Rabs
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Posts posted by Rabs
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As well as smart phones (I cant imagine growing up with one of those) and tablets and all that.. They have some of the coolest toys ever....
While I do think they are cool I know too well if I bought one id use it once or twice and then it would go in the cupboard.... (I guess that's just growing up?) ... But when I imagine what I would have done for a toy like that as a youngster im kinda jealous I didn't have anything like that. (for me it was mainly lego :))
But how cool is this (I bet the prices will be crazy though)
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First question, very low output? I would never have called these low output, rather perfect output. Compared to EMG, they provide the big picture, the amps behave properly whereby the volume can have an effect on gain. Roll back to reduce it and crank it up as desired.
Nothing like a strat. Nothing. Strats and Teles have their own ballpark and a semi-hollow Gibson has a better chance of getting close. 2014 LPTrad Ocean Blue w/59T's sounds like the iconic guitar recorded time and time again. It sounds like a killer LP.
The pickup output is more for controlling gain, the volume and tone knobs, the neck pickup are mixed in (middle position) and gives the players a wide variety of tonal options. It is bright on the bridge pickup, heavy gain when cranked. Back it off to 8 and it changes it completely, add in 10% of the neck and it cuts the gain back, 20% neck and its same gain, but slightly warmer, 50% neck is warmer still, 100% neck&bridge is very full sounding.
I say this having played all HSS guitars for 20+ years, never understanding how useful 2 humbuckers can be for carving tones. The LP Trad Ocean Blue w/59T's is an animal, born as a Les Paul and it won't let you forget it.
If Gibson ever read any comments, it was buyers who advised Gibson that the Traditional, in fact should BE traditional. The 50s neck, radical sounds, no weight relief. A 120th Ann inlay is on the 12th fret and this drove all those same people crazy, not to mention the Blue color. But 2015 was a massive departure from traditional, and who knows where 2016 will take us.
Excellent description man
![[thumbup]](//content.invisioncic.com/p286412/emoticons/default_msp_thumbup.gif)
Plus you can also get stuff like woman tone as demonstrated by Eric (2 mins in)
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I'm pretty sure my copy has a one piece back.
rct
I hope its stuck down with hide glue... molecular authentic hide glue of course
![[rolleyes]](//content.invisioncic.com/p286412/emoticons/default_msp_rolleyes.gif)
;)
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Hello!
Before swapping out pickups, try new caps instead.
You might be surprised and pleased! Not to mention, it's much cheaper than new pickups.
I have got these in my 2011 Classic Custom:
Cheers... Bence
Lol.. Hey Bence, so did they come with a flux capacitor powered by plutonium? ;)
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Hello and welcome....
Nice.. I started my Gibson life with a 92/93 studio just like that :)
(that I actually bought in 92/93)And you probably have the 490R and 498T...
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I just watched that video... and DAMN!!! if that's what we can expect from G-Force then I think we all have the right to moan about it..
I certainly don't want Gibson to fail in any way shape or form...
As for the robo tuners, well you can always take them off.. so whatever....
But the neck changes... I just cant fathom...
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Yes.. very interesting.. Thanks for the post
I had heard about him breaking his arm and having it set in his playing position but never knew why...
Now aint that a man !! :)
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I'm unsure what you mean by an 08 if it's a 2011 year.
If made in August of 2011 it shouldn't be much different than most any 2011.
Personally I think 2011 was a very good year for Les Pauls. I wanted to buy very badly that year but just didn't have the $$ to spend...
I've still never bought a new Gibson guitar but I've bought 2 real Gibson Les Pauls since. One in 2012 and another in 2013. They were used; a 2000 and a 2004 respectively...
2011 was a very good year though from my recollection...
I have the exact same model and year....
The 2008 Standard came with certain features that were for that model only.... (it was one of the years they tried something different)... Its a chambered model (even though you cant tell by the weight, they feel solid), also with Burstbucker Pro pickups and with locking bridge and tailpiece and locking tuners and a locking input socket... and a 60s asymmetrical neck (oh and I think it may have been the first Standard with the PCB control boards).
And yes they made them for a few years which is why you find them up to 2011 (I was told to fill back orders)....
And to the OP, I think my 08 Standard is an amazing guitar... I love it just as much as my 2002 Classic.... But has a nice mellow sound compared to that guitar so gives me a nice range of sounds... This is mine :) (I changed all the plastic bits to black and gave it a blank truss rod cover)
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Are you positive?
