Looking for advice/feedback on the Gibson Les Paul Studio 70's Tribute

[jimistone]

I like the top hat knobs too. Gives it a real vintage look.

Man if you put a wrap around bridge and some p-90s on that thing it would look almost like a vintage mid 50s goldtop.

 

[Greg_L]

Here's what they have to say about the pickups on the Gibson website:



Are these different than the ones you guys are accustomed to? It's a brand new guitar so these are the factory pickups.

I don't see how they're different from the old mini-buckers. They're made the same way. Surely Gibson would brag if they're overwound, but overwinding isn't mentioned in any literature I've seen for the mini-buckers.

I think you may be confusing the natural bright attack and tight midrange of a mini-bucker with "hot".

The mini-buckers in my SG are most definitely not hot.

 

[JDOD]

Hmmm. Pick up hotness. Aside from ohms, in tend to compare pick up hotness by how much crunch you get. One of the things I love about my guitar, is that I can go from pretty much clean on a tapped neck pick to to quite a lot of gain from an untapped bridge pickup. With plenty of variations in between.

My pickups aren't that hot mind.

 

[Xcaliber]

But the question remains. What are you used to?

Sorry, I meant to answer that. I don't have much that would compare to these. I have a Schecter with active EMGs (not even close to this I know), a Schecter with passive EMGs (which I get the best tones out of IMO), a Fender American strat with 3 single coils, an Ibanez with stock (very hot) pickups, and a Peavey Tracer with an HSS config and a Squire Classic Vibe Tele with the lipstick pup in the neck and classic "ashtray bridge" single coil.

I'm sure I just have to dial in the tone. I'll post some clips of the tone and see if that helps to get across what I'm saying.

 

[Xcaliber]

I don't see how they're different from the old mini-buckers. They're made the same way. Surely Gibson would brag if they're overwound, but overwinding isn't mentioned in any literature I've seen for the mini-buckers.

I think you may be confusing the natural bright attack and tight midrange of a mini-bucker with "hot".

The mini-buckers in my SG are most definitely not hot.

I could be using the term "hot" wrong, that's entirely possible. The lows sound a bit muddy to me. I can hear every scrape of the pick against the strings and when I put any kind of crunch through it the lows are a bit muddy (as I said). The mids and highs sound anywhere from "ok" to "awesome" depending on the amount of gain. I'm not using a high gain amp either, but a 20w VHT all tube combo 1x12.

I will post some sounds for you guys to hear and maybe that will make it more clear.

 

[jimistone]

Les Paul's have flabby lows on the neck pickup and the middle position....not so much on thr bridge pickup. Play with the bass on your amp a bit. The only thing I don't care for on a less Paul, is that each pickup has its own volume control. I ALWAYS do a mod in the volume to disable one and make the other one a master volume for both pickups....like a strat.

That makes it so much easier in a live gig situation. Half volume is rythym and full volume is lead. That way no matter which pickup you are on, or even a combination of the two, your volume is consistent and easy to control. Some love the volume for each pickup....I dont.

But, with that one mod a Les Paul is a much better guitar to gig with IMO

 

[Stone.Royal]

I had a Gibson Les Paul long ago and loved it.

 

[RFR]

I don't see how they're different from the old mini-buckers.

If you were to put them side by side, a big difference would be heard. Even if you took different guitars out of the mix by trying old and new minis in the same guitar, it would still be different.

To the op; These are pups you are not yet familiar with. It may take a little while to dial in new guitar and amp settings.

Besides, this is the first les paul you've owned. It has a chunk that I'm sure your other guitars dont have.

Youll get used to it and eventually master and love the beast

 

[Greg_L]

If you were to put them side by side, a big difference would be heard. Even if you took different guitars out of the mix by trying old and new minis in the same guitar, it would still be different.

All of those old pickups were different because of the human element. My point was the construction due to size limitations is the same with new and old minibuckers, so their general characteristics should be about the same. Unless they're overwound, they can't be too hot because they pick up vibrations from a narrower range and Alnico II mags aren't known for being hot and edgy. They're gonna be more focused and brighter than typical humbuckers, but not as focused and bright as a single coil.

 

[RFR]

All of those old pickups were different because of the human element. My point was the construction due to size limitations is the same with new and old minibuckers, so their general characteristics should be about the same. Unless they're overwound, they can't be too hot because they pick up vibrations from a narrower range and Alnico II mags aren't known for being hot and edgy. They're gonna be more focused and brighter than typical humbuckers, but not as focused and bright as a single coil.

Pretty much true.
However......
magnets, baseplate metals, what kind of insulation on the wire, screw metals, how much the magnets were charged etc.
All this has a lot to do with the tone.

Take a paf for example. You would think in all these years they'd be able to replicate their own pickup, but they can't OR don't.

A burst bucker is a far cry from a real paf.

Yet there are small custom winders that can nail an actual paf. Every time!

But overall you are correct in the points you were making.

All that aside. I hope that our efforts with advising the op have created yet another LP convert.

 

[Xcaliber]

Thanks guys. I've been busy with family stuff and haven't been able to play or get in the studio for a few days. I'm going to post some tone samples. The LP needs a good setup (by a Pro for the first time at least). I bought the warranty from Sam Ash and it includes unlimited set ups for 2 years. I'm going to drop if off this weekend hopefully.

This might be a stupid question, but the stop tail bridge piece is really high off the body on this LP. I know it's adjustable for a reason, but I've seen pics of other LPs with the bridge piece being set low to the body. I know that's going to be relative to how the guitar needs to be set up, but are they usually set higher or lower? Does that affect anything with the tone or playability?

