My new 74'/75' Les Paul Special

soma89 · Post by **soma89** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 7:58 pm

Hello everyone,

About a week ago i picked up this really cool 1974/1975 Gibson les paul special. The bridge used to have a humbucker and neck had a stacked p90 but i swapped them out and put in the original p90 pickups. The guitar bridge pickup has a ring on it to cover the humbucker hole and the neck just has a ring to match the bridge. The guitar sounds AWESOME.....really really good. It's exactly what i'm looking for tonewise at the moment. And should go well with the BSM Fuzzbender I just bought off ebay (chyeah).

Yes, I sold my Coronado to help me pay this but the Coronado just wasn't providing what i wanted soundwise. Also, all the things my Coronado was good at, my silvertone 1457 does just a tad better. I'll always have a soft spot for Coronado's though, theyre really awesome.

Back to the guitar, I was thinking of getting a pickguard custom shaped to fit the guitar so it'll cover the hole in the bridge, instead of using the rings. (example; http://www.capsulemusic.com/retail/detail.asp?ID=3404 ) I think the double cuts have these kind of pickguards.It's going to cost me,though, and the rings do the job well so i don't know what i'm gunna do. Any comments on that?

Fibus · Post by **Fibus** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 8:22 pm

It looks fantastic and i bet it sounds as good as it looks!

Will · Post by **Will** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 8:50 pm

Do you have a coping/scroll saw and some patience? Pickguards are reasonably easy to make.

soma89 · Post by **soma89** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 8:56 pm

DuoSonicBoy wrote:Do you have a coping/scroll saw and some patience? Pickguards are reasonably easy to make.

I still gotta think about it, I don't mind the rings.

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:08 pm

don't worry about the guard, show that beautiful wood finish

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:35 am

Ouch @ the all-too-familiar pickup selector damage, but the guitar is pretty close to perfect looking. I always like those conversion rings when I see 'em, teh Malkmus has a goldtop LP with p-90's retrofitted as such.

Reece · Post by **Reece** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:44 am

Not normally a les paul fan but this one looks balls out. I like LPs when they look like workhorses. Bet it sounds awesome.

soma89 · Post by **soma89** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:05 am

paul_ wrote:Ouch @ the all-too-familiar pickup selector damage, but the guitar is pretty close to perfect looking. I always like those conversion rings when I see 'em, teh Malkmus has a goldtop LP with p-90's retrofitted as such.

Ya is the pickup selector damage common? Why does it happen?

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:30 am

That's one of the few Les Pauls that look appealing to me, very nice.

soma89 · Post by **soma89** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 4:35 am

Richard wrote:That's one of the few Les Pauls that look appealing to me, very nice.

Thanks a lot. I never liked les pauls either (well the ones with humbuckers) probably because i remember a lot of my friends having or wanting them and i always tried to be the "different one". I tried this guitar at a store only cuz it was like $999 Canadian and it looked really cool. I quickly fell inlove with its tone and decided to buy it. When i added the original p90s the guitar's tone just got that much better.

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 4:58 am

I want something with P90s, they're lovely. I'd leave the pickup rings, they look awesome.

soma89 · Post by **soma89** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:12 am

Richard wrote:I want something with P90s, they're lovely. I'd leave the pickup rings, they look awesome.

Hey man try out some Reverend guitars. Their P90 guitars are awesome and have great prices! When i recover from the blow that my les paul gave my bank account, i might think of buying one myself too.

You could also get something like this http://cgi.ebay.com/vintage-gibson-sg-I ... dZViewItem and stick some p90's on it which would be pretty cool.

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:27 am

I dig the pickup rings. lookz kool.

Also, I've been bonering over the reverends for a while. probably a volcano.

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:30 am

soma89 wrote:
Richard wrote:I want something with P90s, they're lovely. I'd leave the pickup rings, they look awesome.
You could also get something like this http://cgi.ebay.com/vintage-gibson-sg-I ... dZViewItem and stick some p90's on it which would be pretty cool.

That's pretty cool the way it is, I havent seen one of those before.

TheodorJ · Post by **TheodorJ** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:52 pm

Are the pickup rings stock? I thought the Deluxe models were the only ones with pickup rings that size.

Specials and Customs are my favourite Les Pauls. P90s are magnificent pickups.

soma89 · Post by **soma89** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:11 pm

TheodorJ wrote:Are the pickup rings stock? I thought the Deluxe models were the only ones with pickup rings that size.

Specials and Customs are my favourite Les Pauls. P90s are magnificent pickups.

No, they're there because the bridge pickup used to have a humbucker.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 5:12 am

soma89 wrote:
paul_ wrote:Ouch @ the all-too-familiar pickup selector damage, but the guitar is pretty close to perfect looking. I always like those conversion rings when I see 'em, teh Malkmus has a goldtop LP with p-90's retrofitted as such.
Ya is the pickup selector damage common? Why does it happen?

The body is so deep that the rear-route for the pickup selector switch is a massive hole through the guitar with just a tiny bit of the top suspending the switch in place; drop the guitar face down, and the toggle takes the weight, breaks the guitar's top within the confines of where the route-hole is, and the switch gets bashed into it's own cavity. This would create a large hole in the wood on the top, but those switches are pretty huge underneath, so as it hits the rear plate the wood just splits. Looks like yours has been repaired from something worse though, apart from the finish in that area. That whole bit might have been knocked inside at some point.