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Single-pickup guitar review round-up: modern electrics vs 1957 Gibson Les Paul Junior
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- Опубликовано: 5 мар 2014
- Modern single pickup electrics up against a genuine classic
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If you're the sort of guitar player that likes multi-channel, multi-switching amps and MIDI-switching pedalboards that take up more space than a drum kit, you might wonder why on earth any player would latch on to an electric guitar with just one pickup? We'd wager the appeal lies in direct contrast to that: less is more.
Here, we take four, affordable modern single pickup electric guitars - the Fender Classic Series '50s Esquire (£754), Eastwood Airline '59 1P (£699), Fret-King Eclat DBC (£599) & Gordon-Smith GS-1 (£454) - and see how they compare to our benchmark tone monster: an original 1957 Gibson Les Paul Junior. The amp throughout is our house Vox AC15C1.
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The older I become, the more necessary simplicity and good quality materials and build become.
The older I become the less I care about what a guitar is made up of and more about what it actually sounds like through my rig. I have owned guitars ranging in price from $200 to $5000. Currently own 14 guitars and didn't pay more than $500 for any of them … sold my Suhr and PRS, but kept the Epiphone ES-339, LTD Hybrid II, and G&L Tribute Fallout, Danelectro '66, Epiphone LP Standard, etc... I do agree with you about simplicity though - straight into the amp (allowing for my Boss TU3) is the best way to go IMHO, of course YMMV.
William Littlefield One too many acronyms there for me mate! YMMV??? WTF?!
Luey Sixty-six JCWHOA (Jesus Christ what’s he on about!)
Josh Jenkinson Hahahaha. Yeah, honestly..I do know what imho means (a totally unnecessary preface, btw ...👈 😮.... 😏), but have no idea about the other!! Sorry old , Billy Little...we're having a good old laugh at your expense! We're just being silly - no harm in it, Bro..
Yeah sorry if it came across as a bit horrid! I’m sure it stands for something! Maybe we’re just too old to keep up with the RUclips / forum lingo!
I own a 57 Gibson Les Paul Junior and a 59 fender Vibrolux with a Celestion Alnico Blue 12” speaker and a vintage 59 Fender Bassman they sound fantastic together
maybe this whole video goes a little more in-depth than most would need, but the comparisons you make and the production quality of this video are both super awesome. nice work.
P90 - The king of pick-Ups!
My favorite pickup too!!
@GFrank2 that's what every p90 I've ever played was rated and some are really bright and some are nice an full with enough mid and brighten ness to sound perfect !
True but the Telecaster bridge pickup is the pickup made for a King 🤴 😆
This is my favourite video showcasing a Les Paul Junior. The guy said he's not saying his hands are the right hands, but I think they are.
Duane allman’s first axe was a double cut single p90 Les Paul JR . He’s got it sitting in his bedroom closet at his house in Macon along with a funky ass pair of shoes from the 60s.
What a tone with the '57 Junior! I'm dreaming night and day about that guitar! The Vox amp makes that junior sound so amazing! Thanks a lot! Really nice videos by the way! Love from France!
Ok, that’s the first time I’ve heard an electric sound acoustic with no fancy pedals, it is very versatile
This makes me want a vintage Jr even more. That tone is absolutely unmatched.
to this day still one of the best sounding guitar I have ever heard
Great video review. In the past I used to like complicated guitars, 3 or 4 pickups, whammy bar, switches, etc... But today I'm leaning towards more simple guitars, and explore the different posibilites they have. As you show in this video, less is more. Thanks for sharing.
Great tip in here, about bringing the volume and tone knobs down, to sound like an acoustic guitar. You can apply this idea to any multi-pickup guitar, as well! (Note: I am just a hobbyist, a bedroom rock star who enjoys playing for my own self-enrichment. I've played acoustics on park benches, haven't gone electric in front of people for quite a while.)
Go to whatever your own sort of home base pickup setting is. (For me, it would be the middle pickup on a Strat.) Then bring the volume and tone controls down to that 3 or 4 setting. Then, you set the AMP to respond to the guitar so that it will sound like an acoustic. From there, you can then use the pickup selection and the volume and tone knobs, to get just about anything you want.
