NGD It's a special one...

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 6:47 pm

Well it's a Gibson Les Paul Special.

I've always fancied a P90 guitar (I almost bought NickDs Edwards a couple of months ago) and I recently had the chance to pick this up in a trade. It's a 2002 and as such is actually P100 equipped. The P100s get a lot of stick but I didn't find them too bad at all. They're great with dirt but they're a touch lacking clean.

Luckily NickD was selling a SD Vintage voiced P90 in his giant sale thread so I picked that up. It arrived this morning so I popped it in the neck position and it is very lovely indeed. It's also nowhere near as noisy as I thought it would be so that's a bonus. Just what I'd hoped it to be in fact. As for the P100, I was quite shocked that it's essentially just 2 P90 pickups stacked on top of each other.

The P90 also goes great with the P100 in the middle position so I'm over the moon. Upgrade wise there's not much to do. It already had the tuners upgraded to the small oval button Kluson Deluxe ones, came with Dunlop Straploks and a Gibson hard case (these shipped with a bag originally). Sometime in the future I might slap a Bigsby on there too.

Here's a pic, sorry the light is crap and it's not really picked up the colour of the guitar too well:

I don't think I posted this recent acquisition up before, heres a pic anyway. It's one I also picked up in a trade. It's one of the old LP Classics. The neck on this beast is to die for. It also came with one of those bombproof Chainsaw cases. I'm planning on putting a set of black plastics on this at some point:

Doug · Post by **Doug** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 7:10 pm

[quote="Thomas"]Well it's a Gibson Les Paul Special.

I've always fancied a P90 guitar... and I recently had the chance to pick this up in a trade. It's a 2002 and as such is actually P100 equipped. The P100s get a lot of stick but I didn't find them too bad at all. They're great with dirt but they're a touch lacking clean... As for the P100, I was quite shocked that it's essentially just 2 P90 pickups stacked on top of each other... It already had the tuners upgraded to the small oval button Kluson Deluxe ones, came with Dunlop Straploks and a Gibson hard case...sorry the light is crap and it's not really picked up the colour of the guitar too well:

Congratulations, Thomas! You got a great axe there. My go-to guitar is my 1998 LPSpecial with P90s. I don't believe they're the hum-cancelling P100s but regardless, they sound great.

You may be interested to know, I happen to favor the graceful shape of the Les Paul Jr. pickguard, so I made one out of single-ply tortoise shell and a tort truss rod cover as well. They really stand out on the TV Yellow. As tort would on yours.

Enjoy your Special new LP.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:33 pm

Cheers Doug. I've been playing it all day.

You're better off with P90s than the P100s, they're really great pickups. The Les Paul Jr guard is cool, as is the guitar itself (I've always fancied a Sunburst one!) Tho I must admit I really love the guard on the Special, its cool in a kinda ugly way.

I'd love one like this:

► Show Spoiler

NickD · Post by **NickD** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 5:49 pm

I wondered what it was going in - that looks lovely.

sunshiner · Post by **sunshiner** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:52 am

That's really on of the most classy guitars ever

ultratwin · Post by **ultratwin** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:05 am

Well played, Thomas.

I've always felt the Special was probably one of better Gibbo models of the past that you really can't go wrong with, and it's interesting to hear a few in-house words regarding the never-ending P90/P100 debate.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:04 pm

Cheers

They're great guitars for the money. Same deal as the SG Special. A total steal at the price point.

As for the pickups, they're not really comparable, one is single coil one is a Humbucker. The P100 is stacked but still a Humbucker. People would probably have preferred if it was stacked but with a dummy coil, that way you'd still get hum cancelling but it would still sound like a single coil. So they sound totally different and looking at the design I reckon they're supposed to. Crap if you're after a single coil, and they're totally fine as a humbucker. I suppose the weirdest thing is that the 2 coils are full sized P90s...

People also slate the P100 for having too much output. The thing is you get the pickup rating vs actual audible difference. The P100 isn't any perceivably louder than the P90, it just sounds different. When switching from one to the other there isn't any jump in volume.

Here's some shots of the P100 for anyone who's interested:

speedfish · Post by **speedfish** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 1:51 am

Congrats! I'm a p90 lover as well.

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 1:46 pm

I agree with the specials being a steal The SG I bought a couple of months ago is fast becoming my favourite guitar. I had P100s on my Vintage V100 and while they didn't do clean (almost but not quite) they were great if you wanted a bit of growl.

George · Post by **George** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 2:49 pm

yeah my vintage v100 had stacked p100s like that

i didn't like them. very woolly and dark

i swapped them for some axesrus vintage output alnico 3 p90s. they sound amazing.

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 3:01 pm

George wrote:yeah my vintage v100 had stacked p100s like that

i didn't like them. very woolly and dark

i swapped them for some axesrus vintage output alnico 3 p90s. they sound amazing.

