P/U suggestions for an old beat up LP project guitar

JGarofalo3

JGarofalo3

New member
Found an old beat up Les Paul Special at a yard sale recently that I couldn't pass up for $100. Checked with Gibby and she is the real deal circa 2001 and it appears she was modded by whomever to have that beat up road worn look. Don't believe she was done factory, more likely by the owner. She has a certain, "beat the crap out of, mojo" look to her but she feels great.

She was definitely modded having INF1 pups in her (Ibanez made by Di Marzio?). Guitar is structurally very sound, neck, truss rod, fretboard etc.

I am going to replace the pots with CTS 500k and am interested in suggestions for pup replacements as I think the INF 1's are really thin and tinny/jangly sounding and not my taste.

A few parameters:

1. I play a very wide variety of contemporary and classic rock, funk, R&B and I am the 2nd position (mostly rhythm with sporadic leads - I am the lead vocals)

2. As this is a project guitar and while I do expect to gig with her often, I do not want to spend a fortune.......in fact.....second hand pups would be great too if I could find....but most important is quality...........I would like something more punchy and tonally whole without breaking the bank on a project axe.

Suggestions, thoughts, ideas are VERY welcome and I tank you all in advance for your advice and comments.

Respectfully,

John
 
Re: P/U suggestions for an old beat up LP project guitar

FWIW, I was thinking perhaps to put 57's in her or possibly a JB/Jazz combo.......suggestions need not be SD and I forgot to mention I will not be using cover plates and am looking for something more raw/exposed looking to keep in line with her rough exterior.
 
Re: P/U suggestions for an old beat up LP project guitar

Wot? Somebody carved up a Special to install Dogbreath INF 'buckers? Phasers set to Kill!

In my opinion, your mahogany slab deserves Seymour Duncan P-Rails pickups mounted via Triple Shot surrounds. This installation will not be cheap but it will;
1) disguise whatever mess the previous owner made around the PU cavities,
2) offer a whole bunch of workable tones in a single guitar,
3) restore the P90 goodness that every Special rightfully deserves.
 
Re: P/U suggestions for an old beat up LP project guitar

When I got verification she was made in Nashville I kinda cringed as I actually suspected her to be a copy which would have been fine considering the spend and I have tooled crappier guitars to sound pretty darned good! While a bit of an ugly duckling (she is yellow too LOL) she has a brutally raw sexiness to her and she is a nice piece of wood for sure. My apologies for having limited equipment knowledge so I am not sure completely what P-Rails are and even less about what Triple shot surrounds are either (embarased)...... And what would an augmentation like that run? (ballpark)
 
Re: P/U suggestions for an old beat up LP project guitar

The SD P-Rails pickups amounts to a P-90 and a rail polepiece single coil pickup amalgamated into the space of a regular humbucker. With two different coils and four conductor + shield output cable, there are several interesting ways in which to interconnect all of the coils.

SD Triple Shot mounting surrounds are humbucker rings with two built-in micro slider switches. The switches govern on/off per coil and series/parallel connection between the two coils of an individual pickup.

You can probably obtain pre-owned SD P-Rails pickups at reasonable cost. Try the Trading Post zone of this here forum.
 
Re: P/U suggestions for an old beat up LP project guitar

THINKS: If you plan to install all new pots, it is possible to control the coil switching on two P-Rails pickups using push-pull pots. This would avoid the expense of the Triple Shot surrounds.

Aged White and TV Yellow are classic Special colours. :)
 
Re: P/U suggestions for an old beat up LP project guitar

Yes, she is TV yellow and I am really interested in making her one of my primary guitars on stage.

per your previous post.......I completely understood what you wrother to and through, "The SD P-Rails pickups amounts to a P-90 and a".....after that you went straight into "Charlie Brown teacher" mode and all I got was , "wah-wah-wah-wah"...but that is becuase I am a neophyte and greatly appreciate your information as it will give me a goal to research and learn so as to interpret "Charlie Brown teacher" speak!

I do like the notion of push pull pots on her though and will consider that for sure. I found an LP Special picture that had the black P-90's on her and like you, for the life of me cannot figure why someone put those crappy pups in her and tricked her out with gold and chrome hardware other than to think it was some guitar player interested in a certain (stupid in my opinion) grungy look and such and went away from the traditional "Special" appointments. If it were me, I would have bought a Chibson or anoteher lower end axe and tricked her out for that purpose...............but...no matter.....she is in a good, kind and loving home now LOL!!
 
Re: P/U suggestions for an old beat up LP project guitar

pics of or it doesn't exist!

re Pickups: get a pair of 59's and if you need to change the sound later, they sound great with any magnet you can throw in them.
 
Re: P/U suggestions for an old beat up LP project guitar

Shudder. Gold control knobs and cream surrounds. (Should be black.)
 
Re: P/U suggestions for an old beat up LP project guitar

LOL, I hear ya Funk.......this poor child was a complete mish mash of crap the original owner threw onto her to create this garish raw type vibe. Thankfully she is in good hands now and I will get her cleaned up right (pickups, pots, knobs, pickguard, truss rod cover, etc). I actually kinda dig the roughed up body (which I know is sacriledge to many LP purists) but figure once I am done with her I will be around $350-$450 (maybe more if I replace the tuners) all in and have myself a pretty kick ass LP.
 
Re: P/U suggestions for an old beat up LP project guitar

"roughed up"? FFS, it's a Gibson Special. You are supposed to kick seven shades of "the brown sound" out of it. :D

If those guitars showing in the background of the photo are yours, you don't need another HB Lester.:nana:

The mahogany-only slabs are a different animal. They kick gluteus max but in a different way.
 
Re: P/U suggestions for an old beat up LP project guitar

Agreed and yea, those are small portion of my flock hanging behind the picture.....wtf is a HB Lester? LOL
 
Re: P/U suggestions for an old beat up LP project guitar

In addition to the "guts" replacements and cosmetics too (knobs etc) I decided to use the PRails. Parts ordered from Stewmac and will order pups today. Anyone have a lead to where I can get the best price on this set? I was thinking MF but will go where price is best. I'll be sure to post up pics when done.- JG3
 
Re: P/U suggestions for an old beat up LP project guitar

I have a P-rails/Holy Grails set up in my HSH strat that I love. Super versatile and awesome for every style of music.
 
Re: P/U suggestions for an old beat up LP project guitar

JGarofalo3 said:
FWIW, I was thinking perhaps to put 57's in her or possibly a JB/Jazz combo.......suggestions need not be SD and I forgot to mention I will not be using cover plates and am looking for something more raw/exposed looking to keep in line with her rough exterior.
Click to expand...

In my experience, '57's aren't anything to get excited about in LP's; dull, rounded high ends. JB's are famous for being hit or miss in mahogany, and when they fail, they do it in a big way (ice pick spike and flabby low end).
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top