The Les Paul Overhaul is complete.....

[mojosman]

A few months back I traded a guy my G&L ASAT Classic that I never really bonded with for a Les Paul Studio. I had always wanted a Les Paul, and this one was mint. I got it home and it didn't sound to my ears like a Les Paul should sound. The stock pickups were pretty bland through a tube amp, unless you played through pedals. It was always out of tune whenever I picked it up, and I just wanted more tone. So I came here, and I asked some questions; and then I took the advice I was given. Step one was I bought a matched set of SD Pearly Gates pickups. Then I looked at the stock controls. They were pretty lame looking, a little circuit board with tone caps that looked like they came out of an old transistor radio. So I ordered a 50's era wiring harness from Tundra-tone.com, complete with Sprague PIO caps, and CTS narrow tolerence pots. I also picked up a set of Grover Locking Tuners. Everything is now installed, and I brought it in for a set up, the nut was filed (*jagged edges in the string slots were causing the tuning issues), and a set of Ernie Ball Cobalt 10's were installed. It plays great, and has some mojo now. The tone is greatly improved over the stock pickups.




Thanks to everyone that gave me advice to get me to this point. I own a few Strats, but I am truly a Gibson novice. I wanted it to have vintage PAF tone, but with some personality, and now it does.

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: The Les Paul Overhaul is complete.....

She is gorgeous! I love Les Pauls, especially those faded and vintage studios! I want to get my hands on one of the blue faded studios someday if I can ever afford it. I'm glad you have her singing sweet like a LP should, good work!

 

[Diminished Triad]

Re: The Les Paul Overhaul is complete.....

A few months back I traded a guy my G&L ASAT Classic that I never really bonded with for a Les Paul Studio. I had always wanted a Les Paul, and this one was mint. I got it home and it didn't sound to my ears like a Les Paul should sound. The stock pickups were pretty bland through a tube amp, unless you played through pedals. It was always out of tune whenever I picked it up, and I just wanted more tone. So I came here, and I asked some questions; and then I took the advice I was given. Step one was I bought a matched set of SD Pearly Gates pickups. Then I looked at the stock controls. They were pretty lame looking, a little circuit board with tone caps that looked like they came out of an old transistor radio. So I ordered a 50's era wiring harness from Tundra-tone.com, complete with Sprague PIO caps, and CTS narrow tolerence pots. I also picked up a set of Grover Locking Tuners. Everything is now installed, and I brought it in for a set up, the nut was filed (*jagged edges in the string slots were causing the tuning issues), and a set of Ernie Ball Cobalt 10's were installed. It plays great, and has some mojo now. The tone is greatly improved over the stock pickups.

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Thanks to everyone that gave me advice to get me to this point. I own a few Strats, but I am truly a Gibson novice. I wanted it to have vintage PAF tone, but with some personality, and now it does.

REALLY NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[astrozombie]

Re: The Les Paul Overhaul is complete.....

I've always liked that brown finish for whatever reason. Reminds me of 70s Gibsons:

\\

 

[mojosman]

Re: The Les Paul Overhaul is complete.....

I've always liked that brown finish for whatever reason. Reminds me of 70s Gibsons:

\\

I have to say the brown faded finish has grown on me. I hated it at first because I wanted a eye candy flamed maple top type Les Paul Standard, but It just isn't within my means at this time. This is sort of the opposite of that, but the longer I own it has grown on me. I think maybe as I have tweaked it and modded it, now I feel more connected with it. I'm mostly happy that it has better tone now. I really like the faded black finish studios. I think one would look cool with some old school hot rod style pinstriping under the bridge.

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: The Les Paul Overhaul is complete.....

I started liking faded brown Les Paul studios after this:

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: The Les Paul Overhaul is complete.....

Yeah, that's one Studio I've always liked, since it's like the Gibson with the most basic and essential set of specs.

Taking a guitar like that and completely overhauling the electronics makes it a completely different instrument.

 

[formula73]

Re: The Les Paul Overhaul is complete.....

I started liking faded brown Les Paul studios after this:

Funny, that video was EXACTLY the reason I went looking for a The Paul back in the day.

One I should have held onto:

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: The Les Paul Overhaul is complete.....

Since you mentioned wanting something fancier or flat black with pinstriping...

That particular guitar has always struck me as a good candidate for masking off the sides, sanding the top, and spraying just the top in a cool color. I'd lean toward something Gibson doesn't do, like a good Fender candy color.
Or do it in flat black, and pinstripe it like a rat rod. The dark brown back will go with anything.

 

[mojosman]

Re: The Les Paul Overhaul is complete.....

Since you mentioned wanting something fancier or flat black with pinstriping...

That particular guitar has always struck me as a good candidate for masking off the sides, sanding the top, and spraying just the top in a cool color. I'd lean toward something Gibson doesn't do, like a good Fender candy color.
Or do it in flat black, and pinstripe it like a rat rod. The dark brown back will go with anything.

That is an awesome idea. Right now I just want to play it, but that sounds like a very cool winter project. I might try to tackle that this winter.

 

[ganzosrevenge]

Re: The Les Paul Overhaul is complete.....

Every time I see someone upgrade his / her electronics, it makes me wonder how many pickup swaps were made because a guitarist didn't bother to check his / her pots and caps to see if they were the culprit. Very often, it's these little, often-seen-as-insignificant parts that because of their lower-than-spec K-values, result in what should be a nice clear pickup sounding like mud. To me, after the acoustics are improved (ie: better bridge, machine bolts, etc.,) then progress to the electronics, doing the caps / pots first, and then pickups. It amazes me just how much "tone" is lost due to big companis cost-cutting on little things like bridge-materials, pots / caps, etc., that can change the tone just as much sometimes as changing the pickups. The difference though is, fixing acoustics can improve resonance at the acoustic / natural vibrations level.

Ergo, Great job on choosing to change the pots / caps, very often this means a pickup change can be avoided, or at least put off for a bit. Have you considered changing the bridge / tailpiece out, since those can change the acoustic properties (and thus may further improve the tonality / clarity of the guitar)?

Jason

 

[mojosman]

Re: The Les Paul Overhaul is complete.....

Every time I see someone upgrade his / her electronics, it makes me wonder how many pickup swaps were made because a guitarist didn't bother to check his / her pots and caps to see if they were the culprit. Very often, it's these little, often-seen-as-insignificant parts that because of their lower-than-spec K-values, result in what should be a nice clear pickup sounding like mud..... It amazes me just how much "tone" is lost due to big companies cost-cutting on little things like bridge-materials, pots / caps, etc., that can change the tone just as much sometimes as changing the pickups. The difference though is, fixing acoustics can improve resonance at the acoustic / natural vibrations level.

Ergo, Great job on choosing to change the pots / caps, very often this means a pickup change can be avoided, or at least put off for a bit. Have you considered changing the bridge / tailpiece out, since those can change the acoustic properties (and thus may further improve the tonality / clarity of the guitar)?

Jason

So true. I could not believe how Cheesy the Gibson parts were. This is what the stock control looked like:


The caps look like pieces of friggen chicklets gum. I have thought about upgrading the tailpiece and bridge. I am a total novice Les Paul owner. To be honest I don't know what is better in terms of quality over the stock stuff. I like Callaham stuff for Strat hardware, but I don't know about their Gibson stuff. If anybody can school me I would appreciate the information.