The Les Paul Frustration!

[Trev57]

I am a left handed player, so I consider myself fortunate at this point in my life to have been able to accumulate a very nice collection of Lefty guitars. Four of them are Jacksons. A DK1 with EMGs, a 1990 Custom Shop with contoured Koa body and reflex pickups, a 1991 Custom shop Soloist with the Jackson active setup and a Japanese DK2. Among my collection, these are my favourites, and I mostly play them at band practice. However, I occasionally take another guitar. If I take a Les Paul, the guys rave about my sound. They say it blows away the Jacksons. My style defintely requires a Floyd Rose, and I don't want to start modifying my Jackson, I thought about trying to put together a Les Paul with a Floyd (try finding one of those in Lefty), but then I wouldn't have the superb playability of the Jackson neck.

Any suggestions?

[24seven]

Urgh?...difficult, I am a lefty forced to use my right as a kid age 5 but i'd switch over, with guitars i play them right handed...

i noticed Sean is a lefty but he decided it was easier to learn playing right handed than finding guitars to suit a lefty and has stuck to right.

Not an easy one, thanks to those horrible teachers i am ambidextrous, not a bad thing at all.

I think you have to adjust and change to suit you.

[Sinistas]

Custom Carvin SC90 in Mahogany? Not exactly a LP, but a good alternative.

[MountainDog]

I assume you are plugging all these guitars into your amp rig and using the same settings no matter what guitar? I say this as maybe your problem is not the guitar, but the pickups and/or amp settings. I have a bunch of guitars and used to favor EMGs in the past with amps I used back in the day, but now anything with a Duncan JB sounds the best thru my Line6 Vetta. The EMGs sound more thin and sterile. It could just be that my sound tweaks/programs in the Vetta lean more towards getting the most from a JB pickup. (FYI, I have USA Jacksons with JBs and stock pickup Gibsons (LP Studio Swamp Ash, LP Voodoo, LP Studio Custom Lite, and LP Standard Faded), and they all sound similar and good thru my Vetta patches).

I am assuming the LP has stock passive pickups, mahogany body w/maple top. I note that all your Jacksons (except the DK2) have active pickups. Perhaps the LP gets 'raves' due to the fact your amp settings favor the LP and its passive pickups like I mention in my example above. You might try to have the band members explain what they hear with your LP that's better than the Jacksons, then sit and tweak your amp settings to try to get similar sound with the Jacksons. You might find you need two completely different settings, one for the active Jacksons and one for the LP.

You could also try experimenting with putting LP pickups (or passive Duncans) in one of your Jacksons, or trying to find any lefty guitar with mahogany body & floyd that you could drop LP pickups into.

[Grandturk]

I second MountainDog's recommendation.

Fiddle with your settings on your amp. Listen to the LP through the amp and figure out how it sounds different, then plug in your Jackson and tweak the EQ to bump up the freq's that put it in the same sonic territory. Also listen to the gain. I have low output pickups in my LP, so it always has a "cleaner" sound than my guitars with hotter Duncans or EMGs. You might find you can back the gain off a bit.

Another thing to consider is the scale difference - 24.74" guitars sound different than 25.5" guitars and you'll never be able to match them exactly.

I have a SG and USA Fusion that I trid this experiment with. Both have a Duncan Screamin' Demon in the bridge. I was playing my Fusion and was very happy with the sound until I plugged in the SG, and it was like - whoa!!! It was at a different level in comparison. So, not wanting to hate the Fusion, I starting twiddling the knob on my amp. Its a Marshall JTM 60 and I was running about 75% gain, 80% bass, 50% mids, 80% treble. I dialed in a bunch more mids and cut the highs and got the two sounding nearly identical back to back. The end result was they both sounded good. IMO, the EQ really didn't help or hurt the SG, but it really made a difference to the Fusion.

[Newc]

And there's some people that see a Les Paul and they convince themselves they're hearing a better sound.

I've tried a few Gibson pickups in Jacksons, and the best was a 498T in a Performer Kelly body - that thing had a Mike-Tyson punch - and Mike-Tyson bite too )

I've tried a 500T in a Jackson and didn't really like it - thought it was flat. Loud, but flat.
Tried an Angus Young and an Iommi, and it sounded like there was something missing. Could just be the way the pickups are voiced. They're Artist models, after all

[hammer84]

IIMHO short scale guitars have a differnt sound.

Look for a Jackson fusion. I have one and has that short scale sound. It is hard to describe. A little less focused, almost a tuned down feel without being tuned down.

[straycat]

I have both and each guitar is different I have to change amp settings a lot.I have a mahogony fusion H-H short scale and it favors the LP settings.It has 2 duncan distortions and the LP studio(all mahogony) has 59/jazz combo.
My others have Dimarzios/Jackson/Rolph/WCR and they do not like the LP setting at all.They range from alder to basswood to maple and are much tighter than the mahogony.

[YetAnotherOne]

Personally I think that big fat Les Paul sound and Floyds are mutually exclusive but that's just me.

[Lorne]

If you have at least 2 years (Before the start of Build) to waste,then Try Neal Moser/MCS guitars-he recently made a Les Paul,and he is a custom builder,so he could build it to your specs-it will be expensive though

www.nealmoser.com

[Tashtego]

That looks like a fantastic guitar!

[j2379]

yeah that thing is sweet but i still dont think i could reach past the 21st fret

[StukaJU87]

That Moser LPC is hot!!!

[Lorne]

There are some more pictures of the Les Paul here

http://www.nealmoser.com/mcscustomLP.htm

I only grabbed 5 of 17

It also gives you the woods used etc on that page

[OnlineStageGear]

My 2 main axes are a stock LP Studio and an SL2H with EMG 81/85 and I like the tone out of both. I would hardly say one has a much better tone than the other.

I actually like the difference in tone between the 2. The EMG's give me a little extra bite but the LP has a unique warmth to it. I don't think I want to change either.

Matt