Gibson question...

[drftrman]

I have a Gibson The Paul, that I just can't seem to get a good LP sound out of it. It is very bright sounding, although it has good bottom end. It just seems the high strings are very bright. It is solid mahogany, and about the thickness of a SG. It had the stock Gibson pups in it, so I changed them to SD59"s neck, and bridge. No change, still very bright, but still very articulate. Is there a cap I can change, or do I need a different kind of pup? I realize that it doesn't have a maple cap, and that the thickness also makes some diff, but will it make that much? Help me find my sound with this one, as it plays amazingly.

 

[rog951]

Silly question but...have you tried rolling back the volume and tone pots a bit?

[drftrman]

That's how I have been playing it, But to get it to sound more like an LP, I have to roll off until it doesn't sound as powerful, I can't explain it, but it somehow just doesn't sound right. I'm at the point of thinking of selling it. I have a arbor LP copy that nails the Lp sound perfectly, but the neck is smaller, and doesn't play nearly as well.

[jlw001]

I used to have one of the flat top "The Paul"s from the 80's. I thought I got really good LP tones out of it. Are you specifically talking about the neck pickup singing tone?

 

I really like the tones the LP specials (which is basically what a "the paul" is if you don't count the 60's P90 specials) get. I would try fidgeting around with your amp a little more or maybe try the guitar through other amps.

[drftrman]

The amp thing could be a problem ,as I play thru a Line 6 spyder 2. It sounds great with my other guitars though.

[randy rhoads jr]

 

The amp thing could be a problem ,as I play thru a Line 6 spyder 2. It sounds great with my other guitars though.

 

 

It's the amp. I know out of experience becuase i plugged my lp studio into my buddy's line 6 spider {censored} stack and started playing and said " woah, do you have the treble turned up all the way" ? He said " no, it's on five". I've never had a problem with my lp being bright through any other amp, so i think it could jsut be the line 6.

[The Real MC]

New Gibsons these days have crap wood. The tone is in the wood, either it's a good resonant wood or it isn't. No amount of experimenting with pickups, FX, or amps will matter if the wood isn't right. I picked up too many LPs with no resonance in the wood, they tend to be very bright and/or very bassy while lacking warm mids.

 

As the production increased, the stock of decent woods dried up and they had to find other sources, which unfortunately are inferior.

 

The first thing I do when auditioning a guitar is to play it UNPLUGGED and listen to it acoustically. That tells you a lot about the guitar's tone. If the wood has a good resonance, you will feel the string vibrations through the body and the neck. You will hear the tone and sustain of the strings. I found my custom shop 1960 LP VOS that way, killer playing guitar and that awesome vintage LP tone. The custom shop can be more selective about the wood going into the guitar, thus they are way better than anything coming off the production line.

 

Finishes make a difference too. The production Gibsons use layers of glossy polyurethane which takes an iron grip on the wood and it can't resonate because it is so stiff. Custom shop guitars use the nitrocelluose finish - same finish used on 1950s Gibsons - which requires more handwork but it allows the wood to breathe and resonate. Nitro finishing is banned from high volume production due to health issues, but a low volume operation like the custom shop can use it.

[Davey_32x]

lez paul

[Burgess]

Line 6? I don't know much about line 6 but I do know this...

 

LP + Marshall = Classic LP tone

 

[mike.sartori]

you gotta ditch the spyder. I had to use one for an audition, I've never heard my Les Paul sound worse. Still got the gig though.

[mrbrown49]

get some tubes, and an amp to put them in.

[Burgess]

New Gibsons these days have crap wood. The tone is in the wood, either it's a good resonant wood or it isn't. No amount of experimenting with pickups, FX, or amps will matter if the wood isn't right. I picked up too many LPs with no resonance in the wood, they tend to be very bright and/or very bassy while lacking warm mids. As the production increased, the stock of decent woods dried up and they had to find other sources, which unfortunately are inferior. The first thing I do when auditioning a guitar is to play it UNPLUGGED and listen to it acoustically. That tells you a lot about the guitar's tone. If the wood has a good resonance, you will feel the string vibrations through the body and the neck. You will hear the tone and sustain of the strings. I found my custom shop 1960 LP VOS that way, killer playing guitar and that awesome vintage LP tone. The custom shop can be more selective about the wood going into the guitar, thus they are way better than anything coming off the production line. Finishes make a difference too. The production Gibsons use layers of glossy polyurethane which takes an iron grip on the wood and it can't resonate because it is so stiff. Custom shop guitars use the nitrocelluose finish - same finish used on 1950s Gibsons - which requires more handwork but it allows the wood to breathe and resonate. Nitro finishing is banned from high volume production due to health issues, but a low volume operation like the custom shop can use it.

