The New Tone Thread

[minerman]

Bubba: I haven't watched you vid bud, but I'll get around to it sometime this afternoon...


Greg: Congrats dude, looks nice as hell...I remember when I was a kid, whenever my parents would take us to the mall, seeing guitars exactly like that hanging on the wall in the mall's music store. Of course, I didn't have a clue what they were, other than guitars...Looks nice Greg, congrats!!!

 

[JDOD]

Holy fuck, that's nice. Now get that silly bit of plastic off the front of it.

Would be cool to hear it back to back with your other Les Paul and SG to see what the difference is.

Hope its a nice guitar to play.

 

[Sky Blue Lou]

Nice Clownburst. Color on the neck and back/sides must be a Custom thing. My Deluxe is natural there. The pickups are interesting as well. Shaws maybe? I've not seen any with the little indents before. Gotta love a Custom. Block inlay and split diamond goodness. Care to share pricing? I'd guess mid $2s but I've seen $1800 to $3700 and more.

Oh yeah and I agree with JDOD on the pickguard but there could be some awkward finish-fade issues.

 

[Tadpui]

Sweet, Greg! Nice looking clownburst there. Your stable of Gisbons is growing!

 

[Greg_L]

Thanks a lot guys. I'm about to take it apart to do some cleaning and checking it out. It needs strings bad. I got a brand new set of NYXLs to go on it. They've become my favorite strings.

It is sort of Clownburst-ish, and I really like that. Purists hate the clownbursts, I think they scream classic 70s LP. Mine's not quite full clown, but it's kind of close.

The pickguard will stay. But I'll take it off just to check it out. Maybe I'll like it without it. I usually prefer LPs with the pickguard.

The T-Top pickups...these things are post PAF, but before Tim Shaw did pickups for Gibson. Like most things with 70s Les Pauls, some people love the T-Tops, some hate them. I'm excited for them because they're original, and I've never used them before. Heard of them, never used them. So I'm excited. These things are pretty mild and have Alnico II magnets from what I can gather, so they should sound pretty sweet and chimy. I haven't had a chance to really beat on this thing yet through my proper amps. At the store, the sound reminded me of typical 70s crunch. Not smoldering hot, but good crunch and clarity. Like early AC/DC or Thin Lizzy. They cleaned up nice. That's all I ever ask for from a pickup.

It's got about 40 years of gunk and grime caked in the crevices, so I'm gonna shine it up now.

 

[Greg_L]

Oh, and I suspect these pickups were once covered. Someone somewhere took the covers off. Fine with me.

 

[minerman]

Bubba: The music in your vid to me, is pro quality man, it sounds great...I'm not too keen on the video effects you used, a couple different angles would help a lot, & this is begging for some great animation/graphic stuff...Good luck dude!!!

Oh, and I suspect these pickups were once covered. Someone somewhere took the covers off. Fine with me.

I've wondered what the p'ups on my LP look like without the covers...How hard would it be to take 'em off my LP??? The cover is just held on there with a blob of solder, right??? Just curious...

 

[Greg_L]

Bubba: The music in your vid to me, is pro quality man, it sounds great...I'm not too keen on the video effects you used, a couple different angles would help a lot, & this is begging for some great animation/graphic stuff...Good luck dude!!!



I've wondered what the p'ups on my LP look like without the covers...How hard would it be to take 'em off my LP??? The cover is just held on there with a blob of solder, right??? Just curious...

Solder, and sometimes wax. It can be really easy or really fucking shitty.

 

[Greg_L]

Okay, here it is all cleaned up with no pickguard. I kind of like it, but I'm not sure.

 

[RAMI]

I like it. It's beautiful either way. I have a bias against Les Paul's because they're the only kind of guitar I can't play as lefty. No cutaway where I need it and the weight is makes it a bitch for a lefty to tuen upside down. But I love a nice Sunburst LP.

Explain to me what "Clownburst" is? I think I have an idea by looking at a guitar that it looks like a clown's head, right? But what determines Clownburst as opposed to Sunburst.?

 

[Greg_L]

Thanks Rami. "Clownburst" is a derogatory term coined by Les Paul cork sniffers for Cherry Sunburst LPs of the 70s-80s that don't have a good fade from the red to yellow. The red is very red, and the yellow is very yellow. The blend from one to the other is abrupt and not very smooth. Most Clownbursts have a lot of thick red around the edge....

This is a pretty gnarly Clownburst

This is a perfectly done Cherryburst

Mine's kind of somewhere in between. I don't have much red around the edges and the fade is decently done.

---------- Update ----------

Sorry I didn't realize that second pic was so big.

 

[RAMI]

Thanks Rami. "Clownburst" is a derogatory term coined by Les Paul cork sniffers for Cherry Sunburst LPs of the 70s-80s that don't have a good fade from the red to yellow. The red is very red, and the yellow is very yellow. The blend from one to the other is abrupt and not very smooth. Most Clownbursts have a lot of thick red around the edge....

