guitar to choose / customize pickups

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eyerain82

New member
Goodday everyone.
Before anyone starts, I tell you that as far as customization or choice of guitar is concerned, even if I have been playing for a lifetime, I have been out of business for at least 10 years.

I'm here to ask you for advice that is crucial to me.
I've always been a Stratocaster player but single coils have really tired me and I don't feel them in my veins anymore.

I still like funk but I am decimanely marked by more hard rock, progressive and metal sounds. Adam Jones first of all, Tom Morello and Slash are my idols.

To recreate that kind of sound I have a budget of around $ 2000-2500 for the guitar. I'm talking about a Les Paul (and I'm a fan of the pickguardless version).

I had considered the PRS S2 singlecut, but we are already at the spending limit and it makes no sense to make any changes.
I then started to consider the Epiphone LP Prophecy, also because the split of the coils fascinates me, leaving me free to funk when I feel like it. Maybe putting a Seymour Duncan Distortion on the bridge instead of the Fishman Fluence.

But I have that hateful doubt of spending $ 2000 on a low budget guitar + modifications, if it's really worth it even as value if I want to resell it.

Anyone advise me on what to do to sound like Adam Jones and spend $ 2000 or so without losing value?

Thank you very much in advance
 
You will need a couple of amps run together to get an Adam Jones sound that will cost you far more than the guitar budget you made mention of. That said, you are probably best served guitar wise to look into other brands aside from Gibson and get a single cut from one of those brands. That frees you up financially to buy pickups (if you need to) and so forth. ESP, Edwards, Eastman, and many others are great options to find a nice guitar in that price range (used especially). Les Paul's are great if you can find a good one. They are overpriced and the same tones can be acquired with other brands. If you are dead set on a Gibson (man people are) then find the best used one that you can. You can always remove the pick guard if it has one.
 
thank you very much, but i am not bothering with amps now.
I'm trying to figure out which guitar to buy or "build" to get the best out of that sound.
I don't necessarily want a Gibson (I think they can be as ashamed as Fender now, I don't live for the label, nobody should). I'm looking for the right compromise between guitar and splittable humbuker builds to get that sound, without losing value on the guitar that I could possibly resell without losing on the budget.

ps. - i really dont like ESP, sorry

this one is not bad at all to me, tell me what you think: https://www.epiphone.com/en-US/Guitar/EPI3BX477/Les-Paul-Prophecy/Olive-Tiger-Aged-Gloss
And, if it has sense to change the bridge pickups with a Seymour Duncan Distortion.
 
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If you’re looking to buy a guitar without it losing value, my first bit of advice would be to look at the used market (regardless of brand). That way the depreciation has already happened.
If buying new, it seems Gibsons as a whole depreciate less than PRSs, but it really is guitar-specific. (I can’t speak to Epiphones…) The new Les Paul models that would fit your stated budget are probably going to be the Classic, Studio and Tribute. You should still be able to upgrade pickups (if necessary) and be within range.
 
eyerain82 said:
thank you very much, but i am not bothering with amps now.
I'm trying to figure out which guitar to buy or "build" to get the best out of that sound.
I don't necessarily want a Gibson (I think they can be as ashamed as Fender now, I don't live for the label, nobody should). I'm looking for the right compromise between guitar and splittable humbuker builds to get that sound, without losing value on the guitar that I could possibly resell without losing on the budget.
Click to expand...

I understand what you are hoping to do. My point being, no guitar will give you the Adam Jones sound by itself. A heavier single cut guitar will get you as close as you can get. Mahogany body, Ebony fretboard would be ideal but a mahogany body with a Maple cap could work as well if it is darker sounding. Reverse mount a Covered Custombucker in the neck position and a custom wound uncovered SD DDJ in the bridge and 10-52 strings. Replace the nylon nut with a bone nut.
 
Bogner said:
I understand what you are hoping to do. My point being, no guitar will give you the Adam Jones sound by itself. A heavier single cut guitar will get you as close as you can get. Mahogany body, Ebony fretboard would be ideal but a mahogany body with a Maple cap could work as well if it is darker sounding. Reverse mount a Covered Custombucker in the neck position and a custom wound uncovered SD DDJ in the bridge and 10-52 strings. Replace the nylon nut with a bone nut.
Click to expand...

Bogner thanks, yes I know the specs of Adam's guitar (apart from I don't know where to find the Gibson Custombucker in Italy). But wanting to research that kind of sound, and yet keep the ability to split humbukers I don't think it's so automatic to copy its hardware. That's all.

