jakatone Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 greetings how would i brighten the sound of my studio VM? lacking o a maple top doesn´t really help.i heard that putting in stronger tone-volume potentiometers could do the trick,is that true? also,which brand do you reccomend...or maybe changing the pickups....i was actually thinking to swirch to p 90´s......any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deftone Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Try the 496R/500T...they're a lot brighter than the standard 490R/498T p'ups I'm guessing your VM came with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ES345 Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Jakatone, what pups are in the VM? check the discussion on the different pups that gibson makes, on their gear page, it will give you an idea what to expect. the maple top does brighten the sound, and deftone indicated that you have 490 and 498, i have them in a HR fusion and i think they are in the BB king i have, they are smokey pups and in those guitars sound very good. you didn't say the type music you play the re above indicated to try the 496 and 500, they are both hot pups and too muddy for me, so be careful not to waste any money. the 57 classic is a full range pup, used by gibson on all of their higher end guitars, archtops, 335's etc. i put these in a lp classic with great results for me. you might also get a guitar like yours and try it at a gc store with various pedals, treble boosters etc. my point is try before you buy if possible. maybe a few others with your guitar will post, so this is a good start for your research. peace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakatone Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 Try the 496R/500T...they're a lot brighter than the standard 490R/498T p'ups I'm guessing your VM came with. actually,the VM came with burstbucker pros....like in the new standards...i think that a good equalization pedal or a treble booster would do the trick...i read somewhere that installing a 1 Meg pots should also help.....and i know a good luthier who would retop my LP for a reasonable price.....what do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I have VM too jackatone and also have to tweak things around to get more treble. Let us know the results if you do decide to re-top it. I actually have thought about adding a true hammered copper top to mine, I am sure a metal top would definitely brighten things up and a sheet of copper would definitely be easy to work with for a crafty smith. My VM is the brown version so the copper would match perfectly. I have seen high End Les Pauls with metal tops. If you search "les paul engraved" on musicians friend you will see what I mean. Some have aluminum tops... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakatone Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 I have VM too jackatone and also have to tweak things around to get more treble. Let us know the results if you do decide to re-top it. I actually have thought about adding a true hammered copper top to mine' date=' I am sure a metal top would definitely brighten things up and a sheet of copper would definitely be easy to work with for a crafty smith. My VM is the brown version so the copper would match perfectly. I have seen high End Les Pauls with metal tops. If you search "les paul engraved" on musicians friend you will see what I mean. Some have aluminum tops... [/quote'] stiffhand i have just been to MF,the engraved LP´s look really nice,but i was thinking about the classic flame maple.that´s where all the fun is,modding your guitar to suit you best.but you are right about the color,my VM is also in worn brown so i really don´t know how would the flame maple look....especially if i want a sunburst or something.i did however once saw a LP custom,the top was pitch black,but the sides and back were natural mahogany,and it looked amazing.i´ll definetly keep you posted when the retoping starts.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harmonicchaos Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 wow i didn't know you could recap a guitar i feel really stupid! how much does it cost (for regular wood) because i have a dent i just can't get over on the top of my vm. it's probably too much for my budget but i thought i'd ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oyster Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I bet a Dimebucker and some Dean Markley "Blue Steel's" would brighten up the tone!! Blue Steels alone will brighten the whole thing up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I actually like the stock pickups, I get a lot of sunds I like out of them probelm is the spectrum of sounds is just not all that great. Hey harmonicchaos I don't know how bad the dent you have is but I am freakin' moose and I have dented the heck out of my VM (ironically in trying to be careful). If the wood fibers in the dent are not broken you can put a drop of water in a way that the water sits on the dent and repeat the process until the wood soaks it up and expands back to its original shape. I have done this several times with my VM with decent success. All of the dents on my VM are where the binding would be, weird, I bet if I buy a les paul with binding I would put dents somewhere else... you know 'cause I am freakin' moose... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harmonicchaos Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 wow stiffhand it's the exact same thing with me. same spot except the wood fibers in mine are broken and my dent extends almost to the pickups. the dent looks suspiciously like someone (*cough* my sister *cough*) might have skimmed it with a dull stick. i'm very careful with my guitar and stuff still happens! Thanks for the tip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harmonicchaos Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 btw i'm trying to "water-fill" my vm and it seems like it's going to work well! thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Yea, it does work most of the time. I am going to create a new post just in case somebody does no know this trick... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakatone Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 i don´t know the exact price of the re-toping,but i read somewhere that gibson does it for a huge amount of money,around a couple of thousand dollars.it´s really not that complicated,the biggest problem is to get the old top out.other than that you just need a fine piece of wood and a luthier....i think that my re-toping should be around 200 dollars.you can find a lot of stuff on re-toping on ed roman´s page,just ignore the BS and get the facts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
