I had a revelation last night

Gahr

Gahr

Ambassador of Blues & Brews
Country flag
No, not a religious or spiritual revelation, quite simply an aural one.

I was playing my trusted Derek Trucks SG through my GA-20 amp, and did some pickup adjustments to find an optimal balance between the pickups. Sweet sounds, and with the out of phase mid position the variety of sounds I can squeeze out of the guitar is pretty great.

But I suddenly got the cravings for some slide guitar, and I switched to my 2018 SG Standard which I have tuned to open E and set up with slightly higher action for easy slide. I take great pleasure in modding my guitars to my personal tastes, and have already swapped the knobs, TRC and pickguard on this one, and I have some tall pickup rings ready for installation. I also just got hold of a set of 1960s T-Tops that I am thinking of putting in the guitar. To do this I need a new wiring harness, though, since the guitar has a PCB. However, when I started playing I was amazed by how good the guitar sounded. I was alone in the house, so I was playing pretty loudly, and the stock Burstbucker 61s were absolutely great. I have played the guitar quite a lot, and have always liked the sound, but have thought the pickups were lacking a bit in the mids, really. But at this volume, god damn, the guitar sounded SWEET! Of course I know the "real" sound is achieved when you play at a decent volume, but I have never experienced that volume has altered the sound this much before.

Eventually I will probably put an old school harness in there and install the T-Tops to try them out, but I was completely taken aback by how nice the tone was, especially playing on the bridge pickup. The Brustbucker 61s are A5 and measure roughly 8 kΩ (bridge) and 7.85 kΩ (neck). The vintage T-Tops (also A5) I have measure around 8.1 and 7.5 kΩ. It will be really interesting to hear the difference here, but I'm definitely keeping the PCB and 61s just in case. A very pleasant discovery!
 
Congrats-- happiness -- is a GOOD THING!!!

I am learing to take the time---to LEARN the nuances--not just SWAP OUT parts and pices to get the tone I am chasing----The mini Hums in the SG are a PERFECT example --my first impression was THESE SCUK they are TOO ICE PICK ISH--- and harsh----but after LEARNING how to USE them they are unique -- and FUN!
 
eSGEe said:
Congrats-- happiness -- is a GOOD THING!!!

I am learing to take the time---to LEARN the nuances--not just SWAP OUT parts and pices to get the tone I am chasing----The mini Hums in the SG are a PERFECT example --my first impression was THESE SCUK they are TOO ICE PICK ISH--- and harsh----but after LEARNING how to USE them they are unique -- and FUN!
Click to expand...
Yep. The thing is though, that I really have played this guitar a LOT since I got it. But i have just never noticed this much of a difference when it comes to volume before. I tend to play my guitars for quite a long time before swapping the real significant parts, I usually give the stock instrument at least half a year of play before altering things (apart from visuals).
 
It’s been mentioned here before. I didn’t get my first electric till 2009. A used G400. At that time I wasn’t smart enough what tone was or how to find it. So I just played it. Ultimately over a period of a couple years I swapped out everything but the wood and the pickup rings. During that time I got a little bit more tone smart. What told me it was a nice guitar was having a few of my guitar pals that had been playing electric forever, tell me I had a pretty awesome guitar. I was happy.

What I find interesting is I can plug the thing in today and totally rock out. Love everything about its playing. Tone. Clean. Gritty. Everything is just perfect. Come back a week later. Same guitar. Nothing changed on the amp. And all I can here is crap coming out of the speaker.
 
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well, the human ear has good days and bad days...
that's why we use electronic tuners. to even this out a bit.

anyway, I'm always for giving any well designed guitar a half year or more to
establish itself in a player's personal mythology.

Play the hell out of it... if you can. In the case of SG owners, especially new SG owners
this is NOT POSSIBLE. Plenty of hell left when you reach the exhaustion point.

When a player reaches this Epiphany, it's a good thing.
 
Btw., does anyone have any thoughts to share on T-Tops in general?

I got a pair that had been taken from a Gibson semi-hollow ages ago. They were a steal, the pair cost me less than half of what a single patent sticker T-Top usually goes for on eBay. Sometimes I just LOVE the Norwegian prices on used gear!
 
Glad you got that rush of awe. I have had similar experiences, and they followed the pattern Col. decsribes. Under similar circumstances, on a subsequent day, the magic had vanished. Please remenber those amp settings and let us know what next time brings
 
RVA said:
Glad you got that rush of awe. I have had similar experiences, and they followed the pattern Col. decsribes. Under similar circumstances, on a subsequent day, the magic had vanished. Please remenber those amp settings and let us know what next time brings
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I basically haven’t touched the amp settings since I first played it! But with one volume and one tone control it’s pretty easy to remember what I do.:D

Yes, I wonder if the magic will last. I’m definitely not selling the T-Tops until I’ve tried them properly alt least.
 
Gahr said:
No, not a religious or spiritual revelation, quite simply an aural one.

I was playing my trusted Derek Trucks SG through my GA-20 amp, and did some pickup adjustments to find an optimal balance between the pickups. Sweet sounds, and with the out of phase mid position the variety of sounds I can squeeze out of the guitar is pretty great.

