Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

[Chickenwings]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

I notice that my 59 bridge has a much fuller bottom end to its sound whereas th pg sounds thin, sort of tinny ice picky at times and shrill. And I think I confuse this with the pickup sounding weaker in my guitar. Basically it sorta lacks balls. Or at least that's how I feel? Would a magnet swap help kick it up a notch, because a notch is all it needs

different pickups require different eq's on your amp. Both PG's and 59s are excellent pickups. 59s do have more low end than pg's, and more high treble, but pgs have more meat in the mids and upper mids.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

I'm thinking, just offhand - it is something about the guitar. No problem getting harmonics off any PG in any guitar...

Bridge saddles???? Nut???? Wood - if that's what the Epi Custom is made of (ignrioe the specs...Epiphone will make a guitar from particle board if necessary).

 

[Rockstar216]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

Instead of swapping mag or even changing EQ did you attempt to raise the height of the PUP closer to the strings? I was playing my guitar yesterday at Church and at home through a Marshall MG 30 and got plenty of harmonics but I keep my PUP close to the strings. I really think that would help you if you just raise up the PUP a lil closer. If I can get my PGn pup to sustain and get lots of rich Harmonics while being in a Alder body Floyd super strat running through a Marshall MG SS then you should definitely be able to get that pup to sound great.

 

[Grindspine]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

At the mention of string noise taking over the harmonic, I have to ask if you have removed the strings and polished the frets? What I have done to get my frets smooth is to remove all strings and first, clean the fretboard with some refined coconut oil on a cloth. Since coconut oil is a saturated fat, it doesn't go rancid and keeps the fretboard moisturized for quite a while. I then put a felt tip on a Dremel rotary tool and lightly touch it to the frets on low or medium speed. Just try to stay on the frets and avoid hitting the wood, though the felt tip really shouldn't do any damage if you do nick the wood. It makes a world of difference on some guitars.

I have had a Washburn with questionable fret material that seemed to corrode easily even though I play guitar with clean hands. Polishing with a Dremel after wiping down with coconut oil worked wonders for the smoothness of the frets on that guitar. That should make a huge difference in your sustain while doing any type of vibrato or bending.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

Some of the guys mentioned the set-up. The bridge/saddles can play a big part in this. You can upgrade very reasonably with a gotoh. It made a big difference on my Epi goldtop.

^
This.

A pickup is just a transducer. It can only sense the vibrations that the instrument generates. Does the unamplified guitar in question produce harmonics at a decent level? If so, then the pickup is the problem. If the guitar lacks natural acoustic sustain, no pickup is going to cure this.

Check the condition of the nut, its slots, the bridge saddle sections and the arch of the Tune-o-Matic. It may have sagged.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

I'm gonna agree that set up is probably the culprit. I have a PG in the bridge of my Epi Dot and it spits out harmonics like it's getting paid for them.

 

[Jazzfiend101]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

Well guys I spent my day off at home with this cranked marshall and three Les Pauls, the Pearly Gates/A2Pro neck being the main experiment. And this past weekend I plauef a show and attempted to use this guitar mainly throughout my gig. New strings. Excited because I spent the past week nerding out on pinch techniques.

The verdict?

Uh... this may come as a shock, but I nearly pulled a pete townshend and fit the damn guitar through my cabinet. I was highly irritated with the ear piercing highs my guitar was making (presence was at 0 and treble was at 3) and while this may seem mathematically and physically implausable, pinch harmonics from this guitar were like trying to pull teeth all night. Now when I used my 59 matched set les paul, I was awesome. Didn't even realize I was squealing until someone told me I fit a million squeals in pinball wizard so I had to take a chill pill on them lol.

Guys I'm let down. This pickup blows. Like this pickup climbs five feet from the top of mount everest and then quits, gives up and goes home. Somehow, my 59 bridge not only gets me closer to a "My Heads In Mississippi" Tone, but compared to my Pearly Gates bridge, its searing in all the right ways. This Pearly is like... good for jazz and blues I guess... except chicks don't really go out to see those shows. They like rock n roll.

