How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

[Jesuscares]

I'm looking for guitar that can do a 1 octave dive bomb like some of the high end Ibanez guitars,at the same time I want it to sound as close as possible to a Les Paul.I hear that Les Paul pickups dont suit for some types of bodies.
Any suggestions on how to go about?

 

[skynyrd]

Re: How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

The biggest thing will be the EQ of the amp, most whammy guitars are lighter in weight than a les paul and will have a little brighter sound, Eq`ing the amp so you get that ballsy LP sound is as close as you`l get without buying a LP.

 

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

Funny, someone just posted a thread about it:
https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=199836
It's not a Floyd though...


By "Les Paul pickups dont suit for some types of bodies" I suppose you mean the vintage voiced type (PAFs), as there are a lot of pickups for Les Paul but there are a lot of Les Paul tones so it's hard to know what you mean. In any guitar you'll buy, you will just have to try a few pickups until you'll find what you like.

Also, a few manufacturers like ESP make guitars based on the LP with Floyd Rose bridges in them... might be a good step in the right direction for you.

 

[IanBallard]

Re: How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

Interestingly, Floyd Rose's first test victim of his prototype locking tremolo, was a Les Paul.

 

[dr. ad]

Re: How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

people say great things about the PATB3 for that, and PATBs in general

 

[marvelous_seven]

Re: How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

people say great things about the PATB3 for that, and PATBs in general

+1
Many great things about PATB-3 but I haven't even heard any soundclips of it yet. Too bad Daemon BBQ only has PATB-2s clips

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

The PATB-3 is as close as you'll get to an old LP sound from a shred stick.

 

[uOpt]

Re: How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

Kahler.

The thing you need to avoid is the tremolo sustain block. That is much more important than wood choice.

I would by a random 1980ties Gibson or Hamer or something with a Kahler.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

The PATB-3 is as close as you'll get to an old LP sound from a shred stick.

Patb3 makes the guitar sound nice and fat! Really beefed up my RG570 and a very bright Carvin I once had it in

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

people say great things about the PATB3 for that, and PATBs in general

+1000. I have an original PATB in a light basswood guitar with a flame maple cap (thin). It's a really really light guitar, a Dana Alvarez Scoop. I hated every pickup that I put in it to varying degrees, until I put the PATB in there. It instantly transformed the guitar into something that I really really love.

My pickup config is a bit odd, so I'll just post a pic. What I have in there now is the PATB bridge, an APS single right next to it (bridge triple bucker was standard) and a PATB stacked single in the mid/neck....whatever you want to call it. The PATB stack is the only single coil I have found that sounds really really nice and thick and sweet with overdrive but still sounds great clean. The PATB line of pups is very, very underrated.

Try the Original PATB and I think you will like it. If you want something REALLY hot, try the Distortion Trembucker....it's too hot for me but the Original PATB is perfect, and is not as hot as it's DC rating suggests.

That's a Dimarzio PAF Pro in the bridge in this pic....I think. I put so many different pickups in the bridge I thought I was going to go crazy.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

I found something interesting by experimenting.

Duncans and many aftermarket pickups sound sweet and smooth, which is why people yank ruder sounding Gibson pickups out of their Gibsons and replace them.

On wimpy sounding Floyd guitars, do the opposite....put rude sounding Gibson pickups in them, and forget about the spacing issue...it's a non issue.

Take something like an Ibanez with Floyd, and put Gibson 498T/490R LP pickups in it, and it'll automatically give it a Gibson type tone. I did it a couple times on basswood superstrats, and it was exactly what I wanted to hear, even though I didn't like those pickups in a Gibson.

And those are easy and cheap pickups to buy used, because there's a lot of guys here with them sitting in their junk drawers, thinking nobody wants them.

 

[IanBallard]

Re: How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

I think it's a misconception that a TOM guitar automatically has a fatter tone than a Floyd. Take, for example the awful bridges Gibson uses these days, made of the worst pot metal crap and compare it to a Wolfgang with an all steel Floyd (down only, flush against the body) with a massive brass block attached. Only the thicker body wood saves the Gibson but I'll be the Wolfgang blows away the similarly priced Gibson in the output and sustain department and I GUARANTEE the bridge of the Wolf is far more resonant and sustaining than the sad, cheap Gibson.

