Silverbursts

[Bram]

It's possible that the guitar on ebay is a 1985/1986 Silverburst LP Custom since the body/shape looks very much the same like my 1988 LP Standard Silverburst...it also comes with the same Gibson case that I have (blue colored from the inside). My mind is telling you that it's a mid to late 80's. That would be totally awesome...it really looks like it has that great tone.

 

I'd probably pick this 85/86 Silverburst LP Custom over the 79, but that's me. I'm wondering what kind of neck she would have though...maple or mahogany. Mine has a mahogany neck which might contribute a lil bit for the thicker/darker tone.....

[eddie]

Thats nice looking, but some of his info is bogus. They definitely offered the Silverburst after 81. Mine is an 84 and I still have the 1983 Gibson Catalog that I used to decide what I wanted to get and the Silverburst is prominently displayed. Aslo as you can see from the posts here they at least made them into 88.

It looks like it is an 86. They no longer offered the posi-lok strap locks (I love those things) or the speed winders.

I’m not sure when they stopped used the Tim Shaw pickups.

According to the catalog mine has the Mahogany neck, but I never knew how you verify that.

 

Maybe a book is in order (The history of the Silverburst) or at least a web site.

 

-Eddie

[Honkeymofo]

Maybe I'll just buy them both! This 85/86 is sweet though! Man I'm seriously debating about getting them both. It's worth going broke for a month or so to have them both!

 

[Bram]

That would be insane!! The 85/86 LPC Silverburst seems to be in very good shape for its age. If you don't have the cash for these two babies I'd pick the 85/86 over the 79; my two cents!

 

I love 80's Les Pauls.

[Bram]

note: the graphtech nut on the 79 LPC Silverburst is not original.

[eddie]

So i'm real currious now. Who on this thread has the oldest silverburst and what year. Also who has the newest (from the original run starting the late 70's). Brams 88 may be the last year for the original Silverburst.

[Bram]

Eddie:

 

My LP Standard Silverburst is a 'Showcase Edition'; there were only 200 made worldwide back in 1988. The back of the guitar is all black with the Silverburst finish on the maple top. It's still the same, original Silverburst paint as from the older LP Cus-

toms (with the coloring defects).

 

The 1988 LP Standard was the last one with the original burst on the top.

[80LPC]

 

the graphtech nut on the 79 LPC Silverburst is not original.

 

I just zoomed in on the headstock shot. The graphite nut has been badly fitted. There is a big gap as the nut is not long enough. The strings are also too deep in the slots. I am pretty sure that it's been refretted, and they are overlapping the binding. Eddie, to check your neck, remove the truss rod cover, and you will see the unpainted wood.

 

All this talk about these silverbursts has got me intrigued. I'm beginning to wonder..... could they sound better than my 'ordinairy' Custom ?

[Bram]

Great input as always 80LPC!!!

 

I don't know if they'd sound 'better' than your Black Beauty...difficult to say. What is 'better'? Without playing them side by side you won't ever know...

 

The thing is: if you've always loved your LP Custom, than it's probably be a good one (you can trust on that). The maple neck will probably give it a little more edge compared to a mahogany neck (it's subtal, but in the end it's all about these details that make a guitar sound different compared to the other).

 

The Silverburst has a very full, rich, smooth and bassy tone (through any good tube amp), so I don't know in which way it will differ from your ordinairy LP Custom. I don't know your LP Custom; I have to play them both side by side to judge things. One thing I know for sure is they'll will sound (completely) different from each other.

[80LPC]

Thanks Bram, I love all these details and the stories they have ! A comparison would be interesting, but whatever the finish, these are all great guitars !

[Bram]

Ok, here's a little clip I recorded with my cheap digital camera:

 

Sorry for the noise.

 

 

[jameswithesg]

This is one is GASing me hard:

 

 

 

 

.

 

 

my bowels are moving, that is a NICE looking axe

[80LPC]

 

 

my bowels are moving

 

 

Not sure I wanted to read that James....But did it stir your loins ?

 

Bram, tried to open the link but having problem - will try later.

 

Edit :

Just seen your video Bram. Very nice tone ! I have to say first of all I was struck by the quality of the reverb, which has to be a spring unit. The amp reverb coupled with the reflections of the room sound very good. I am envious of this kind of sound because I have to rely on digital reverb. Well the guitar sounds great ! On the neck pickup I could hear shades of Peter Green. Both pickups together give a very similar sound to what I call chicken picken' - I find with my Custom that it can be enhanced with a really clean sound. Your clean sound had a warm character and gave a dreamy feel to your playing. Is this one of your compositions ? I could imagine steady rainfall being added to the background of this theme.

There seemed to be a jump in volume on the bridge pickup. But every setting has good natural sustain. That long sustain blooms into nice feedback when you engage the drive channel. Did the drive channel have a mid boost ?

I think with my amp having such a different character, it might make a comparison difficult, but when I refret the guitar, I will do the same clean / dirty test.

[Bram]

Hi 80LPC,

 

Thanks very, very much for your response. This is one of my personal compositions indeed.

 

The drive channel doesn't have a mid boost!!

[eddie]

Yup, that was very nice indeed.

I recorded a bit too. It's a bit noisy since my laptop makes my guitar hum and I think it made me pound the strings a litte harder to get above the noise.

I didn't think of what I was going to play beforehand, so i'm just noodling around switching between the neck and brige pickup so people can hear what they sound like. You can really hear how the bridge pickup has a TON of bite with a bit of gain.