The two dudes in this look like the same guy at different stages of life.
hahahaha true
All British people look pretty much the same
@@f.7624 Oy vey. What a ridiculous statement. Please tell me that you are kidding.
@@MrAlsfan5 are you British? (And by British I mean white British)
@@f.7624 and they all have a funny accent... it's NEW YAWK, not New York.
I could watch an hour of this stuff. I don't think my wife gets it though, that the tonal differences between vintage and modern P90s is very important.
dwhite .dwhite we all did man, we all did!!! As satchel from Steel Panther put it, even the 9 year-olds start playing to get the attention of the chicks at school...
also just fucking with y'all of course :)
Chris Mann Get a new wife
This is meme material for girl laying in bed with the thought bubble "what could he be thinking about? Is it this or that......" and lists all these worries etc, and the guy is thinking "she just doesn't get it, the tonal differences between vintage and modern P90s is very important." xD xD xD
You're lucky, my ex-wife hated my guitars. She still does. She told our son, last week that I should sell my guitars.
My wife won't let me get a '59 either.
In the 80s, Eddie Van Halen was a genius when he reduced his Boogie Bodies Strat clone down to a single, tilted bridge humbucker with only a very specific Volume control. He put all of the magnetic pull onto one tilted pickup and Kramer built the master model for the future Wolfgang.
Then, Corporate-fueled Grunge turned up-and-coming guitarists away from all of the advances made in guitar gear that were spawned by EVH. Cork-sniffers cane out of the woodwork and crapped all over shred guitars like Kramer (one pickup, one knob) & Jackson, and great amps like the JCM900, JMP-1 and ADA MP1.
Hmmm. Now they're all good again.
Who's here following the passing of Leslie West. RIP
That was a truly original guitar mini documentary / round up. I enjoyed that, thanks.
P 90 pick ups just sound so great! As well I agree whole heartedly about the difference in tones you can get with just your fingers or the volume and tone knobs. I love seeing posts about how, say a Les Paul is so one dimensional, yet Joe Bonamassa has a great video on all the different tones you can get out of one just by adjusting tone and volume controls. In any case enjoyable video here.
Where's the Hello Kitty Stratocaster?
Wade Guidry hanging on my wall....wanna buy it😉
saw one @ CVS, The Hello Kitty section.
We bought one as a Christmas present for my boss years ago... he was embarrassed but loves playing it
@randy guthaus lol
Specifically the P90 single pick up would better describe this piece. As far as I'm concerned it is and was the best pick up made. As far as blues and country go and it can hold its own in rock. So really an all around great guitar. And I just didn't mention jazz but it'll work in that field as well. My next favorite is the telecaster.
Leo Fender had the right idea from the start, he felt simplicity/the Tele was the way to go. Of course much has changed concerning amplification/pedals, etc., but, The Tele has changed little (w/out getting too pedantic) and is still a must have for any picker.
A few years ago my wife bought for me a Les Paul TV Model reissue single cutaway with a P90 dog ear and yellow jacket caps. It's amazing how many tones you can get when just volume and tone pots are adjusted and playing between pick and fingers and moving around the picking area. Luv it. Nice video.
I play the bridge pickup very often, so I get the concept. If you can't play, then even 3 pickups won't help you.
I have a 25 year old 1960 re issue Les Paul standard I've had from new and it's been my main guitar all that time, also use a Tele for twangy stuff, chillis etc but until recently I had an SG Special as back up for the Les Paul but sold it and bought the new 2015 Les Paul Junior, forget all the logo, neck width etc rants, it's a revelation. The P 90 is a fabulous pickup and its rapidly becoming my go to guitar, I love using the tone and volume which I kind of ignored on twin pickup guitars, and it's a tremendously versatile instrument, I would recommend any serious guitarist to try one, never judge a book by its cover as they say, great vid by the way, professional as always.
I wouldn't describe the Eastwood Airline guitar as beautiful, but it does sound good.
Favorite bit is Neville turning the Jr into a pretty nice sounding Acoustic guitar. Beautiful review thanks team.
