Profound Les Paul revelation

Ben Randolph

Power User
I bought a nice '06 Les Paul R8 a couple of years ago. Nice instrument, but a tad on the dark side. I just chalked it up to having a darker Paul and EQ'd the amp accordingly.

My teacher recently suggested I try a Pigtail bridge assembly. It sounded great in his R8. He bought a real '59 bridge, so was selling the Pigtail.

I went to check out the Pigtail. When we pulled the bridge off my Les Paul, we found that some knucklehead put on a Tone Pro AVR-2. Sucked the life out of the guitar. Seriously, who does this to a Custom Shop Les Paul? I can't imagine it was any better (and probably worse) than the stock Gibson bridge. I imagine some knucklehead who owned it years ago read on some forum that the Tone Pro was an "upgrade".

Whatever.

I bought the Pigtail bridge. Pricey, but good lord it puts the life back in. I feel like I'm hearing my LP for the first time.
 
The Pigtail stuff is great! When I sent my R0 to Historic Makeovers, I went with Pigtail stoptail, bridge, studs, bushings, and thumbwheels......top notch all the way!
 
I’ve put great parts on poor guitars and they still sounded poor. I’ve had great sounding guitars with stock hardware that sounded great, and when I upgraded parts it still sounded great, but no better.

There are pretty diminishing returns in a lot of upgrade parts IMO. Not saying they aren’t worth it, but they aren’t magic.

I see too many people throw a ton of money at high end bridges, high mass trem blocks etc, and put them on poor guitars and expect miracles.

Again, not saying better parts don’t help, I like aluminum TP’s in all my LP’s as much as the next guy, but the after market industry is largely built more on perception, placebo and mojo, than it is on quantifiable measures.

Had a buddy who did lots of aftermarket car mods and he’d tell me how negible so many performance parts were over stock, such as a low flow muffler. Even more so if the heads, cat etc weren’t changed. But guys would buy a $500 “performance” muffler and go away thriller at how much more power their car was making, even if dyno tests revealed it lost some. Just the nature of the thing.

As such, I’ve always been very skeptical anytime techs tried to get me to upgrade to different saddles, $30 paper in oil caps, special wiring and leads etc
 
Good replies from everyone. Yes, lots of snake oil in the guitar world. Even if it's a well-made upgrade part, it doesn't mean it'll work well with your particular guitar. Just like the TonePro really didn't work with my Les Paul. The Pigtail did, and it's staying in.
 
I have tone pros bridges and locking tailpiece studs on all of my les pauls. There was zero tone difference. I put them on strictly because I wanted everything locked in place, makes it much easier when working on them not having to worry about my action going all out of whack, or my tail peice sliding off and slamming into the body. Strictly a functional upgrade. When I wanted to make my les Paul brighter I put in 550k pots, and it opened up the top end a lot.
 
I agree that you can “upgrade” a guitar right out of being good, which is what the OP was saying likely happened here. I have also had a bridge with one dead saddle in it (no idea what could make that happen, but you couldn’t miss that clunk) that made a great playing guitar no fun to play. A new bridge transformed the playing experience there too. I totally get what the OP is saying. I’m glad he found his fix.
 
When I wanted to make my les Paul brighter I put in 550k pots, and it opened up the top end a lot.

I've done that to both my 87 LPC and 2010 Goldtop. I used 550k, +/-5% audio taper pots. It makes a world of difference, it's like taking a blanket off the guitar. I always keep all the original pots so it doesn't hurt the future value of the guitar.

To the best of my knowledge, the vintage LP's used 500k pots and for some reason, in the 80's and beyond, Gibson started using 300k pots in the LP's.
 
I thought Tone Pro's was the proverbial bees knees. Personally I don't understand why most people swap pickups, bridges, screws, etc. If your logic holds true, why would anyone swap pickups out of a stock Gibson? should be the best no?
 
I thought Tone Pro's was the proverbial bees knees. Personally I don't understand why most people swap pickups, bridges, screws, etc. If your logic holds true, why would anyone swap pickups out of a stock Gibson? should be the best no?
preference
 
I just removed some pickups and a bridge that looks like it belongs on a Harley - both very expensive - from a Rickenbacker 4003 bass, and replaced with the stock items. The pickups have been touted as the best available, as has the bridge. Result? It's better stock! (IMHO)
Thanks
Pauly
 
For one with a dark LP, this is holding my interest. But it kind of feels like shopping NOS tubes...largely snake oil, or they just don't make any difference in my situation.

Not sure it's worth throwing money down that hole. But I probably will anyway...
 
My rule of thumb is, if it's a cheap guitar, then it's no surprise if it is made with cheaper parts that could use upgrading. I do think a "cheap" guitar can be a money-pit, in that all the upgraded parts in the world won't make it something it's not. That's like taking a POS '94 Honda Civic and pouring thousands into it, only to have it smoked by an off-the-lot new Camaro.

That said, if I'm buying a Custom Shop instrument, I expect it to be totally "ready" off the rack. I expect it to have great pickups, immaculate fretwork, great finish, no-expense spared bridge materials. I shouldn't feel the need to "upgrade" it unless I just want to (for instance, maybe down the road I'd like to try a different flavor of pickups).
 
This caught my interest too. I have a Les Paul that's beautiful and I've been trying so hard to like it for years, but it remains too dark and muddy and lifeless for me. I've swapped pickups but didn't think about bridge hardware or trying higher value pots (500k stock now). I'm more of a single coil guy so I've started to assume this is just what Les Pauls are supposed to sound like. It does sound pretty good through a bright trebly cranked Marshall, but that's not usually my thing, and I'd like to be able to switch back to a Strat without taking the proverbial ice-pick to the ears.

I think I'm gonna try 550k pots next.
 
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