 

[pikingrin]

Bridge height is how the string height is adjusted, mainly a preference thing relative to the player. If the bridge height is adjusted, pickup height may also need to be adjusted as well as the intonation (saddles). When you get it set up they should take care of all of that if you give them an idea of your ideal string height.

 

[Greg_L]

Thanks guys. I've been busy with family stuff and haven't been able to play or get in the studio for a few days. I'm going to post some tone samples. The LP needs a good setup (by a Pro for the first time at least). I bought the warranty from Sam Ash and it includes unlimited set ups for 2 years. I'm going to drop if off this weekend hopefully.

This might be a stupid question, but the stop tail bridge piece is really high off the body on this LP. I know it's adjustable for a reason, but I've seen pics of other LPs with the bridge piece being set low to the body. I know that's going to be relative to how the guitar needs to be set up, but are they usually set higher or lower? Does that affect anything with the tone or playability?

You're getting into myth, legend, and snake-oil territory on LP setups. Some people swear by keeping the tailpiece low, some say it doesn't matter, some say top wrapping the strings means everything.

In my opinion, none of that shit matters. It is important to set the tailpiece height low enough to get sufficient break angle across the saddles but don't set it so low that the strings rub the back of the bridge. The rest is a bunch of hoopla over nothing.

Some people set the tailpiece all the way down "for sustain", but this results in the strings rubbing the bridge. So they then top-wrap the strings to lift them back up and get a more "slinky" feel, but again, this is just personal preference and myth and legend.

 

[Xcaliber]

Bridge height is how the string height is adjusted, mainly a preference thing relative to the player. If the bridge height is adjusted, pickup height may also need to be adjusted as well as the intonation (saddles). When you get it set up they should take care of all of that if you give them an idea of your ideal string height.

Hmmm, I didn't think the tail of the bridge would affect string height, only the...uh...other part.

 

[Xcaliber]

You're getting into myth, legend, and snake-oil territory on LP setups. Some people swear by keeping the tailpiece low, some say it doesn't matter, some say top wrapping the strings means everything.

In my opinion, none of that shit matters. It is important to set the tailpiece height low enough to get sufficient break angle across the saddles but don't set it so low that the strings rub the back of the bridge. The rest is a bunch of hoopla over nothing.

Some people set the tailpiece all the way down "for sustain", but this results in the strings rubbing the bridge. So they then top-wrap the strings to lift them back up and get a more "slinky" feel, but again, this is just personal preference and myth and legend.

Thanks Greg, this helps a lot. I've been seeing a lot of love for the top-wrapping method, but I don't think I wanna do that personally.

 

[Greg_L]

Thanks Greg, this helps a lot. I've been seeing a lot of love for the top-wrapping method, but I don't think I wanna do that personally.

Obviously top-wrapping is a necessity with compensated bridge/tailpieces. You don't have that. You have a separate bridge and tailpiece. With those, top wrapping is unnecessary and does nothing but maybe give you a slinkier feel. I've tried it myself and felt no change, heard no change, and I think it looks stupid, so I went back to normal. Generally, Les Pauls sustain because they're a gigantic heavy block of wood that resists resonance and keeps vibration energy in the string. Weird tailpiece tricks don't do anything to help that. Maybe if your Les Paul is one of the generously chambered models, some of these tricks might help it out. You really just have to try them and decide for yourself.

 

[Xcaliber]

Obviously top-wrapping is a necessity with compensated bridge/tailpieces. You don't have that. You have a separate bridge and tailpiece. With those, top wrapping is unnecessary and does nothing but maybe give you a slinkier feel. I've tried it myself and felt no change, heard no change, and I think it looks stupid, so I went back to normal. Generally, Les Pauls sustain because they're a gigantic heavy block of wood that resists resonance and keeps vibration energy in the string. Weird tailpiece tricks don't do anything to help that. Maybe if your Les Paul is one of the generously chambered models, some of these tricks might help it out. You really just have to try them and decide for yourself.

Thanks. This is all new to me being this is my first LP. Definitely some differences from the guitars I've owned before/own now.

 

[Xcaliber]

How can I tell if the pickups in the LP are microphonic? If I tap on them lightly with the pick the sound comes through the amp loud and now when I plug the guitar into my interface and try to record DI into the 1800 with an amp sim I get this terrible sound coming from the sim. It sounds awful. I'm going to take the guitar back to the store tomorrow and see if I can sort it out, but I wanted to try and understand what might be happening before doing that so they don't try to rip me off.

 

[Greg_L]

How can I tell if the pickups in the LP are microphonic? If I tap on them lightly with the pick the sound comes through the amp loud and now when I plug the guitar into my interface and try to record DI into the 1800 with an amp sim I get this terrible sound coming from the sim. It sounds awful. I'm going to take the guitar back to the store tomorrow and see if I can sort it out, but I wanted to try and understand what might be happening before doing that so they don't try to rip me off.

What kind of terrible sound are you getting from the sim? I think it's unlikely both pickups will be badly microphonic.

 

[JDOD]

Have you got any obvious signs of wax on the pickups or anything like that?

Only asking 'cos a guy was trying to sell me a PRS a couple of months ago and it sounded like shit and got a lot of percussive pick noise coming through the amp. I actually noticed that I was getting wax on my pick hand while I was playing. Turned out he'd left the guitar in the sun and the wax had melted and started leaking out of the pickups - they'd ended up going microphonic.