It is a fail, gentlemen. I don't know what to say. It just won't squeal without dying of in a second or two. It just squeeks like a mouse.

Now I did step on it with an overdrive pedal and that solved the issue, but my 59s and jb did not need any help; they have incredibly huge and angry balls whereas the pearly gates is kinda like lance armstrong, short one nut and can't finish the race without a little extra boost.

 

[Jazzfiend101]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

^
This.

A pickup is just a transducer. It can only sense the vibrations that the instrument generates. Does the unamplified guitar in question produce harmonics at a decent level? If so, then the pickup is the problem. If the guitar lacks natural acoustic sustain, no pickup is going to cure this.

Check the condition of the nut, its slots, the bridge saddle sections and the arch of the Tune-o-Matic. It may have sagged.

What am I looking for on the nut or saddles? My little abr1 actually, and thankfully intonates very wel on rhis epiphone, and yes its worn, but i'd hate to drop $70 on a tune o matic to find this pickup still cant spell its alphabet beyond ABC. What else ahould I be looking for, setup wise, or rather, what should stand out as a no no?

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

What am I looking for on the nut or saddles? My little abr1 actually, and thankfully intonates very wel on rhis epiphone, and yes its worn, but i'd hate to drop $70 on a tune o matic to find this pickup still cant spell its alphabet beyond ABC. What else ahould I be looking for, setup wise, or rather, what should stand out as a no no?

You skipped over the critical point in the middle of Funk's post. Here it is again:

Before doing anything else, listen to the guitar UNPLUGGED and let us know if it can produce harmonics. Compare it to your other UNPLUGGED guitars.

If you have the same problem unplugged, you will know it's not the pickup.

Honestly, the odds of this being a pickup problem are very, very minute, but let's not rule that out without testing the theory. Try it unplugged to be certain. Then come back here and let us know the result.

Clear?

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

He wants to blame the pickup let him blame the pickup. Some guys just get crap stuck in their head. Like my high school coach used to say you can lead a donkey to water...

 

[Jazzfiend101]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

Okay, so I sat down with the three guitars. Strings are all within a week or two used. I could make them squeal. It was a bit wierd... Like trying to imagine what it would do overdriven, but I could get a few bends' worth of wiggle with the harmonic. They all sorta did the same thing, for the most part. No squeal lasted more than a few seconds, but thats normal, right? The jb guitar could do it. The 59 made a squeal unplugged, and the Pearly also responded to harmonics when pinched. Nothing crazy, but it made the obvious weee sound in different spots on the same string. I played mostly in 5th position A. So I guess that means the guitar can scream, right?

 

[Jazzfiend101]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

I am starting to wonder about the frets. Its been a little under a year since I had the entire frets replaced, and theres a bit of wear on the first and second fret. Not as bad as my jb guitar, which I have to augment my playing for some chords cuz of buzz buzz. Fret jobs are so expensive. But crazy enough the jb doesnt stutter when harmonics are involved.

But I am starting to look around for my coconut oil just in case.

So what can I do next??

 

[Rockstar216]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

I am starting to wonder about the frets. Its been a little under a year since I had the entire frets replaced, and theres a bit of wear on the first and second fret. Not as bad as my jb guitar, which I have to augment my playing for some chords cuz of buzz buzz. Fret jobs are so expensive. But crazy enough the jb doesnt stutter when harmonics are involved.

But I am starting to look around for my coconut oil just in case.

So what can I do next??

I still think its a case of just needing to raise the height of the PUP closer to the strings

 

[GilmourD]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

Sounds like a general setup issue to me. That includes both playability issues with the strings as well as pickup heights.

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

Yeah, I think this is something other than a pickup problem. Bridge, frets, nut...

