What upgrades are you guys doing on Les pauls?

[ErikH]

Re: What upgrades are you guys doing on Les pauls?

If I was to get a Les Paul today, the only thing I'd change right off the bat is adding straplocks. After that, I'd make sure the nut slots are wide enough and dialed in good, give it a good setup and then play the snot out of it and decide after a few months if anything else needs to be changed.

 

[Robert Delahunt]

Re: What upgrades are you guys doing on Les pauls?

Excuse me Mr. Delahunt,

Greetings. I notice you have been around since 06 yet i don't recognize you. I see that you have 35 posts and gloss. I note that you are in Japan. This is all highly irregular. I do like your general taste in LP upgrades. My dean Cadillacs are actually like that.

Please stop by the Soundoff Room and introduce, or re-introduce yourself, as it were!

Sincerely,

Aceman

No problem. I believe when my user name was changed it wiped out my post count. Used to go by TwinReverb.

 

[blueman335]

Re: What upgrades are you guys doing on Les pauls?

If I was to get a Les Paul today, the only thing I'd change right off the bat is adding straplocks. After that, I'd make sure the nut slots are wide enough and dialed in good, give it a good setup and then play the snot out of it and decide after a few months if anything else needs to be changed.

Right. You have to know where you are, before you head off somewhere. I'm assuming the OP meant that, and wanted to know what we had done after the trial period.

 

[G-D]

Re: What upgrades are you guys doing on Les pauls?

I now have only a "Jackson LP Custom" (24 frets Reverse and Floyd JB bHum+CoolRails nSin and 1 Tone w/Switch behind Bridge), but back when I LOVED the LP:
RR's frets were Dunlop 6280 (and Jackson is 6230), but I had mine refretted with John Sikes' (High Thin Jescars) in Stainless and WOW what an amazing feel and diff it made!
Stringing it Over the Tailpiece like Zakk was another improvement for string response and ease of playability (seemed to make for more resonant tone too),
Replaced the Nut with a Steel one and found it sounded with the frets more equally and opens (especially harmonics) sustained alot longer,
So0 much of what matters is PICKUP centered but I've seen the Treble-bleed circuited (500k Bridge & 250k Neck) Audio Vol, and 1Meg Linear Tone do them best!
Still the LPs are 'cumbersome like a LOG' compared with the other instruments I've long come to appreciate since... so make it worth the weight and get pickups with Alnico 2s (And direct mount them -keeping the frames- IMHO)!

 

[Adieu]

Re: What upgrades are you guys doing on Les pauls?

Well, I luuuv my LP, but it's rather, uh....UNUSUAL. Japanese LP Custom, early 70s, maple board, gotoh everything (immaculate bridge and tuners after 40 yrs), bone nut, single unpotted Super 70 bridge pup (mod, livened it up bunches, cuz A8 in the neck has mooooonstrous string pull), single 500k Volume pot (mod).

Gibson guys keep getting awkward and mumbling about that planned pickup swap after playing/hearing it.

So, other LPs, if I get them, are SURELY:
1) getting Gotoh'd all around
2) bone nut
3) no tone controls
4) no switch (disconnected) OR switch shifting neck pickup between "parallel w/ bridge" and "OFF", sending it to the jack when on... And thus no switch ever in the bridges signal path at all
5) alnico 8 bridge pup, likely Super 70 or clone (Paf8 like Duncan PG8 or DMZ PAF8)
6) neck pup: NONE or active w/ low string pull
7) lower the action, chuck that floss wire, and set things up for high tension DR DDT 11-54's Estd/DropD, or 12s for lower tunings

 

[JordanM82]

Re: What upgrades are you guys doing on Les pauls?

I see most of this stuff included but I am just going to put it in MY order of preference.

1. New nut (bone preferably) and a setup (playing a guitar that doesn't play well or stay in tune well, it is just discouraging and I try to avoid it)
2. New pickups (You need to know what you want to do here, ask questions about the sound you want and get help from experts here)
3. New hardware (Bridge, Tuners... you get what you pay for here, buy quality)
4. "Internals" (Wiring, Pots, Caps etc., not as common but can make the guitar suit your needs better and easier to get tonal changes while playing)

 

[brunogio]

Re: What upgrades are you guys doing on Les pauls?

I've only changed pups from 498 set to Seth Lovers and from the ceramic set to BurstBuckers Pro. Like them both a lot better.

Neither guitar had the circuit boards so those didn't need replacing but those would have to go.

Other than that I play them stock.