New (used) Guitar Day Xs 2 Gibsons

[toomanycats]

Picked both of these up earlier this week and I’ve already got them out there earning their keep.

The Les Paul is a Gibson 2019 Standard 60s Plus Top in an Unburst finish. It has the best top of any LP I’ve ever owned, with prominent horizontal and vertical figuring in the maple. I don’t dislike the stock Burstbucker 61 pups, but I just can’t seem to get away from A2s at this point. I put in a pair of reverse zebra, two conductor, unbalanced coil, slightly hot A2, non wax potted buckers that Tim Buddha wound for me a few years back, and as you can imagine they just sing is this guitar.

The SG is a 2015 Gibson SGS3. Stunning looking, playing, and sounding guitar . . . just don’t dare touch that sideways Vibrola! It is there only to look cool as hell and impart whatever tonal mojo it contributes. There’s a pair of 57 Classics in the neck and middle and a 57 Classic Plus in the bridge. The tones that this guitar can produce, especially when you blend in the middle pup with the bridge or neck, are the stuff blues and classic rock guitar players dream of.

[RiverDog]

Wow wow wow!! The top on that Lester is out-freaking-standing. Congrats on your new Gibbies TMC!

[jtcnj]

Outstanding!
I thought maybe you were done after the Les Paul Standard 1950's.
Man, I love that guitar!

Speaking of A2 pickups, have you any experience with the Gibson 490T, and if so, please elaborate.
They get a lot of bashing, and some love from what I have read.

[andrewsrea]

HNGD!

Those are a match made in heaven, IMHO!

[andrewsrea]

Speaking of A2 pickups, have you any experience with the Gibson 490T, and if so, please elaborate.
They get a lot of bashing, and some love from what I have read.

490Ts are awesome in the right guitar. If your guitar is naturally 'honky', they will make it worse. If your guitar is missing upper mids, this is a fantastic smooth pickup.

[uwmcscott]

Nice score#2. The top on that standard is a stunner. You are really piling up the Gibsons as of late, the new band must be really killing it at the box office

[toomanycats]

Outstanding!
I thought maybe you were done after the Les Paul Standard 1950's.
Man, I love that guitar!

Speaking of A2 pickups, have you any experience with the Gibson 490T, and if so, please elaborate.
They get a lot of bashing, and some love from what I have read.

Around this time last year when I got that 50s Standard and it was so good the seed was planted for getting a 60s Standard as well. I was just waiting to come across the right one, and this was the one. It has that look that reminds me of guitars played by Duane Allman, Slash, Page, Gibbons, Paul Kossoff, Peter Green, you know what mean. Within one second of picking it up I could feel how light it was; and within one minute I knew it was also a player. I simply had no option, I had to own this one!

I have played the 490T, and have to say that I am not a fan. On paper it seems like it should sound similar to the 57 Classic, but it doesn't at all. I find the 490T flat and one-dimensional, particularly under gain. In my opinion both the 490T and 490R sound best with clean tones. What I really seek out in a humbucker is an open, airy, vocal, woody but hollow type tone, basically the classic PAF sound. The 490T (or 490R) just doesn't do that for me.

[toomanycats]

Nice score#2. The top on that standard is a stunner. You are really piling up the Gibsons as of late, the new band must be really killing it at the box office

While playing guitar for a living is definitely not a "get rich" proposition (as least at the level I'm at), it has taught me that the quality of tools you take to the job is important. No different than a carpenter, mechanic, or whatever. What is fine for the bedroom or the garage is probably not going to hold up under the rigors of constant gigging. That's why over the last year or so I've really focused on buying quality "tools." It's a bonus that they do eventually pay for themselves, that is, so long as I keep my bar tabs in check and ration the Temptations for the cats.

[mozz]

“Don’t dare touch my Vibrola!” is the flip side of my latest 45 single. Chuck Berry/ Devo smashup sounding. I'll give you song writing credits once my producer and record label give me the OK.

You once told me the classic 57 have similar wound coils, (pretty sure that's what you said) what do you think of the 490's in that respect?

