Mat_G Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Hey Gibson community! This is officially my first post! B) I just got my first Les Paul a couple of week ago. It's an Epiphone Standard Plus Top 2008. Truly beautiful guitar. I'm really impressed with the finish and built quality of this guitar. It's got a real mojo to it! I've had only Fender guitar in the past and I really find my comfort zone with a Telecaster in my hand. That being said, I've been playing with this guitar a lot since I have it. :P But, I had some issue with it as well. It didn't stay in tune even after a complet setup. I've been maintaining my guitars for years and I'm really comfortable adjusting the neck, the intonation and the action of my guitars. So, even after I spent some time on fine tuning the thing, it was still not in tune after a couple of minutes playing with it. I finally decided to put some "Lip Sticks" in the nut slots and saddles and "voilà"! Tuning problems gone. The second problem (and the biggest) is that it doesn't sound really good. When unplugged, this guitar have an incredible mojo but when I plug it in my Vox Ac15, it's dead. It looses all it's life once it's plug into an amp. Kinda odd for an "Electric" guitar! I checked the wiring and found out it was not wired properly. The tone capacitors where not at the right place. I corrected it but still, no life... Another thing is that the volume and tone control does not react the way I'm use to with my Telecaster. I play with the tone knobs a lot to get the right tone for whatever I'm playing and it just doesn't sound right. Maybe it's the LP tone knob sound but I don't like it. The volume knob does not react react really good as well. Again, it might be that I'm not use to it... So, I had to make a decision: Do I love this guitar enough to put a fair amount of money on it for some upgrade or should I just get rid of it? The mojo made a point so I decided to keep i even though I will never get my money back if I decide to sell it someday which is not likely to happen because Iike it! Anyway, I already decided to get a set of Dimarzio PAF Master pickups. Now, I want to change all the pots, caps, wires, switch, well all the electronics. What is your experience with that? I've been thinking getting a wiring kit from Stewmac or BCS. Switchcraft selector and input jack? Gold or nickel plated? Wire? Any advice? Thanks!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Hello Mat, and welcome here. Sorry that your Epiphone Les Paul doesn't feel right for you. In the following I will try to enlighten some of the characteristics a bit. Other than Fender and Squier, Gibson and Epiphone use 300 kOhms linear taper volume pots on most guitars, not audio taper. Exceptions are, beside others, all guitars with push/pull or push/push volume pots stock - they obviously don't make them with linear taper, so these instruments come with 500 kOhms audio taper as volume pots, too. Any tone control will work accordingly to the properties of the pickup(s) it is connected to. Since the resonance frequency of the Gibson and Epiphone humbuckers is somewhat lower than that of a Fender Telecaster featuring two single coil pickups, the roll-off is a different one, regardless of the used capacitor within most of the control range. I'm not sure what you mean when you say the tone capacitors were not at the right place... Could you describe it a little? I never experienced this with the several dozens of guitars and basses owned by my pals and me. When about pots, switches and jack, using a contact cleaner could be useful. A Fender Telecaster - I guess yours has single coils - is in stark contrast to a Les Paul with humbuckers. While the Tele has a thin, trebly, twangy sound, a Les Paul's tone is fat as fat can so to say. That's exactly how I use these guitars - I have some of both, Fender Teles and LPs made by Gibson and Epiphone as well. Finally, I don't think the pickups are the culprits. There may be some which are closer to your taste, but I think you should give experimenting with your settings a try. A Les Paul guitar will always be a beast very different from a Telecaster, although there are some specific, less typical models of them both which may come closer to each other. What Vox AC15 model do you use exactly? Does it have a Top Boost channel with its three-band tone control? If not, remember that Brian May permanently uses an external treble booster when blowing his Red Special through his vintage Vox AC30s. Hope this helps... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mat_G Posted March 24, 2015 Author Share Posted March 24, 2015 Thanks! I knew pots were 500K but I actually didn't realize what was the "Sound" difference between 250K and 500K pots. It's probably the explanation here. For the capacitors, it was wired between the middle contact and the pots body and then a mother wire to the volume pots. It might not be wrong but I didn't find wiring scheme with that kind of wiring. So, I just removed the ground connection from the caps. Honestly, it made no difference so I'm not sure it actually changed anything... Any thought on Capacitors tye? For the pickups, I bought this guitar for the exact same reason you described about tonal difference between Telecaster with single coil and LP with humbucker. I just couldn't find any height adjustment or tone position that make those pickup live, especially the neck pickup. My AC15 is the C1 version. I use both Normal and Top Boost channel, sometime both together at the same time to get the perfect balance between a pure and clean glassy tone and a little bit of dirt when the string are hit a little harder. Your comment is really appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Well, each tone cap must have two connections, either between the pot's hot and center legs or between center leg and ground, that's how they are made to work correctly. My guess is that the considerably higher output level of the humbuckers overdrives your amp with the volume pots fully cranked up. I suggest you try the amp settings you use for your Tele with the Les Paul's volumes turned down. In case they are linear which I guess, you may try 2 or 3, and with audio tapered ones around 7. It should be possible to get a fairly clean tone this way. Then I recommend to start experimenting with the amp settings. Pickup height will affect level in first order. Although the natural distortion of any pickup will increase with decreasing space to the strings, the output level is what makes the amp input stage distort. Vox amps have rather sensitive input stages. This is why I believe lowering the volume settings on your Les Paul may be helpful. Neck pickups may put out lows overly. The basically fat tone of a Les Paul may fuel it even more. Humbuckers of same make have a slimmer tone in an SG. In general, I adjust the neck pickup height so that it's about the same as that of the bridge pickup when the strings are fretted at the 22nd fret. Hope this helps, and keep posting here. Soon I will go to bed, but I will reply some 14 or 16 hours later. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 ... It's an Epiphone Standard Plus Top 2008. Truly beautiful guitar. I'm really impressed with the finish and built quality of this guitar. It's got a real mojo to it! ... Well, I forgot to mention one thing: Post pics of this beauty, please... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Ahem... Seems I can't sleep now. I got into this topic before: http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/120732-yes-close-to-the-edge/page__view__findpost__p__1642800 ... and now I hear since about two hours this one over and over again - it reminds me of my teenage years... EDIT: since three hours meanwhile - seems I'm addicted to this song Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.