sacrilege?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ez_willis
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ez_willis

ez_willis

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just got a '79 Les Paul special, double cutaway. it's got two P90's in it. They sound killer but i need a beefier tone on at least one of the PUPs. how wrong would it be to pull one of them? and what should i swap it with? and in which position? it needs to be a HB.
 
ez_willis said:
just got a '79 Les Paul special, double cutaway. it's got two P90's in it. They sound killer but i need a beefier tone on at least one of the PUPs. how wrong would it be to pull one of them? and what should i swap it with? and in which position? it needs to be a HB.
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Try one of those P90/HB hybrid things that metalhead put in boob's guitar.
 
Sacrilage, yes.

I had an original "67 SG with soapbars. Had to let her go. Couldn't stand the way she whined. Hope her new husband can give her what she needs.
 
ez_willis said:
just got a '79 Les Paul special, double cutaway. it's got two P90's in it. They sound killer but i need a beefier tone on at least one of the PUPs. how wrong would it be to pull one of them? and what should i swap it with? and in which position? it needs to be a HB.
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Pick up a mini-hum from an old LP Deluxe or Firebird. Should drop right in with no wood abuse required. Although I'm not real familiar with a doublecut Special. Are those surface-mount dog ear P90s? If it's a '79 it has some intrinsic value unless you carve it up. You may be better off value wise fucking around with an 80s or 90s LP Standard. Those are forever getting modded and you can do it without messing with the wood.


lou
 
Just found a pic. I would think mini-hums would be the way to go. You do not want to fuck with the wood or pickguard. That would cut the value in half.

If it's worth anything at all be a little careful about irreversible mods. You might want to check out the Les Paul Forum. Some of those guys are way out there but they know their Les Pauls and they can tell you what would work and not kill the value of the thing. If it's a Gibson and a Les Paul and it's thirty years old it's not going to depreciate all by itself.


lou
 
mikemorgan said:
Yer gonna spank the Mojo right outa that axe boy.
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:laughings: There is a distinct possibility.

Lots of guys fuck with their Lester's. It's like a vocation. It's all good until you leave screw holes or splinters.


lou
 
Ask Zaphod B my opinion on this.

I agree with Lou. You can get a mod kit to put a mini-hum into a soapbar spot without any surgery. Mini-hums are cool, but still may not be what you're looking for. If you absolutely have to have a full-size humbucker, SWITCH GUITARS! That's the major reason you have more than one. There are also humbuckers that will fit in a P-90 form factor, just like there are P-90s that will fit in a humbucker slot.

Actually, I couldn't care less if you hack up a '79 doublecut, but it would've been cheaper to do it on one of the recent reissues.
 
notCardio said:
There are also humbuckers that will fit in a P-90 form factor
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yeah, that's what i meant. i won't be hacking this thing up. the pots and switch are fucked. i need to have them swapped out. since the pups need to be de-suldered anyways, i figured it would be a good time to do it. although now i'm thinking against it very seriously.
 
EZ, as others have said there are HBs in a P-90 form factor. That would be the obvious choice.

If you do it, I'd recommend putting the replacement in the bridge position. P-90s sound fantastic in the neck under most circumstances, and are a bit less wooly sounding than neck HBs when you crank the gain. Getting a slightly hotter HP in the bridge will keep things balanced.
 
Zaphod B said:
EZ, as others have said there are HBs in a P-90 form factor. That would be the obvious choice.

If you do it, I'd recommend putting the replacement in the bridge position. P-90s sound fantastic in the neck under most circumstances, and are a bit less wooly sounding than neck HBs when you crank the gain. Getting a slightly hotter HP in the bridge will keep things balanced.
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sweet. thanks.
 
Yeah, but the thing I like about P-90s is their bite, which you'll get the most of in the bridge position. If you're not going to go the full humbucker route, then I'd still suggest trying a mini. You should still get a nice bite. I don't know that I've ever heard one of the HBs that fit in a P-90 space, so I have no real opinion on that, but I do likes me some minis. Strange that I don't have any, but I've only got one P-90 guitar, so I guess that's why. Hmmm, maybe I need another P-90 guitar to mod...:D
 
I may have just found the justification I was looking for to get an Epi Special. :drunk:
 
yeah, i was thinking something like this one. and i probably should've been more specific. it's not so much the hum that's bothering me, i just want it to be hotter and dirty up a little better.

i have no idea how to explain what i want. :laughings:

i have a one of these in a different guitar that's not a LP. When i'm trying to get a more overdriven sound, this guitar/pickup combo works great. the LP/P90's just get crunchier. :confused: :laughings:
 
Zaphod B said:
More amp gain! :laughings:
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i'm not describing the tone accurately. if i crank the top boost channel on the AC30 to 11 and the master volume to whatever, the tone is totally different than the other guitar that i described. i'll just post samples later. :laughings:
 
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Changing the tone capacitor or pot can make a big difference. You also might look into 50's style wiring.

50swiringindependentvolume.jpg
 
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