B
Biddlin
Guest
I don't mind my LP Custom for a couple of songs and then switch to an SG or one of the Melody Makers. Can't imagine wearing it all night.
Col Mustard
Ambassador of Perseverance
Not a Les Paul guy... I don't own one. I do have some experience with one,
and I liked it fine. The only one I've ever really played, and really taken apart and
worked on, and then played some more. Epi Les Paul Special ll... a cork sniffer's screw cap.
This belongs to my step daughter. Her dad bought it for her when she was like 11.
I played it stock, and thought it actually sounded pretty good for a guitar that he spent $150 on.
I also thought it was pretty heavy for a teen girl to heft, but she shouldered it without
complaining. (I would have too, if someone had bought me a Les Paul when I was just learning.)
Once I saw her do that, I started thinking about how I could facilitate things.
Just because I had to learn on a POS, I don't think every new player should.
So I started "fixing" it. *grins
This was my first "project" guitar. I already owned Dan Earlewine's book
"How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great" and I had been tinkering around
with my own instruments long enough to know what I could accomplish and what
I should hire out.
I played it, and taught her what a chord was, and what the 1 the 3 and the 5
meant. She played some chords on it, and tried to be brave about how much her
fingers hurt. I admired that.
So I set the action as low as I could, and put a new set of nines on it, and came to
hate the stock tuners. They seemed ultra cheap, stamped out of tin foil and sloppy.
So, a set of Grovers I found on sale. Much better, and no problem with the added
weight. I felt like tone improved somehow, and stability was actually always good.
That's one of the first things I look for if I'm considering buying a guitar. I tune it, and
play it , and tune it again. If I can't tune it, I don't buy it. This Les Paul was sweet to tune
and stayed in tune very well. I was surprised and pleased. Devin was so young and new
at it, she wouldn't have understood it being hard to tune, and would have blamed herself
and gotten frustrated. How many promising young players go through that?
With new strings and new tuners, I came to hate the bridge. I was able to set the intonation,
but the bridge also felt like it was stamped out of some pot metal. I was used to adjusting the
bridge on my Fender bass, which was hard steel, solid as a rock. So I followed Erlewine's recommendation
and bought a TonePros bridge and tail for this Epiphone. By now I've spend more than her dad did
when he bought this Les Paul new.
But I was doing it for love, and no other reason (except that I was enjoying myself). The new bridge and
tail make a real difference to my ears. It sounded good before, but sounded better once the new bridge was
on. Intonation was a pleasure to do, using quality parts.
Kind of surprised at how good this little Les Paul special sounded with the stock pickups. I played it for a
while like this, and so did Devin. She and her BFF sang together and dreamed of being in a band together.
But I eventually replaced the wiring harness with good quality parts from StewMac, and the stock pickups
with the 490R and 490 T from my Gibson SG faded special. I've said this before on another forum,
but the Gibson 490s sounded better in this Epiphone than they did in my Gibson. Go figure. AND the
price was right. The tone of this entry level guitar is excellent now. I also added a Tusq nut to complete
the project.
Then I took it to my favorite luthier and asked him to check my work. It was performance anxiety for sure,
but it was also for love. I thought he was going to scoff when he looked at it, because he works on pro
instruments all the time. But he picked it up and played it, and realized how much work had been done on
it, and understood. So he checked it over well, and found a couple of frets that weren't quite level, and a
cold solder joint or two, and put it all right.
She still has the guitar. I haven't played it in a long time, but with the mods I did, and the supervision of
a good luthier, this plywood guitar sounds really good, and is easy to play, sustains for a really long time
and gives up nothing IMHO. It's just too heavy, weighing about nine pounds (it's a flat top).
I like the tone, and so does Devin, but I like my SG better, and I like my Telecaster better, and I like
my Epi ES-339 better, so the Les Paul is undeniably a fine instrument, but not my thing.
and I liked it fine. The only one I've ever really played, and really taken apart and
worked on, and then played some more. Epi Les Paul Special ll... a cork sniffer's screw cap.
This belongs to my step daughter. Her dad bought it for her when she was like 11.
I played it stock, and thought it actually sounded pretty good for a guitar that he spent $150 on.
I also thought it was pretty heavy for a teen girl to heft, but she shouldered it without
complaining. (I would have too, if someone had bought me a Les Paul when I was just learning.)
Once I saw her do that, I started thinking about how I could facilitate things.
Just because I had to learn on a POS, I don't think every new player should.
So I started "fixing" it. *grins
This was my first "project" guitar. I already owned Dan Earlewine's book
"How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great" and I had been tinkering around
with my own instruments long enough to know what I could accomplish and what
I should hire out.
I played it, and taught her what a chord was, and what the 1 the 3 and the 5
meant. She played some chords on it, and tried to be brave about how much her
fingers hurt. I admired that.