I have Maestro Les Paul & SG Juniors that i wanna put P90's in em although their humbuckers cut hard! As for the Esquire, i built one w/a second-hand DIY Tele kit that I put more work in filling the pickguard than rewiring which came easy after replacing the import 3-way switch for a CRL that made a big difference that now I'm thinking of putting a bigger capacitor in the 3rd position; the Bridge pickup has a ceramic bar magnet that was very shrill but now not at all after rewiring! Single pickup guitars definitely make you work harder but then again not as hard as you get used to less items because after all, less IS more!
You can put a p90 dogear in the les paul. But i don't know about the sg. I am getting a p90 for my Maestro Les Paul Junior i have the blue one.
This guy putted a p90 in his maestro les paul jr. ruclips.net/video/hgCwVM1uIHk/видео.html
i love gibson lespaul junior, either with double cutwat or the single one ... Esquire always has place in my heart
Where have you been ? Haven't seen you around RUclips for a couple years now !?
What an awesome review, and some seriously beautiful guitars. Demonstrated brilliantly by both guitarists. I would love to get my hands on a real vintage Gibson, now! :)
I have a very rare, mint 1950's (natural finish-blonde) ES225T electric hollow body that I need to sell. But let me tell you, it has the sweetest warmest, sound you can ever imagine.
Richard W I had a sunburst 225T...one pup- and I had to sell IT....a '57....and you are right....it was great....lightweight..and fun...
After just now reading your response post, I am having second thoughts about selling it. I seldom ever see the natural finish ones, mostly sunburst-still great thou.I have a Strat, but of course they are so different sounding. I will have to sleep on it (not literally) ........RW
yeah I would KEEP it...I WISH I had kept mine...like a big 'ol super light Les Paul....
This is an absolutely excellent video! Thanks for bringing two excellent guitarist to this demo, it makes a difference.
I wonder if in 50 years they are gonna talk about the cheap student guitars of today like this. "Yeah, back in 2006 they had it all figured out with the squier bullet strat, thinner for more control....bass wood for excellent sustain and single magnet ceramic pickups for that honoust and authentic squier tone...".
Other than musical instruments, I cant think of any other consumer item that is considered better when its 50 years old, I certainly wouldnt want a 55 year old car or washing machine ;)
Best review I have seen so far, professional - really really good job. Great instruments. Subscribed
Both of these guys are very well spoken without over doing the explanation, love the demo simple version. Neville is just pure class
I have a nice resonant Gibson TV yellow Les Paul jr. Made out of Spanish cedar too ! Thanks for reminding me of that with you Gordon Smith.
I heard somewhere that the magnetic field of the pickups slightly restricts the vibration of the strings, so fewer pickups = freer vibration of the strings
Neville has written many superb articles , particularly on blues playing,... here he shows how gorgeous a Junior can sound, ...a superb player too, tasty , classy licks with beautiful vibrato & note choice.....world class.
I have a Rick Turner model 1 with a single rotating hum bucker . split coil and full electronic package . Superb !
I just picked up a GS1 which is an absolutely fantastic little guitar. Certainly a keeper, and easily stands up with far more expensive guitars that I own.
One thing they didn’t mention with the GS though is that they are all coil tapped, which then opens up a new range of sounds and tones getting well towards that flat out Tele bite that is usually missing from humbucker guitars.
I have a 1963 Melody Maker modded with a Strat single coil neck pickup on the MM's lone single coil bridge position. And yes, I have LEARNED how to get SO MUCH variety of tone!!! For example, opened up wide it can just CRUNCH and scream with the best of them, then volume dialed back to 7-8 leaves plenty of grit but gets rid of the extreme highs (especially useful on clean channel so it's not so twangy and possibly just outright harsh), and dialing the tone knob back to 7-8 does its own thing on volume AND tone, and yet a different sound with volume in the 3-4 range, and you mix 'n' match the volume and tone (remembering, that volume also effects tone, so volume itself is like volume+tone in one), and then on my amp (Fender Princeton Chorus 2x10 solidstate from when I was a kid, my first "real" amp) there's a huge variety of tones to mix 'n' match with the guitar just by limiting the gain, from gain fully opened up and limiter all the way down to 0 for outright metal sounds, to having gain still fully open but limiter slightly turned up to around 4 (that is to say, slightly limiting the gain), and from there if my Melody Maker is cranked wide open then it's heavy and crunchy and definitely "hard rock" but not "metal", and then dialing the guitar volume down to 3=4-6 gives a classic rock overdriven tube sound with a little fuzz or something, reduced volume but still plenty of grit especially with hard picking technique, and so with "just" a single, single coil pickup you can get ALL KINDS of tones just by adjusting the volume and tone knobs and of both guitar and amp, but you indeed have to SEARCH OUT the tones, you really have to get to know the instrument and the machinery and the sound and the FEEL of it, you have to WORK to find the best sounds, it's not plug-in-and-play (unless it ain't your first rodeo haha), but it really teaches you HOW to find great tone and all kinds of it!!!
