Sounds much more like a custom shop LP with the mods. Great job!! That is really the main tonal difference between custom shop and standard Gibsons, the electronics and hardware. A quality aluminum tailpiece drastically changes the tone in a good way bringing in more brightness and dynamic. Those who couldn't hear the tonal difference here probably have not the best quality speakers or just can't hear that well... Now you've got a custom shop sound for about $4,000 to $5,000 less!!! But Gibson would never tell you this :))
I got the same guitar and I've pretty much done the same thing about a month ago, I changed it out to the historic tail piece and the Faber tone lock tailpiece studs and bridge and inserts. I also added some Bare knuckle mule pickups with . It's made a big difference, it's what I think Gibson should be selling us, as much as we paid for these.
When I was in my teens the only Guitar I had was a LP Junior. It just had a stop piece but it went out of tune real EZ so I played around with the stop piece a lot. Years after they came out with all kinds of fixes for that instrument. Bad ass was one of them. One of the things that was going through my mind at the time was the weight of the parts on the Guitar. Joe has good advice BTW. What made the biggest difference was locking studs. my Guitar had more Sustain and stayed in tune better. I have found out from years of experiments that Lighter parts are the way to go Plus how solidly they are bolted to the guitar. Thanks for posting your process.
+AL theDoctorWho Thanks for the comment. The guitar has evolved and eventually I put the locking bridge on as well as a Bigsby de-tuner. ruclips.net/video/aSQ3V5f47K8/видео.html
I am fooling around right now on a Les paul I have had for years. I am going to do some mods on it but I am going to take it one step at a time just so I will know if I am going in the right Direction LOL. ok I will check that out. Thank you for the come back my friend c];-D
Yea I wish I would've heard that from Joe before messing with my Goldtop. It was perfect. Now I hear buzzing at the tailpiece after loosening the strings and tuning up again. Dunno wtf happened. I also now had a buzzing in one of the hb's, too. Something was rattling until I raised it a hair. This is my first LP-style guitar so this is all new to me. My Strats aren't this temperamental whatsoever. Who would've thought loosening strings and tuning back up again would mess things up? I surely didn't. I loosened them so I could address what I assume was super glue or something similar between the nut and first fret. Almost looked like a fingerprint. So I gave em some slack so, I could pull them out of the way and scrape it clean. Fretboard is perfect now but there's a slight, slight barely audible buzzing on the G string. I thought maybe it was the ending winds around the string causing it because they were half in and half out of the bridge but that wasn't it.
It's almost always the people who can barely play that have a preoccupation with this shit. If he concentrated on playing more he might realise that he has a whole pile of shit to work on before this is the priority in improving his guitar tone.
What are you hoping for tonally. I'm seeing a lot of bridge upgrades on Les Pauls, and what one source was saying is that the old 59' bridges are brass. Then a builder who is doing a historic recreation is saying steel/zinc alloy. What tone differences are you looking for and what bridge material?
A person looking for a historically accurate build might sacrifice something tonally for accuracy. Different materials will likely roll off the highs and impact sustain.
Since installing the ABR Bridge do you think you'd be able to thread the strings through the tailpiece and still have it screwed down to the body? On my 2014 Trad I need the tailpiece raised and I think its down to the use of a Nashville bridge.
If you had low action then yeah but I top wrap so Im good regardless. Check out my Bigsby vid as the Faber TP bolts and washers are worth a look if your top carve or studs dont allow you to go flush to the body.
GSUS HC thats an old wives tale. an alnico magnet is not going to be degaussed by a few indirect blows nor do they lose more than a bit of an "edge" over the course of 100 years.
How do you feel about the Faber hardware after having used it for a while, is it an improvement that is worth the money spent? Big enough difference sustain wise?
Overall it helped but the guitar didnt have issues in the first place. Reality is a 20% increase on 9sec of sustain is 1.8 secs which in the grand scheme isnt a huge deal. I did end up swapping for a locking bridge which helped as well and still allowed for on the fly changes.
