I think my Les Paul is a dud

Bman said:
@Randall d Thanks for the rabbit hole you sent me down :oops:

I'm on the Warmouth site and OMG the options! I can't do an old up beater with these selections. There's too many cool things to choose. First, I gotta figure out the wood for the body. Gut reaction was mahogany with a maple top, but most strats were made with ash, I believe.... I'll have to google that.

For the electronics, would it be stupid to go with, say a Thornbucker in the bridge and then something like a '65 single coil in middle and neck? I wanna go from Van Halen to SRV with a sweep of the selector blade. I'm also thinking of only one tone knob and two volume controls. The 2nd dedicated to the neck. But I'm torn because I also want some buttery leads out of the neck, which would simply require a hotter boost or stacked boost pedals for my Axe3 to juice up the low output. My whole thing is clean to mean with the knobs.

I've definitely gone off the reservation with this... I should probably get back to work.
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Here is the thing: I have never kept the stock pickups in a guitar, so the pickups that come with a guitar are just a waste of money to me. Many times I end up replacing a lot of the hardware too, as stock hardware is just meh (so more wasted money). So, why not just start from scratch and build your own and get exactly what you want (with premium quality). And you can get SS frets this way that will save you an expensive refret in the future.

Here are my recommendations that I think are pretty solid:
Compound radius neck
SS frets. I like the SS6150 frets (medium jumbo)
Roasted Maple neck (fretboard of your choice). Vintage Modern construction. You don't need to put any finish on these. When they roast it the neck caramelizes and protects the wood. There is nothing like playing a raw wood neck. It is like butter.

Body wood: How fancy do you want to go? I am a pretty big fan of swamp ash for the main body, but I am more into Fender sounds than Gibson. If you want a warm/fat sound you might want to go with mahogany. I like the snap and clarity of swamp ash, but my P90 Tele is koa top on mahogany and it sounds great. There is a lot of info about the relative tones of different woods on their site, but the reality is that each piece of wood has its own tone. You never know exactly how it will sound until you get it and try it. But their wood is all very high quality.

Pickups: I really like the Thornbuckers (I just have the standard Thornbucker bridge in the bridge position since I really don't like higher output pickups, and the Thornbucker Plus is higher output than the standard one). I really like the HSS configuration for a really versatile instrument. So if you go that route, do you need noiseless singes? I do, and I like Kinmans, but they are expensive. I also like the DiMarzio '54 Pro noiseless singles to mix with a HB since they are a little higher output than the Area 58's. They are much easier to get and lower cost.

It is a lot of fun to put one of these together, and it is easy if you are handy at all with tools, and are able to solder (or willing to learn via a youtube video). It only takes a couple hours or so for me to build one, so not a big time commitment. I also have some hardware recommendations (especially bridges regarding the string spacing), but I will save those for another post if you are actually interested in doing this. I can tell you you won't be sorry if you do.
 
@Randall d
I'll PM you if I move forward. Your post above basically covers exactly what I'm after. It appears we have the same taste. Right now I'm playing one of these: https://www.charvel.com/gear/series/usa-select/charvel-usa-select-so-cal-style-1-hss-fr/2836203739

It's a joy to play, but the single knob is dumb and I don't like the Super Distortion choice for the pickup. I don't know how a JB or Duncan Distortion would sound in it because of the wood. But I do like the single coils in it. They are DiMarzio® HS-2™ DP116. The setup on the 5 way selector is great too. I don't get any hum on the neck p/u but do get some in the 2nd, 3rd & 4th positions. I think the thing I like the most out of that pickup is it's low output, so I'm open to other options.

But basically if I build one, it will be close to this model with the added knobs and additional features. Do you have a pic of your HSS? Or did you already post it?

I found my same Les Paul on Reverb listed at $2949, except mine is much better shape: https://reverb.com/item/32692321-gi...th-case-custom-shop-guitar-of-the-month-model

I'd be happy with $2K.... It leaves me wondering if these guitars of the week will eventually have some collector's value to it. Meh...what am I thinking...lol. It's not like I'm counting on it this thing to put my kids through college.
 
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If I find a guitar that has a "dead zone" on the neck, I look at what I can do to change the bridge and tailpiece. Change it to something different.