Lol.. no.. I answered this quickly as I went out...
But I thought most of the traditional models were solid from 2013.. but I could be way wrong :unsure: (either way, if its a nice guitar, who cares ;))
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REAL nice guitar.. and yes it means full solid body
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I use CTS pots.. they are great
Heres an explanation that I think pretty much cover it all
http://www.axesrus.co.uk/Medium-Shaft-CTS-Pots-p/ctslog59.htm
CTS pots have been found on most high end guitars over the years, and for the most part, are still seen to this day.
The main aspect of all CTS pots is that they’re made in the exact same way as they always have been, so if you’re looking for that vintage tone, these should do the trick. This tried and tested design, with very few mechanical components has created an absolute classic guitar part – the simple, rugged design has means that CTS pots offer unrivalled reliability, with many of the original examples still going strong after nearly 60 years.
From a player’s perspective, your average CTS pots will have a much firmer action thanks to the old fashioned design which utilises non-degrading grease under the wiper blade – this ultimately means that a CTS pot will take the occasional accident knock and not spin off under its own weight.
Shaft style
The shaft is the protruding, rotating part of the pot which will eventually be covered by a knob.
In a move away from the modular designs you normally see with electronic components, CTS developed 2 styles of “shaft” on their pots. This has a direct influence on which knobs can accommodate which pots.
The first model CTS employed used a solid shaft – fairly easy to spot, it is literally a solid lump of brass of polished zinc, with a smooth outer edge and a diameter of about 6.3mm or ¼”. These most commonly turn up on guitars with set screw mountings on the knobs. Normally, you’ll find the suitable knob will have a grub screw to hold it in place against the solid shaft.
A later model has come to be known as a “split shaft” – again, it’s all in the name – it will either be a knurled (toothed) edged piece of brass or zinc, with a large split down the middle and a diameter of 5.9mm. These turn up almost exclusively on guitars with push on knobs – it’s very common to see the suitable knobs have no visible means of fixing, but an internal knurling that will mesh with the toothed edge of the shaft.
Taper - Logarithmic or Linear?
Taper is simply a technical term for how a pot moves from 1-10, or from 0-100%, depending on how you think of it. Different tapers have different roles within the guitar, and in most cases, they’re interchangeable to give varying results.
Linear pots give a true representation of the output, (so 1 on the dial is 10% of the output, 5 is 50% and 10 is 100%). For this reason you’ll find them used all over the place, (rightly or wrongly) doing a variety of jobs,
Logarithmic pots are a little bit more specialised. They offer very narrow control range. Electrically speaking, by running though 1 – 6 on the dial, you cover 0% - 15% on the output, then tracking from 6 – 10 covers a much larger range from 15% - 100%.
Probably the easiest way to explain the whys and what for’s, is to break down the pots into real life situations you’ll find in your guitar.
Volume control
Linear
As a volume control, you’ll mostly find linear pots on Import guitars. In this case, a true representation of output lends itself really well to bedroom playing. It’s purely aimed at a target market looking to keep the guitar quiet and controllable, hitting low volumes during practise. They also turn up fairly often on bass guitars with 2 pickups, but no switching – giving the player a fairly easy to follow blending system.
Logarithmic
You’ll mostly find logarithmic pots on higher end instruments acting as the volume – in these cases the guitar is obviously targeted at gigging musicians. The guitars never going to be played quiet for extended periods so a log pot actually gives a nice “sweep” at the top end which lends itself to moving through different volumes whilst playing (moving from 10 to 8 on the dial will pretty much half the volume). This gives a great effect when used in combination with true amp overdrive.
Relation to our hearing
Obviously if you play on 10 constantly, it’s not going to make much difference; the arguments only really start when you’re changing volume.
The main point to take into consideration is that the human ear works on a logarithmic scale. So whilst moving through volumes during playing, it pays to try to match the way the ear works. The problems start when you consider that our hearing is far superior to anything electrical, so the “curve” of a log pots output never really matches up perfectly, so although the sweep feels more natural, it’s still not perfect. Speaking personally, I try not to think of the curve as matching our hearing, instead I think of it as a “sensitive” control that allows better control at high volumes through less movement.
The pitfalls
The downfall of this “theory” is that it flags up the log pots main cause of concern. Most of the numbers on the dial (1-6) only give access to a very low output. This leads us back to the way the ear works – you can hear a pin drop just as well as you can hear a jet engine, the ear should be able to pick out the lower volume sound the same way it picks the higher volume, and your brain should tell you it’s quieter.
