How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

[MetalManiac]

Thought you might enjoy this thread I started on TDPRI;

My initial thought was not very. I got into a tiff at another forum when I said a Tele with humbuckers deosn't sound much like a Gibson. Ya know, interpersonal relatonships and all you ...have to walk on eggshells to avoid damaging someones fragile ego, especially concerning their personal guitar. Not that I wasn't a little bit of a dick about it, but sometimes I miss the brutal frankness with which one is allowed to post anonymously on a place Youtube about peoples playing and their instrumenst! lol, It's fun...it has its place.
Some people seem to think just cause they install humbuckers on a Tele , that its defacto a Les paul sounding guitar. I say, do you really think so? I think not.
First of all, we have the scale length, then we have the weight and the set neck, plus the tune-o-matic bridge, and the Mahogany body, and sometimes the ebony board. Contrast that to your ideal lightweight Swamp Ash Tele body, the light steel 3 saddle bridge, the usually ideal maple board and the 25.5 scale bolt on neck . is there a difference? what do YOU think?
You could almost have a more authentic Gibson sounding guitar with a , lets say, SG, with Dimarzio Superd Distortion single /Fast rack II singles installed than a Tele with humbuckers I think.
I almost cringe when someone slams "Buckers in a Tele and calls it a Gibbo.
Not that you couldn't devise some sort of freak Franken-Tele body shape , with the common denomiator with a Paul or an SG being that it would be made of heavy mahogany, with an Ebony or Rosewood neck, and a TOM bridge, with a 24.75 scale neck. Other than that please don't call your Tele a Gibson. Its a Tele with humbuckers that sounds , well, like a

 

[lp_junkie]

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

I have a custom built tele style guitar, it is single humbucker, mahogany body, equipped with a Floyd Rose and has a maple neck/rosewood finger board.

I also have Les Pauls- I initally chose the body wood on the tele style so that there would be some similarity in sounds, but even then they are totally different still.


So I still think not very similar, here's why-

1. bolt on neck vs the Gibson set neck- string vibration transfer is different, also the scale length changes tone as well.

2. Body materials- ash/alder/maple (typical tele) vs. mahogany/maple- the Gibson is darker sounding.

3. Electronics- differences in pot values, capacitor values, single coil vs humbuckers, etc.

The only things they really have in common are similar shape and the fact that both are fixed bridge dual pickup guitars.

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

Plenty of people think that Led Zep 1 is a LP and are greatly surprised to find out that much or most of that album is a Telecaster and an old Supro amp. Just sayin'

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

Plenty of people think that Led Zep 1 is a LP and are greatly surprised to find out that much or most of that album is a Telecaster and an old Supro amp. Just sayin'

Wow. Good point!

 

[lp_junkie]

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

that's because plenty of people don't know what they are hearing when they listen to that album if you are a diehard Les Paul player you can instantly recognize that it is not a LP on LZ I.

The majority of guitar players can't even tell the difference in guitar tones, pickups, amps etc. so that's not a very good metric to measure things by.

I don't think the tele sounds bad at all, just different.

 

[d1dsj]

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

Whilst I agree with your thinking, look how many diiferent sounding LP's there are. My own LP does not sound like my bandmates std or my other mates maple capped custom. So a maple capped/ mahogany backed Tele "should" get you in the ball park depending on who's LP you are hearing. It's a similar arguement to the PRS v LP one, they are similar but not the same.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

IMO, it is not so much that a Tele with HBs sounds anything like a LP so much as you can lay into either of these instruments with the same attitude - certainly for rhythm playing. The sustain on the higher frets is completely different.

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

that's because plenty of people don't know what they are hearing when they listen to that album if you are a diehard Les Paul player you can instantly recognize that it is not a LP on LZ I.

The majority of guitar players can't even tell the difference in guitar tones, pickups, amps etc. so that's not a very good metric to measure things by.

I don't think the tele sounds bad at all, just different.

Hmmm, seems that you are saying that only a few guitar players are qualified to measure or quantify this issue, even only a few on this forum. I assume you consider yourself to be one of these superior types. I guess that's okay, although it seems a somewhat elitist. Personally, i think it's ultimately about the effect on the average listener, most who know nothing about instruments. As i said in my previous post, i was simply stating something that happens often, even on this forum. Obviously I and many others are not as qualified as yourself, and we will no doubt be very interested to hear exactly what is a 'good metric to measure things by' according to you.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

Whenever I listen to LZ1, the dominant "guitar" component of the band sound is the distortion pedal.

Same goes for "Blow by Blow / Wired" era Jeff Beck. We hear some LP and some Strat but the dominant component in the guitar sound is distortion pedal.

As a diehard abuse-anything-with-strings player, my favourite example of LP spotting was a video clip played to me by a friend. ZZ Top guested on some US Country Rock TV show. Amongst a line up of four or five guitarists, toting some expensive pieces, even without looking at the screen, you could not fail to identify The Reverend Willy and Pearly Gates. It wiped the floor with EVERYTHING ELSE.

 

[lp_junkie]

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

Hmmm, seems that you are saying that only a few guitar players are qualified to measure or quantify this issue, even only a few on this forum. I assume you consider yourself to be one of these superior types. I guess that's okay, although it seems a somewhat elitist. Personally, i think it's ultimately about the effect on the average listener, most who know nothing about instruments. As i said in my previous post, i was simply stating something that happens often, even on this forum. Obviously I and many others are not as qualified as yourself, and we will no doubt be very interested to hear exactly what is a 'good metric to measure things by' according to you.

No, I think the players on forums tend to be more into it than the average player, otherwise they wouldn't be on them. Most guitarists aren't gearheads, they buy something and play it as is without ever exploring what other sounds are possible.