Production LP's are still using nitro.

[Hard Truth]

I used to have a The Paul which had an unpainted walnut body. It was a fine guitar but it did not have the true LP sound that my LP Studio has.

[Burgess]

I used to have a The Paul which had an unpainted walnut body. It was a fine guitar but it did not have the true LP sound that my LP Studio has.

Walnut? Well I think that's the answer to his question right there. A big part of the classic LP sound is all that mahogany.

 

Walnut?

[fw190]

Walnut?

 

The original The Paul had a walnut body, but the original poster has a The Paul II which has a mahogany body (and a nitro finish).

[curseoftruth]

 

New Gibsons these days have crap wood. The tone is in the wood, either it's a good resonant wood or it isn't. No amount of experimenting with pickups, FX, or amps will matter if the wood isn't right. I picked up too many LPs with no resonance in the wood, they tend to be very bright and/or very bassy while lacking warm mids. As the production increased, the stock of decent woods dried up and they had to find other sources, which unfortunately are inferior. The first thing I do when auditioning a guitar is to play it UNPLUGGED and listen to it acoustically. That tells you a lot about the guitar's tone. If the wood has a good resonance, you will feel the string vibrations through the body and the neck. You will hear the tone and sustain of the strings. I found my custom shop 1960 LP VOS that way, killer playing guitar and that awesome vintage LP tone. The custom shop can be more selective about the wood going into the guitar, thus they are way better than anything coming off the production line. Finishes make a difference too. The production Gibsons use layers of glossy polyurethane which takes an iron grip on the wood and it can't resonate because it is so stiff. Custom shop guitars use the nitrocelluose finish - same finish used on 1950s Gibsons - which requires more handwork but it allows the wood to breathe and resonate. Nitro finishing is banned from high volume production due to health issues, but a low volume operation like the custom shop can use it.

 

 

Has to be one of the most uninformed and wrong posts I've seen in a long time, sorry you took the time to write all of that out. You read and barf out stuff that other uninformed people have posted. Let's hear some Gibson QA stuff now.

 

I have a Les Paul Studio VM (no finish) and it sounds just like a freaking Les Paul! One of the best sounding Les Pauls I've ever played in fact. I have 3 Gibson Guitars by the way, none Custom Shops and all Nitro.

 

1. All production LPs use Nitro unless the faded series

2. There is still quality wood available and Gibson uses good wood

3. Maple cap will make you sound even brighter, the Paul should be a dark sounding guitar. Some good PAFs should fix that issue.

4. The whole guitar sounds great unplugged thing is a myth that I keep seeing perpetuated here. I'm sure it helps, but is not the only factor. Tone is mainly in the fingers of those playing it. I've heard boat planks sound like Jesus himself was playing it.

5. Line 6 amps sound like ass. They are mainly for very high gain applications. Get a tube amp.

[Hard Truth]

The original poster's guitar looks like a different incarnation of The Paul name, so it may be completely different than my old one.

 

The quality of the amp and speaker is at least as important as the guitar, so the first thing I would do is try the guitar with several different amps and see if you can find a sound you like.

 

If you can't get the sound you want, get a LP with the maple top and mahogony body. With a Gibson, the cheapest version would be the Studio, which as far as I can tell sounds as good as most any other LP, it just lacks some of the appearance related features such as binding.

[Wyatt]

Honestly, it's hard to tell with seeing and hearing the guitar.

 

But if I had it in hand, the first thing I would check was pickup height. The second would be Volume and Tone pot values (I would make sure 500K for both).

 

Most people set their PU's too high, trying to get as hot a signal from their guitar as possible instead of letting the amp do the work.

[Burgess]

The original The Paul had a walnut body, but the original poster has a The Paul II which has a mahogany body (and a nitro finish).