So I set the action as low as I could, and put a new set of nines on it, and came to
hate the stock tuners. They seemed ultra cheap, stamped out of tin foil and sloppy.
So, a set of Grovers I found on sale. Much better, and no problem with the added
weight. I felt like tone improved somehow, and stability was actually always good.
That's one of the first things I look for if I'm considering buying a guitar. I tune it, and
play it , and tune it again. If I can't tune it, I don't buy it. This Les Paul was sweet to tune
and stayed in tune very well. I was surprised and pleased. Devin was so young and new
at it, she wouldn't have understood it being hard to tune, and would have blamed herself
and gotten frustrated. How many promising young players go through that?
With new strings and new tuners, I came to hate the bridge. I was able to set the intonation,
but the bridge also felt like it was stamped out of some pot metal. I was used to adjusting the
bridge on my Fender bass, which was hard steel, solid as a rock. So I followed Erlewine's recommendation
and bought a TonePros bridge and tail for this Epiphone. By now I've spend more than her dad did
when he bought this Les Paul new.
But I was doing it for love, and no other reason (except that I was enjoying myself). The new bridge and
tail make a real difference to my ears. It sounded good before, but sounded better once the new bridge was
on. Intonation was a pleasure to do, using quality parts.
Kind of surprised at how good this little Les Paul special sounded with the stock pickups. I played it for a
while like this, and so did Devin. She and her BFF sang together and dreamed of being in a band together.
But I eventually replaced the wiring harness with good quality parts from StewMac, and the stock pickups
with the 490R and 490 T from my Gibson SG faded special. I've said this before on another forum,
but the Gibson 490s sounded better in this Epiphone than they did in my Gibson. Go figure. AND the
price was right. The tone of this entry level guitar is excellent now. I also added a Tusq nut to complete
the project.
Then I took it to my favorite luthier and asked him to check my work. It was performance anxiety for sure,
but it was also for love. I thought he was going to scoff when he looked at it, because he works on pro
instruments all the time. But he picked it up and played it, and realized how much work had been done on
it, and understood. So he checked it over well, and found a couple of frets that weren't quite level, and a
cold solder joint or two, and put it all right.
She still has the guitar. I haven't played it in a long time, but with the mods I did, and the supervision of
a good luthier, this plywood guitar sounds really good, and is easy to play, sustains for a really long time
and gives up nothing IMHO. It's just too heavy, weighing about nine pounds (it's a flat top).
I like the tone, and so does Devin, but I like my SG better, and I like my Telecaster better, and I like
my Epi ES-339 better, so the Les Paul is undeniably a fine instrument, but not my thing.
B
Biddlin
Guest
These two are lighter than my SG Classic. Since a good portion of my work is as a blues lead player, the P-90S pickups are a real bonus. I rate these necks and fingerboards as my best. I don't know if these are still readily available, but if you ant to play fast and tough, these do the job in a light weight package. Maple top on a mahogany body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard, knurled speed knobs, which I really like and vintage pearloid button tuners. Believe it or not, I got the one prepared by Gibson for Miranda Lambert's Platinum tour for $450 from a Nashville pawn dealer, right after the tour. The other is a bone stock that I paid $599, new. I see these selling now for everything from $375 to $900 for some from Japan. I think they're the best grab and get on stage guitars I've ever owned.
BGood
Well-Known Member
Biddlin, those both have the P90s slugs, don't they ? Do you have any other P90 guitar to compare them to ?
I had a set of those P90S and had a hard time dialing them in for the P90 tone I know I like. With dirt and/or gain sure, but for cleans, they just weren't as chimy as others. I'm not saying bad, but just missing something.
But for the guitar itself, maybe I should look for one.
I had a set of those P90S and had a hard time dialing them in for the P90 tone I know I like. With dirt and/or gain sure, but for cleans, they just weren't as chimy as others. I'm not saying bad, but just missing something.
But for the guitar itself, maybe I should look for one.
B
Biddlin
Guest
Yeah, but I have not had much occasion to really do a side by side. I get a pretty bright clean by rolling back the volume a touch. I would venture to say that they are infinitely "cleaner" than the P-90s in my Epi WildKat. The traditional P-90 (neck) in My N-225 is actually a little darker than these, I'd say. The Slugs do sound very different in different amps. My Crate tube amp really brings out the bottom end, so I have to set it up with more top end than I do with my solid state Fender amps. I actually did a recording session not long ago with the SG Classic and Platinum. On the recording, they are nearly identical sounding on the neck pickup. I also use .009-.042 NYXLs, which are maybe lighter than yours.
B
Biddlin
Guest
Now this is a heavy guitar. It is also one of my faves for it's visual effect. When I play with my brothers dance orchestra, this complements the formal suit, perfectly. It also sounds and plays great. I quipped about adding a B7 Bigsby, but I'd have to hire someone to hold it up for me.