Great video review of these instruments. Sound quality/recording is awesome too. Congrats for such a pro job and thanks for uploading.
I like the players, the guitars are great, (especially the Junior), and it's a great demo of the tones available, but I find the reverb very distracting, and I don't know what type of amp was used, but that reverb sounds pretty bad.
You really cover it all! Love your sensitive and discerning analysis of this wonderful instument. I'm sorry the LP Junior isn't yours' too.
1957 Gibson Les Paul Junior … always wanted one & managed to get the Custom Shop re-issue which is a fantastic guitar. Gibson no longer making the re-issues but managed to find one in the USA and get it shipped to UK. It’s awesome!
Jonathan Bailey They make them now.
Good vid! I am the proud owner of a Les Paul Junior and I love it!
Gotta say this, RIP 🙏 Leslie West, Amen. Thanks so much for turning us on to Les Paul Juniors!❤
I understand that limitations can bring out the best in artists sometimes. That's a great concept to have. But I'd prefer the options of a standard LesPaul. You can still limit yourself and play around with the volume/tone but the pick up switch is an amazing tool to have.
And I personally need the warmer tones of the neck pick up for the music I make. I'd maybe take a neck pickup only guitar :D
I've always favored the Les Paul Jr. Certainly Leslie West showed me what a thick tone and harmonic bite it could achieve. In 1970 when the album Mountain Climbing came out and I heard, 1) Mississippi Queen, and 2) Theme For An Imaginary Western - I was hooked on the look, tone and over all sound of the old L.P. Jr's. I've owned a couple of vintage Gibson collections and have had most all of the great Gibson guitars including old L.P. Jr's, both single and double cutaway versions, A single pick up Firebird, A Flying V and the classic L.P. Standard in cherry sunburst. But of all my guitars the one I prized most was a tobacco sunburst '59 Melody Maker single cutaway, single pick up that I bought at Sol Bentnun guitars in L.A. for $155 back in '74. I was in Valdez Custom Guitars on Sunset Blvd., picking it up after they replaced the single coil plastic cover pick up with a humbucker and Art gave me a really funky old brown alligator case for it. They went together like a hand in a glove. I then came across a double cutaway Epiphone single pick up tobacco sunburst Jr. that matched it perfectly & I had a really cool pair of classic juniors that were the envy of every guitarist on the Strip. Those were the days... eh?
Don't forget Mick Ralphs on the first Bad Company tour as well as Ariel Bender AKA Luther Grosvenor when he replaced Mick in Mott...Both played L.P. juniors when I saw them!!!!
Mines not a '57 but I still think it's amazing. You can do anything with it. Really like the P90, sounds great out of my Fender Deville.
Happy to see this back to roots !
Looks just like the Junior (even same year) as the one the guitarist in my old band had, 30 years ago. At one point, he had it in his guitar tech's shop for maintenance when a nationally-known guitarist offered him $500 for it. My guitarist turned it down, as he should have. The sad part of this story is that a couple of years later when my guitarist fell on financial difficulties, he sold it to a nobody for $100. I was so mad he didn't offer it to me! That guitar had the best sound, the best bite, crunch... that brittle sound I loved so much!
