help turn my lonestar strat into a les paul

[Aceman]

Re: help turn my lonestar strat into a les paul

Yeah - after reading all of this and the excessive tweaking etc that has not worked….

You need a Les Paul and a Strat (don't we all????). Put the A5 back in the PGP, love it for what it is.

STP? Deleo played a 78 Les Paul. With T-Tops - pretty sure…
Page - Whole Lotta's (sort of)
VH? a 59 or a CC
AC/DC - 59-ish
Metallica - Distortion
Slash? A2P

You don't get the idea that you need at least THREE guitars if you want to even get in the ballpark of those. And ANY PAF style should be "ok" for most.

I think you have way unreasonable expectations of what a single start and hum bucker is going to do without seriously hitting pedals, or the adjusting the amp significantly.

 

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: help turn my lonestar strat into a les paul

I spent years & A LOT of money trying to get a Strat to sound like a L.P. & the best answer is it cannot be done? I got very close to the L.P. tone using a TB-14/59N set & a harness made up of two 500K volumes & a shared 500K tone pot. The guitar sounded amazing and I loved it but it still wasn't a L.P.! You just can't get that same Chunky midrange & sustain from a Alder body with a bolt on neck...

I know it might be a PIA but could we see a picture of the Strat in question??? Perhaps you'll get lucky and find someone who wants to trade you for a actual L.P.???

 

[jeremy]

Re: help turn my lonestar strat into a les paul

youre right, the first thing i would try is putting an alnico II magnet in the pup you already have, itll cost $5 for the magnet and you might love it. since you have 250k pots it wont be as bright as you think and the top end will be much sweeter. the pearly gates (a2) mixes well with single coils and 250k pots

 

[Securb]

Re: help turn my lonestar strat into a les paul

The closest I have come to a Gibson tone with any of my Fenders is my Fralin High Output/Pure PAF set.

 

[powdermnky007]

Re: help turn my lonestar strat into a les paul

All you guys are right. I've done an enormous amount of reasearching and thinking since my original post. I totally agree with all of you now. I will just have to buy another guitar. Sometime next year I'm going to a guitar shop and will spend a full day playing on different 1/2 cut PRS and les pauls and see what guitar I bond with the most. Leaning towards a les paul obviously!

If i had to do this post over again, in hindsight, it would be more like, help me take the ice pick out of my humbucker! Lol in the next few weeks I'll be doing a magnet swap to an A2 to see how I like it. I finally realized, that by putting a pickup in the bridge that sounds like a les paul I would have a very odd sounding guitar indeed. I decided I need to keep it sounding like a strat. With a pickup that is tonally similar to my texas specials. I took a walk down memory lane and asked, why did I buy a strat? Listened to some Eric Johnson and David Gilmour. I looked up the tab for shine on you crazy diamond. Played those 4 magical notes and a few bits and pieces of the intro / verse / chorus and I had chills. (which has never happened before). So turning down the distortion and switching to the single coils was a magical experience for me last night, which is something I haven't done in a VERY long time.

Its a beautiful guitar. Bought it new. Definitely my #1! Had it for almost 20 years. WOW I'm getting old! Bad picture, but it really is a beautiful guitar! I've had a few other hot guitars over the years that I wound up selling. Had a Dean Flying V and a Schecter Hellraiser 7 string. They both had tons of balls! They were great, but after a year or so of heavy playing, I would always come back to the strat, just because it plays so nice!



Thank you for all of your input and all of the pickup suggestions. I stayed up until almost 2am researching all the different options between SD and Dimarzio that were suggested to me. It really did help me 'find my way' so to speak.

If I need my A2 pearly gates plus to be hotter, I will just move it closer to the strings and kick on a clean boost pedal. Just bought an analogman prince of tone, so that should give me some options! =)

In the same way an amazing solo must fit the song, so a pickup must fit the instrument.

 

[powdermnky007]

Re: help turn my lonestar strat into a les paul

Well after 'embracing the strat tone' I've kept experimenting. I couldn't get a sound I liked by adjusting the tone knob, it rolled off too much of the presence.

I'm getting a pretty good sound out of it now by adjusting the pickup height. The bass side is 3/32" away from the strings and the treble side is 6/32" away from the strings. Then I only need to turn the tone knob down a little bit and can still retain some of the presence of my guitar.

That particular pickup has so much treble in it, that the sound is much more balanced now. I was afraid the treble would be too weak, but surprisingly it sounds a lot closer to 'right' and its pretty easy to adjust anytime I feel like it!

 

[Aceman]

Re: help turn my lonestar strat into a les paul

The closest I have come to a Gibson tone with any of my Fenders is my Fralin High Output/Pure PAF set.

I'd have never guessed that was an LP - but there may be room noise and direct off the guitar sounds hitting me….the whammy kind of gives it away too…..

Cool tune.

 

[Securb]

Re: help turn my lonestar strat into a les paul

I'd have never guessed that was an LP - but there may be room noise and direct off the guitar sounds hitting me….the whammy kind of gives it away too…..

Cool tune.

Yeah, the faux Vai/Beck stuff throws it out of the Les vibe, but if I was just chugging rhythms you would feel the Lester vibe.

Damn! I was a fat **** then.

 

[powdermnky007]

Re: help turn my lonestar strat into a les paul

yeah that's a smooth sounding guitar man and some smooth playing, good job!

 

[revolution]

Re: help turn my lonestar strat into a les paul

Nice playing and tone, Securb!! I think your answer is right there in that video. I may even consider a PURE PAF in the bridge instead of the High Output. I believe the PP's are AL-IV and that's the mag I was going to recommend. I think the 4s nail the old PAF sound when built correct. Your quest is no different. This guy named Eddie Van Halen walked in to Wayne Charvel's guitar shop back in the 70s wanting the same thing...the rest is history.

 

[marcello252]

Re: help turn my lonestar strat into a les paul

If I need my A2 pearly gates plus to be hotter, I will just move it closer to the strings and kick on a clean boost pedal

I bet the A2 magnet swap will work. the PG is a badass HB. I don't even think you'll have big problem with volume, yes, with A2 it will be a bit quiter but I feel a lot more of compression comparing to A5 magnet, so the feel will be different (I guess more satisfying).
For the records, one of my two strat has 2 SSL1 singles and an APH-1 at the bridge, I can play almost everything and the volumes are pretty balanced.

 

[revolution]

Re: help turn my lonestar strat into a les paul

...and if you wanna stick with Duncan, then use Saturday Night Specials.

 

[revolution]

Re: help turn my lonestar strat into a les paul

...but if you want it to be PERFECT, then: http://www.motorcitypickups.com/products/blackbelt.htm

 

[DKSEARS]

Re: help turn my lonestar strat into a les paul

I had a first generation Sambora Strat with the Texas Specials and a DiMarzio H2(I think). The humbucker always seemed out of place in that guitar something in the mids just always sounded off to me and it would almost overrun the TS's in volume regardless of how I set it.

I decided to change out that humbucker and went with the DiMarzio PAF Master bridge. That thing turned out to be great with the TS's and I lost that weird midrange harshness that was coming through.

Did it end up sounding like an LP? No. But did it become one the nicer sounding guitars I own? It did and went from being a case queen to getting regular use.


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