BTW I'm so damn obsessed (positively) with the discovery of Neural DSP plugins. To find the head / speaker and effect I want, I no longer need to smash my head on the analog, wasting a lot of time and money. The search for sound can be done virtually with impressive accuracy, and then move on to the physical counterpart.
 
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As a guy that played Strats nearly exclusively for 20 years and recently did pretty much exactly what you're doing, here's what brought me success.

1 Stock Telecaster - don't laugh, they completely slay with heavy distortion. Huge chords and singing leads for days, perfect for progressive rock/metal. Nails the Tom Morello sound for obvious reasons. Even better with Broadcaster pickups.
1 HH guitar. PRS SE, Epiphone, whatever feels good in your hands. Learn to ride that volume knob because on 10 it'll be fat and below that it'll thin up somewhat which gives you nice variety.

You could get a used Telecaster for $500, a new PRS SE for $700, and have a few hundred left to either have some luthier work (setup, fret ends, etc) or play with pedals, amps, pickups, etc.
 
What amp are you using? Amp & speakers are gonna make a bigger difference than the guitar. My Tele plugged into Adam’s rig will sound more like Tool than his Gibson plugged into my Super Reverb.
 
eyerain82 said:
Bogner thanks, yes I know the specs of Adam's guitar (apart from I don't know where to find the Gibson Custombucker in Italy). But wanting to research that kind of sound, and yet keep the ability to split humbukers I don't think it's so automatic to copy its hardware. That's all.
Click to expand...

Custombuckers were only introduced ten years ago, at most. They're part of the signature guitar, but not the tones on the songs from the 90s. Throw an A3 magnet in a Burst Bucker 1 (or Burst Bucker Pro Neck) and you'll be in the same ballpark. Also bear in mind that Custombuckers are not all made to an identical spec and their tone will vary from one to the next.
 
Worrying about the neck pickup for Tool is a waste, anyway. He doesn’t use it, and keeps the volume rolled off live.
 
Thanks to all guys, you are fantastic for the support you are giving.

I have a 1997 Fender American Standard Stratocaster, which frankly, I'm starting to hate in so many ways.

I'm starting to experiment with Neural DSP's Archetype Nolly; for someone who was stuck 10 years ago -> fuck what a slap having discovered the world of plugins ...

I was evaluating this guitar: https://www.epiphone.com/en-US/Guitar/EPI3BX477/Les-Paul-Prophecy/Olive-Tiger-Aged-Gloss
Both because I am a designer and Gibson dreams of this aesthetic at the moment, I am fascinated by the approach of Fishman Fluence who, by means of a mold, control the standard of the coils.
I just wonder if it's worth replacing the Fishman Fluence in the bridge with a Seymour Duncan Distortion (always keeping in mind the possibility of split in singlecoil).
 
I never owned PRS guitars, but: If an American PRS is at your limit look into the SE series. They have an incredible money value like the Zach Myers or the Mark Tremonti Models.
 
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A Guitar Geek style rig diagram of the gear used by Adam Jones during Tool's 2019 Fear Inoculum tour.
 

Attachments

  • Adam-Jones-Tool-Guitar-Rig-scaled-down.png
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hamerfan said:
I never owned PRS guitars, but: If an American PRS is at your limit look into the SE series. They have an incredible money value like the Zach Myers or the Mark Tremonti Models.
Click to expand...

No way i go for a SE, it's totally built in China, electronics too. Dunno what you think but Epiphone Prophecy has a slightly better equipment to start with for the same price.
 
eyerain82 said:
No way i go for a SE, it's totally built in China, electronics too. Dunno what you think but Epiphone Prophecy has a slightly better equipment to start with for the same price.
Click to expand...

No... they're built in Indonesia since the last couple of years. Before that, they were built in Korea. If you've never played one, they can really smoke. I've had two absolutely amazing PRS SEs.

Epiphones are built in China. However it should be said that the manufacturer location does not indicate quality. There are great guitars being built everywhere, and crappy guitars being built everywhere.

You have a Strat, so keep that and use it for what it's good for. If you can go to music shops, go play as many HH guitars as you can and bring one home that feels great in your hands. If not, it's hard to go wrong with some kind of mahogany set-neck guitar for Adam Jones sounds. The amp/pedals/pickups will fill out the sound.
 
Mm, PRS SEs get a good rap.

If you want a G style without the G logo on the peghead, there's all sorts of current and older Japanese guitars which are essentially copies (Greco, Burny, Edwards etc.), for a fraction of the price a G is. Slap in your fav pickups and rock away.
 
i have an old first gen se and its a great guitar, especially for the money. got it from someone here on the forum so it already had a new nut and fret dress so cant speak to those bits. i love the neck and it sounds really good.
 
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