mention that... i just played through my fender blues jr. and i adjusted the rhythm up, and treble pickup down. it still sounded a bit shrill, so i tryed another thing. i unplugged from the blues jr. and plugged into a crate 15watt. :eek::eek:what a difference! it sounds great! the first thing im doing is buying a new speaker for that blues jr. either a greenback or a hellatone 30. it sounded all farty and trebly though that crap speaker, its not even the guitar thats a problem. I confirmed this with my partscaster as well. once i get it set up im good to go. meowy- i searched and found the thread where you found that site as well im going to favorite that page so i can play around with the stock epiphone pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tumbleweeed Posted October 10, 2008 Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 its funny you should mention that... i just played through my fender blues jr. and i adjusted the rhythm up, and treble pickup down. it still sounded a bit shrill, so i tryed another thing. i unplugged from the blues jr. and plugged into a crate 15watt. :eek::eek:what a difference! it sounds great! the first thing im doing is buying a new speaker for that blues jr. either a greenback or a hellatone 30. it sounded all farty and trebly though that crap speaker, its not even the guitar thats a problem. I confirmed this with my partscaster as well. once i get it set up im good to go. I guess nuance of infinite possibilities can keep us on our toes. That Blues Jr may sound good with SOME other guitars, though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Meowy Posted October 10, 2008 Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 meowy- i searched and found the thread where you found that site as well im going to favorite that page so i can play around with the stock epiphone pickups. As I remember there were some references to it and other people's experiences on the Duncan forums as well. If you take your time, it's not that hard, maybe a little nerve wracking. As long as you don't {censored} up the body of your guitar your worst exposure is killing a pickup that you don't particularly like anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zosoKing5 Posted October 10, 2008 Author Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 regarding the blues jr- it sounds good, but that amp is also new to me, a bit of a step down from a hot rod deluxe. that amp was nice but it was overkill, and i dont know the bjr. well enough to have a solid "control group" to go off of as far as sound is concerned. I had the other amp dialed in, so its just an embarrassing learning curve i guess:o. I think despite being mediocre pickups, the chambered body is complementing them pretty well. The squealing is gone with the 498T, it was just too close to the strings. Im very happy with the sound now, im going to tweak the height a little more, i think i might scrounge a bit more improvement out of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tumbleweeed Posted October 10, 2008 Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 Here's the article I used: http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/barmagswap.htm Truely enlightening stuff. It never even occurred to me that there were bar magnets in them things. I gotta pay more attention Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mikeSF Posted October 10, 2008 Members Share Posted October 10, 2008 Ill keep it simple.i have a 2003 les paul supreme, picked it up for 1900 a week ago. absolutely gorgeous guitar, flawless finish, but it needs some help in the tone department.1. comes with 490r 498t pickups, rythm is too muddy and treble is hot but it squeals.2. nut needs to be filed and the action set up properly.3. has the grover bell tuners, which are ok, but ive used better.4. stock saddle and bridge on it.My question is this- Should i leave this one as is, or is it fair game to swap out for better pickups and hardware? on one hand it will be fully original (better resale?). Conversely, it would look and play flawlessly, perfect action, intonation, and would have nice shiney new reliable gold pickups and hardware. waddaya think? as it sits, it plays better than my friends' r7 goldtop. Id really like to throw some bareknuckle blackdogs or vhII's in this thing... IMO, a guitar that plays crappy has little resale value.additionally, i see nothing significantly collectable about 2003 Gibbys.if it were me, i'd get the thing playing and sounding good before i worried about what the next owner will think. decent pickups will help and the setup adjustments will go a long way in your enjoyment of the guitar. as mentioned, simply save the stock parts and put em back on when you sell. simple.good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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