Solid body quandry

[Sheik Yerbouti]

I've got a Dot Studio and a Casino, but I am craving a solid body, I want the sound of Jimmy Page, and Keith Richards, am I dreaming or is there a guitar out there that can do that?

[Biff]

Yes, there is!

 

 

[smokestack]

Depends which Jimmy page era you'e talking about. Page's early stuff was largely a Telecaster...which Keith has been strongly assosciated with for the last 30 odd years.

Since his early work, JP is obviously much more closely assosciated with the Les Paul...which, oddly, was Keith's regular choice in the 60s, when Jimmy had his Tele !

 

So, ermmm I dunno ;^)

 

In all seriousness, the choice of guitar is not so important as its being partnered with a good amp...and being played with the appropriate style and attitude .

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Depends which Jimmy page era you'e talking about. Page's early stuff was largely a Telecaster...which Keith has been strongly assoscaited with for the last 30 odd years.

Since his early work' date=' JP is obviously much more closely assosciated with the Les Paul...which, oddly, was Keith's regular choice in the 60s, when Jimmy had his Tele !

 

So, ermmm I dunno ;^)

 

I all seriousness, the choice of guitar is not so important as its being partnered with a good amp...and being played with the appropriate style and attitude .

[/quote']

 

LOL, thanks. I know it's an odd question. I have the Epi Valve Jr half stack at home, a Zoom II 505 multi effect pedal and that seems to get the job done so far. I think I am just going to have to decide between the tele and the lp... And trying to keep it around 400ish.

[Stewie]

Of course there is. The Gibson Les paul. If you want an Epiphone to get there, the closest thing to a real Gibby is the Elitist. Plus you will need another 200,000 for a double hand transplant!

For about the same price you can get a Gibson Les Paul Studio, and get a little closer.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Another option I was considering was the Rogue HH Ash set neck

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Rogue-HH-Ash-setneck-Electric-Guitar-?sku=511845

Seems to get glowing reviews there and on Harmony Central

[smokestack]

I suppose you really need a Les Paul and a Telecaster. Just like we all do !

You don't have to buy them both at once ;^).

 

Other folks opinions will differ...but I've never been happy with any of the modern designs which claim to offer a bit of everything in the design and spec. They can be extremely versatile instruments... but often fail to really satisfy in any way at all.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Yea, I think that's really the only option and I can get a squier standard tele for ~200 used.

[RotcanX]

Just remember that the Teles Keef uses typically have a humbucking neck pickup. Squier used to offer a guitar like that but I dunno if they still do.

 

As to a Gibson Studio being 'closer' than an Elitist Standard, well, that's going to hinge mostly on the kind of neck profile you're looking for. The Elitist has the thinner neck of the two; Studios tend to have a fat 50s profile. They both come with the same pickups (490R and 498T, although the Epi ones have different names)... and for my money I'd rather have something that looks like a real LP (i.e. a Standard).

[evol04gt]

wow..that rouge is actually gorgeous...the much guard is ALLLLL wrong but man, that thing is SEXY

[Sheik Yerbouti]

And I'm trying to keep this in the 3 - 400 range, so this looks very promising!

http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/msg/609739210.html

Just concerned about the MIM Tele...

[evol04gt]

go to guitarcenter.com search the used gear.... you can get a used mexi tele for 250-300.... the standards have ceramic pick ups and will need swapped out... slap some GFS pick ups and youre good to go... maybe better tuners if you liek to do a lot of bends.... supposesly the newer mexis use the bigger fret wire than the ones in the 90s;. the mexi texas pick ups are sweet too...

 

 

the fit and finish of my usa standards is soooooo nice i am leary to buy another mexi though..... who knows.... i wish i could play one to really see how they stand up to the USAs. they are mass production so they are gonna be about the same from one to the next.

[RotcanX]

maybe better tuners if you liek to do a lot of bends...

 

The tuners on a Standard Series Tele are about the only thing that DOESN'T need replacing. B)

[antwhi2001]

Want a LP and a Tele? No problem. Korean Fender Tele Custom FMT HH. I just bought one. All-mahogany, set neck, contoured body, 2 real USA duncan humbuckers, both splittable with a push/pull pot. In truth, the single coil setting on the bridge pup doesn't quite do that Tele twang. Great build quality though.

 

If you want that Page Led Zep One sound "all" you need is a stock Mexican Tele and a good Fender or Marshall tube amp, cranked up and hot. Nothing else required.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Want a LP and a Tele? No problem. Korean Fender Tele Custom FMT HH. I just bought one. All-mahogany' date=' set neck, contoured body, 2 real USA duncan humbuckers, both splittable with a push/pull pot. In truth, the single coil setting on the bridge pup doesn't quite do that Tele twang. Great build quality though.

 

If you want that Page Led Zep One sound "all" you need is a stock Mexican Tele and a good Fender or Marshall tube amp, cranked up and hot. Nothing else required.

 

[/quote']

 

That fender is way out of my price range but it looks nice. I really think I am going to go with a guitar from Rondo. I have only read really good things from them, very similar it cut and style and alot more guitar for the money.