NYC LP Player I'm looking at the Faber and TonePros bridge for the stability, most likely will go with the Faber. Was seriouslly considering the Babicz bridge but passed because it simply isn't going to be vintage on my BB7. Thank you for getting back to me.
Your video came across my feed, pretty cool. But i have a question, ive got a Harley Benton LP (an import, which is on par or maybe better n quality than a Epiphone) and was hoping to upgrade the hardware. i was considering getting Gotoh brand bridge and tailpiece, which, compared to the Faber, are way more affordable, and Gotoh (japanese) has a reputation for excellent quality parts. I was just wondering, other than justifying the quality of the Faber simply because they are more expensive do you think they would make any remarkable difference one vs the other.
BatFan1 do a little research but as long as the metals are the same you should be fine. I keep an eye out for used versions of either. No reason to buy new and pay full price.
BatFan1 Faber actually uses an alloy that is closer to the original LP hardware formula than anything else out there. I have had all these parts under a microscope (as I was selling vintage correct hardware for a while, had it made overseas because this type of metal is not available in the U.S. anymore). Also I have used the Faber Tonelock kit with the iNserts and the eSerts along with the steel tailpiece bushings on multiple guitars. These guitars ALL now really sing! And all my musician friends have had me install them on their guitars. WELL WORTH THE EXTRA COST!!! My guitars are always in tune and the sustain has improved in a very musical way. Not to mention the improved action and playability.
First thank you for the video, I don't know why some many guitarists are little bitches online especially for good videos like yours. I don't really care for sustain the most, but what I want is to improve the tone and the liveliness of the guitar. I find vintage guitar to be louder acoustically and that's what I would ideally want. Do you think the Faber would get me there? I play only LP Special by the way thanks!!
+Anna-Clara I find good hardware will never hurt though if you change certain metals to say titanium or an alternate metal you may get more high end then you want. The stock metal on all but the Gibson Custom line I believe is cheap zinc but that doesnt mean a guitar wont sound great as is. Pickups and sting material changes will have a much more noticeable impact on tone but again its not a bad thing. Results will vary but if you can find a used one you wont lose money if you decide to sell.
Its not called a stud, its called a bushing! You annoyingly don't mention the device you used to remove the bushing, where did you get it from? My God you were crazy to use a metal headed hammer to bang in the new bushing.
1) its just a socket 2) the part that sticks out is a stud but honestly who cares 3) hammer material doesnt matter since they give you a nylon spacer to not mar the metal 4) dont't be such a complainer
@@nycLPplayer You take all the risk if you dont get it right, especially to the top of the guitar, Gibson's arent cheap. I thought this was supposed to be a how to do it vid not a how not to do it vid as it turned out. I suppose it was instructional in that sense.
@@Edward1312 I think you worry too much. A rubber mallet will still mar the finish if you miss. I'm just a guy enjoying a hobby...same as you and your videos.
@alan wake , because if he slips or hammers the plug in a little too far, he risks hundreds of dollars of resale value on a $3000 plus guitar. You know Alan, like when your playing the board game "operation", and you touch the sides with the tweezer, the buzzer signifies that you've lost. Same kinda thing. Strangely, I had a feeling that you had an idea of why I had some sort of inner affinity and empathy for a guy attempting luthier work on an expensive guitar at home, without proper tools... it brings me no joy to see someone make expensive mistakes.
