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Finish a Les Paul BFG?


skunk123454321

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lol dont laugh at me when i was comparing my 2006 les paul bfg to a 1958 les paul standard, but im guessing you can tell which one i liked more, i was wondering how i could get a more clear tone out of my bfg, as unfortunately i dont have 12500$ at my disposal. i enjoy the bfg's roughness in sound, but im asking if there is any way to improve my guitars quality without buying a new guitar alltogether, would switching up the pickups in it help me with this?, and if so what pickups do you guys suggest to get that really mellow but growly blues tone of the 58' im looking for one of my pickups to be able to own the blues, while the other to get more of a bright zeppelin ala over the hills and far away tone

 

another thing is, how hard would it be for me to varnish my bfg, to get the nice finished look of a standard, i want to keep my neck the same as it is beautiful, but i want to get the glossy finish of a standard, and i was hoping that is attainable somehow

 

thank you.

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lol dont laugh at me when i was comparing my 2006 les paul bfg to a 1958 les paul standard' date=' but im guessing you can tell which one i liked more, i was wondering how i could get a more clear tone out of my bfg, as unfortunately i dont have 12500$ at my disposal. i enjoy the bfg's roughness in sound, but im asking if there is any way to improve my guitars quality without buying a new guitar alltogether, would switching up the pickups in it help me with this?, and if so what pickups do you guys suggest to get that really mellow but growly blues tone of the 58' im looking for one of my pickups to be able to own the blues, while the other to get more of a bright zeppelin ala over the hills and far away tone

 

another thing is, how hard would it be for me to varnish my bfg, to get the nice finished look of a standard, i want to keep my neck the same as it is beautiful, but i want to get the glossy finish of a standard, and i was hoping that is attainable somehow

 

thank you.[/quote']

If you have around 2900 at your disposal you could buy a 58 Reissue brand new.

 

If you are doing it yourself, have no experience in these matters, then I wouldn't attempt it.

 

You could have it done by a experienced luthier however.

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I really like BFGs but it sounds like you bought the wrong guitar for what you want.

Improving your guitar - if I were you, I'd start with just the pots & caps.

500K pots & Luxe Bumblebees from RS Guitarworks. They're in the US.

If that doesn't do the trick, then start looking at swapping the pickups.

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I wouldn't mind having a BFG if it were bound, and had trapazoidal inlays.

 

I have a slight obsession with binding. Especially on Les Pauls.

 

If I didn't have that ( the slight obsession), I would most probably buy the Gary Moore BFG. I like the idea of having a P-90 and burstbucker in one guitar. And if you add a piezo bridge and coil tapping then that would be like the most versatile guitar ever.

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I think the BFG's are sick guitars. Almost bought one at the 12th fret....but it was the amber one....and i really wanted the black. Sounds kinda silly..as i'm a newbie too....but have ya tried messing around with ur amp settings? volume or control knobs...you can get all kinds of sounds just from that without spending any cash. What kinda amp are you using?

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man... thats wack i bought an amber one from the 12th fret, toronto right?, in the first little tryout room thing? probably about mid july, anyway can some one let me know what you guys were talking about here, maybe if you could tell me what they would change and how they would change the guitar? 500K pots & Luxe Bumblebees, piezo bridge, and coil tapping. and also im getting a buzz off of my high e-string due to the little thing the string rests on, on or before the bridge, i noticed this because the little groove that it sets in is not a smooth groove, and vibrates the string weirdly giving an annoying buzz, how would i go about fixing this, or ordering a new little string-resting-on thing?

 

thanks

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man... thats wack i bought an amber one from the 12th fret' date=' toronto right?, in the first little tryout room thing? probably about mid july, anyway can some one let me know what you guys were talking about here, maybe if you could tell me what they would change and how they would change the guitar? 500K pots & Luxe Bumblebees, piezo bridge, and coil tapping. and also im getting a buzz off of my high e-string due to the little thing the string rests on, on or before the bridge, i noticed this because the little groove that it sets in is not a smooth groove, and vibrates the string weirdly giving an annoying buzz, how would i go about fixing this, or ordering a new little string-resting-on thing?

 

thanks[/quote']

 

Coil tapping is a type of wiring that splits the coils, so you can get both a humbucker sound and a single coil sound from one pickup.

Piezo bridge, is one made by LR Baggs or Fishman or somebody, and a couple of others which when installed, and activated, will give a more acoustic sound from your electric, as the piezo elements in the bridge, pick up the string vibrations.

 

The 500k pots and Luxe Bumblebees, I'm not too familiar with but I'm pretty sure that Are Nine can help there.

 

Buzzing can be caused by the neck relief ( how straight it is) or as you said a poorly cut saddle aka string resting on thing. It could also be the intonation, where you adjust the saddle, ( when intonation is set the string will play in tune all the way down the fretboard. You can check intonation using a chromatic tuner.

 

You tune the string to standard tuning. Pluck it open and ensure it is in tune. Then fret the string at the twelfth fret and either lengthen the string or shorten the string depending on whether the note is flat or sharp.

 

Some one else will have to fill in the part about moving the saddle, because I always mix up the direction in which to move it if the note is flat or sharp.

 

*EDIT. There are many wiring diagrams that show how to wire a guitar for coil tapping and for the installation of a Piezo. To install coiltapping, you will need a push pull pot. check stewmac.com under wiring, everything is there.

 

I believe that, a member here, bryvincent, has a fishman installed, so if you post a thread about it you will get help, or you can email CS at Fishman, they were helpful to me as were the stewmac people, they sell the LR BAGGS bridge.

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Why would you tap a P-90?

 

I can't remember who it was but someone on the forum did a complete refinish on a BFG and if I recall it was very nice, anyone remember who it was that did it?

 

They made a black high gloss finished BFG Studio with Trap inlay's it was the Guitar of the week #25 here's a picture of mine.

 

th_IMG_1763.jpg

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Why would you tap a P-90?

 

I can't remember who it was but someone on the forum did a complete refinish on a BFG and if I recall it was very nice' date=' anyone remember who it was that did it?

 

They made a black high gloss finished BFG Studio with Trap inlay's it was the Guitar of the week #25 here's a picture of mine.

 

th_IMG_1763.jpg

 

 

Basically a regular studio with a different pickup configuration?

 

And I meant tap the burstbucker. =D>

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true, I will think about tapping the burstbucker, but how about installing pickuup covers on my BFG? I brought it into my local music shop, and the dude there said that even though he didnt have much experience in doing such a thing, he thought it would be impossible to install a pickup cover on the neckpickup, because there is no brace to install it or something, where it would be possible on the bridge one, because there is??? no idea what that meant anyone helping would be appreciated.

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There's lots of pickup options, but it's still kind of going to sound like what it sounds like ...a Les Paul. As far as the finish, I never could understand that BFG. All you really need is a good palm sander and some time. What's the worst thing that could happen? You can't make those BFGs' look any worse. If you totally f#*% it up then you can get the LP you really wanted.

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I really like BFGs but it sounds like you bought the wrong guitar for what you want.

Improving your guitar - if I were you' date=' I'd start with just the pots & caps.

500K pots & Luxe Bumblebees from RS Guitarworks. They're in the US.

If that doesn't do the trick, then start looking at swapping the pickups.[/quote']

 

Ya but didn't you Sell the one you Had?

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