Why can't I dig on Les Pauls?

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Re: Why can't I dig on Les Pauls?

DreX said:
I wonder how much of a Les Paul's tone is owed to the single cut-away. The body makes a bit more contact with the neck than most electrics.
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Definitely true, it probably helps with the sustain as well due to the large amount of contact with the body


Words are cheap, let your fingers do the talking
 
Re: Why can't I dig on Les Pauls?

nightfall said:
Definitely true, it probably helps with the sustain as well due to the large amount of contact with the body


Words are cheap, let your fingers do the talking
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Have you seen how many Epi Les Pauls come through with the neck tenon only making contact with 1 side of the body?
 
Re: Why can't I dig on Les Pauls?

Edgecrusher said:
Have you seen how many Epi Les Pauls come through with the neck tenon only making contact with 1 side of the body?
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My Epi Pauls are great quality. Maybe the lower end ones are what you're thinking about. And I'm pretty sure we're talking about Gibbys here


Words are cheap, let your fingers do the talking
 
Re: Why can't I dig on Les Pauls?

nightfall said:
My Epi Pauls are great quality. Maybe the lower end ones are what you're thinking about. And I'm pretty sure we're talking about Gibbys here


Words are cheap, let your fingers do the talking
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Didnt say anything about the quality only spoke about the contact with the neck tenons. I know atleast at one time it was an issue even with the Epi standards they may have have corrected it since then but at one time it did exist. Interestingly none of the people that I knew that owned one thought that it sounded any less like a Les Paul. Here is a pic of the phenomenon that Iam talking about. But it throws a wrench into the argument that more neck contact equals more tone.

epi.jpg
 
Re: Why can't I dig on Les Pauls?

Ahh thanks for clarifying. The ones I own don't have that but they are more recent models


Words are cheap, let your fingers do the talking
 
Re: Why can't I dig on Les Pauls?

Letus said:
Listen to some music which you feel embodies your personality, and is beyond your technical abilities. Then take an acoustic, put 13's on it, and try to learn to play that music on the acoustic exclusively for a month, and then go back to your electrics.

Enjoy the experience.
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Masochism does not always pay off.
 
Re: Why can't I dig on Les Pauls?

Edgecrusher said:
Didnt say anything about the quality only spoke about the contact with the neck tenons. I know atleast at one time it was an issue even with the Epi standards they may have have corrected it since then but at one time it did exist. Interestingly none of the people that I knew that owned one thought that it sounded any less like a Les Paul. Here is a pic of the phenomenon that Iam talking about. But it throws a wrench into the argument that more neck contact equals more tone.

View attachment 55470
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Ah, but who knows, those particular guitars might have sounded better with more mortice/tenon contact. Have you spoken with anyone who has has the same guitar re-necked with before and after tones recorded? - maybe someone with a perfect joint to start with then with a slice taken out on the side???? Until then there is nothing you can say about those guitars that isn't complete speculation.
 
Re: Why can't I dig on Les Pauls?

AlexR said:
Ah, but who knows, those particular guitars might have sounded better with more mortice/tenon contact. Have you spoken with anyone who has has the same guitar re-necked with before and after tones recorded? - maybe someone with a perfect joint to start with then with a slice taken out on the side???? Until then there is nothing you can say about those guitars that isn't complete speculation.
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Did i say anything that wasnt speculation? Of course no one had one of these guitars re-necked everyone was happy with the guitars that I encountered. My point was merely to show that just cause a guitar has less neck contact area doenst kill peoples perception that it sounds like a Les Paul. Stop trying to turn it into more than it is.
 
Re: Why can't I dig on Les Pauls?

The real surprise to me in any of this is how different double cut Les Pauls sound, and I mean full thickness body DC LPs.

Most lack the carved top, or have 24 frets, but even my Hamer sunburst is completely different.
 
Re: Why can't I dig on Les Pauls?

Edgecrusher said:
Did i say anything that wasnt speculation? Of course no one had one of these guitars re-necked everyone was happy with the guitars that I encountered. My point was merely to show that just cause a guitar has less neck contact area doenst kill peoples perception that it sounds like a Les Paul. Stop trying to turn it into more than it is.
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Oh, so what was the But it throws a wrench into the argument that more neck contact equals more tone. about then.

And I think glue-in necks have a certain tonality to them - Certainly the short tenon Gibsons still sound like Les Pauls, and good ones. It would be an interesting experiment to take a long tenon one and make it into a short....see if there is any change.
 
Re: Why can't I dig on Les Pauls?

uOpt said:
The real surprise to me in any of this is how different double cut Les Pauls sound, and I mean full thickness body DC LPs.

Most lack the carved top, or have 24 frets, but even my Hamer sunburst is completely different.
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A neck pickup will sound different in similar guitars with a different amount of frets. There's a big effect on tone.
 
Re: Why can't I dig on Les Pauls?

Frank Falbo was saying that single pickup guitars (subjectively) sound better because there isn't as much wood removed in the area where the neck meets the body. I wonder if a Les Pauls (and even Teles, to a lesser extent) share tonal qualities with single pickup guitars by having more contact between the neck and body, compensating for decreased mass due to the neck pickup cavity.
 
Re: Why can't I dig on Les Pauls?

DreX said:
I wonder how much of a Les Paul's tone is owed to the single cut-away. The body makes a bit more contact with the neck than most electrics.
Click to expand...

I have played many Les Paul DCs and there is no discernible difference in playability, sustain or tone.
 
Re: Why can't I dig on Les Pauls?

I'm going to be making a DC soon, but a junior. I'll let y'all know what I think


Words are cheap, let your fingers do the talking
 
Re: Why can't I dig on Les Pauls?

Securb said:
I have played many Les Paul DCs and there is no discernible difference in playability, sustain or tone.
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I just wonder if it makes more of a difference if you play up on the neck, like Les did... it's a much more resonant sound on any guitar if you strum up there, and maybe the wood contact matters more?

I am talking more feel than actual amplified sound here...

The design goes to some trouble to top-mount the pickup switch. But how convenient that would be if you strum up there, vs. down on the bridge like most players. No wonder Les didn't like the SG style...

Funny to think that the idiosyncrasies of one player's style affected generations of players in the form of a guitar design; but ironically, most of those players didn't play the instrument the way he did. I wonder if he always picked up on the neck like that, and if other players of that era did the same?
 
Re: Why can't I dig on Les Pauls?

hydro said:
The design goes to some trouble to top-mount the pickup switch. But how convenient that would be if you strum up there, vs. down on the bridge like most players. No wonder Les didn't like the SG style...
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I would assume it wasn't actually due to the playability of the SG, but rather the fact it felt like a toy.

I remember him bashing Jeff Beck for playing a Strat. All that plastic and the thin body.

I'll never understand the placement of the toggle selector on the upper bout. It boggles my mind even more that Eddie Van Halen has chosen to mount it there for his Fender Wolfgangs.

It makes two-hand tapping a chore.

To me, the IDEAL placement of a pickup selector switch is on a easily accessible slant, like on a Stratocaster or Ibanez RG.

Which puts OEM placement near the rear of the guitars, PRS, Carvin, Les Paul DC, out of the market for me.
 
Re: Why can't I dig on Les Pauls?

9unslin9er said:
I would assume it wasn't actually due to the playability of the SG, but rather the fact it felt like a toy.
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Others say Les used the SG as an excuse to Leave Gibson. He was divorcing Mary Ford and didn't want the Gibson endorsement in the settlement.
 
Re: Why can't I dig on Les Pauls?

I've found Les Pauls to be too bulky, with a neck profile I couldn't get comfortable with......
 
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