Unfortunately, it’s not that clear cut, and this isn’t a perfect world, and although some people can either live with this feature (even use it to their advantage), others find the lower volume settings next to useless and the sudden drop off (usually between 6 and 7) quite annoying (some describe it as acting as a kill switch – basically muting the guitar)
So linear volume?
On the back of this – the linear pot seems the natural solution, but as with most things, it just isn’t that simple. Although the linear pot is great for low volume playing, and it’s easy to see where you are etc – they sweep in a way that isn’t conducive to human hearing. It sounds like its jumps from one setting to the next, and the ear finds it rather unnatural.
But not all is lost
Fortunately, “sweeping” from low volume to high volume still sounds perfectly fine on a log pot, but moving around at low volumes is still something that’s never been quite perfected as yet. Luckily, it’s not something most of us do.
In Conclusion
In closing on the volume topic – if you like making use of volume control whilst playing, then logarithmic control is probably your best bet thanks to the more natural curve of the output, but if you’re looking for a straight forward control solution at set volumes, where dial position represents the output, then linear pots are a great solution.
Tone
The tone pot on most guitars is a fairly neglected control nowadays sadly. The tone of any given pickup at anything less than 9 seems somewhat muddy and woolly, so more often than not the tone pot is stuck on 10 and left there.
In our experience, most complaints with pots come purely from the control that the stock tone pot is offering to the player.
The reason seems to be that most tone pots (contrary to popular belief oddly) in any production guitar will in fact be a Logarithmic taper. This will make it behave exactly the same as the volume control (at least to our ears).
As we discovered earlier, a Log pot will have most of its control at the higher end of its sweep – which works absolutely fine for volume control – however, with a tone control, when you’re making a “selection” – it leaves a little to be desired, purely because each setting is not equal to the ear.
Some people are absolutely fine with this setup, and will use the tone pot to make minute tweaks in the higher numbers.
An alternative would be to use a linear taper pot rather than the standard Log version – this will give you much more accurate control over the tone of your pickups.
Resistance
Potentiometers, in the most basic of terms, are variable resistors – and whilst not strictly true – if you think that when they are resisting at 100% they are letting nothing through, and when they are not resisting anything, they are letting everything through – you know about as much as most people will ever need to.
250K or 500K?
As a very quick rule of thumb, its 250ks for single coils and 500ks for anything that’s either noise cancelling or humbucking.
The logic behind it is no great secret – as any pickup gets hotter (which will be caused by a rise in impedance and inductance) it also becomes darker (warmth and darkness are two sides of the same coin in reality, but how we perceive it is a matter of personal taste – one man’s mud is another man's hot!)
Because humbuckers are, in essence, 2 single coils, wired in series, they are normally hotter, so to keep them balanced, need brightening up just a little bit to make them appealing to the ear.
What happens when you mix?
When you’re running a Humbucker in the same guitar as a Single Coil, you normally will only have access to one master volume unfortunately. This is probably the most important pot in the circuit when it comes to the resistance, so you’ll normally find that it’s a compromise when it comes to which value to pick.
Within the industry, you’ll find preference is always given to the Humbucker and a 500k pot will be used, but in home builds and modifications, its completely down to you player.
When testing, we’ve found that 250k will suit a single coil perfectly, so it’s ideal for single coils and lipsticks giving that beautiful, chiming, chirpy, soulful twang that you typically associate with single coil guitars. Humbuckers became very “warm” with a lot of the definition lacking in the top end.
With a 500k pot, the humbuckers absolutely shined, it was bright, spanky, clear, with a nice definition in the bottom end as well as the top, which gave the impression of a depth in the tone.. Single coils by comparison sounded very shrill, with a very weak bottom end. Not without its charm, but certainly not that USA 50s and 60s rock tone, much closer to the 70s and 80s metal and rock tones.
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Yup... WE DEMAND PICS!! or it didn't happen :P :)
(but seriously, an old one like that would be of much interest around here
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You got skills and passion, and that's always a thrill to see
Thank you sir.. I appreciate the comments
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and clark, what an excellent band you have.
Cheers..
And yes, obviously I did my research when I took this job on and they really are a great Beatles cover band they go the whole hog with the detail the go into... How many of them go this far to learn the sitar :)
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Wow,, me too. Somehow I lost track of this thread. Looking at the dates though it was still summer and I was camping every chance
I got so my internet was limited.