But I suddenly got the cravings for some slide guitar, and I switched to my 2018 SG Standard which I have tuned to open E and set up with slightly higher action for easy slide. I take great pleasure in modding my guitars to my personal tastes, and have already swapped the knobs, TRC and pickguard on this one, and I have some tall pickup rings ready for installation. I also just got hold of a set of 1960s T-Tops that I am thinking of putting in the guitar. To do this I need a new wiring harness, though, since the guitar has a PCB. However, when I started playing I was amazed by how good the guitar sounded. I was alone in the house, so I was playing pretty loudly, and the stock Burstbucker 61s were absolutely great. I have played the guitar quite a lot, and have always liked the sound, but have thought the pickups were lacking a bit in the mids, really. But at this volume, god damn, the guitar sounded SWEET! Of course I know the "real" sound is achieved when you play at a decent volume, but I have never experienced that volume has altered the sound this much before.

Eventually I will probably put an old school harness in there and install the T-Tops to try them out, but I was completely taken aback by how nice the tone was, especially playing on the bridge pickup. The Brustbucker 61s are A5 and measure roughly 8 kΩ (bridge) and 7.85 kΩ (neck). The vintage T-Tops (also A5) I have measure around 8.1 and 7.5 kΩ. It will be really interesting to hear the difference here, but I'm definitely keeping the PCB and 61s just in case. A very pleasant discovery!
Click to expand...

Gahr,

I have some comments on this subject.

If you listen to my recording of Road To Hell without vocals, you will notice how loud the lead guitar parts are. They were recorded on my PCB equipped 2016 Gibson Les Paul on the bridge 498T.....through my solid state Blackstar ID-Core 100watt....at nearly full volume.

Listen to Road To Hell - Rory Gallagher Cover - Instruments ONLY by Robert H. Herndon #np on #SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/robert-h-herndon/road-to-hell-rory-gallagher-cover-instruments-only/s-D0H3j

The Blackstar tone improves SUBSTANTIALLY as you increase the volume, much like a tube amp....and I CANNOT get that tone at lower volumes.....period

Also, the PCB equipped 2016 Gibson Les Paul is quieter and sounds more natural the either of my other guitars with "Holy Grail" 50's style wire harnesses....even with genuine Gibson pickups, fancy capacitors, etc.

No plans to remove the PCB from my Les Paul
 
Robert Herndon said:
Gahr,

I have some comments on this subject.

If you listen to my recording of Road To Hell without vocals, you will notice how loud the lead guitar parts are. They were recorded on my PCB equipped 2016 Gibson Les Paul on the bridge 498T.....through my solid state Blackstar ID-Core 100watt....at nearly full volume.

Listen to Road To Hell - Rory Gallagher Cover - Instruments ONLY by Robert H. Herndon #np on #SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/robert-h-herndon/road-to-hell-rory-gallagher-cover-instruments-only/s-D0H3j

The Blackstar tone improves SUBSTANTIALLY as you increase the volume, much like a tube amp....and I CANNOT get that tone at lower volumes.....period

Also, the PCB equipped 2016 Gibson Les Paul is quieter and sounds more natural the either of my other guitars with "Holy Grail" 50's style wire harnesses....even with genuine Gibson pickups, fancy capacitors, etc.

No plans to remove the PCB from my Les Paul
Click to expand...
Yep, I've always known volume was a great factor in tone, it is just the sheer difference i experienced tis time that surprised me. The tone was just SO much better with a decent volume.
 
Gahr said:
Yep, I've always known volume was a great factor in tone, it is just the sheer difference i experienced tis time that surprised me. The tone was just SO much better with a decent volume.
Click to expand...

And I will say volume seems to make a bigger difference with tube amps....and most solid states don't sound different - regardless of volume level.
 
If you decide to shield your PCB equipped Gibson...PM me because I have a proven method that works in the SG.
 
Robert Herndon said:
If you decide to shield your PCB equipped Gibson...PM me because I have a proven method that works in the SG.
Click to expand...
When I get around to testing the T-Tops (which means ripping out the PCB), I will shield the control cavity. If the results are not satisfactory tone-wise, the PCB might find its way back in again.
 
iblive said:
What I find interesting is I can plug the thing in today and totally rock out. Love everything about its playing. Tone. Clean. Gritty. Everything is just perfect. Come back a week later. Same guitar. Nothing changed on the amp. And all I can here is crap coming out of the speaker.
Click to expand...

I posted something similar on this last week glad to hear it is not just me.
Not that misery loves company, mind you.

@Gahr - Can you repeat this pleasant surprise consistently or do you experience what @iblive describes as well?
 
Gahr said:
Btw., does anyone have any thoughts to share on T-Tops in general?

I got a pair that had been taken from a Gibson semi-hollow ages ago. They were a steal, the pair cost me less than half of what a single patent sticker T-Top usually goes for on eBay. Sometimes I just LOVE the Norwegian prices on used gear!
Click to expand...

Yeah...my thought is that T-Tops are the best pickups ever made. Anything good is better with T-Tops.
 
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