Bill

 

[Jazzfiend101]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

Well im willing to make a say that it could be a setup issue, but. . . How do I isolate that problem? Like what would justify me needing to swap nuts?

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

Im sorry I cant answer your question about how to solve the issue. But I did want to say that I normally like higher output pups and I took a chance on a set of Pearly Gates in my LP Trad pro and it sounds amazing clean, split, driven and screaming. Amp is a JCM800 and/or a Splawn

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

Like a few guys said, you need to play with the pickup's height. What you're describing seems to happen, to me, when the pickup is too close and the magnetic field chokes the string movement down prematurely.

Luke

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

Well im willing to make a say that it could be a setup issue, but. . . How do I isolate that problem? Like what would justify me needing to swap nuts?

Troubleshoot.

Start with the easiest thing: lower the height of the pickup.

If that doesn't work, try raising the action a bit.

If that doesn't work, try putting some fresh strings on it.

If that doesn't work, take it to a tech for a full set-up and be sure to describe the problem you're having.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Pearly Gates in Les Paul won't get lasting harmonics?? What is up here???

Pearly Gates will be divine in any normal guitar, they go with anything from maple-necked fenders to mahogany gibsons. Awesome stuff. I'd suspect blame your guitar, not the Pearlies.

ESPECIALLY since you mentioned "strings squeal a couple seconds" acoustically right? Well, I'm sorry to say that in a light-bodied, bolt-on, lower-mid-tier MIJ that I'd scored for 95 bucks, I get about 13-15 seconds sustain acoustically... On some better guitars, when set up properly etc., it can go 20+. Guitars are supposed to resonate. Soo, either your pups are SOOO up there that the mag pull is killing your strings, like others said, or your guitar's construction is a sound-muffling mess... Me, I'd think you'd feel the mag pull and notice what's up when trying to play, and Pearlies don't exactly have superheavy magnets, either... if you really believe it's not the guitar and wanna get to the bottom of it, REMOVE the other pup entirely (don't just unsolder, also PHYSICALLY pull it out or at least lower it as far as it goes), and solder the Pearly alone STRAIGHT TO YOUR INPUT JACK, no pots no switch no nothing (in 2-conductor mode, like a Gibson pickup, a hot and a ground... google or read the manual or ask here about which wires to twist off tape off and/or solder together to get a 2-conductor out of the 4 I'm guessing Pearlies come with these days). See how it acts from there. And, if the premise just terrified you, toss that 15-30 watt pencil you're probably using and get a 130 watt soldering tool w/ pistol grip (best $19.99 you'll have spent in years), suddenly soldering two points to a jack will seem like child's play and not a pain you're reluctant to start messing with. Anyways, if Pearly wired up straight and alone still sounds the same, it's anyone's guess, but if it starts performing as usual, it's somewhere in the pots or the other pickup or a cold solder joint you've got, etc.


But, sorry man, but I'm gonna have to go with:
"Duh, prolly just it being an EPI, dude".

...maybe you've owned an MIJ elitist in the past, or missed the redistribution of cheapo-but-serviceable guitars back to America as the "faded" "melody maker" etc. Gibson series, while most all of Epi's current lineup is an UNSERVICEABLE, EXPENSIVE variation on the Fotoflame on Plywood/Veneer on plywood/Acidic bright modern pain on plywood/and thick matte non-transparent on plywood... OR WORSE. After all, GIBSON USA's been seen flogging PRESSED CARDBOARD FINGERBOARDS, so what can we expect here? Pressed phonebook fingerboards? Toilet paper? Dunno, but just when you'd think, no way it couldn't get worse, it DOES.

Even the 3-super-distortion Ace Frehley sig with the decent neck and seemingly cool woods somehow manages to sound DEAD. They're super distortions, for Xenu's sake, how can you possibly bugger that up so hard they don't crunch up? Dunno. But they managed.

Next up, expect super low output EMG81s. And reclaimed toilet paper in the specs.