NYC LP Player there isn't any benefit in top wrapping, the only real effect you got is you damage your tailpiece. The fact that tons of people does a thing it must not mean it's a clever thing...there are lots of people using a tremolo like a floyd, and it's a crap, tons of people using a bigsby like a tremolo, and is a crap, or just pretend to play a '50 guitar (ora a reissue of that age) like a modern model. Well, NO...things have changed, and you should not pretend to use a 1950 les paul like a modern ibanez, same as you won't pretend the same features from a buick skylark and from a modern ford mustang. So, tons of people top wrap=tons of people fault. Ask any fucking good luthier if it has any sense or not.
italianmetallkrieger listen I'm sure you hear this a lot but I have no interest in hearing your opinions on what to do with my guitar. I'm not concerned about them the tail and it does by looser feel to the strings. Regardless it is my guitar and I have no use for advice from some Italian metal know it all. Save your breathe.
Sounds much more like a custom shop LP with the mods. Great job!! That is really the main tonal difference between custom shop and standard Gibsons, the electronics and hardware. A quality aluminum tailpiece drastically changes the tone in a good way bringing in more brightness and dynamic. Those who couldn't hear the tonal difference here probably have not the best quality speakers or just can't hear that well... Now you've got a custom shop sound for about $4,000 to $5,000 less!!! But Gibson would never tell you this :))
I think the benefit of this upgrade is not on the sustain, but on the attack and the colorature of the tone.
5:40 vs 14:22
Thanks I struggled to hear a difference, I much prefer the faber
I got the same guitar and I've pretty much done the same thing about a month ago, I changed it out to the historic tail piece and the Faber tone lock tailpiece studs and bridge and inserts. I also added some Bare knuckle mule pickups with . It's made a big difference, it's what I think Gibson should be selling us, as much as we paid for these.
exactly
When I was in my teens the only Guitar I had was a LP Junior. It just had a stop piece but it went out of tune real EZ so I played around with the stop piece a lot. Years after they came out with all kinds of fixes for that instrument. Bad ass was one of them. One of the things that was going through my mind at the time was the weight of the parts on the Guitar. Joe has good advice BTW. What made the biggest difference was locking studs. my Guitar had more Sustain and stayed in tune better. I have found out from years of experiments that Lighter parts are the way to go Plus how solidly they are bolted to the guitar. Thanks for posting your process.
+AL theDoctorWho Thanks for the comment. The guitar has evolved and eventually I put the locking bridge on as well as a Bigsby de-tuner.
ruclips.net/video/aSQ3V5f47K8/видео.html
I am fooling around right now on a Les paul I have had for years. I am going to do some mods on it but I am going to take it one step at a time just so I will know if I am going in the right Direction LOL. ok I will check that out. Thank you for the come back my friend c];-D
Yea I wish I would've heard that from Joe before messing with my Goldtop. It was perfect. Now I hear buzzing at the tailpiece after loosening the strings and tuning up again. Dunno wtf happened. I also now had a buzzing in one of the hb's, too. Something was rattling until I raised it a hair.
This is my first LP-style guitar so this is all new to me. My Strats aren't this temperamental whatsoever. Who would've thought loosening strings and tuning back up again would mess things up? I surely didn't.
I loosened them so I could address what I assume was super glue or something similar between the nut and first fret. Almost looked like a fingerprint. So I gave em some slack so, I could pull them out of the way and scrape it clean. Fretboard is perfect now but there's a slight, slight barely audible buzzing on the G string. I thought maybe it was the ending winds around the string causing it because they were half in and half out of the bridge but that wasn't it.
No distinguishable difference to me.
It's almost always the people who can barely play that have a preoccupation with this shit.
If he concentrated on playing more he might realise that he has a whole pile of shit to work on before this is the priority in improving his guitar tone.
I nearly had a heart attack when he had a go with that hammer
NEVER HAMMER ON TOP OF THE BED , NEVER . THAT WAS CRAZY , LOL
😅😢😂🤣🤣🤣 Same here!
Well done mate
+1 Chicago Music Exchange cloth. CME is my favorite stop on the train ride home :)
Plot twist: The guitar IS the girlfriend
Thats exactly how it is in my life,and i love it.