Brilliantly vid. Good solid playing no shred, lovely tones
I sort of regret in 1982 to not have bought one I saw at Wilcox Trading Post in Lansing Michigan as I already had one which I got in 1978 at the Music Inn in the Village in New York City.
and I was looking for a Pre Cbs Stratocaster. My wife's brother said you yeah can find an old Strat up here (Lansing Michigan). It was our first vacation and went up there. No Stratocasters but a place called the Wilcox Trading Post had this Les Paul Junior and the double Cut Away Les Paul Jr. as well.. I could have got them for $280 & $300. But I was holding on to the $ to buy the Stratocaster.
At that same place were a few Fender Jaguars for $365. But I looked at those and thought why would anyone ever buy one of those when Stratocasters look so much better.
Jaguars were around that $365 for what seemed like forever and were pretty much in every used place there was. No body really wanted them.
I did get the Stratocaster a 65" in Feb.1983 which was 3 times the $ of the Juniors. But that trip was something. We went by the Gibson Kalamazoo factory..Elderly guitars and the trip
to the Henry Ford Museums blew me away. My wife say I went in one to those museums and came out a totally different person after seeing all of the antiquity and American History.
Was completely changed by what I saw. Cheers
P.s Just before Covid these Jrs guitars were going for $4400-$5000 for years unless they were mint collectors things. It's just since then they have gone so up.
And another thing I had a 1958 I think it was, Les Paul Special. My brother gave it to me as a gift in the 90's he got it for $1k.
The guitar really wasn't that good at all and I always struggled with it..it was all original ..so they are not all really good instruments across the board.
I traded that Special to get a 1999 Gibson Les Paul 59' Historic. It's not the greatest but I like it much better and it's good.
I own the classic series Fender Esquire and it's the nicest, clearest sounding guitar I own. Kind of want an SG Junior now! Great vid.
I wonder why they Didn't use a Gordon Smith GS1 fitted with their own P90 they sound great, also instead of the Esquire which is a totally different kettle of fish they could have tested a PRS SE One.. with a P90 fitted..
I own a 1980 GS1 That has seen a lot of miles and is in dire need of a refret. I have loved Gordon Smith guitars ever since I got a hold of this, the only thing that I did to it a good few years ago was swap out the GS PU for a Kent Armstrong HRE-1 that gives a bit more oomph to what is a great guitar. I spent about an hour on the phone talking to Kent Armstrong to try and describe the sound I wanted and they came up with the goods in the HRE-1. This guitar has stood in as a back up to a mate of mine's GS1 gigging and he has to roll back the volume a bit to get it to match his own sound. Gordon Smith produced excellent workhorse guitars when in partnership and John Smith continued this tradition but since the takeover by Auden they have really gone up market. I have another GS guitar, a Classic T with no ashtray from the John Smith era and have owned an absolutely stunning Gemini and a GS1 12 string but the GS1 is just perfect. You cannot fault these guitars for the value that they represent for a hand made guitar produced in the UK, they easily match bigger name guitar manufacturers but don't cost an arm and a leg to own. I would recommend folks to try them out before going the Gibson / Fender route.
I think it's maybe because they wanted variety in this roundup.
I own a GS1 with a P90, it's great, but the humbucker is truer to the "classic" Gordon Smith sound. They're still wound to the same spec, even since getting bought by Auden.
Again, the Fender Esquire lends a different voice to the single-pickup aesthetic, rather than having an all-P90 selection.
Fantastic video, thanks for this. More like this please!
It still takes an excellent tube amp to get that proper sizzle,breakup and tone!
Nice that you mentioned STEVE MARRIOTT.
Awesome video, learned a lot
Keith Urban is the master when it comes to tone & volume control. I've never seen anything like what he can do with a Jnr...👍👍
One of the best guitar demo videos out there.
I liked the Gordon Smith but I think they were way skeptical about the gs.Getting some addtional tones is a good thing and atleast u cud've shown the headstock!
Loved this review! I'm even considering a LPJ now =)
I used single humbucker strats for years, need a pickup that will do it all!
P90'S are it !
i have a 59 es125, it's pickup is similar to that, dog ears, but i prefer it's neck position over the bridge. what is so great is how creamy clean it is, AND THE BITE IT HAS!