Right. I thought it was something like that, but the pictures really show the difference. If you look at a LP body, it does look like a clown with no eyes, nose, or mouth.

That first clownburst is mugly as all gitout. Yours is nowhere near as tacky as that one. Your is closer to sunburst.

But the Sunburst really is beautiful.

 

[Lt. Bob]

That's awesome ..... personally I love a good cherry burst .... so even with the abrupt edges that's gorgeous.

Congrats mang!

 

[Armistice]

Explain to me what "Clownburst" is? I think I have an idea by looking at a guitar that it looks like a clown's head, right? But what determines Clownburst as opposed to Sunburst.?

Thanks... I was wondering too!

 

[Greg_L]

Right. I thought it was something like that, but the pictures really show the difference. If you look at a LP body, it does look like a clown with no eyes, nose, or mouth.

That first clownburst is mugly as all gitout. Yours is nowhere near as tacky as that one. Your is closer to sunburst.

But the Sunburst really is beautiful.

They say that 1958 was the first year for the "burst" Les Pauls. I don't know, I wasn't there. But I've never seen or heard of a burst 57 or earlier, so maybe it's true. 57s and prior were all Goldtops, TV Yellow, or Black Customs. But those golden brown 58 and 59 bursts that are so famous and valuable now originally started as red cherrybursts. The red pigment they used in those early bursts quickly faded and deteriorated to the honey brown we see them as now. Some sat in storefront windows getting bleached by the sun, some have played a billion gigs, some have sat in a closet for 50 years. But they've all faded to brown. The tobaccoburst, honeyburst, vintageburst, shitburst, whatever they call that finish on new models is just a recreation and variation of a 50s cherryburst that has faded to the famous brown everyone goes crazy for nowadays. That's how the story goes anyway.

That's awesome ..... personally I love a good cherry burst .... so even with the abrupt edges that's gorgeous.

Congrats mang!

Thanks Boob! I'm pretty damn happy with it.

Another quirky-but-good thing about this one is that they went back to the solid mahogany bodies in 77. Most Norlin era LP bodies are a mahogany/maple/mahogany pancake. You can see the layers through the sides or in the control cavity. Mine isn't a pancake. It's solid mahogany with a maple cap like regular Les Pauls. But it does still have the three-piece maple neck with volute like other Norlin era LPs. None of this really matters to me, but I think it's interesting to find gear at transitional spots in it's evolution.

I don't get why so many cork sniffers bash the Norlin era LPs. They're fucking cool. Most of the 70s arena rock and famous tones that those same cork sniffers try to duplicate were made with these very Les Pauls. Ace Frehley, Pete Townshend, even Jimmy Page didn't do everything with a legendary 59. They used what was available, and that was 60s and 70s Les Pauls - the Norlin era.

 

[rayc]

I've learnt about "clownbursts" today.
Lovely guitar Greg.
Means nothing if it doesn't play well & sound good but knowing you it wouldn't have been carried a meter if it didn't do both very well indeed.
I like the look of LPs; because of Kossof and Ronson probably.
My fav. guitar is, apparently, "tobacco burst".

 

[Greg_L]

I've learnt about "clownbursts" today.
Lovely guitar Greg.
Means nothing if it doesn't play well & sound good but knowing you it wouldn't have been carried a meter if it didn't do both very well indeed.
I like the look of LPs; because of Kossof and Ronson probably.
My fav. guitar is, apparently, "tobacco burst".

Thanks Ray. Yeah it plays great. I've got no issues with the playability or condition of the guitar. I'm still not decided on the pickups yet. I hope I like them, but I'm not afraid to yank them out and replace if necessary. I do like the guitar enough to just swap em out. What I won't do is just throw the pickups away like so many people did back in the day. They had no idea these things would become collectible. Just like my mom threw out all of my Star Wars toys. Man, I wish I had that shit right now. I'd get rich off this nerd resurgence in pop culture.

 

[liv_rong]

Fucking nice, Greg! Whats the neck like? Is the body just one piece? I thought they were usually either two or three?

I got a brand new set of NYXLs to go on it. They've become my favorite strings.

Me too. I recently tried something else again because of the price of those but was not impressed. What gauge do you play?

The pickguard will stay. But I'll take it off just to check it out. Maybe I'll like it without it. I usually prefer LPs with the pickguard.

Keep it on.

Okay, here it is all cleaned up with no pickguard. I kind of like it, but I'm not sure.

That does look nice without it though......................

 

[Greg_L]

Fucking nice, Greg! Whats the neck like? Is the body just one piece? I thought they were usually either two or three?

Thanks dude. The neck is great. It doesn't feel quite as slim as my Traditional's 60s neck, but it's certainly not a huge 50s neck. The body is one piece with maple cap. The earlier Norlins had pancake bodies.

Me too. I recently tried something else again because of the price of those but was not impressed. What gauge do you play?

10s. They are more expensive, but they don't go dead as fast, and they feel real good. I think it all balances out.

 

[minerman]

I know you haven't had it very long, but how does it compare to your Goldtop dude???