Try dropping the pups near flush to shrouds could give you a rounder sound (less pull on the strings)
I’m tempted to do this to my 92 standard
If its a 92’ Standard Gibson les paul? ..Dont...just leave it alone, in my humble opinion.
I hear no difference acoustically, neither in loudness or harmonic content.When plugged maybe it sounds more bassy with the faber kit?
Yep another one of those unnecessary mods
@@BITESIZEJONES Only if you're deaf....
What are you hoping for tonally. I'm seeing a lot of bridge upgrades on Les Pauls, and what one source was saying is that the old 59' bridges are brass. Then a builder who is doing a historic recreation is saying steel/zinc alloy. What tone differences are you looking for and what bridge material?
A person looking for a historically accurate build might sacrifice something tonally for accuracy. Different materials will likely roll off the highs and impact sustain.
@@nycLPplayer Is going with steel a comprimise? Is brass a smoother tone?
Since installing the ABR Bridge do you think you'd be able to thread the strings through the tailpiece and still have it screwed down to the body? On my 2014 Trad I need the tailpiece raised and I think its down to the use of a Nashville bridge.
If you had low action then yeah but I top wrap so Im good regardless. Check out my Bigsby vid as the Faber TP bolts and washers are worth a look if your top carve or studs dont allow you to go flush to the body.
your intonation looked crazy on your old bridge and I've heard that alnico 2's don't do too well when being shocked like hammer blows!
GSUS HC thats an old wives tale. an alnico magnet is not going to be degaussed by a few indirect blows nor do they lose more than a bit of an "edge" over the course of 100 years.
Jay Tee that's good to know as i have A2's in one of my guitars
I’d back the pick up off after the abr!
How do you feel about the Faber hardware after having used it for a while, is it an improvement that is worth the money spent? Big enough difference sustain wise?
Overall it helped but the guitar didnt have issues in the first place. Reality is a 20% increase on 9sec of sustain is 1.8 secs which in the grand scheme isnt a huge deal. I did end up swapping for a locking bridge which helped as well and still allowed for on the fly changes.
NYC LP Player
I'm looking at the Faber and TonePros bridge for the stability, most likely will go with the Faber. Was seriouslly considering the Babicz bridge but passed because it simply isn't going to be vintage on my BB7. Thank you for getting back to me.
Your video came across my feed, pretty cool. But i have a question, ive got a Harley Benton LP (an import, which is on par or maybe better n quality than a Epiphone) and was hoping to upgrade the hardware. i was considering getting Gotoh brand bridge and tailpiece, which, compared to the Faber, are way more affordable, and Gotoh (japanese) has a reputation for excellent quality parts. I was just wondering, other than justifying the quality of the Faber simply because they are more expensive do you think they would make any remarkable difference one vs the other.
BatFan1 do a little research but as long as the metals are the same you should be fine. I keep an eye out for used versions of either. No reason to buy new and pay full price.
BatFan1 Faber actually uses an alloy that is closer to the original LP hardware formula than anything else out there. I have had all these parts under a microscope (as I was selling vintage correct hardware for a while, had it made overseas because this type of metal is not available in the U.S. anymore). Also I have used the Faber Tonelock kit with the iNserts and the eSerts along with the steel tailpiece bushings on multiple guitars. These guitars ALL now really sing! And all my musician friends have had me install them on their guitars. WELL WORTH THE EXTRA COST!!! My guitars are always in tune and the sustain has improved in a very musical way. Not to mention the improved action and playability.
nice ..did you have to drill the holes deeper to get the longer studs in ?
no but I also checked the depth with a toothpick to be sure
First thank you for the video, I don't know why some many guitarists are little bitches online especially for good videos like yours. I don't really care for sustain the most, but what I want is to improve the tone and the liveliness of the guitar. I find vintage guitar to be louder acoustically and that's what I would ideally want. Do you think the Faber would get me there? I play only LP Special by the way thanks!!
