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Vintage V100 'Lemon Drop' Les Paul


kr236rk

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I know metalheadUK has one and I'm pretty sure CSM has one too. I believe they are made in Vietnam. As far as I know, the neck pickup has the Peter Green mod with the magnet installed in the reverse position so that the pickups are out of phase with each other in the middle toggle position.

 

The Vintage Lemon Drop is not readily available in the US, so I opted to customize an Epiphone LP to replicate the Peter Green. Bryan Gunsher (Norcal_GIT_r) totally nailed the pickups for me.

 

http://www.bg-pups.com

 

 

IMG_4376.jpg

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Looks like a beaut :) I can almost hear it, it looks so good! ;)

 

can't believe the quality of those Vintage guitars on the Tube - fantastic sound - i know it was always possible to find quality guitars at bargain bucks like the old Gibson Melody Makers, which turned out to be better than some of the 'top of the shop' Gibsons at the time i hear ... and that's when the price tag on the MM went up :-o

 

the only thing i haven't seen is a Peter Green endorsement of the Vintage V100, now that would be something ;]

 

bests + thanks

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funny thing is that Green plays a strat these days.

 

yes, interesting point, i believe he said he couldn't pick up a LP again, i guess he holds it in such reverence and quite rightly so

 

maybe he'll strap on a LP again one of these days :)

 

mind you i have seen him playing guitars other than strats & pauls on the Tube

 

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I know metalheadUK has one and I'm pretty sure CSM has one too. I believe they are made in Vietnam. As far as I know, the neck pickup has the Peter Green mod with the magnet installed in the reverse position so that the pickups are out of phase with each other in the middle toggle position.


The Vintage Lemon Drop is not readily available in the US, so I opted to customize an Epiphone LP to replicate the Peter Green. Bryan Gunsher (Norcal_GIT_r) totally nailed the pickups for me.


http://www.bg-pups.com



IMG_4376.jpg

 

That is absolutely SICK!!!! Love it. WOW!:love:

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Vintage lemon drop's pickups are supposed to be unique to the model but the site states them as the usual humbucker wilkinson. Yes there are undistressed V100 without the aesthetic conversion of the lemon drop.

 

I opened her up. The neck cavity is painted it has a separate top but looks like all mahogany to me. It is a heavy guitar over 4 kgr the one I test drove. The bridge pickup sounds excellent the neck sounds like {censored} and the out of phase well you gotta love that sound to use it. No comments.

 

The build quality was diversial. A joke concerning the inlays, logos and back of the guitar (computer generated fake wood...you could see the degrading as if they ran out of ink) but the neck was straight the action super and it felt like a gibson pretty much!

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Yep, Marc and I both own, play, endorse and greatly enjoy the Lemon Drop ... mine doesn't carry an origin identification, but I know that Vintage/JHS use a plant in China.

 

Re the PUs: they are basically Wilkinson PAF-alikes, which are very impressive indeed, but the ones in this model are indeed tweaked for that special Green-O-Tone, which gives you not only an excellent facsimile of that Black Magic Woman/Need Your Love So Bad lead tone, but a VERY usable Fendery funk rhythm sound ... and, of course, by flipping the selector switch from central position to either PU on its own, gives you Instant Lead.

 

As to build ... weights vary. Mine's feather light, Marc's is an archetypel LP-alike boat anchor. QC can be variable: mine needed a fair bit of work on the fret ends before it was 100% safe.

 

On balance, though ... you may have to try a few before you hit the right one (just as you would with way more expensive instruments), but when you find it, you'll have a helluva guitar for pretty much chump change. I like mine more than all but a VERY few pukka Les Pauls I've played over the years ... and Marc would rather gig his than any of his Gibsons.

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That is absolutely SICK!!!! Love it. WOW!
:love:

 

thank you! It was really a matter of finding the right used Epi in color, condition, playability, etc. I ordered the pickups from Bryan. Re-did all of the electronics, did the mismatched knobs, etc. Cranked through my main stage amp (Crate Vintage Club VC3112) it nails Green's tone on the original Fleetwood Mac Recordings. Anyway, I have right at $500 in it.

 

:wave:

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I played a Lemon Drop in a Glasgow store recently, and I have to say that I was well impressed by it.

 

The build quality was spot on and it sounded excellent in all positions.

 

The bridge position had a nice raw bite to it that surprised me for such a low cost guitar. The neck position was very mellow, although it woudl have been perfect for Bluesy type leads and fills.

 

The middle position can best be described as ... authentic. They have managed to capture the PG tone almost exactly. Of course ... it goes without saying that this tone wont be everyones ideal sound.

 

Personally I just wish that the guitar was made in a non relic style as well.

 

The guitar I played stated that it was made in China. I have 'heard' elsewhere that Vintage guitars are made in the same factory as a variety of other brands - including some Ibanez. Whether this is true - or not - I don't know.

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Hm,

 

may start a new thread with this one

 

cos am still wondering whether to get my 500 neck pup reversed when the frets are stoned. thing is, there's so much 'folklore' about this pickup position, some say the actual pup has no bearing on the sound change, it's the magnet which has to be switched round

 

look at Greeny's pup in this clip - looks like it's practically falling out of his LP, the bridge pup's at a funny angle too

 

Greenys-pups-low.jpg

 

 

neck pickup looks reversed

 

comments?

 

;)

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The middle position can best be described as ... authentic. They have managed to capture the PG tone almost exactly. Of course ... it goes without saying that this tone wont be everyones ideal sound.

