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Zippydog

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    Les paul special 2023

    in Gibson USA

    Posted

    I own a 2023 Les Paul Special but I don’t have any history playing any other so this is just my personal take.

    The 7.25 lb. slab of mahogany has a lot of resonance when played acoustically. It strums loudly with out too much effort.

    All this translates to pretty awesome sound through my Fender Custom Deluxe Reverb, software or just about any amp.

    And you know what,  for being single coil P90's, there really is hardly any noise more if I’m sitting right up to it with guitar facing the amp but I just turn my back to it and no noise, sound level on 5 even with OCD Pedal activated.

    It’s been a great guitar that I never get tired of playing. In fact the thing inspires me to play more.

     

     

    Poor quality cases

    in Gibson USA

    Posted

    The brown case that came with my ‘22 Les Paul Special is perfect and nicely made in Costa Rica.

    Latches are robust and case covering is flawless.

    Smell inside is awesome

    too!

    I suspect, just like the guitar inside, some will be duds.

    Loud crackling and humming on a brand new 2021 Les Paul Studio

    in Gibson USA

    Posted

    I know this is an old topic but I felt compelled to share my personal story about a guitar with static.

    I purchased a new Original Collection '21 Les Paul Special in June. The LP was beautiful and felt and sounded great. It wasn’t perfect for a new git, it came with lots of light scratches on the back and the gloss nitro had some cloudy portions on the front and had a dent on the top of the neck just below the binding.

    All that minor cosmetic stuff was not an issue. My main beef was that it had horrible horrible static when you ran your fretting hand up and down the neck when playing or just sitting still or if you ran your hand along the back of the body it had some outrageous loud pops that drove me freaking crazy. It wasn’t as bad when played clean, but step on the Overdrive, forget about playing it.

    I tried everything under the sun, in different rooms, various amps, on hardwoods, carpeted, on cement floors outside under humid conditions, sprayed static guard on carpets and chairs nothing worked even the beloved never fail dryer sheet.

    So I contacted Gibson and talked with their tech. He was sympathetic but really had no solution. He said that it could possibly go away in time but could not say when of course. I thought you know, it may never go,away because I had a lovely 2006 Gibson Studio that I sold three years ago that had bad static too but not as much as the LP Special plus,  there are countless stories on every guitar forum that talks about this.

    I really liked this imperfect LP and thought that I would just ignore the bad static, you know just keep playing.
    Last month, I got so pissed about having to deal with the static that I contacted my sales person and asked him what my options were at this point. He asked me to send it back to him. He talked to his tech and said they would shield the cavities for me with copper tape. I was stunned that Gibson would attempt this to solve the issue. I was actually thinking about doing my own shielding, but hey having Gibson do it for me sounded like a good plan so i packed her up and shipped it.

    Two weeks later, he called me and said they were not going to shield it after all. The tech said that my guitar had the worse case of static that he had ever heard and no amount of shielding would ever help. Blamed the problem on a huge static charge that decided to stick like glue during the finishing stage.

    Wow, I was bummed but pressed on.  My salesman said that he could give me a full refund or find me another LP Special. I told him I would think about this.  After a couple of days hashing over whether to keep it or get another, I finally decided to have him find me another one but make sure it’s static free please!

    A week goes by and I get a call that he found another one for me but this would be a ‘22 model. He sent me some pictures and I thought it looked pretty good. It was a nice looking two piece body and had a very dark rosewood fretboard and his tech checked it for static and there was none so I said ok send it. 
    Four days later it arrived.

    Let me say it’s a happy ending.

    This LP Special was flawless and it weighed a nice 8 pounds and it was a super resonant when strummed unplugged which to me was a very good sign. Even the case looked better! Had newer more square heavy duty latches and a locking key.

    When I last spoke to my sales guy to thank him for finding this special Special, he ended our conversation by telling me that my original guitar will be destroyed, turned into firewood was his exact words.

    I'm glad that I decided to swap.  All is good now.