Talk to average joe about swapping magnets or different capacitor values and they are totally lost on what you are saying.

There have been blind audio tests done on other boards where it has shown that most people can't tell differences in gear by sound alone.

 

[blueman335]

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

Whenever I listen to LZ1, the dominant "guitar" component of the band sound is the distortion pedal.

+1. While the guitarwork on LZ1 is magnificent, some of the tones are kind of thin. That changed on LZ2. With that fat mahogany body and neck, nothing sounds like an LP, except an LP copy. PU's that sound scooped in other guitars sound full in an LP.

Although an SG lacks an LP's sustain & low end, it has it's own sound, from the mahogany and that long double-cutaway neck. A Tele with HB's will be closer to an SG than an LP, but it'll still be different. HB's alone don't make a Gibson. You've got a different scale length, hardware, wood, etc.

The topic's come up before. There is no one do-it-all guitar. If you want to get the sound of an LP, SG, Tele, Strat or whatever, you're better off getting those individual guitars. There are so many affordable copies of everything today, and many are good quality, that you can do it and not go broke.

 

[JeffB]

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

hmm...I prefer LZ1 tonally and always did long before I even knew or cared WHAT Jimmy was playing on it . Always been my fave LZ album by far. LZ2 being the runner up for me, and not a huge fan of the latter albums :shrug:

I can say that my current Tele, even with a vintage bridge pup (A3 mags, apparently a 8-9-ish K wind), has equal or even more apparent low end that my PRS Starla does amplified (with Pearly Gates-and significant inherent low end )

That said- I don't think a Tele with buckers (the ones I've played ) sound like a Les Paul- too many differences.

The similarity to a Les Paul maybe some Telecaster owners feel compared to a Strat vs. a Les Paul is that the Telecaster is very different from a Strat though most are ignorant of that fact (whether intentionally or from lack of experience) It has the upper bout which adds alot of thump just as they do on any other singlecut. The bridge and bridge pup in a tele also make for a far more aggressive and raunchy sound than a strat does. Its more muscular, less pristine, and while capable of being clean and twangy, the amp (and the pup wind I'm finding) has far more to do with it. You play a Tele super clean through a blackface, and of course it will sound clean and twangy, so will a Les Paul to a large extent. While the strat may be Fender's bread and butter, the Tele is inherently the ballsier, more powerful sounding instrument- so when equipped with buckers it sounds even more-so. But it doesn't sound like a Les Paul at all to me or any other Gibson.

 

[JOLLY]

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

I got into a tiff at another forum

You? No way.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

Sometimes a tiff can be a lot of fun. But honestly - does it really matter if someone has a tele that is trying to sound like a les paul or vice versa. The real question is does the guitar sound good? If the owner is happy then hooray for them.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

A stock tele...not too much IMHO but if you are willing to cut it up...thats a different story!

Jeff Becks Blow by Blow features the Tele Gib which is latye 50's Telecaster that Seymour put a set of bucker in...I though that was a Les Paul for years!

 

[apj]

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

It's way too hard to paint with broad strokes. In general you would expect for a tele with buckers not to sound like a les paul. Yet I've played super bright les pauls and I've played super dark teles. With the same pickups you could easily confuse the two especially with some overdrive on top of that.

 

[thespricket]

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

I see where the point is, but I don't think that people want to sound like they're playing a Les Paul when they drop a humbucker or two in a Strat or Tele. It ties in with that "Middle Ground Guitars" thread. I love playing Fat Strat's because I can get the fat Humbucker bridge pickup sound that's so famous, and I can get those cool neck and middle single coil sounds and I also love the play and feel of a strat.That's just me.

But I will contend that most people (guitarists or not) could not tell the difference between a HB loaded tele and a Les Paul. Who cares? I'm not listening to Blow by Blow to try to guess which guitar Jeff's playing. I saw him about a month ago, he mostly played a Strat, but he also played a tele (std) and a LP. And guess what...he still sounded like Jeff!

The arguement also goes both way, with coil tapping a Les Paul/Sg can sound similar to a tele, but it won't be identical. But who cares? If you want to sound like a Les Paul buy one!

 

[bluesbend]

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

View attachment 19371

View attachment 19372



One true Tele, one Tele style with a single humbucker.
Both got/get great results with them.

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

My ovation with 3 ceramic strat pickups jammed in the soundhole sounds like a les paul

 

[butnut]

Re: How Gibson Les Paul/SG'ish can a Tele sound?

that's because plenty of people don't know what they are hearing when they listen to that album if you are a diehard Les Paul player you can instantly recognize that it is not a LP on LZ I.

The majority of guitar players can't even tell the difference in guitar tones, pickups, amps etc. so that's not a very good metric to measure things by.

I don't think the tele sounds bad at all, just different.

hehe, when my son was 10, he could tell the difference between a LP and Strat...we'd always listen to the radio and I'd 'educate' him on the sound..after that, I'd test him and he got it all the time.
I always thought LZ was Page on a LP and better yet, Jeff Becks 'Cause we ended as lovers' was played on his Tele-Gib, built and named by Seymour himself. I learned that song on my LP and was stunned to learn years later that it was not an LP. I built my own version of the Tele Gib, gigged with it for years and it could nail 'some' of the LP vibe and tone, not all, I know I can get my LP to sound like a Tele Gib, but in nutshell, Tele's with HBs was a very kool custom mod, made famous by our own Seymour Duncan...his original was named the Tele-Gib. It's a name, I like it and yeah, it's all about how good a player makes it sound and a dozen factors in the final recording...