So even though I made the decision to buy the Gibson LP as soon as I have the money, I'll still have to rely on my Epiphone - and anyway I'm not giving up on that little gem of a guitar. But I'm thinking of upgrading it for my birthday, come July.

I want to throw in a Di Marzio Super Distortion (bridge) and something like a DI Marzio PAF DP 103 (ok, I know sweet nothing about this one, I just stumbled upon it while looking for something old school that'd work in neck position and was available in the right color).

http://www.musiciansfrien...5Ec-adid%5E14207111402

That being said, the one thing that's puzzling me is the Regular vs F-Spaced. Can someone explain the difference - and if you know which one I should be using, please tell me...


Onto the next question, this one about the guitar hardware - bridge, tail piece, pick up... 

Last year, I posted about how my sweat would eat through almost anything. In spite of me keeping something to wipe my guitar as often as I can between takes and songs, my sweat has started eating through the finish on the bridge and the sides of the pick up, leaving those nasty red-ish spots:





Obviously, as long as the guitar plays fine, this isn't much concern - and replacing the pick ups with cover-less DiMarzio means I don't have to worry about the pick ups finish.

But I'm looking at my 15+ years old strat and not seeing any such damage - so I'm guessing that there's some hardware that's more resistant out there. Any idea?

When I think about that Gibson I want to buy, I'm thinking that that is probably one of the difference (the details such as the metal they use and the finish). But I'm not sure. And as silly as it'll sound, I'd hate to see a guitar worth a few thousands wearing out like the hardware on the Epi.

Lastly, and completely gratuitously - isn't this the most amazing finish ever?

"Regular vs F-Spaced"


You should check further, but I think the F refers to Fender and the idea that Fender bridge spacing is different from Gibson bridge spacing.










The finish is simply wearing off your Epi hardware. The plating was probably as thin as it could possibly be. The covers are often times made out of brass and can have varying amounts of copper.


The plating can be nickle or chrome.


That red color seems like the copper content in the brass. It'd probably turn green if you stored the guitar for a while.


If you get some nicer hardware like the made in USA, Germany, or Japan stuff the wear will probably not occur as quickly.




If you have sweat issues and you play humbuckers with out covers then the coils will probably get filthy and corroded and short out some day. It's almost routine. You can ask spacey to repair them. :-)






best regards,
mike

I am not sure but Mike is probably right. I had a DiMarzio PAF Pro in the neck of a 1991 LP Studio. It is and was a great guitar with an ebony fretboard. I ended up changing the pickups mostly because of the sound of the PAF Pro. It always sounded too dark, on the verge of muddy... though it sounded great split (the guitar had a coil tap for the neck pup). It had a JB in the Bridge and I highly recommend the JB for the bridge in any LP, that pickup screams.
I still have those pups and plan on putting them in a LP Classic I now have.
Anyway, I think I finally figured out why the PAF Pro didn't ound good to me. It is high gain and a good pickup BUT the Studio didn't have a maple cap, it was an all mahogany body and I think that was the problem with it sounding too dark. I imagine that your Epi has a maple cap but since I don't know I thought I'd throw this into the mix because it matters. I still really love that JB bridge tone and miss it. While you're changing pickups you should consider a coil tap for the neck, it really adds a lot of flexability and I don't think it is a hard mod (mine was already done). Some have a knob that you pull out, mine split the double coil if I turned the neck tone knob all the way up, back it off just a touch and it would go back to full double coil.
If you haven't heard a JB, you should read up on them. They are near perfection in a bridge of a LP, IMO.

Good luck with it and I hope you get exactly the guitar you want... don't settle. BTW, both the PAF Pro and the JB are coverless. The JB is a Duncan, IIRC.

Julien

.

Hi Rain,

Well, I'm the furthest from a guru but here's my take.

First: Regular spacing (1.90" 1st-to-6th) is for vintage Gibson guitars. F-spacing (2.01" 1-st-to-6th) is for most Fender guitars, modern Gibson, and guitars with Floyd Rose bridges.