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jx0R4Z1B30zflwz3-Z-_AUf5RBxUfeAX/view?usp=drivesdk

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FJXEF2Cwu_nhHiXfspiHwSz72K67ud2s/view?usp=drivesdk

     

     

     

     

     

    • Like 1

    Gibson NOS LP Special

    in Gibson USA

    Posted

    Hey all,

    You know with the guitar shortages and all, do you think that Gibson should ask retail price for a new 2020 original collection Les Paul Special minus 10%?

    Is this a fair price or should I

    walk away.

     

    Made some improvements to my EL-00

    in Epiphone Acoustics

    Posted

    17 hours ago, QuestionMark said:

    On mine, I left the whole stock pickup mechanism in place, including the piezo thing under the saddle, even though I don’t use it.  I like the way the guitars sound, so I’m not tempted to remove the under saddle thang.  I doubt it has any significant effect on the sound as so many guitars these days have the under saddle piece.  If it was a major issue, we’d have heard of a major amount players constantly complaining,  although I’m sure there are some who feel in principle that it might slightly take away from the sound.   I personally am of the opinion that a tight fitting saddle helps the sound, but by tight fitting I’m referring to how the saddle fits into the two sides of the slot…as sound translates not only from the bottom of the saddle to the guitar but also from the two sides of the saddle to the two sides of the slot to the bridge.   And, if the bottom sits tight against the wire, the wire sits tight against the bottom, so there’s a sound transfer taking place in that tight place.   On one of my square neck resonator guitars, I have a cut sixth string  stuck under the saddle in the bridge to slightly raise the action…that I did about ten years ago as a temporary makeshift way to raise the saddle.  It sounds so good with it under there that it’s still there after all these years.   So I can’t really conceive that a little piezo wire in there can be detrimental to the sound.

    Just my opinion.

     

    QM aka “Jazzman” Jeff

    You’re probably right.

    After all, why would a guitar company that has been making acoustic guitars for 140 years want to hurt sound quality?

    Sometimes I think that I think too much!

    Made some improvements to my EL-00

    in Epiphone Acoustics

    Posted

    Thanks Jazzman,

    Hey, speaking of pick ups, what’s your thoughts on the saddle resting directly on the pickup wire?

    What (if any) does this do to sound thinking in terms of sound resonance?

    Would it make a difference if the saddle was resting directly on the wood bridge?

    I rarely plug in and I’ve been toying with the idea of replacing the saddle (again) with another one taller to compensate for the missing wire.

    Its the thought of the saddle sitting on the wire that makes me wonder.

    Made some improvements to my EL-00

    in Epiphone Acoustics

    Posted

    Hello all, haven’t posted in a while but thought I would comment on a couple of changes I made on my natural finish EL-00 Pro.

    I have been wanting to replace nut, saddle and bridge pins with bone and finally did all at once.

    I messed up my first attempt with the nut and had to purchase another one. The second one turned out well and so did the saddle that I mirrored from the original. I knew I might have an issue with the size of the bridge pins as I did not order make and model specific. They were too thick but that was easily fixed by inserting the pin head into my cordless drill and using some sandpaper to shape the diameter to fit properly. I actually formed each one to fit as the hole diameters were not uniform. This worked out great!

    At the same time I took care of the fretboard with some mineral oil and polished all frets using my favorite metal polish Simichrome.

    I'm here to tell you all that if you have not made this exchange, you should. My EL-00 sounded good as stock. With the bones added, it sounds way more lively. The mids are rounder and the lower strings sound deeper.

    I swear it was such a noticeable change, I keep finding spare time to play it. Feels and sounds like a different acoustic.

    Surprisingly, the action and relief did not have to be touched. I worked real hard at setting the string height properly at the nut and the results were positive.

    Now, it is possible that the last change I made,  going from stock 12 ga. strings to 13 ga. may have resulted in the biggest change in sound, but I don’t care. I really enjoyed making these modifications and I think that everything done resulted in a successful project.

     

    Dove pro in white

    in Epiphone Acoustics

    Posted

    3 hours ago, QuestionMark said:

    No clue how many were made, but it is a really great sounding, great playing, high quality, and great looking guitar.  Far exceeded my expectations.   I notice a number of other manufacturers (Including Fender and PRS) are now putting out a very similar natural finish mahogany 00 shaped guitar.  I haven’t played those, but they look similar.  Makes me wonder if they are from the same Indonesia factory.  They also have higher prices than when Epiphone did their limited model a few years, ago.   