That said, my Custom Custom/'59 equipped part US-made, part Asian-made Statenstein has a very Les Paul-ish character when compared to my friend's 80's Gibson LP. His TOM is aluminum (no zinc) like the old ones and his pickups are stock Burstbuckers. He was blown away how similar they sounded to him. I agreed.

Now... if you put a Callaham billet steel TOM on that same Les Paul, pitted against the Wolfgang, you might have a more fair fight. Frankly I'm disgusted with the shortcuts and cheap crud Gibson is putting on their guitars, especially when you consider the price. Sorry to sound so much like Ed Roman, but he's right. Gibson is ripping people off because Americans think high-prices equal quality... I'll never buy a post 1960's Gibson. Ever.

/rant

 

[hamerfan]

Re: How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

Patb3 makes the guitar sound nice and fat! Really beefed up my RG570 and a very bright Carvin I once had it in

I even had it in a fixed bridge guitar. Brings the instant Les Paul sound with tighter bass as a overwound standard humbucker. I like it very much.

 

[uOpt]

Re: How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

I don't doubt that the Kahler is a great system, but what's the issue with a sustain block? Plenty of people with Strat trems and Floyds get by just fine.

The tremolo sustain block causes a major sound change. It lifts a whole bunch of bottom and -well- sustains differently. Very differently. If you are going for a Les Paul sound you don't get anywhere with a sustain block.

In general I prefer the sound of sustain block guitars, in particular with neck humbuckers. Neck humbuckers in thick hardtails are too boomy. They are OK in an SG, the thin body does a very remotely similar thing to the bottom lift that a sustain block does.

The classic Kahler doesn't mount the strings in a sustain block, it is much closer to a TOM mount.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

I think it's a misconception that a TOM guitar automatically has a fatter tone.

That is, indeed, a misconception. The fat LP sound comes from a big lump of mahogany with a single cutaway and a set neck. Specifically, the contact area between the surfaces of the neck and body.

IMO, the TOM/stopbar combination contributes to the attack and high end detail.

 

[IanBallard]

Re: How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

That is, indeed, a misconception. The fat LP sound comes from a big lump of mahogany with a single cutaway and a set neck. Specifically, the contact area between the surfaces of the neck and body.

IMO, the TOM/stopbar combination contributes to the attack and high end detail.

That being the case, imagine if Gibson used real billet steel tails and bridges on their insanely priced guitars, instead of pot metal. I would imagine the clarity and detail would be far better. There is NO excuse for Gibson to cheap out like that. Maybe on an Epi, but not something they claim to be a "hand made" instrument carrying that kind of price tag.

 

[uOpt]

Re: How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

That being the case, imagine if Gibson used real billet steel tails and bridges on their insanely priced guitars, instead of pot metal. I would imagine the clarity and detail would be far better. There is NO excuse for Gibson to cheap out like that. Maybe on an Epi, but not something they claim to be a "hand made" instrument carrying that kind of price tag.

I dunno about the bridge but the zinc tailpiece is probably not a general mistake. A light (aluminium) tailpiece has a noticeable change that you might or might not like. I didn't, I went back to zinc.

I'm not aware of a vendor giving us a steel tailpiece?

What I don't like the the Nashville posts with the large anchors in the guitar's top.

 

[IanBallard]

Re: How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

Callaham makes a billet steel TOM tailpiece. Honestly I'm sorry for being so hard on Gibson, but I just don't think they are worth what they are asking and they very bad to their employees and vendors.

The arched top also helps reduce the energy transfer away from strings into the body, which a good thing. The neck joint, the neck angle, headstock angle and body thickness are all contributors as well.

I like Les Pauls with Floyd Roses myself, as long as it uses a REAL German Floyd and not a cheap licensed copy.

 

[uOpt]

Re: How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

Callaham makes a billet steel TOM tailpiece. Honestly I'm sorry for being so hard on Gibson, but I just don't think they are worth what they are asking and they very bad to their employees and vendors.

Callaham's TOM is an ABR-1, not a Nashville, though. Pretty much all ABR-1s are decent quality. I would be surprised if you'd fine many that are not steel in the first place.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: How to get a Les Paul sound on a whammy guitar

EC-1000 FR

It's a thinner Les Paul with a Floyd. Replace those EMG's with something more vintage-y if you want that.