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Don’t have the bucks
for a high-end Les Paul?
Here’s how to get more
out of a “Less Paul”
On StewMac’s tech support line, folks ask me how to soup-up inexpensive guitars. The question is, “How do I turn this budget guitar into a more serious player?
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Erick Coleman, February 22, 2007
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Step 2: New pickups
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Once the controls were wired, I installed a set of Golden Age zebra coil pickups. These pickups are designed to match the original humbucker specs, including AWG42 coil wire and Alnico 5 magnets — they’ve got the vintage tone this customer’s looking for.
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Before stringing up the guitar, I adjusted the pickup polepieces in the same way Gibson did back in the 50’s. (Thanks to Phil Jones for telling about this on page 116 of Dan Erlewine’s book, How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great!)
I used an understring radius gauge to find the radius of the fretboard...
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More people should know about Phil Jones. He’s an ace repairman in Nashville, and he’s worked on pretty much everything that ever had strings. We all can learn a lot from him!
- Erick
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...then traced that radius in pencil onto an index card. I cut the card with a scissors to get a tiny, pickup-size radius gauge that fits right down on the polepieces.
The idea is to drop the two outside polepieces down until they’re flush with the surface of the pickup, then adjust the four poles in between to follow the fretboard radius.
Phil Jones says: “When you raise the middle polepieces to a 12” radius, you end up with screw slots in an almost perfect zig-zag pattern from side to side.”
He’s right: that’s what I got. After doing this to both pickups, you can string the guitar up and set the action (string height).
Here’s how to set
the pickup height:
String up the guitar, and press the low and high E strings down onto the last fret (nearest the pickups). Measure between the bottom of the E strings and the polepieces. Adjust the neck pickup for a 1/16" gap; set the bridge pickup to 3/32". You might alter it a little depending the technique of the player.
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That’s all it takes. This guitar sounds way better now, with only a little investment. Just for fun, we might do some more upgrades to this Les Paul clone. If we do, we’ll tell you about it in a future Trade Secrets!
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Problem-solving products mentioned above:
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Wiring Kit for Les Paul
Complete package of all the parts to wire a guitar or bass with two volume controls, two tone controls, and a selector switch. Two versions available: with standard control pots or long-shaft pots to fit Les Pauls. |
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How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great!
Dan Erlewine's latest book on set-up and maintenance for beginners and professionals. Book includes many new set-ups of the pros like Eric Johnson, Chris Duarte, Dave Hole, Junior Brown, and many more... |
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Golden Age Pickups
The vintage look and the sound you want! Designs inspired by the great guitar pickups of the 50s. For Strat, Les Paul, and similar guitars. (Pictured: nickel cover Golden Age humbucker.) |
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