Great review - didn't realise that those weird National/Airlines had been reissued. I was bidding recently for DC PRS SE1 (the idea was to set it up for slide). Haven't ever played one, but thought it looked pretty good.
After falling in love with the tone from Frankie Cosmos (Greta Kline's) Danelectro U1, and waiting years for that exact model (mid 90s Korean, rosewood saddle, single concentric tone/vol.) with the glorious mid body lipstick p/up to come on the used market, I finally have an excellent condition deep purple in transit as I type. The nice relatively light chambered body will be better for the chronic sciatica in my right leg too :)
I really like the Gordon Smith in fact I will check how much to send one to the USA of if they ship to the USA. GREAT video.
Should have thrown a PRS SE One into that mix, beautiful alternative to the costly LPJs
Actually he couldn't , PRS SE models as well as ANY PRS models with PRS on the truss rod covers are made in Korea .. He's talking about vintage American made single pickup guitsrs I think .. Even though Epiphone Jr's are great axes and they are made in three -four different countries.
@@DonaldRoberts The Hamer Special Jr. is another good single P 90 guitar. Thinking Korean made?
The Gordon Smith is from Britain or the EU, if I'm not mistaken
The Godin Redline 1 is a killer axe.
single pickup guitars are great but you can apply all these techniques to a multi-pickup guitar
But people typically don't apply these things because they can have a crutch of more controls
yea, but this was a single pick up guitar review.
I think you missed the whole pint of "simplicity"
You got it backwards. You can do the same sounds with a single pick up as you can with multiple.
Have had a GS1 for about 20 years. Love it!!!
I own a 1980 GS1 That has seen a lot of miles and is in dire need of a refret. I have loved Gordon Smith guitars ever since I got a hold of this, the only thing that I did to it a good few years ago was swap out the GS PU for a Kent Armstrong HRE-1 that gives a bit more oomph to what is a great guitar. I spent about an hour on the phone talking to Kent Armstrong to try and describe the sound I wanted and they came up with the goods in the HRE-1. This guitar has stood in as a back up to a mate of mine's GS1 gigging and he has to roll back the volume a bit to get it to match his own sound. Gordon Smith produced excellent workhorse guitars when in partnership and John Smith continued this tradition but since the takeover by Auden they have really gone up market. I have another GS guitar, a Classic T with no ashtray from the John Smith era and have owned an absolutely stunning Gemini and a GS1 12 string but the GS1 is just perfect. You cannot fault these guitars for the value that they represent for a hand made guitar produced in the UK, they easily match bigger name guitar manufacturers but don't cost an arm and a leg to own. I would recommend folks to try them out before going the Gibson / Fender route.
When I think of a single pickup electric, apart from the Les Paul Jnr I think of a Kramer Baretta.
My favorite player of these fine instruments, Johnny Thunders. 😍🎸
Mine is Leslie West
You missed the Dean Leslie West Signature model. Awesome sounding Mountain of Tone humbucer pickup. Custom wound to sound like a really hot P90.
What a TASTY sounding old 6 string. (the paul) Love this guy's playing as well, very soulful and 'unforced' if this makes sense. The second guy played well too, But not with the same touch as first guy.
Plus they they are more affordable so if you tune them differently then say An E tuningn or G tuning he its much easier on the neck to swap out guitars for different songs or slide guitar on a budget.
I have one of the short-lived (1986 to 1982) Les Paul Junior reissues, with the two-piece Tunomatic bridge, mine's an '88. Much as I like my 1992 Les Paul Studio and my lovely black 1996 Standard they each have one too many (2) pickups and one too many (1) switches! If I could only keep one ax it would be the Junior.
Had a Jr. just like that...one of my favorites. Got it new in 57 but it was a 56. It burned up in our home fire.
I have a single P90 Strat that I loooove to play
at 2:45 he's playing a riff that sounds amazing. anyone figured the tab out yet?
Gary Moore used a Les Paul junior on the album Victims of the future and not his fiesta red 61 strat that most people think(The strat was on"Corridors"though)and thats his best sound he ever had!A P-90 trough a Boss DS-1 in to a 71 Marshall super bass amp amazing!