[drftrman]

I have been thinking about a new amp, but I need something that isn't too loud. I also like to run straight in, without any pedals. Thats why I chose the Line 6 in the first place. I play mostly blues, and classic rock (Skynyrd, Boston, etc.)

Can you guys help me find something any good?

[Electric Blues]

Before you go spending a bunch of cash, try adjusting the pups and amp as suggested. Buying new gear isn't the only solution (God... I can't believe I just typed that!)

 

Start with the pups. With your finger on the highest fret, a good starting point is for the pup to be 2 mm from the strings. Make sure both sides of the pup are the same. From there, start moving it higher or lower depending on your preference. Make sure the individual poles are flush with pups cover. You can adjust individual pole height later if needed.

 

You may want to try adjusting the amp too. Instead of using one of the presets, try setting it for a "neutral" sound and go from there. I'm guessing you got the guitar new but if not, check to see if there are 500k pots in it.

[The Real MC]

 

Has to be one of the most uninformed and wrong posts I've seen in a long time, sorry you took the time to write all of that out. You read and barf out stuff that other uninformed people have posted. Let's hear some Gibson QA stuff now.

 

 

I've been playing guitars for over twenty years. I got four excellent guitars here that I found by playing them unplugged and they sound killer through an amp. Before you accuse me of "uninformed and wrong posts", READ THIS

 

 

1. All production LPs use Nitro unless the faded series

 

 

I doubt that. I visited the Gibson store by Grand Ole Opry where they had wall-to-wall Les Pauls. Every one I picked up didn't have the nitro finish.

 

 

2. There is still quality wood available and Gibson uses good wood

 

 

Wood that LOOKS good or wood that SOUNDS good? The ones with good SOUNDING wood are fewer and farther between. I've played some LPs with killer tops that were outright DOGS for tone and/or action. There are vintage 1958/59/60 LP Standards with killer flametops that don't sound that great.

 

 

4. The whole guitar sounds great unplugged thing is a myth that I keep seeing perpetuated here. I'm sure it helps, but is not the only factor. Tone is mainly in the fingers of those playing it. I've heard boat planks sound like Jesus himself was playing it.

 

 

Maybe it isn't the only factor, but it is the ONLY variable that cannot be fixed. You can replace pickups, but you cannot replace the wood.

[mike.sartori]

 

I've been playing guitars for over twenty years. I got four excellent guitars here that I found by playing them unplugged and they sound killer through an amp. Before you accuse me of "uninformed and wrong posts", READ THIS I doubt that. I visited the Gibson store by Grand Ole Opry where they had wall-to-wall Les Pauls. Every one I picked up didn't have the nitro finish. Wood that LOOKS good or wood that SOUNDS good? The ones with good SOUNDING wood are fewer and farther between. I've played some LPs with killer tops that were outright DOGS for tone and/or action. There are vintage 1958/59/60 LP Standards with killer flametops that don't sound that great. Maybe it isn't the only factor, but it is the ONLY variable that cannot be fixed. You can replace pickups, but you cannot replace the wood.

 

 

You don't know the difference between a nitro and a poly finish.

[mrbrown49]

 

I've been playing guitars for over twenty years. I got four excellent guitars here that I found by playing them unplugged and they sound killer through an amp. Before you accuse me of "uninformed and wrong posts", READ THIS I doubt that. I visited the Gibson store by Grand Ole Opry where they had wall-to-wall Les Pauls. Every one I picked up didn't have the nitro finish. Wood that LOOKS good or wood that SOUNDS good? The ones with good SOUNDING wood are fewer and farther between. I've played some LPs with killer tops that were outright DOGS for tone and/or action. There are vintage 1958/59/60 LP Standards with killer flametops that don't sound that great. Maybe it isn't the only factor, but it is the ONLY variable that cannot be fixed. You can replace pickups, but you cannot replace the wood.

 

 

I have to agree with you on almost all accounts. Sure, resonance may not matter for some one who plays rock with alot of gain through a crappy amp, but I prefer a clean amp with a slight crunch if I strike a string hard. You can def tell the difference between guitars that resonate well unplugged, and those that don't when using a very good quality amp, set clean.

[The Real MC]

 

You don't know the difference between a nitro and a poly finish.

 

 

Play a nitro finished neck vs a poly finished neck and tell me that again.