badpenguin

Yep, 470. Looks like a treble bleed run on the 2 singles. I'm pretty sure the hum would be affected when using the blend pot.

Here's a tip if you are "handy". Take the above picture, blow it up to guitar size, (Since you have the shadow of the original pickguard, it should be easy to get exact size.) outline the pickguards, print it out, and cut your own pickguard. Sheets of material are about 20 bucks. (Buy 2, you'll screw up the first one! Ask me how I know...)

We can go on and on, and trust me, we CAN, but no matter the Paul, whether it's chambered, solid, weight relieved, 50's neck, 60's taper, Custom, Standard, Deluxe, Tribute, Studio, Custom Shop ad nauseum, the ONLY way you will fine "THE ONE" is to go play them. Make it a day trip to a good store, maybe a weekender with your significant other, and play them. Find the one that suits your ear/hand/heart.

Ok, P90's sound different than humbuckers. Here is a site that has sound samples of the guitar you want.

Yamaha Pacifica 311H VW – Thomann United States (thomannmusic.com)

Uhhh, thank you, but no. Oh GOD no! 

4 minutes ago, daddymack said:

no one would notice if you played it horizontally, like a Dobro/National, or a lap steel

Other than the bassist, who I would be jabbing in the ribs. 

13 minutes ago, nethanpaul said:

Hey, man, sorry to hear about the issues with your Gibson Les Paul Tribute. Sometimes even the best guitars can have some quirks, you know? Regarding the high action, it's a bummer that the setup didn't fix it completely. You could try adjusting the truss rod or maybe get it looked at by a professional guitar tech for a more precise setup. As for the strings cutting into the rear of the les paul bridge, that's definitely not cool. Maybe you could look into getting a better-quality bridge or even filing down the sharp edges a bit. Now, about the Plek'd thing, not all Tributes are Plek'd, so it might be worth checking with Gibson to see if yours is or not. As for the static issue, touching the cavity covers, that's definitely frustrating. You could try shielding the cavities or getting it checked by a tech to see if there's a fix. Lastly, don't let those forum trolls get you down, man. Everyone's got different opinions, and just because it's a Gibson doesn't mean it has to be flawless. You know your guitars better than anyone else. If you feel like this Tribute isn't up to par, trust your gut, and maybe consider exploring other options. Keep rockin' !    

Yep, some 7 months ago, he got his answer, being a twisted neck. if he ever went the proper route and did a return on it, who knows. He never came back for an update.

Ok, a couple of questions: Is she a beginner? Is she going to gig, or do the garage thing, or play in bedroom?

The reason I ask is: If a beginner, she doesn't need that kind of power. She also doesn't need the 100 voices, of which 75 sound similar to the other 25.

Many beginners think they need that stack, when all they truly need is a small amp with some gain and verb. The more choices, the more you play around and don't practice.

Line 6, and ease of use. A phrase never said with them. Too many menus and button pushing. Boss, not much better, but less menus.

Soooooo, cruised my local cl last night, seeing the usual over priced Squiers, Epiphones, and the crap that has lain dormant for years, when I see this "Electra guitar 90 bucks." ok, I am interested and went "PING" in my happy spot. Don't get me wrong, I love my Ibanez's, and still fly the Ibanez flag, but my heart and soul still belong to Uncle Mat, and the Aria's, Electra's Westone's and others produced there. 

So I email, say I'm interested, and leave my number. Great, he doesn't give out his number. Fine, when and where, blah, blah, blah, that would have taken 30 seconds on the phone, took 4 hours thru email. Ok, fine. Oh crap, Mrs. P.... who looked at it went "ehhh, wait.... 90 bucks? Get it." So I go, pick it up,. in torrential downpour I might add, remembering he said it was rewired. Well how bad can it be? Wired by a blind drunk monkey on his day off. Nice solder joints, done well, but made no sense what-so-ever. So, back into the junk drawer for 3 push/pulls. I want it back to the original wiring specs. Coil tap both hums, middle on, and phase for bridge. First two, done in minutes. The phase.... no matter what I do, it's out of phase with itself. I am going to go into the pickup itself and see what monkey boy did. ( it has the original MMK45 3 conductor neck, and the MMK45 4 conductor bridge. Kinda rare, and NO wiring information out there. Lucky me, remembering a guitar I had 25 years ago. Oh joy...)

And of course some of the bridge adjustment screws are frozen. Ok, need to find my torch and see if a little heat will make them move. Eventually. It plays fine the way it is.

So now I am pretty sure some of you are going, "Jeez, just show the damn thing..." Ok here you go.... my 1984 Electra/Westone/Phoenix XV3RD Dynasty! (also known as the Klingon.) Meet my General Martok!