If it has an ABR-, put on a TonePros version of the Nashville bridge. Or vice versa. Change the tailpiece to a lightweight one, or if it's already lightweight, change to a standard heavy one.

I've found that this can change the behavior of dead spots on the neck a lot more than I might have imagined.

And the same goes for the tuning machines. Let me be totally honest: I have a passionate hatred for Grover tuning machines. I consider them to be the bottom of the barrel among "quality" brands. I have my reasons. Finding more than one brand new one, in the box, that had never had its body tapped to accept the threaded bushing certainly is high on the list of reasons. Grovers are heavy, too.

Changing the mass at the headstock can greatly affect dead spots on the neck, too. So I'd try swapping tuners for ones that are also different in their weight. (Any excuse to yank off the Grovers and put on Schallers is justified according to me.)
 
Super Distortion, JB and Duncan Distortion pickups are all high output HB's. I really don't care for them personally, and they don't mix as well with a SC to my ears. Too big of a contrast in output and focus (plus high output pickups are much more compressed to my ears). My HSS guitar is not a Warmoth. It is a Melancon Classic Artist that I bought before I ever owned any Warmoths. It has a Thornbucker Bridge, and two Kinman Texas Jalapenos in it. But keep in mind that Warmoths are not good investment instruments. They tend to go down in value as opposed to increasing. That is true of any partscaster. They are for playing, not collecting.

If you decide to go that route please PM me so I can potentially save you making a mistake (like I did) on the bridge choice regarding string spacing.
 
skunc said:
the 50s wiring has more to do with the volume and tone interaction. I use that wiring almost exclusively. I use the tone wiring on teles and Strats, sounds much better.
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50s wiring also makes the tone control response change quite a bit as the volume setting changes, as the series resistance between tone control and pickup when rolling volume down really damps the interaction between the tone cap and the pickup, even with the tone control all the way down.
 
Joe Bfstplk said:
50s wiring also makes the tone control response change quite a bit as the volume setting changes, as the series resistance between tone control and pickup when rolling volume down really damps the interaction between the tone cap and the pickup, even with the tone control all the way down.
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I tried 50's wiring because I was told that's what was needed to clean up the gain using the volume knob on a LP. That turned out to be fruitless. I switched the pots TWICE!! No clean. Lastly, I put in a StewMac treble bleed on the bridge volume. After much searching, I found out why my old Ibanez RG from 1987 cleaned up so well. They are made with treble bleeds. So after watching an Andy Timmons video, I ordered a handful of the same type and had one installed in my new Charvel because I couldn't get it to clean up well either. It was muddy. Installed the treble bleed and wow that made that guitar so usable and versatile. It will be mandatory for me. Anyway I go it installed on the Les Paul and it cleaned up OK...but way down at vol level 2.5 or so. The pickups are just too hot.

But I'm so over that LP now. I just watched Neil Schon's video where he's playing a wall of Friedmans and has this awesome looking Fender with a sustainer and Floyd. Beautiful guitar. But I like the old tone from his old Strat's neck p/u for 'Feeling that Way' better. That was such a cool tone..... I totally digressed.
 
I plugged the LP in today and turned it up and enjoyed it. I think the dead spots that I imagine on the neck aren't there when amplified. It's a chambered body and really light. Not your typical Les Paul. But I really enjoyed the clarity of the pickups and the responsiveness of the ebony neck. It really 'snaps' for lack of a better word.

I still don't quite get the Tele sound your supposed be able to dial in using the two pickups. Can someone explain that to me?
 
Bman said:
I plugged the LP in today and turned it up and enjoyed it. I think the dead spots that I imagine on the neck aren't there when amplified. It's a chambered body and really light. Not your typical Les Paul. But I really enjoyed the clarity of the pickups and the responsiveness of the ebony neck. It really 'snaps' for lack of a better word.

I still don't quite get the Tele sound your supposed be able to dial in using the two pickups. Can someone explain that to me?
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Putting both pickups, neck volume at around 7-9 or so, bridge volume full up, and going through a bright clean amp ought to get you close with any decent vintage-output pickups.

I can get it with the series parallel switches set to parallel for the neck pickup and series for the bridge and all knobs full up on my SE 245. The slight imbalance of pickup outputs is part of the sound....
 
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