How to turn Les Paul sound into Stratocaster...

  • Thread starter Thread starter James Argo
  • Start date Start date

Which Fender Lace Sensor Pickup ?

  • Gold

    Votes: 1 25.0%

  • Silver

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Blue

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Red

    Votes: 3 75.0%
  • Total voters
    4
James Argo

James Argo

Fancy Rock N' Roll
...without actualy replace the guitar ?

Man, I got an old Gibson Les Paul custom with diMarzio dual humbucker pick up from my uncle. The neck pickup is "Sustainer", and the bridge is "X2N", both diMarzio humbucker. Overall condition is ~70% .

Actualy I love the body & the neck. Even tough it's not in good condition, it suite my humble personal need for home rec. But I found both pickup produce similiar character, since both are from diMarzio, and used to be played in "harsh crunchy" rock. I think it will be good to replace one of them with smoother sound. I imagine something closer to "Eric Clapton" or Stevie Ray V. Not actualy the same, but close... you get the idea, eh ? :)

Then, I went to local music store... ask them what they got... they said, Fender Lace Sensor will be what I'm looking for. But they didn't have the humbucker version. They have Red, Blue, Silver and Gold single coil for Strat.

So... my question is, which one do you think will work good for me ? (which color?) and where should I put it (Bridge / neck) ?

Hints:
I also need it for my "clean chorused/delayed" sound.
My amps is hand made. Effect is Zoom 9000.

Like usual, any opinion will be appreciated so much... :)
 
Before you and change your pups, why don't you look into doing a coil tap? You're never going to get single coil sounds out of a humbucker any other way.
 
Coil tap :confused:

err... sorry, but I'm not sure I know what that means :o nor how to do that... :o I know a little about electronic stuff, but not that far ;) Would you mind to explain that to me :)

And you are right, it wouldn't aven fit the hole, but I think I can manualy adjust the hole / ring. But hey... what do I know :D

Let me explain it a bit further. My goal is actualy simple, I need "strat like" sound out of my Gibson, if that possible. No need to actualy same as the original strat, just closer will make me happy. I'm not realy good guitarist anyway :o (...I even only use Zoom 9000 :D ). But having an option to select different sound from one guitar will be good for me to make my record if it's possible. Thanks for your sight, 64Firebird :) All I need is more guidance for my direction here...
 
A coil tap means that you can play through only one coil of you double coil humbuckers. You may want to have your guitar tech to do it for you. It has a switch so you can still go back with ease.
 
Re: Re: How to turn Les Paul sound into Stratocaster...

hixmix said:
Why? :confused:
Click to expand...

Because Strats sound better when playing extended chords.
 
I really don't think you're going to get the sound you want regardless of what pickup you put in. A strat has a completely different structure and feel than a Les Paul. Everytime I try to play SRV on a Les Paul it sounds awful. I'd say clean it up and sell it, then buy a strat.
 
Freeform said:
I really don't think you're going to get the sound you want regardless of what pickup you put in. A strat has a completely different structure and feel than a Les Paul. Everytime I try to play SRV on a Les Paul it sounds awful. I'd say clean it up and sell it, then buy a strat.
Click to expand...

Funny you should say that.

Click here.
 
Phew... :)
Well, 64Firebird, actualy one of the pickup ("Sustainer" pickup - neck) is already turned off. I used only one of the pickup (half the humbucker) as I read in diMarzio's manual. So far, there's nothing wrong with it. I leave the X2N (Bridge) humbucking. My point is, since they both are made by diMarzio, so they both sound "similiar". I need different character, that's why I thought replacing one of them will give me wider variation.

Freeform, I believe you are right, it won't sound like actual Strat. But what I meant was to have "safe" variation of the sound. I'm not looking for special detail of sound delivered by original Stratocaster. Just imitiating close to it (rather than using the current diMarzio) will do me fine.

...what do you mean "safe", Jaymz ?

I mean since I'm "newbie" for this guitar surgery things, I kindly ask from your experience and knowledge, which one of those Lace sensor will "fit" my suite. Delivering clean, yet fat sound, without noticable noises & problem. I plan to put it next to one of present diMarzio. By saying those respective names (Eric Clapton, SRV, etc...) is only to give a picture of what I'm after. I believe replacing the pickup somehow will get me closer a bit to those sound. So I can have wider option to select rather than using both diMarzio. I hope I explain it clear :) Any comments are warmly welcomed :)

Thanks
;)
Jaymz
 
64Firebird said:
Funny you should say that.

Click here.
Click to expand...

. . . and when you open the picture, Stevie Ray sure looks like he hates the sound, doesn't he?

:rolleyes:

You will not be able to make the Paul sound like a Strat - the Paul's neck attachment is so (sonically) different to the Strat's bolt-on that it can't be done.