Yeah, she's a bit beat, but what Klingon battle cruiser isn't? Ever see a shiny one? Me neither. QAPLA'!

5 months later, I think he figured it out, and the vid provided explained about bushing in the post holes. But hey, thanks for your input!

Thanks all! I found a set of A5's in the drawer of stuff I have and tossed them in the Agile. Chinese most likely, and they sound pretty good. Thought the neck was a tad bit bright, so I added a .001 cap to the input leg of the pot, where the pickup goes in, to the ground. Cut off a bit of the high end, so I am happy. Added a tone control coil tap them, but they sound kinda pathetic with it, so I might change out the tone pots for a set of push/pulls and have a series/parallel thing going on.

Last Monday, saw this in a pawn shop, and I have a bit of a weakness for the early 90's Yamaha's. They tend to play nice, easily modifiable, and have a good neck. This one is exactly that. A 93 or so RGZ112P. And it was 40 bucks.

Next day, in a, where else, pawn shop, saw this one. Yes I know, the RX series were the bottom feeder line. But it's green. And the Powersound pickups aren't for everyone. Did I mention it's green? And yes, I know it's made from the rare Koren laminate tree, but the neck is just a joy to hold. And it's green. A 96 RX170. It's green and only 60 bucks.

That same Tuesday, after a few dirty looks from the long-suffering Mrs. Penguin, saw this on Feebay. Of course, I had to have it. I mentioned on another forum (Gasp, I know, there are others!) about how every Agile I played, I tended to keep. This one is no exception to that rule. I needed a few parts, which I have in over abundance, some new pickups, since the original ones were long gone, (With the replacement garbage ones cut and painters taped in.)  and some time spent on the neck, making micro adjustments on the truss and a tiny bit of fret work. Oh, and oiling the fretboard which was almost light brown due to dryness. (It came from Arizona, so that was kind of expected.) Got it to play perfectly in tune everywhere on the neck, and almost nails that Paul Custom tone I had when I owned a 81 Paul Custom Silverburst. (I know, I know, but it was the start of the pandemic, and we needed money for luxuries such as food and air conditioning.) A 2009 or so Agile AL2100 (I think.) All mahogany goodness! Oh, and it was 100 bucks plus 45 shipping. Who could say no?

4 hours ago, guitargo25 said:

I didn't take any offense to that post, I know I'm very picky, and they were straight to the point. 

Turns out penguin was right, the tune o matic on the surfliner is basically the same as the revstar. I received the surfliner yesterday and had a good ~5 hour session with it. The Tune o matic bridge is basically same height of the body of the guitar as the Revstar, I could lower the action a bit but it won't matter much. 

PERSONALLY I don't like TOM for palm muting , maybe just my way of handling the guitar. I don't find TOM that hard to palm mute but I find I need to pick closer to the neck in order to do so and personally I prefer picking a bit closer to the bridge when palm muting or picking in general although I pick depending on tone all the way from just past the bridge (for that plucky sound) up to a few inches past the neck over the frets for that more airy sound, but in general I find it difficult to palm mute TOMs, so considering Guitar Center's satisfaction guarantee no questions asked, I'm returning it and hopefully 3rd time's a charm with the Squier Classic Vibe '70s Telecaster Deluxe Maple Neck. The HH tele doesn't have coil split like the others and at first I thought I didn't want Coil Split (as if I know these things but I assumed 2 similar-priced guitars one without coil split/tap might be better overall quality pickups and I was thinking I didn't really want too much twang single coil tone but it is nice sometimes.

 

Not crazy about the toggle switch buttons on the Surfliner either, rather stiff and not effortless/quick. I like the smaller body though vs the revstar and Surfliner is much lighter and I don't notice and loss of sustain (I got lots of work to do with my BOSS ME-80 to get tones where I need them anyway before even thinking about body size for sustain). I like the Surfliner tone and volume knobs spin very easily and very knurled but they don't seem to pop up for coil split as easily as the Revstar's. 

Ok, here's a couple of suggestions. As I have said from the beginning of time, I am an Ibanez fan, so of course, here's a couple of Ibanez's for you to think about.

Ibanez S561PMM S Series Standard 6-String Electric Guitar (Pink Gold Metallic Matte) | Reverb Don't judge it by the color.

Amazon.com: Ibanez S series S521 Electric Guitar Ocean Fade Metallic : Musical Instruments Had one, fantastic guitar.

SX HAWK MN ASH H NA Semi Hollow Body Guitar (rondomusic.com) Have a tele and a Liquid from them, along with 3 Agile Les Paul copies, can't rave about them enough. You can always buy new pickups with the money saved.

XV-870 Double Cutaway Solid Body (guitarfetish.com) Good quality, might need a bit of tweaking t make it perfect.