Second: You seem like a guy that would be more intoa purist tone. I do not think a hot output pup or "distortion" pup would be for you. The reson being, it's a very un-natural, synthetic tone in my opinion. I just personally do not like hot pup sounds. I'd rather a pre-amp with the guts to drive a guitar instead of a guitar with high output pups. The other reason for that is...your clean tone will really suffer. Just about every guitarist I know that uses high output pups or some sort of "distortion" pup, has a crappy clean sound or struggles with clean sounds. Do what you think is best man, but at least keep what I'm saying in mind as it CAN make a difference.

Though the metal may be better on a real LP, if you got acid sweat it's still going to eat it up. You can always ask someone at Gibson or Epi etc if there is something that they have that doesn't do what you are seeing. Every guitar I own has some sort of fade no matter what. Whether it's gold, chrome or black, this dego baystid sweat I have eats it. Come to think of it though....same with my strats...I don't see the same wear I see on my Gibsons and I don't play my Gibsons anywhere near as much. Then again, totally different tail pieces too.

And yes, that is a gorgeous finish. Looks a bit flamed maple or something. Sort of close to my Carvins which are quilted maple. I love the way that looks! Good luck with everything. :)
 
-Danny

lol Danny, took a while to decipher dego baystid....

Rain, thats a great finish on that LP... but of course each and every guitar is unique so if that is the exact one..get it now as most flames have some sizeable part where they do not match up..
 
iin my case, it was desert burst with a hybrid quilt/flame... saw it and fell in love!
 

Well, I'm the furthest from a guru

 
That certainly goes for me too...
 
Danny makes sense (as usual). While I really like the JB, the fact is that it is sitting on a shelf and SD 59s are in the guitar.
 
I googled and read some about the Super Distortion and the JB, mostly stuff from different forums. More people seem to like the SD over the JB and a lot of people talk about the high mid spike of the JB, some like it some dont.
 
J
 
 

I have the same issue on my Gibson SG. Where the palm of my hand rests on the bridge, and close to the bridge pickup, the acid and salt have destroyed the plating. It peeled off long ago. The bridge and the saddles were in such bad shape that I needed to replace the bridge. I installed the BadAss bridge that is still on the guitar. 

I've seen many guitars in this condition, so it's not too far off normal. 

On this page, at the bottom, I have a few pics of the guitar and you can see that the chrome is completely gone on the rear pickup and the bridge that replaced the original one.  http://www.herbhartley.co...edited_slimmer_002.htm

Furthest from a guru? lol what does that make me?

I only wanted to comment on Danny's comment about hot pickups.

A long time ago, I designed my own, very low current (ie batteries lasted forever) guitar preamp that fit inside the guitar cavity. I messed with it for a long time to get a good distortion sound and good clean sound. Of course I did it :-) but nowadays, I let outboard equipment do the boosting.

I am into Carvin gear so I use the standard Carvin pickup with an Empress ParaEQ (just got one a week ago :-)  ). I like this much better because I can change the eq with my mood :-)    Kinda like having many different pickups in my arsenal but without changing pickups all the time

Good luck!

Second: You seem like a guy that would be more intoa purist tone. I do not think a hot output pup or "distortion" pup would be for you. The reson being, it's a very un-natural, synthetic tone in my opinion. I just personally do not like hot pup sounds. I'd rather a pre-amp with the guts to drive a guitar instead of a guitar with high output pups. The other reason for that is...your clean tone will really suffer. Just about every guitarist I know that uses high output pups or some sort of "distortion" pup, has a crappy clean sound or struggles with clean sounds. Do what you think is best man, but at least keep what I'm saying in mind as it CAN make a difference.

I agree big time.  I got rid of the stock pups in my Epiphone Les Paul and replaced them with two Seymour Duncan Jazz pickups.  I set them up with push/pull pots to tap the coils for single coil use.  I absolutely love this set up because I can get pristine clear rhythm sounds and if I need more distortion, I have a modded Ibanez tube screamer as well as other pedals in line to give me overdrive for days.  I can get any sound I want and get it at a decent volume.