I am partial to a darker sound, I very rarely use a bridge pickup.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 5:34 pm

I definitely wouldn't class the Gibson P100s as dark or wooly compared to a regular humbucker, they're on the bright side (well as bright as humbuckers get). If I get the chance next week I'll record some sound samples.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 8:19 pm

Thomas wrote:I definitely wouldn't class the Gibson P100s as dark or wooly compared to a regular humbucker, they're on the bright side (well as bright as humbuckers get).

Correct. They're darker and woolier than P-90s, but not all pickups in general. That's kind of the point of them, they're a P-90 without the hum (and any typically ensuing compromise as a result of this dynamic... you don't go sticking dummy coils on things expecting nothing but hum-cancelling).
I consider them pretty similar to the Burstbucker Pros in LP Standards, which themselves are pretty similar to a P-90 with the tone set about halfway (sans hum).

As a side note I remember reading that the first thing Billie Joe Armstrong's tech does with his sig Gibson Jrs when they get them in is rip out the 100 and stick a real 90 in there, as apparently BJA thinks they're too muddy as well but saw it fit for a Green Day Jr to be sold with one stock (reverse scenario of "why doesn't my JS get teh Kurdtz?")

Addam · Post by **Addam** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 9:52 am

I have a pair of P100s in my stash of guitar parts.
I think they're from an Epiphone if that makes any difference, but the DC resistance is around 21k ohms!

Doug · Post by **Doug** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 5:05 pm

Thomas wrote:Cheers Doug. I've been playing it all day.

You're better off with P90s than the P100s, they're really great pickups. The Les Paul Jr guard is cool, as is the guitar itself (I've always fancied a Sunburst one!) Tho I must admit I really love the guard on the Special, its cool in a kinda ugly way.

I'd love one like this:

► Show Spoiler

It's always nice to connect with someone who shares similar taste, Thomas. I agree, the LPSpecial pickguard is cool, sorta Art Deco. But when I see that sunburst LPJr, its graceful, swoopy pickguard and that dog-ear pup, whew...guitar porn with a killer soundtrack!

I'm no expert, but one thing I've been advised to watch out for, that LPJr bridge limits setting intonation.

Cheers,

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Sat Aug 01, 2015 11:57 pm

Well after playing this for a little while I think I might try the P100 that was originally in the neck in the bridge position. The One that's in the bridge sounds a little....thin, especially when I switch to the P90. That pickup has some serious balls! It's weird because it's essentially the opposite of what most people say P100s sound like. It's fine with dirt, but when played clean it just seems a little too weedy and sterile. Most importantly it's MUCh quieter that the P90.

It was kinda the same (just not as pronounced) when it just had the 2 P100s in it. The neck seemed way more powerful, even more so than you'd expect with a Gibson (I find the neck pickup tends to sound more boomy in Gibsons than in fender type guitars).

I'm hoping it's just a weak pickup. If not I'll be getting another SD P90 to stick in there.

sunshiner · Post by **sunshiner** » Sun Aug 02, 2015 5:30 am

Thomas wrote: (I find the neck pickup tends to sound more boomy in Gibsons than in fender type guitars).

Because of the shorter scale. Same pickups in the cheesy 24.75" Les Paul copy with a plywood body and a bolt on maple neck, and in 25.5" routed for humbuckers tele will sound differently. Tele will sound thinner in all positions, while the clone will have all the meatiness of a regular Les Paul. In general the boomines of the Gibbies is in the combination of the shorter scale and fatter sounding pickups.
If you are planning to invest more in your guitar and you don't like the noise of P90's, check Lindy Fralin's hum cancelling P90. There is nothing but only good reviews about them.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Sun Aug 02, 2015 11:05 am

I love the sound of the Seymour Duncan one I have in there. If I get a new one that's what I'm going to go for. It's not noisy at all, in fact it's shockingly quiet compared to what I expected so that's good. I'm primarily a single coil player so I don't care about the noise.

Because the Fralin ones cost around twice as much (and the fact I've never tried them) they're not really an option for me. I have installed a set of Fralin JM pickups in a friends Guitar (replacing a SD set) and they didn't sound any better or worse to me.

There's plenty of options out there without going down the boutique road. Fralin/Novak/Lollar (and Mastery) are all great at what they do but I don't really see the extra value, or need what they're offering It's all a bit

to me.

I don't have anything against them, and some folks swear by them but I'd rather invest in a new piece of gear that spend a lot of money on something that doesn't make much difference to me. When you can buy a secondhand LP Studio or SG special for about the same price as a pickup set it becomes a no brainer.

sunshiner · Post by **sunshiner** » Sun Aug 02, 2015 12:50 pm

Yes, they are too pricey. I just thought that SD's are of the same price range. There are complaints about hum cancelling P90's that they start to sound more like regular humbuckers rather than P90's and about Fralin's there are good reviews that they are good at reducing hum and they sound like P90.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Sun Aug 02, 2015 1:15 pm

SD's are a brand that go on offer quite often. you can normally get them at a keen price if you search.

NGD It's a special one...

NGD It's a special one...

Special one...

LPJr porn