Re: Anybody know about these (Swamp Ash Les Paul)
Hi Daan.
I bought a 2003 Swamp Ash Studio in 2012. It came with an ebony fretboard on mahogany neck, the standard 490R/498T combo, 2-pc ash body & solid ash top, in mint conditions.
I love the feel of ebony, in fact I think that's the main reason why I bought it (well, actually the main reason was it was kind of a steal @400€, that translated to trading in a 2nd hand Yamaha SA500 and adding 50€ on top of that), and like pretty much the neck pickup, but on the minus side I've never been able to get anything decent out of the 498T, especially on its own. After some advice from forum members, I tried a magnet swap, which didn't solve the problem, or at least didn't work the way I was looking for. The 490R has acquired some rawness after the first mag swap (which of course has caused most of the wax to melt and ebb away) which is still there even after putting the original A2 back, so I'm thinking about repotting. Eventually I came across a free '57 Classic+ which, in the bridge slot, is better suited to my tastes than either 498T/A5 or 498T/A2, though it is still under probation.
Tonally, the guitar is rather treble-heavy, which I found - rather to my surprise - A/B'ing the LP with my old faithful '76 Gibson S-1 on a Carvin BelAir. True it is, the amp settings were tailored on the S-1, anyway the fact remains that the same settings that sounded acceptable in one case gave out way too much trebles in the other. Don't know if a rosewood fretboard, like the one in the picture you posted, could be of any help with this issue. All of the above strictly IMHO, of course.
As for the weight, oddly enough the LP is a wee bit (0.1kg) lighter than the S-1, despite the latter being much more mature and lacking a carved top; nowhere near a Strat, anyway.
Hope this helped,
Andrea