[mickey]

Interesting. I got rid of a Gibson yesterday.
One of 3 like it on planet earth.
A songwriter drove down from Nashville to buy it.
May it produce many country standards.

[toomanycats]

“Don’t dare touch my Vibrola!” is the flip side of my latest 45 single. Chuck Berry/ Devo smashup sounding. I'll give you song writing credits once my producer and record label give me the OK.

You once told me the classic 57 have similar wound coils, (pretty sure that's what you said) what do you think of the 490's in that respect?

As they are a hotter version of the Classic 57, I believe the 490 have balanced coils as well. They lack that characteristic snap and bite I hear in unbalanced coil humbuckers like Burstbuckers, the SD Pearly Gates, and those two sets you wound for me.

What is puzzling to me is that the Classic 57s and 490s are both balanced, wax potted, low resistance, and have A2 magnets, though they sound so different.

[Milkman]

Those are both beauties! It's nice to see such instruments in the hands of someone who can and will use them for their intended purpose.... entertaining a crowd. Good score!

[mozz]

Think the 490's may be a bit hotter? Reading a lot between SG's and LP's that pickups react different.

I'm beginning to think with balanced coils, if they are over wound, the cut notch would be deeper, if that makes sense. The more balanced they are, the more bland. You have difference between slugs and screws so the magnetics at the strings are slightly different. So, over wound might have more lower bass and the highs would be wiped. A lower wind would retain more of the highs which might be called sparkle.

I have a few books on pickups here i have yet to read. I think Throwback has said the slug coils were wound on a different machine than the screw coils. Even if you did 5000 turns perfect on each coil, being 2 different makes of machines, you are not going to have (electrically matched) balanced coils. Tension, turns per layer, rpm's, will all be different even if the machine were set to supposedly mimic each other.

That being said, gives me a idea to wind slug coils on my older machine and screw coils on the cnc machine.

[BatUtilityBelt]

That LP top is stunning, but I'm torn because 57 Classics are awesome too! Happy NGDX2

[motowntom]

Nice!!!! Love them both.
Cheers

[Partscaster]

Nice orange sunburst kitty, too.

[uwmcscott]

While playing guitar for a living is definitely not a "get rich" proposition (as least at the level I'm at), it has taught me that the quality of tools you take to the job is important. No different than a carpenter, mechanic, or whatever. What is fine for the bedroom or the garage is probably not going to hold up under the rigors of constant gigging. That's why over the last year or so I've really focused on buying quality "tools." It's a bonus that they do eventually pay for themselves, that is, so long as I keep my bar tabs in check and ration the Temptations for the cats.

I would even argue that it's OK to play a Gibson in your bedroom. And even if it's not OK I do it anyway Do you still gig with your R8 or is that one reserved for home now?

[toomanycats]

While playing guitar for a living is definitely not a "get rich" proposition (as least at the level I'm at), it has taught me that the quality of tools you take to the job is important. No different than a carpenter, mechanic, or whatever. What is fine for the bedroom or the garage is probably not going to hold up under the rigors of constant gigging. That's why over the last year or so I've really focused on buying quality "tools." It's a bonus that they do eventually pay for themselves, that is, so long as I keep my bar tabs in check and ration the Temptations for the cats.

I would even argue that it's OK to play a Gibson in your bedroom. And even if it's not OK I do it anyway Do you still gig with your R8 or is that one reserved for home now?

It's an R0. Yes, I still gig with it, but maybe only once a month.

The 2020 Standard 50s has done most of the heavy lifting this year, and it shows with visible fret wear, buckle rash on the back, and a couple small dings on the front. I also think both volume pots might need replacing, as they've become quite scratchy and I'm unable to correct it with a simple cleaning. I'm not surprised, as I'm constantly riding the volume knobs while playing, and the instrument was taken from indoor AC environments to 90 plus degree outdoors gigs all Summer long.

[NickintheStates]

Great oooogly booglies... those are two amazing axes. That LP has one of the best tops and and finishes I've ever seen. Man oh man, that's a score right there. I'm a sucker for a little bit of mineral lines in the top. What a gorgeous beast! Congrats and well bought good sir!