    My EL-00 Pro Natural Mahogony Limited Edition has become one of my favorite guitars!

     

    QM aka “Jazzman” Jeff


     

     

     

     

    It is a great little guitar and I don’t think a lot were purchased in the US maybe in other countries?

    When I looked into buying one in late 2015, my local Guitar Center was able to locate just one and it was the only one so I ordered it.

    When I got it,  I was pretty amazed at the quality of the build. The only thing I have done to it is replace the saddle and nut with bone versions, de-glossed the finish to satin and swapped the pick guard to an ivory color to match the binding.

    OP, I would love to see a picture of your white Dove Pro if that is possible.

     

    Dove pro in white

    in Epiphone Acoustics

    Posted

    On 9/13/2020 at 4:58 PM, Ceptorman said:
    On 9/12/2020 at 6:57 PM, QuestionMark said:

    I would think it means it’s not part of their regularly scheduled annual production run guitar models that are widely available.  But,  rather a one time production run of a guitar model with limited distribution until they are sold out.  For example.  I have an Epiphone EL-00 Pro guitar that has been in regular production for a number of years with a solid spruce top with a vintage sunburst finish on its top and dark mahogany sides.  It was widely available at numerous stores and if a store didn’t have one, they could order one from Epiphone.  Or, I could just go to a different store and find the same guitar.  I also have a Limited Run Epiphone EL-00 Pro solid mahogony top  guitar with a natural mahogony finish on its top and sides.  The limited run version was a small special run version that was not widely available at all stores and when it’s special small run was sold out, unlike its regular run solid spruce  top and sunburst version, it could not just be re-ordered by a store from Epiphone. And, not all different stores had them.  In the situation of the  EL-00 Pro Mahogony Limited Run Mahogony finish, it was also stamped/decalled Limited Run on the back of its neck and on the inside label.  The stamp/decal on the back of the neck, resembles Gibson’s Custom Shop stamp/decal except it says Limited Run.  (Which is kind of cool).  So, the description basically means it’s not one of Epiphone’s standard annually scheduled production guitars, but a special limited run version.  I am not sure there are any other hard and fast guidelines, although maybe someone else is aware of some.  I suspect, because of the similarity of the stamp/decal on the back of the neck, it’s Epiphone’s version of Gibson’s Custom Shop. Meaning it’s a special limited manufacturing run one way or another, that differs from its standard run.   It’s a marketing ploy for sure, but since the limited editions are basically different someway than the standard versions  and built in a limited and smaller quantity than the standard versions, and once they are sold, they are gone, it makes the guitar kind of unique/special and harder to find.      I know in the case of my EL-00 Pro Limited Edition Mahogony guitar, it has a similar shape and similar feel as my standard spruce top EL-00 Pro, but yet has its own feel and sound that differs from the standard model.  Plus, it weighs a couple of pounds more than the standard model, I assume because of its different wood.  (It’s neck may also be ever so slightly thicker than the standard model, although that one I am still on the fence/undecided about.)

    That’s my take on it.

    QM aka “Jazzman” Jeff

     

     

    Hey JJ,

    I have the same Ltd. Edition EL-00 Pro in natural finish as well.

    Do you have any idea how many were made?

    I love that little guitar.

    Shielding control cover?

    in Gibson USA

    Posted

    I put copper tape on the back of my 2019 LP Jr. Tribute and cut the little static pops I had.  I did not try to run a fancy ground connection either, just taped as much as I could.

    Phones (think wifi and BT) in pockets and playing right up against the amp is not helpful either.

    P90’s in a Les Paul Special I

    in Epiphone Electrics

    Posted

    There are two P90’s in my LP yet I only see one black and one white wire  coming from the hole leading to my control cavity.

    Is one wire a neck and the other the bridge? Which is which?

    Anybody ever take one or both soap bars out?  What do the wires look like  coming out of the  pickups?

    I’m about to replace a bad selector switch.

    Thanks

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