 

 

One of the quirks of the Drop's Green-O-Tone middle-position sound is that you only get it if both volume controls are rolled to the same setting. If you have 'em both full up and you want to revert to a 'normal' LP-style mid-position sound, just knock one of them back a fraction and you're out of the Green-O-Tone zone and into regular LP territory.

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One of the quirks of the Drop's Green-O-Tone middle-position sound is that you only get it if both volume controls are rolled to the same setting. If you have 'em both full up and you want to revert to a 'normal' LP-style mid-position sound, just knock one of them back a fraction and you're out of the Green-O-Tone zone and into regular LP territory.

 

thanks CSM,

 

it's magic Peter Green is a) having such a great influence on contemporary musicians and is b) back amongst us again - wonder if he'll ever gig with Mac again?

 

;)

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I THOUGHT the Lemon Drop was made in Vietnam, but it may have changed.

 

You can get non distressed V100s, but they dont do that Peter Green thing in the middle position, but which I find is great for when you need a more Fendery tone...it does that really well, and is also a great funky rhythm tone that I find more useful than the normal LP 2 pickup sound.

 

I also have no problem with the neck pickup solo...to me it nails that Slash LP neck tone perfectly, and on balance, I prefer the Wilkinsons in the LD to the Duncan JB/59 combo in my Edwards, and also to the Burstbuckers in my LP Standard, or the ceramics in my LP Classic.

 

Mines a heavy bastard, but I've got used to it....CSMs is considerably lighter, so it should be possible to find one with a weight you are comfy with.

 

As regards the relicing, you need to get it into perspective.

 

This is a CHEAP guitar...it's no 2 grand + custom shop jobby,and it's way less than a Road worn Fender and for what it costs it delivers to a ridiculous degree..in general it plays great, sounds great and looks cool, and it looks better the more you play it and add some "real" relicing to the factory stuff.

 

When I was packing for StIves, I took an Electric, an Acoustic, and a Bass...my guitar of choice out of the 55+ I have available..the Lemon Drop.

 

I HAVE to trust a guitar to gig it...I have no patience or time for fussy guitars with quirks or tuning issues.

 

I gig my Lemon Drop, which is about the highest accolade I can give it!

 

Heres me playing it at the "Still unbeatable" records Punk festival

back in June:

 

DSCF3254.jpg

 

:thu:

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Hm,


may start a new thread with this one


cos am still wondering whether to get my 500 neck pup reversed when the frets are stoned. thing is, there's so much 'folklore' about this pickup position, some say the actual pup has no bearing on the sound change, it's the
magnet
which has to be switched round


look at Greeny's pup in this clip - looks like it's practically falling out of his LP, the bridge pup's at a funny angle too


Greenys-pups-low.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE4HGlmtOcg&feature=related


neck pickup looks reversed


comments?


;)

 

the pickup has to be taken apart and the magnet flipped 180' for it to be out of phase with the bridge pickup. The mounting with the screws toward the bridge is simply cosmetic. Bryan built my pickups with the magnet flipped. He did wire it with 4 conductor wire so if I wanted to put it back in phase it would just take a mini switch or push/pull pot to do so.

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I THOUGHT the Lemon Drop was made in Vietnam, but it may have changed.


You can get non distressed V100s, but they dont do that Peter Green thing in the middle position, but which I find is great for when you need a more Fendery tone...it does that really well, and is also a great funky rhythm tone that I find more useful than the normal LP 2 pickup sound.


I also have no problem with the neck pickup solo...to me it nails that Slash LP neck tone perfectly, and on balance, I prefer the Wilkinsons in the LD to the Duncan JB/59 combo in my Edwards, and also to the Burstbuckers in my LP Standard, or the ceramics in my LP Classic.


Mines a heavy bastard, but I've got used to it....CSMs is considerably lighter, so it should be possible to find one with a weight you are comfy with.


As regards the relicing, you need to get it into perspective.


This is a CHEAP guitar...it's no 2 grand + custom shop jobby,and it's way less than a Road worn Fender and for what it costs it delivers to a ridiculous degree..in general it plays great, sounds great and looks cool, and it looks better the more you play it and add some "real" relicing to the factory stuff.


When I was packing for StIves, I took an Electric, an Acoustic, and a Bass...my guitar of choice out of the 55+ I have available..the Lemon Drop.


I HAVE to trust a guitar to gig it...I have no patience or time for fussy guitars with quirks or tuning issues.


I gig my Lemon Drop, which is about the highest accolade I can give it!


Heres me playing it at the "Still unbeatable" records Punk festival

back in June:


DSCF3254.jpg

:thu:

 

bet it sounds cool with that Marshall behind it! :eek:

 

;)

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the pickup has to be taken apart and the magnet flipped 180' for it to be out of phase with the bridge pickup. The mounting with the screws toward the bridge is simply cosmetic. Bryan built my pickups with the magnet flipped. He did wire it with 4 conductor wire so if I wanted to put it back in phase it would just take a mini switch or push/pull pot to do so.

 

 

that's the message that is coming over - so i wonder why Greeny went for reversed pickup at all though, if the secret was in the magnet all the while?

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that's the message that is coming over - so i wonder why Greeny went for reversed pickup at all though, if the secret was in the magnet all the while?

 

 

my understanding was that in Greeny's case, it was accidentally done by the tech that re-wound his pickup. He liked the sound so he stuck with it.

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I don't see why not. Another forum member got a set from Bryan to drop in an ES 335. Bryan does ship overseas. send him a pm...

 

 

thanks - i'm already booked in at Andy's, it's just something extra i might ask then to have a look at

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