At any rate,,,, Great job Rabs. It takes some giant kahonees to take someone elses guitar and do a project like that with it.
You did a fantastic job. Good on ya..
Oh,, and I love this pic,,, nothing says "I'm British" like a nice basket of tea cups.
But what the hell are you doing with a bag full of teddy bears?
![[flapper]](//content.invisioncic.com/p286412/emoticons/default_msp_flapper.gif)
Haha... Thanks guys for the compliments.. it was a great job to get and really great to do... I still don't have the footage of it playing through an amp (ahhhemmmmmm !! ;)) but if I do get it I will still make a full video as theres LOADS more pics and detail than shown in this thread.
Id be lying if I said that it didn't phase me when I was starting to work on it, the first cut when I made the pickup cavity was REALLY nerve racking (as you say its not my guitar) but after that I was fine (like playing the first song at a gig) :)
And the T-Cups and teddy bears... Ha... they are there as I am working in my parents garage which is just full of crap that my mum collects (to my dads great displeasure). My parents used to own a commercial catering equipment company so we have LOADS of crystal glasses and china that my mums been hoarding over the years.. My dad and I are trying to empty it bit by bit lol
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With the success that they've had with the Inspired By John Lennon Casinos it would be a good move if they were affordable. The JL Junior is extortionate...
That is true.. signature models do tend to be a bit on the expensive side.. I cant remember if it was the Clapton or Page model LP but the VOS Aged version I think was like £25,000.. The crazy thing is that they all seem to sell out.
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Nice work!
Now watch… Gibson will announce the release of the new limited edition "John Lennon New York City Les Paul Junior" next month!
Actually in thinking about it what would be REALLY cool is if Gibson did another run and offered the guitar in all three finshes (sunburst, natural and cherry red)... now THAT would be cool :)
(or of course anyone wanting one can always just come to me :P :))
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Nice work!
Now watch… Gibson will announce the release of the new limited edition "John Lennon New York City Les Paul Junior" next month!
![[lol]](//content.invisioncic.com/p286412/emoticons/default_msp_lol.gif)
thankshaha.. and yes, well.. at least all you guys will know about it if that happens ;) I think thatd be awesome if they did do that (obviously id want my commission ;) :P ) lol
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Still recovering from a mammoth week of gigs, drinking, lack of sleep etc...
Firstly, thanks to Rabs for taking on this project. His perfectionism and attention to detail made him the perfect man for the job and I can say that the guitar itself is perfect! Lovely personality and pleasure to meet. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend his skills and couldn't be happier with my guitar!
Secondly, thanks for all the kind words RE the band. We have a FB page too: http://www.facebook.com/thembeatles
Thank you for that. It was a total pleasure
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Rabs, that turned out really cool!
Cheers man.. I guess im going to have to get used to parting with guitars that I work on lol.. I really wanted to keep it ;)
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Nice work Sir! That came out fantastic! It's a dead ringer for the custom shop guitar!
[thumbup]Thanks man, that means a lot coming from someone who pays as much attention to detail as you do
:)I may have to make one of these for myself one day.. It really was that nice and the sound was something else.. I cant wait to get that footage and hear it again :)
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Hey troll bucket, this thread his about the guitar.
+1 rabs! great job
Thanks man...
And well this thread is kind of about Them Beatles too as the whole reason I did this was because they want all of the details to be right when they play so Clark wanted a guitar that was as close as possible..
The whole crux if this project was really getting that pickup all flush, like ive seen people do that mod where theres just a gap at the top of the pickup or where they have made a bigger pickguard and just mounted the pickup to that.. But Clark wanted it done properly so it looked as authentic as possible :) which is admirable that they care that much.
![[thumbup]](http://content.invisioncic.com/p286412/emoticons/default_msp_thumbup.gif)
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thanks
Kids today have the coolest toys
in The Gibson Lounge
Posted
Yeah I agree.. BUT what I meant by growing up is that I know from experience that they are just novelty items (like a plasma ball or something)... and for £129 :o that's an expensive novelty :)
For kids id imagine they would be amazing toys with weeks or years of fun but I well know that I will get bored with it really quickly....
Like I got one of those mini helicopter things several years back which I always wanted as a kid (I never had a remote controlled car or anything that cool).. and it is cool BUT the issue is you have to charge it for like over an hour to get about 10-15 mins use before the batteries run out.. and it didn't take long before I just couldn't be bothered to charge it.. So it just sits there gathering dust...