Just got a 2019 Gibson les paul Jr, I actually like the Les Paul Jr DC tribute better. The maple neck just so bright
Should have included the Reverend Sensei Jr.
The Cordon Smith GS-1 is closer to a Melody Maker than a double cut Junior.
I would pay ridiculous amounts of money for the 57 Junior oh my gooooddd
You wouldn't have to pay as much as you may think. 5-10k. They made a LOT of Jnrs in the 50's.
And of course plectrum choice greatly affects tone too!
I'm starting to understand the appeal of such a guitar, but I still cannot understand how it can cost double of what a Player Tele costs.
GS-1 got that Billy Gibbons vibe
Really enjoying Guitarist. Intelligent to the point reviews. Started with Gibson 'cause dad played one. Switched to F types and never looked back...still have a LP standard though. You get killer sound from your house amp. Have you upgraded the valves, speaker? Inquiring minds want to know!!! Hello, my name is TheLivingDead and I don't like selling my guitars. Thank you
Really like that Esquire!!
I’ve got one just like it but a put a blackguard pickup on it
I have a Godin Redline 1. One EMG pickup and a volume control. You can find a few demos on You Tube. Fun guitar.
With the airline guitar you could put a humbucker in it that's a really cool idea or just changed back and forth
bought my 57 junior in 71 for £120. still my main axe, it's awsome,
I used to own a 1955 LPJ. Bought it for $250 around 1978. Traded it later.
i always run my G and L tele through a boost pedel, no gain, just boost and it gives that rear tele pickup the balls to play proper rock. its great. it doesnt have the thin tele sound.
i also have two vintage Jrs. and they are in a different league.
want to hear a powerful guitar, wire the vintage P90 straight to the jack. it really boost the sound on the guitar. i leave one jr straight wired and one normal to have all the variation the two pots give. and yes this means i reran the wiring on a vintage Jr ( that has a neck break and an old old refinish). both mine are players grade and i play the wee out of them. some day i will be gone and the next owner can put them in a glass case to look at. until then frets and strings are wearable parts and i do wear them out.
if you can afford a old jr though they are worth it. dont get hung up on it being perfect. neck breaks and heal breaks are not a big deal if fixed correctly.
only thing i want is the original wood and vintage p90. pots bridge and tuner are not deal breakers as long as the price is correct.
Well, you hit the two biggies, the Gibson LP Jr and the Fender Esquire. I have a Fender MIJ ‘80’s Esquire that no one can have til I’m dead. Stainless steel saddles are brighter and snappier than brass, so brass saddles are a good mod to tame just enough the spiky trebliness of stock setup.
I don't understand how a guitar being 'heavier' gives the tone 'heft' as claimed. It's precisely the opposite, since less vibration is carried around.
Purely anecdotal, but I’ve found, on average, heavier guitars tend to have a stronger fundamental note, where as lighter guitars tend to have more harmonics but less fundamental. All subjective though, and not entirely predictable of course!
Nice round-up but there are a few things missing.
1) EVH Striped series/Kramer Baretta
If you're going to do a single-pup analysis, you can't ignore the 80's. You mention Eddie Van Halen, but don't have anything representing his contributions. He is arguably, the most recognizable user of the format.
2) You also mention that lowering the volume eliminates treble response. Treble is essentially, clarity. It works well in single-coil guitars, but you'll never get the same clarity playing clean with the volume rolled down. Whereas in 2 or 3 pickup guitars, you can get a creamy neck pickup without sacrificing response.
this is a single coil guitar (the les paul jr)
yutuubfreak
The title says single-pickup guitar. Not single-single-coil pickup guitar.
The Gordon Smith has a humbucker.
yea i kno sorry if i wasn't clear. i said i was talking about the les paul jr
Oddly most with a 5 way switch still use the bridge or neck position for the majority of the time without switching. We think we need more than we actually use. Same with pedals, I have over 20 in my collection and 8 on my board...I use about 3.
Fret King v Gibson LP Jr 57, the poly finish v nitro? Errr, no, the 57 P90 pickup is the first major difference and the pickup in Trev's FK guitar is a stacked P90.
Wish journo's could get their acts together