I just picked up a 2021 Wildwood Select LP Standard in their light burst... killer top. There's a collector near me with a short attention span, so a rather nice real was gotten vs the $3k new price. If you're patient, there are always great LP deals in the $2k and under range. I've had a bit of an issue since the start of COVID days with LP's showing up at my house with some degree of regularity lol. One can never have enough Les Pauls!

[toomanycats]

Great oooogly booglies... those are two amazing axes. That LP has one of the best tops and and finishes I've ever seen. Man oh man, that's a score right there. I'm a sucker for a little bit of mineral lines in the top. What a gorgeous beast! Congrats and well bought good sir!

I just picked up a 2021 Wildwood Select LP Standard in their light burst... killer top. There's a collector near me with a short attention span, so a rather nice real was gotten vs the $3k new price. If you're patient, there are always great LP deals in the $2k and under range. I've had a bit of an issue since the start of COVID days with LP's showing up at my house with some degree of regularity lol. One can never have enough Les Pauls!

Hey there stranger! Nick, let me ask you this, because I assume you've probably owned a guitar with one: What is your take on the Sideways Vibrola?

Show us some pics of that Wildwood! You know the rules.

[NickintheStates]

Missed you man! So I've only played a sideways a few times. It's a different beast but I do like them. I've missed out on a few opportunities but have yet to own one.

Here's the Wildwood Select Standard. The group photo has my Signature T and my 2013 Standard that has a fun rock star past to it. Really digging the Wildwood. It has a similar set of 59 Tribute pickups that I fell in love with on my 2015 Traditional.

[toomanycats]

Missed you man! So I've only played a sideways a few times. It's a different beast but I do like them. I've missed out on a few opportunities but have yet to own one.

Here's the Wildwood Select Standard. The group photo has my Signature T and my 2013 Standard that has a fun rock star past to it. Really digging the Wildwood. It has a similar set of 59 Tribute pickups that I fell in love with on my 2015 Traditional.

IMG_5356.jpg
IMG_5354.jpg
IMG_5353.jpg

That is a beautiful trio, especially the Wildwood.

About the 59 Tribute pickups, I've just been reading a discussion about them on the MyLesPaul forum.

https://www.mylespaul.com/threads/59-tr ... ps.374078/

Everyone raves about how great the 59s were that came in the Traditionals, but also about how equally good the Wildwood iteration are. I find this of great interest because the Burstbucker 61 pickups that came in this 2019 Standard of mine are supposedly something like Gibson 59s only with A5 magnets instead of A2. I wasn't over the moon about the 61s but now I'm tempted to put some rough cast A2s in them and give em another shot.

[uwmcscott]

I should have known better to have even peeked at the Wildwood site after reading all this, you guys and your Gibson GAS inducing evil thoughts.

[uwmcscott]

Missed you man! So I've only played a sideways a few times. It's a different beast but I do like them. I've missed out on a few opportunities but have yet to own one.

Here's the Wildwood Select Standard. The group photo has my Signature T and my 2013 Standard that has a fun rock star past to it. Really digging the Wildwood. It has a similar set of 59 Tribute pickups that I fell in love with on my 2015 Traditional.

IMG_5356.jpg
IMG_5354.jpg
IMG_5353.jpg

That Wildwood is a beauty. Out of curiosity, I see they are doing ABR bridges on Gibson USA standards now - are they still using a metal insert or are they threaded directly into the body like the CS models?

[toomanycats]

Missed you man! So I've only played a sideways a few times. It's a different beast but I do like them. I've missed out on a few opportunities but have yet to own one.

Here's the Wildwood Select Standard. The group photo has my Signature T and my 2013 Standard that has a fun rock star past to it. Really digging the Wildwood. It has a similar set of 59 Tribute pickups that I fell in love with on my 2015 Traditional.

IMG_5356.jpg
IMG_5354.jpg
IMG_5353.jpg

That Wildwood is a beauty. Out of curiosity, I see they are doing ABR bridges on Gibson USA standards now - are they still using a metal insert or are they threaded directly into the body like the CS models?

Both my 2019 Standard 60s and 2020 Standard 50s have metal inserts.