 

http://www.vmresource.com/_temp/sb_pickup_demo.mp3

[Bram]

That was very nice Eddie! That SB has lots of bite indeed.

 

I'd like to make a demo like yours (mp3), but I only have a cheap digital camera. How did you record it? What do I need to make an mp3 like that (with that same sound quality etc)?

[eddie]

I just used this USB audio input thingy into my laptop. I have had for a long time but that was the first time I tried it out

I just used the windows recorder.

[Bram]

That's great.

 

Anyway, they both sound really different from each other!

[eddie]

Yeah, and I like both. The shaws in mine are probably the big reason it sounds different, but there are a lot of variables. I think yours has more sustain. I think my "Vibrola" eats some of mine, but it's still not too shabby.

 

-Eddie

[Bram]

Eddie:

 

Yes, there are many variables for the different tone/sustain of these beautiful LP's. I just love the LP Silverburst for my pur-

poses, which mainly contain slow jazz/blues or distorted lead (riffing). It doesn't have the ultimate bright neck tone, but that's why there are different guitars for different purposes. So, in the end everything is just fine the way it is. Every guitar has its own personality/character.

 

I have no experiences with Vibrola's, so I can't comment on that part....

 

80LPC:

 

Do you already know how you want the refret on your the LP Custom? Over the binding or not? And yes, you have to play something too when the guitar is finished!!

[Bram]

There seemed to be a jump in volume on the bridge pickup.

 

You were right about that. I always thought the bridge pickup was a tad louder (and a bit overpowering the neck), but I thought the bridge pickup would become far too dark sounding if I'd lower it. I didn't want to raise the neck pickup cause that's the one I LOVE.

 

Anyway, I messed with the bridge pickup and now it's perfect.

[Bram]

Now I only need a Marshall JTM 45. That'd be a classic combination!

 

[80LPC]

I'm sad to say that I could not access Eddie's page for the sound track. Everytime I clicked on the link, I got the message 'can't display webpage'. I hope there will be another opportunity to download the sample. I always find it interesting to listen to any guitar samples whether recorded direct, or through an amp. And I love guitar playing regardless of the style.

Bram, I am still weighing up the pros and cons of fretting the Custom. While thinking about fretting inside the binding, I came up with an idea for a jig to allow me to cut all the frets to exactly the right size. I have seen others do refrets on bound Gibsons (including Dan Erlewine), but I realised there was a better way. Part of me (the player), still wants to take advantage of the wider vibrato possible with the overlapped method.

I realise that it 'cheapens' the look of the guitar, since as far as I know, the correct fretting method has been unique to Gibson. Interesting that in the fake Gary Moore LP thread (it was of course a Les Paul Standard) a few weeks ago, the guitar had been refretted over the binding and no one noticed this - or perhaps they saw it, but thought it looked fine. I also noticed that the binding was splitting in some places due to pressure from the fret tangs which were slightly too long.

The raised celluloid areas of the binding which continue the shape of the frets are called 'nibs'. Once they are removed, there is no going back !

And I don't like removing things which are original design features. You mentioned Bram, about getting used to certain things - in other words working around the fact that the original frets don't encourage wide vibrato. Yes, that's true. All the vibrato movement can take place upwards, rather than a wide action side - to side, like you would get on say a Strat. I will give it more thought, and although I really would like to play the guitar as soon as possible, I can wait a little longer. Just one more point about binding, is that the Custom's binding is slightly thicker than the Standards. So on the Standard you obviously have a little extra room for vibrato.

I listened to an old tape of the Custom where I was comparing the sustain with a guitar that I had made from polypropylene. I was looking for a sample that would be interesting to listen to for uploading. But it is a bit boring !

 

btw, nice to hear you've tweaked and improved the tone a bit more ! I'm going to have to work on a nice, sweet tone to uphold the honour of the Customs !

[Bram]

That sucks 80LPC. I can still listen to Eddie's clip (windows media player). You can hear huge differences between Eddie's SB LPC and my SB LPS. Eddie's Silverburst clearly has more edgy treble bite. I don't know if that's because of the Shaw pickups, the different electronics, the amp or the guitar. There are so many things that can have an influence on the tone. My clip was recorded with a cheap digital camera, Eddie recorded it with an USB audio stick (which is a pretty clean recording, without all the noise from the digital camera).

 

I think that amps can make a huge difference.

 

The Aqua track sounds great 80LPC, any track on that page! Lovely guitar tones. I'm dying to hear your LP Custom.

 

The pickup adjustment on my LP really helped to make the pickup a bit more cleaner (with less output) for a better combina-

tion with the neck pickup. The output, tone and volume are well matched now. My luthier adjusted the pups after the re-

fret and I didn't touch them afterwards. I'm happy I did now (especially based on your comment). So, I want to thank you for that!

[80LPC]

Bram, a digital camera will not be capturing the full tone of your amp, and they don't like high sound levels ! So obviously, your amp would sound amazing with a good mic into a multitrack.

When I've used digital emulators, I always notice a slight muffling of the treble when using humbuckers. For this reason I tend to use single coil guitars instead. I have an old Zoom processor which has an analog pre-amp, and this is my favourite for going direct with HBs.

 

Maybe we could organise a collaboration ? Just record an idea, upload to Rapidshare and send me the link. I download it, put onto multi-track, then add something. Or, vice versa, if you have some form of multi track recorder.