+Anna-Clara I find good hardware will never hurt though if you change certain metals to say titanium or an alternate metal you may get more high end then you want. The stock metal on all but the Gibson Custom line I believe is cheap zinc but that doesnt mean a guitar wont sound great as is. Pickups and sting material changes will have a much more noticeable impact on tone but again its not a bad thing. Results will vary but if you can find a used one you wont lose money if you decide to sell.
wow i skipped ahead and you're hammering the fuck out of it! :O :O
same as they do in the makers install video as the tight fit requires some effort to get it in. ruclips.net/video/yuk5Gwms05I/видео.html
I guess you can be more aggressive with these things than i think!! cool vid
Does the Faber bridge have brass or titanium saddles?
+Dominik Ignacik the sell both but these were the standard saddles
play some music man not just plain chords, ithink you cannot understand the difference this way
pretty good video very much in D and P realm but good.
Its not called a stud, its called a bushing! You annoyingly don't mention the device you used to remove the bushing, where did you get it from? My God you were crazy to use a metal headed hammer to bang in the new bushing.
please email youtube for a full refund....have a nice day
1) its just a socket
2) the part that sticks out is a stud but honestly who cares
3) hammer material doesnt matter since they give you a nylon spacer to not mar the metal
4) dont't be such a complainer
@@nycLPplayer You take all the risk if you dont get it right, especially to the top of the guitar, Gibson's arent cheap. I thought this was supposed to be a how to do it vid not a how not to do it vid as it turned out. I suppose it was instructional in that sense.
@@Edward1312 I think you worry too much. A rubber mallet will still mar the finish if you miss. I'm just a guy enjoying a hobby...same as you and your videos.
Who else is just cringing and feeling sick to their stomach as he hammers in the new studs?
@alan wake , because if he slips or hammers the plug in a little too far, he risks hundreds of dollars of resale value on a $3000 plus guitar. You know Alan, like when your playing the board game "operation", and you touch the sides with the tweezer, the buzzer signifies that you've lost. Same kinda thing. Strangely, I had a feeling that you had an idea of why I had some sort of inner affinity and empathy for a guy attempting luthier work on an expensive guitar at home, without proper tools... it brings me no joy to see someone make expensive mistakes.
Dude, There’s no difference. It just looks different
You really can’t hear it?
will M.....nope as this is a non locking bridge...I like to play with the action so this is easier for me
Ended up replacing with locking bridge which still allows for adjustments
hilarious joke at the beginning.
bridge locking screws..did you forget?
Your girlfriend said it’s cool.
Chibson? or Real..
Real...got her from Chicago Music Exchange so sometimes I call her a CHI-bson
WHY-DA-HELL are you wrapping the strings over the stoptail??
It's not a wraparound bridge, goddamn!
Tons of people top wrap...Billy Gibbons for instance. Not a big deal plus its my guitar so chill.
NYC LP Player there isn't any benefit in top wrapping, the only real effect you got is you damage your tailpiece.
The fact that tons of people does a thing it must not mean it's a clever thing...there are lots of people using a tremolo like a floyd, and it's a crap, tons of people using a bigsby like a tremolo, and is a crap, or just pretend to play a '50 guitar (ora a reissue of that age) like a modern model.
Well, NO...things have changed, and you should not pretend to use a 1950 les paul like a modern ibanez, same as you won't pretend the same features from a buick skylark and from a modern ford mustang.
So, tons of people top wrap=tons of people fault.
Ask any fucking good luthier if it has any sense or not.
italianmetallkrieger listen I'm sure you hear this a lot but I have no interest in hearing your opinions on what to do with my guitar. I'm not concerned about them the tail and it does by looser feel to the strings. Regardless it is my guitar and I have no use for advice from some Italian metal know it all. Save your breathe.
Well, if you don't need any advice, simply don' t answer me, it's easy.
Bye bye pal
+italianmetallkrieger chill. christ....
Use brass parts
Your pickups are way too high
All a matter of preference