Jazz Rock
New member
Or rather, a luthier did this for me. It's been a month time I had the guitar back now and I can't be more happy with this axe. I said I would right a review shortly at the time I got it... well it's been a little bit longer to find a moment in front of my keyboard.
Anyway, first of all, I want to thanx all the nice guys here that advised me on getting a set of '59. :dance:
I took advantage of the occasion to change all the electrics inside:
- New pots CTS 500k, audio for the volume and push-pull linear for the tone.
- New jack and 3-way switch
- Shielded wiring
The luthier told me that the new stuff he put in is what you usually found on custom shop Gibsons and re-issue models.
But what's interesting is the sound of it.
Played unplugged, it sounds as good as my Gibby sustainwise and depthwise, a little bit brighter but not too much (I know that the electrics doesn't help much here but I guess the set up made it sound a lot better than previously).
Plugged in my marshall, the first pleasure was to play with knobs. There is real tone variations by just turning a knob by one unit. This kind of thing is unthinkable on my studio. For instance, when all the knobs are rolled to the top and the pickups are splitted, either the neck or the bridge are very twangy. I managed to nail something close to the sound of Tom Morello for Out of exile of the last album of Audioslave with the neck pickup splitted. But then going from 10 to 9 on the volume control allows to moderate the twang while keeping a good distortion level.
When using the pickups in DC, I can find sounds that aren't bad at all to play some Slash or Jimmy Page stuff with bot pups. For the later, the distortion clean up nicely for a more vintage overdrive by rolling back half way the volume knob. I'm glad to have opted for a set identical pickup as it allows me to play with the 3-way switch while soloing as the afore mentionned player do often, with a smooth variation of sound.
Another configuration that I quite enjoy is using the humbucker neck with the SC bridge, with the volume on 9 for both pups, tone control position varying with the mood of the moment. This way I got a little twang in the treble and a full sound in the bass. I use this to play songs that are originally acoustic songs like those from the Unplugged of Alice in Chains (even if it doesn't actually sound really acousticy, it is really cool).
The sound of the '59s is quite bright I think in this guitar but I actually like it this way. This LP classic is the alder/mahogany mixture body from Epiphone with fake bird eye maple top, a mahogany neck (I think) and a rosewood fingerboard.
Here it is, my first guitar/pup review. Since I came back from France, where i retrieved the beast, I didn't play with my Gibby, and I got an apprehension about that... I am already thinking about a change of the electronics, including pups change or not I don't know yet. But if it' the case, I will need to find something different enough from the set up of the Epi. I was thinking PG or APII neck and a custom or a JB bridge. But that my friends is another story that won't happen too soon. Speaking of which, it is reaminding me of another fancy one, but it will be for another thread.
To conclude, I have seen a thread a month ago on this forum where the question was : I prefer my Epi to my Gibby, is it a crime? :smack: Well I hope not because I prefer my Epi too now. :laugh2:
As far as pictures are concerned, I am looking forward to find a way to put them online somehow, and will than give a link later on... to be continued.
Anyway, first of all, I want to thanx all the nice guys here that advised me on getting a set of '59. :dance:
I took advantage of the occasion to change all the electrics inside:
- New pots CTS 500k, audio for the volume and push-pull linear for the tone.
- New jack and 3-way switch
- Shielded wiring
The luthier told me that the new stuff he put in is what you usually found on custom shop Gibsons and re-issue models.
But what's interesting is the sound of it.
Played unplugged, it sounds as good as my Gibby sustainwise and depthwise, a little bit brighter but not too much (I know that the electrics doesn't help much here but I guess the set up made it sound a lot better than previously).
Plugged in my marshall, the first pleasure was to play with knobs. There is real tone variations by just turning a knob by one unit. This kind of thing is unthinkable on my studio. For instance, when all the knobs are rolled to the top and the pickups are splitted, either the neck or the bridge are very twangy. I managed to nail something close to the sound of Tom Morello for Out of exile of the last album of Audioslave with the neck pickup splitted. But then going from 10 to 9 on the volume control allows to moderate the twang while keeping a good distortion level.
When using the pickups in DC, I can find sounds that aren't bad at all to play some Slash or Jimmy Page stuff with bot pups. For the later, the distortion clean up nicely for a more vintage overdrive by rolling back half way the volume knob. I'm glad to have opted for a set identical pickup as it allows me to play with the 3-way switch while soloing as the afore mentionned player do often, with a smooth variation of sound.
Another configuration that I quite enjoy is using the humbucker neck with the SC bridge, with the volume on 9 for both pups, tone control position varying with the mood of the moment. This way I got a little twang in the treble and a full sound in the bass. I use this to play songs that are originally acoustic songs like those from the Unplugged of Alice in Chains (even if it doesn't actually sound really acousticy, it is really cool).
The sound of the '59s is quite bright I think in this guitar but I actually like it this way. This LP classic is the alder/mahogany mixture body from Epiphone with fake bird eye maple top, a mahogany neck (I think) and a rosewood fingerboard.
Here it is, my first guitar/pup review. Since I came back from France, where i retrieved the beast, I didn't play with my Gibby, and I got an apprehension about that... I am already thinking about a change of the electronics, including pups change or not I don't know yet. But if it' the case, I will need to find something different enough from the set up of the Epi. I was thinking PG or APII neck and a custom or a JB bridge. But that my friends is another story that won't happen too soon. Speaking of which, it is reaminding me of another fancy one, but it will be for another thread.
To conclude, I have seen a thread a month ago on this forum where the question was : I prefer my Epi to my Gibby, is it a crime? :smack: Well I hope not because I prefer my Epi too now. :laugh2:
As far as pictures are concerned, I am looking forward to find a way to put them online somehow, and will than give a link later on... to be continued.
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