led floyd9 Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I bet a Dimebucker and some Dean Markley "Blue Steel's" would brighten up the tone!! Blue Steels alone will brighten the whole thing up. I bet a Dimebucker could brighten up your whole house! Dimebuckers are great for really heavy metal, like Dime's (RIP), but I've never heard of a Dimebucker on a Les Paul... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingarmadillo Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Back to the original question, the cheapest route would be some sort of EQ pedal, the next change the pups (P94's maybe? or the 496R/500T combo). Retopping would be way expensive on a VM. Ed Roman's site listed $1250 to retop an LP. My luthier is very reasonable and charges $65/hour for custom work. I talked to him about refinishing my VM one time and he figures that it would be at least 8 hours of work to strip the guitar and put a proper new finish on it. I'll bet it would take at least 4 more hours to pull the old top and glue the new one. That's about $800 labor plus the cost of materials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakatone Posted February 6, 2008 Author Share Posted February 6, 2008 Back to the original question' date=' the cheapest route would be some sort of EQ pedal, the next change the pups (P94's maybe? or the 496R/500T combo). Retopping would be way expensive on a VM. Ed Roman's site listed $1250 to retop an LP. My luthier is very reasonable and charges $65/hour for custom work. I talked to him about refinishing my VM one time and he figures that it would be at least 8 hours of work to strip the guitar and put a proper new finish on it. I'll bet it would take at least 4 more hours to pull the old top and glue the new one. That's about $800 labor plus the cost of materials.[/quote'] i thought about changing the pickups,but i think that 496-500 combo is way to hot for the style i play,which is classic rock-blues type of music.i think that the pups are fine,a EQ pedal would indeed be good.and as re-toping is concerned,i live in europe and that stuff is a bit cheaper here.plus the luthier i know would only charge me for the materials,we´re like really good friends,i even thought about working with him,building guitars,awesome job:) so,anyway i think it would be worth it....but the best start i think is changing the tubes in my hot rod deluxe.i´ll have to do it eventually,maybe i´l get some good results with a gibson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raptor Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 If you want to brighten the tone of your guitar, you could try putting in a slightly larger tone pot, you don't need 1 Meg, I think Gibson USA are normally about 300K now, so try a 500K or 750K, too large can adversely affect your tone too. You could also switch out your caps, try a smaller value, and even a different type of cap. Switch from the ceramic cap to a mylar or foil cap. No need to go switching pickups, installing a copper top, or re-topping. I had to check on something to be sure, but you can add what is called a treble bleed cap to the volume pot. This will reduce muddiness and keep the pickup brighter as you roll off volume, but may not brighten the 'max volume' tone enough for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakatone Posted February 8, 2008 Author Share Posted February 8, 2008 If you want to brighten the tone of your guitar' date=' you could try putting in a slightly larger tone pot, you don't need 1 Meg, I think Gibson USA are normally about 300K now, so try a 500K or 750K, too large can adversely affect your tone too. You could also switch out your caps, try a smaller value, and even a different type of cap. Switch from the ceramic cap to a mylar or foil cap. No need to go switching pickups, installing a copper top, or re-topping. I had to check on something to be sure, but you can add what is called a treble bleed cap to the volume pot. This will reduce muddiness and keep the pickup brighter as you roll off volume, but may not brighten the 'max volume' tone enough for you.[/quote'] hey raptor,thanks,i thought that changing the pots and caps should do the trick,cause i´m kind of freaked out about re-toping....it sounds like surgery:) can you advice me on which brand puts i should buy,and do i change volume,tone or both.....oh,and do "caps" actually mean....english is not my maternal language so i miss a word here and there:) but it´s way better than your croatian8-[ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raptor Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 For pots, you can use almost any quality pot. CTS is the only brand name I know of, but try All Parts, or StewMac. 500K pots would be sufficient, I recommend audio taper pots, and just the tone pots should make soe difference. The caps are short for capacitors. Sprague orange drops, Sprague black beauties, Hoveland, bumble bee (not a brand but a nickname for them) are a few caps you could look for Anything from about 10nF (nano Farads) to 470pF (micro farads). The most common values used are probably in the 220-470pF range. I wouldn't go above about 520pF. Get a couple of different ones and experiment with them until you find what you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 how would i brighten the sound of my studio VM? ......any thoughts? Try turning the treble knob on your amp up, and the bass knob down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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