A friend and I had a custom guitar built - same evertything except the neck attachment - mine sounds really stratty with a four=bolt neck - his sounds not at all like a Strat with the 'Gibson'style neck.

Can't be done.
 
I agree, you'll never make a Les Paul sound like a strat. In for no other reason, the scale length.
 
Get a Nashville telecaster, replace the neck pickup with a Seth Lover humbucker or a Di Marzio with coil tap.

This will give you a tele, strat and Les Paul sound all in the same guitar.
 
...before you swap pick-ups try these reverb settings with a small amount of distortion and probably some sustain...
RevTime 1.5s
PreDelay 28ms
HFDamp 1.0
LowEQ +5dB
HiEQ +7dB
LPFilter 8kHz
HPFilter 45Hz
Level ~25-30
...it sounds like you're not really trying to emulate a strat, so this should help.
 
Wow, thanks for your sight, fellas :)
I talked with diMarzio customer service, and they also mention the shape. Gibson Les Paul has "normal" space, while Fender has what they called "F-Space". It's the gap length between strings. Fender has somehow wider space, while LP is tighter. They said if I replace LP with Fender like pickup, then the string might won't stay exactly on the polepiece. Well.. looks like it's not pretty good idea :o Anyway, thanks for all your input here :)

Okay, then I need to address different question here :)
I play rather vintage rock / blues but no metal. So, I won't need actualy high gain and so on. What kind of pick up (brand and type) will you suggest for this sound, regardless the amp. I only need kindly pickup info here, since I think the diMarzio X2N is way too loud & delivering high gain. It's "too metal" for me. I think I'll replace it. What's good to replace it ?

ps. I also have the Fender Telecaster standard, but it's all right... I had no complain about this lovely guitar :) I concern about the Les Paul :)
 
James Argo said:

I play rather vintage rock / blues but no metal. So, I won't need actualy high gain and so on. What kind of pick up (brand and type) will you suggest for this sound, regardless the amp.
Click to expand...

Seymour Duncan Seth Lover or Antiquity pickups. Gibson Burstbucker 1, 2, or 3. Most of the new Gibson LP's come with Burstbucker 2 and 3.

The Seymour Duncan's have been around a while and are widely loved by Les Paul owners wanting a vintage late 50's low-output sound. Great for blues, classic rock, jazz. They won't do metal.

I put Seth Lovers in a 1976 LP (goldtop) and it sounds great, warm and well balanced lows and highs. I had Dimarzio SuperDistortions in there for years but they were too sterile and bright for clean sounds.
 
James, I've put Lace humbuckers in two of my guitars. I play 20 year old Ibanez Artists. They are basically Les Paul clones.

I really like the Lace humbuckers. I think mine are the D-100 and D-150. They are smooth and creamy. Definately not a high-gain "metal" style pickup.

But don't let the name fool you, they aren't going to make your LP sound like a strat.
 
Thank's, guys...

I went to local guitar store, and ask for the Seymour Duncan Seth Lover, good thing is, they have Les Paul like custom guitar with it in stock :) So I try it out with Marshall JCM 900... MAAAAAANNNN what a lovely sound :) Why didn't you tell me earlier, Wide Awake :D thanks for the input...

Scott, the good news, they now have the Gold Lace sensor... so I bought them out... But not for this guitar... I'll build my own custom guitar, with three of the Lace Sensors (Gold=neck, Blue=middle, Red=bridge) !!!! :D I went to AGL guitar lab, and gave them my spec. They think it's all cool... Now I'm waiting for the necessary wood & material to arive and crafted... maybe in two months or so, I'll have it finished... I'll name it "Argocaster" :cool:

Thanks, fella... you rock !!!!
;)
Jaymz
 
I usually rewire a Les Paul with a humbucker & coil split so that in coil split mode I can use the tone pot to blend one of the coils with the other in any degree I want giving me tones ranging from a full humbucker to single coil. I've also read about some capacitor trick which is supposed to allow the treble of one of the coils bleed to ground giving a sound of single coil top and humbucker bottom but I never tried that.
 
King Elvis said:
On my strat I have a Fender lace sensor blue pup in the neck position. I gives me a nice fat tone when I need it. Sounds like a humbucker but its a single coil.
Click to expand...

I agree. My dad has a custom strat with lace sensors. With a really wet distortion, it has somewhat of a Satriani sound ...

As for getting the Les Paul to sound like a Strat, it'll never sound the same, but you can get it sound SOMEWHAT similar. Turn the volume knob down real low, it'll get pinchier, by no means a strat sound, but will give you a little extra clarity.

I think the les paul sounds a lot like an Ibanez if you have hot pickups on it, only it has tons more sustain. Very yummy.
 
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