Didn't you ask about this, or something similar in another thread? Anyway..... Go for some kind of neck humbucker, passive, like a mini Jazz or a 59'er from Duncan. (single coil in the neck, right?) AS for a bridge... I swear by Bill Lawrence XL500 as the best bridge pickup on the planet. If not your taste. then one of Duncan's many offerings, or going back to basics, a Dimarrizio Super Distortion. The ORIGINAL replacement pickup. Been around for decades for good reason.

7 hours ago, Wound_Up said:

Whats with the attitude? You didn't have to reply, ya know? 

 

If posting info multiple times gets you this "wound up", forums might not be the place for you. Just sayin... 

Wow. Thank you for your words of encouragement Mr. Newbie.

IF you had read ALL of his posts, you might understand the snarkisms. Probably didn't, so there's some slack allowed there. Secondly, this is pretty much me, all 3700+ posts, as opposed to your 2. Don't judge someone after reading one post of theirs.

It's entirely possible that the switch is the culprit here. There are two types of that on/off/on switch. One, when in the first on position, connects the top left corner lug to the center, and the right bottom lug to the center. The other type is, of course, the opposite. top right to center, bottom left to the center. you might have to reverse the wiring to the switch to have it work properly.

Oh, I see we are doing this again. Okay...

The Yamaha and Guild's tun-a-matic styled bridge will be, within a few mm's, the same. Same break angle, same height off of the body, same distance from the point where the strings go into the body, and most likely the exact same part from a random factory in China. So the issue of palm muting, will be the same. You are comparing the left side of the apple to the right side. 

You wanted a guitar that was a sonic "multitasker", being able to do different styles of music. I get that, I have a few that do that. And yet, you choose a guitar that has the word "surf" in the name. Take a few seconds to think, what kind of music and sound, it's geared for. I'll wait.... Death metal? No. Jazz? Probably not, Fender tried that in the late 50's early 60's and it was a dismal failure. Country? might work quite well for that, but maybe not. Surf music? Bing! Give the boy a prize. Bright, cutting, not a lot of sustain to get in the way, and loves tremolo and reverb.

You are comparing the palm muting on the Yamaha, to the Squier. COMPLETELY different bridge. Different set up, just about different in every way possible.  Stop comparing, you will only drive yourself insane. Either go out, get a Squier or a Fender, (Even an Ibanez.) with the pickup configuration you like, and be done with it. Or realize there are many different options out there and try something different and allow yourself to experience a different feel and sound that what you grew up with.

Gardo Gardo Gardo..... what has this site taught you? It will NEVER be done! There is always a tweak, a new pickup/bridge/tuner/knob that will make it perfect! You've gone down the rabbit hole my friend, see you when you pass me. I'll be wearing the bunny slippers and a headlamp.

*Starts cutting like DM suggested. 2 Weeks later, have a patch cable!

5 hours ago, daddymack said:

thanks bp...I was just going to send him to StewMac....

Not an issue my friend. I remember how hard it was looking for the saddle blocks for a Zero trem of there's on a 90's sabre. (Not blocks by the way, "T"s) Most people don't Google first to see if others have the same problem. Wonder who I am thinking about.......

Ok, I assume you have the single/hum model, with the floyd. Going back to basics, and back to the infamous "tone wood" argument, poplar and maple tend to be on the brighter side. Also the single in the neck, and the all the metal in the Floyd, well, what can you expect?

Put a single coil sized hum in the neck, passive if possible. (If you have an EMG in it, it will have to be grounded.) 

Maybe a different bridge pickup also.  SD JB perhaps? Go for something in the middle range of output. You can always get more metal tones by a pedal. Speaking of which, have you tried an EQ/Boost?

I've never bonded with EMG's in general. yeah, fine if you play metal, but if you need to play with tone, that ain't them get a nice set of passive pickups. Sell the EMG's, and you'll get back most of the money for the passives.

IBANEZ tremolo arm for Lo-TRS - Guitar Parts Center

6mm Tremolo Arm - StewMac

IBANEZ RULES!! - PARTS FOR SALE

A few seconds of google is a wonderful thing.

You already have your answer if going by the reviews. 

For me, either a set of EMG SA, or a set of Bill Lawrence L250.

The Fender Noiseless are a good option also, being that Bill Lawrence designed them.

Musically, it's not bad. Production wise...... there are issues. Guitar just seems to be buried behind the drums and reverb. in the B section, the guitars seem to fade in and out periodically. Might be the the download, but it's noticeable. And during the repeat of the A section. same thing. And in fact, all thru the song at various parts, there's fading.

Between the pots, it's in the way, behind the tone pot, too far away, I agree with DM about a push/pull switch. Hell, you could have 2 push/pulls, (coil tap on one, and series parallel on the other.) and no one would suspect it would be capable of those kind of tones.