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les paul custom 68 reissue


NiceGuyEddie

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Hi,I,m new to this and not sure if this forum is the correct place to post a question or discussion. I was wondering if anyone out there has experienced a dead sounding les paul custom 68 reissue? It is a 2005,and I have the paper coa. for the life of me,I can not figure out why it sounds lifeless. I have quite a few gibsons and I am quite sure it is real. I am not a tech guy,so I am limited to thinking...a) weak or dead pickups B) somebridge or nut deficiency,or could it be possibly tonally dead wood?? It weighs 10.5 lbs. and sounds ok unplugged. although all of my other gibsons sound better acoustically than this piece. I thought about changing out the pickups. Any ideas???

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I have experienced that dead sound at times. I would hope that you have already tried fresh strings. The height of the pickups can make that happen. You might want to pay to have a good setup done on the guitar or try some tests yourself. It is possible that one or both pickups are dead. Test by using your pick to tap on each pickup in each position of the toggle switch and listen through the amp. If both pickups are working then it is more likely that it is just a setup issue. Sometimes if the pickups (the magnets) are too close to the strings it will reduce the string vibration and make it sound lifeless. If the pickups are too far away from the strings it may make them sound weak. With some playing of the pickup height and pole pieces, you will find the sweet spot. Pickups respond differently to different types, brands and size of strings so when you change any of these, the pickups may need some slight adjustment. Start with the neck pickup about 1/16" away from the strings and the bridge pickup about 3/32" away from the strings and fresh strings of the brand and gauge you intend to use.

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Listen to what CR9 said he gave you some good tips. I have a 68 LP myself and I can tell you from experience that adjusting the PUP's can make a world of difference in the tone. When you finally get the adjusted, just by moving the screw height as little as a 1/4 of a turn can change the tone drastically. If that guitar is stock than it has 500K lLinear volume pots and 500k Audio taper tone pots. With modern wiring. I'm not going to get into a big discussion on this subject now, you can find out all you want to know on the Internet. Problem with modern wiring is you loose the treble (brightness) when you turn down the volumes, this will deaden the tone a make the neck PUP sound muddy. If you change the wiring to 50's wiring the treble will not change so you tone stays clear and bright. My guitar is much better now with the changes. I'll post some links for you to check out.

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Listen to what CR9 said he gave you some good tips. I have a 68 LP myself and I can tell you from experience that adjusting the PUP's can make a world of difference in the tone. When you get the adjusted just by moving the height screw as little as a 1/4 of a turn can change the tone drastically. If that guitar is stock than it has 500K lLinear volume pots and 500k Audio taper tone pots. With modern wiring. I'm not going to get into a big discussion on this subject now, you can find out all you want to know on the Internet. Sigh gobs modern wiring you loose the treble (brightness) when you turn down the volumes this will deaden the tone a make the neck PUP sound muddy. If you change the wiring to 50's wiring the treble will not change so you tone stays clear and bright. My guitar is much better now with the changes. I'll post some links for you to check out.

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I have experienced that dead sound at times. I would hope that you have already tried fresh strings. The height of the pickups can make that happen. You might want to pay to have a good setup done on the guitar or try some tests yourself. It is possible that one or both pickups are dead. Test by using your pick to tap on each pickup in each position of the toggle switch and listen through the amp. If both pickups are working then it is more likely that it is just a setup issue. Sometimes if the pickups (the magnets) are too close to the strings it will reduce the string vibration and make it sound lifeless. If the pickups are too far away from the strings it may make them sound weak. With some playing of the pickup height and pole pieces, you will find the sweet spot. Pickups respond differently to different types, brands and size of strings so when you change any of these, the pickups may need some slight adjustment. Start with the neck pickup about 1/16" away from the strings and the bridge pickup about 3/32" away from the strings and fresh strings of the brand and gauge you intend to use.

Thankyou for the advice and the link!

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I have experienced that dead sound at times. I would hope that you have already tried fresh strings. The height of the pickups can make that happen. You might want to pay to have a good setup done on the guitar or try some tests yourself. It is possible that one or both pickups are dead. Test by using your pick to tap on each pickup in each position of the toggle switch and listen through the amp. If both pickups are working then it is more likely that it is just a setup issue. Sometimes if the pickups (the magnets) are too close to the strings it will reduce the string vibration and make it sound lifeless. If the pickups are too far away from the strings it may make them sound weak. With some playing of the pickup height and pole pieces, you will find the sweet spot. Pickups respond differently to different types, brands and size of strings so when you change any of these, the pickups may need some slight adjustment. Start with the neck pickup about 1/16" away from the strings and the bridge pickup about 3/32" away from the strings and fresh strings of the brand and gauge you intend to use.

thanks!

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  • 1 month later...

The real '68 LPC was actually the first Les Paul reissue, along with the '68 P90 Standard. So, the '68 Reissue is a reissue of a reissue. Biggest difference, seems most of the current ones aren't black, whereas virtually all of the original '68s were. Plus, the current ones aren't hobbled with "fretless wonder" frets, which we used to call the "fretless blunder." Nice guitars!

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