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In Praise of the LP Studio


SteveFord

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That is a nice looking combo with the P90 and humbucker.

 

Now I'm confused - I read on the internet that pointers were known "tone suckers" but here I'm being told that there's some variation???

 

Binding and beautiful tops are great but these really are Gibson's best bang for the buck guitars. They weigh a ton and there's that killer plastic tone vibe thing going on (let's not forget the tuners, gen-u-wine plastic buttons!) - a stroke of genius!

 

Take that, Fender!

 

"Well, Virginia, if you read it on the internet...it MUST be so!" (Apologies to the writers of "Yes Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus")

 

On pointers; pointers, being metallic, ONLY interfere with magnetic gauss WHEN they align directly with magnetic north WHILE AT THE SAME TIME being aligned with the 'north' pole of the treble pickup! (As the pointers are too far away from the bridge pup, the bridge pup does not come into play. It should be noted ERIC JOHNSON believes both pups play a role in this...)When this happens, unwanted overtones occur as a 'north-to-north magnetic field occurs. NOTE: During a particular Isle of Wight concert back in the late 60s, BBC radio transmissions could be heard while bands were performing. Most thought it was due to the amplifiers transformers acting as an antenna. WRONG! It was the pointers on vintage guitars!

 

How to avoid this, you ask? SIMPLE! Go to Home Depot (or your fav local gun store) and purchase a small compass. Glue it to the TOP of your guitar's edge (oriented as you hold it; many make the mistake of mounting it to the bottom- makes it hard to read). THEN, after determining which side of your Treble pickup's magnet is north, avoid standing in that direction!

 

Don't bother thanking me! I'm glad to serve!

 

Brian

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Hello Capmaster!

 

It's an often overlooked factor of TONE.

 

I have reflector knobs on all my Les Pauls. It enhances the sustain, as they reflect and project the tone.

 

My L6S has black speed knobs. They, - being black - absorb the waves, thus making the instrument darker sounding. But it's OK on an all-maple guitar.

 

[wink]

 

Best wishes... Bence

Hello Bence,

 

you make me consider the golden speed knobs and the pointers below are part of the aggressive sound and the richness in overtones of my LP Traditional. I always thought it was just a result of massive body and short-tenon late 50's neck - am I wrong?

 

[rolleyes]

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Hello Bence,

 

you make me consider the golden speed knobs and the pointers below are part of the aggressive sound and the richness in overtones of my LP Traditional. I always thought it was just a result of massive body and short-tenon late 50's neck - am I wrong?

 

[rolleyes]

 

I'm not Bence but It sure seems that way. The general consensus appears to be the aggressive sound is due to the metal pointers and the richness in overtones is directly attributable to the plastic golden speed knobs - the vintage hue gives it that Bluesbreaker TONE we all aspire to.

 

If you have some black witch hats lying around, could you put them on and see what you get? I'm thinking the sound just goes to Blah if not Meh. There's a good reason they were discontinued.

 

For those who were there, did you ever notice that after Pete Townsend smashed a guitar to bits there was always this one skinny little guy scrambling around collecting the rolling plastic TONE knobs before they got lost in the crowd?

 

There's more to this subject than the average man in the street would ever dream of.

 

 

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...

 

If you have some black witch hats lying around, could you put them on and see what you get? I'm thinking the sound just goes to Blah if not Meh. There's a good reason they were discontinued.

 

...

There are a dozen of them black witch hats mounted stock to those three of my SGs which were made in 2013. What should I say - these guitars sound fantastic, so the knobs obviously are matching them nicely. [biggrin]

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I usually keep mine hidden in a closet just for that very reason.

 

Let's see if the new avatar and signature line works.

 

Nope. Maybe it takes a while to update the avatar.

 

Enough silliness with Gibson and their period correct plastics.

 

 

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Hello Capmaster!

 

It's an often overlooked factor of TONE.

 

I have reflector knobs on all my Les Pauls. It enhances the sustain, as they reflect and project the tone.

 

My L6S has black speed knobs. They, - being black - absorb the waves, thus making the instrument darker sounding. But it's OK on an all-maple guitar.

 

[wink]

 

Best wishes... Bence

Reflector knobs? Hah! Everyone knows that it's really the the binding on the the proper LP's that corral and concentrate the vibration thereby enhancing sustain, not pointers or knobs. That's why a Studio without binding will not sustain as long. [flapper]

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A little sleuthing turned up this dead giveaway as to why the plastic knobs give you such fantastic TONE:

 

tone_zpsuuaglhvy.jpg

Well done, Capmaster!

 

Or should we call you "Tonemaster"?

Well, details can make a difference. Look at these witch hat knobs on a Gibson Don Felder doubleneck and note they write "VOLUME" out in full like on my SGs:

 

Hardware-Control-Knobs-jpg.aspx?width=300&height=200

 

 

Fender, however, say 1 to 10 instead of 0 to 10, and abbreviate to "VOL.", probably without considering the effect on sonic results: [rolleyes]

 

fender-tele-72-custom-de-luxe-witch-hat-knob-set-4pcs-005-4521-049-1028-p[ekm]288x188[ekm].jpg

 

;)

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so, like if you only wanted to have your tone set at 0.5 - i.e very bassy but with a hint of treble in the mix, you couldn't do that on a Fender?? - no wonder they are so unpopular and no-one ever copies their designs. Thanks Gibson for looking after us so well [thumbup]

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Not so fast - it's not the plastic TONE knobs, it's the plastic TONE binding?

 

This casts things in a totally different light. Looks like it's back to the fireplace for ye olde Studio. I will save the speed knobs, just in case.

 

 

Fender, please. Leo Fender didn't know beans when it came time to buying plastic. Jimi Hendrix had to use a half dozen Marshalls just to get them to sound halfway decent and if you read his lips when he was setting one on fire, he was mumbling, "Cheap plastic just about ruined my show, I'm gonna burn your a$s".

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btoth76,

 

I wonder what would happen if you put on the plastic Snow Tire Speed Knobs and shifted your plastic TONE gearshift into low?

 

It's also all mounted on that big plastic Tone plate - is it possible to have too much of a good thing? I've never seen a Marshall actually catch fire before.

 

 

 

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Please also note the white dots acting as metal-free pointers. :)

 

They did not call him The Wizard of Waukegan for nothing, ya know.

 

You'll also note that there's no tone sucking brass truss rod cover, either. Genuine plastic.

 

Now you know why BB King was always fiddling with his TONE knobs - he was trying to compensate for that flashy brass truss rod cover.

 

Looks over TONE? I think not!

 

recording_zpsc2j6nmpf.jpg

 

Good

 

 

bb_zpsojqs9vzm.jpg\

 

Fail

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I am simply in love with my 2015 Studio... Desert Sunburst... It's just a beautiful guitar to look at, and it feels so right in my hands. I still love my American Stratocaster, but the more I play the Les Paul, the closer we get... I just want to play it all the time!

 

post-73678-067325100 1441138806_thumb.jpg

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