[bluefoxicy]

I would say try getting a Les Paul and putting a coil tap on BOTH pick-ups. Wire in some 500K pots with push-pulls (say, each for volume) and use them to yank for single coil operation a la Stratocaster or Telecaster (tele has 2 single coils, nice and bright). Throw some 1 meg pots on the tone knobs to give a wider range and let you really turn up the brightness. The Les Paul has a thicker, heavier body that gives a deeper tone and maybe sustain; but you can still make it pretty bright; make sure you get something made of a good wood (not basswood, that kills the highs and lows both! You WANT the highs if you want brightness!), perhaps aim at a Les Paul Studio or a Plus Top?

 

For an amp, I'm looking into running the bitmo trio mod on the new VJ head I just got in my half stack. If you want to try it it's a really nice mod, the samples I've heard sound great but I want a hand on that myself before I give any advice.

[bluefoxicy]

Oh, another good hack. Drop in HIGH output pickups. Do a bypass capacitor on the bridge pickup to let more treble through while dampening the mid/low. Put it on a push-pull knob. Yank the knob.

 

If you want, you can wire two coil taps to one push-pull knob; this is good if you can't find 1M push-pulls for tone and want to coil tap both pickups and keep a push-pull bridge pickup bright bypass.

 

You could also simply coil-tap the neck pickup (to reduce its output) and have the bypass cap circuit also affect the neck pickup when coil tapped (super brighten).

[Sheik Yerbouti]

I would say try getting a Les Paul and putting a coil tap on BOTH pick-ups. Wire in some 500K pots with push-pulls (say' date=' each for volume) and use them to yank for single coil operation a la Stratocaster or Telecaster (tele has 2 single coils, nice and bright). Throw some 1 meg pots on the tone knobs to give a wider range and let you really turn up the brightness. The Les Paul has a thicker, heavier body that gives a deeper tone and maybe sustain; but you can still make it pretty bright; make sure you get something made of a good wood (not basswood, that kills the highs and lows both! You WANT the highs if you want brightness!), perhaps aim at a Les Paul Studio or a Plus Top?

 

For an amp, I'm looking into running the bitmo trio mod on the new VJ head I just got in my half stack. If you want to try it it's a really nice mod, the samples I've heard sound great but I want a hand on that myself before I give any advice.[/quote']

 

Just got back from lunch, test drove a couple used LP's a really nice one from 01, and a not so nice black one with gold trim (not a big fan of gold hardware), and they just felt right.

You are talking WAY over my head with the hardware mods or maybe I'm just not familiar enough with them to understand, I've read alot about people modifying their VJ heads, and that's way over my head as well.

I'll keep digging, but don't want to kill a perfectly good amp that has done me no harm#-o

[bluefoxicy]

Oh, I'll try to explain the electronics and physics.

 

In a guitar, you may have a double or single coil pickup. A double-coil "humbucker" gives a warmer sound; they use two coils in opposite windings so that the signal generated is the same (strings move the same direction across) and doubles in volume BUT signal picked up from EMI (like an antenna!) is of opposite amplitude and thus cancels out. This also attenuates some of the highs; so if you use a single coil, the sound is brighter like a strat or tele. Coil tapping lets you short out (bypass) one coil, making a humbucker a single coil.

 

A volume or tone pot connects part of a signal to ground as wired in a guitar (you can wire it as a variable resistor if you want). Basically, if there's 500k resistance on the circuit and the volume is turned all the way up on a 500k pot, half the signal goes to ground (THROUGH the pot) and half goes out. Same with tone. Using a bigger pot lets you turn the volume UP and get more resistance to ground, so a 1M pot will give you 500k circuit and 1000k to ground, causing 1/3 of the signal to get discarded.

 

A tone pot differs because it uses a bypass capacitor. The capacitor allows signal at certain frequencies to jump across the leads on the pot instead of passing through it, leaving the higher frequencies to go through the pot and get volume adjusted (yeah, that's right, the bass and mid bypasses and you get a volume knob for JUST treble!). Again, bigger pot, more signal you can divert from ground, so a big tone pot lets you give more brightness.

 

Push-pull pots have double-pole double-throw switches on them, you can turn stuff on and off and change complex configurations by pulling the knob. You can for example have it so you pull it out to switch the pickups to single coil operation.

 

Again along the tone pot lines, you can use a filter cap on a bypass to pull in a much darker tone by yanking the knob.

 

The bridge pickup (lower) picks up on highs much more, while the neck pickup picks up on lows a lot more. Making the bridge pickup more powerful, filtering the neck pickup with a bypass on the highs, etc, will get you a brighter tone.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Thank you very much! I'll have to reread that a few times, but I think I get it (sort of). Looking at the bitmo trio mod. Will look into that further. Kinda hesitant about doing that, maybe will find somone more comfortable doing it and see if they're willing to show me how.

[bluefoxicy]

Find a friend who can solder, or pay a tech $50 to do it (yeouch... they'll apply it for like $40 or so if you mail your amp to the tube store I think...)

 

The amp behaves MUCH different with the bitmo mods. I can always buy another head if I want it so I don't have much of a problem throwing the mod on mine (which I'll do soon.. my iron is pretty crap and can't keep solder liquid though, so I need a new one!). Plus the mods are reverseable (but still void your warranty). Be very sure you want to do that before you dive in with an iron! (I bought my amp specifically to do this to it)

 

Besides the $45 bitmo mod, you could look around at the modding stuff and just do the marshallization mods or vox mods or other such things discussed on this forum. Some are cheaper (throwing in a few 50 cent resistors and caps, total cost $5?), some are more expensive. Ask around for opinions.