Dave , thank you so much for the de-wax tip , i,m going to do my lemon drop . U have just confirmed what i have suspected about these pups being choked with wax , as mine dont sound like i imagine a les paul -- in my head. Your treble bleed mod sounds superb and just makes such a difference to already - a great guitar. Please do a diagram or show how its done.
Sounds great mate . It's amazing what great sound you can get - I did some wiring mods and put in bare knuckle pg blues pick ups after doing the magnet swap original epihone ones on an epihone Les Paul gold top. Was a good project .
I come back to this video review each time I revisit my own Lemon Drop. Always enjoyable to watch the videos you have made with this mod l guitar, Dave. I have one of the initial batch of these models, the relived one. I, too, have added a scratch plate and replaced the knobs! I felt no need to take the pup covers off as the guitar has lots of clarity and mine has no issues with treble loss when using tone or volume controls. Maybe it has different pots? Weirdly, having owned a couple of Telecasters, this guitar reminds me of that same cutting rawness when clean. The guitar is very "vintage" sounding in this respect; dynamic, cutting and quite rich. Certainly the best LP guitar I have played and closest to the sounds I was inspired by from the sixties. I periodically have a hankering for a thicker neck profile, but have to admit that mine(which resembles the shaved neck Page had on his number1) is very playable and I get the same tones as other guitars. Guess it is in your fingers for better or worse. I have checked out a number of other examples of this model since I bought mine 5 years ago and there seem to have been some significant changes over the years. Mine doesn't have your neck heel chamfer and still has the "replacement" Grover-style tuners. It stays in tune well, which means I won't change them. What I would say to anyone thinking of getting one of these, is that they are very reactive to the amp you play. Without saying what they are, I can say that the three amps I have cover the low watts lunchbox head, medium watts EL84 combo, and high headroom clean 100watts range, and the guitar reacts very differently to all of them. It likes volume, especially clean. I think it is a good guitar with a great range to complement your own personal style of playing, rather than just being a good match for the Green/Moore/classic British rock genre. Rock on, Dave. Love your playing.
Excellent, David. This Vintage really looks and sounds the part. Well done. :) The treble bleed mod sounds great. I'm going to mod my Fender Telecaster '72 Deluxe in the next couple of months - new 3-way switch, four new pots, 500k in place of the 250k pots and a couple of Orange Drop capacitors. Basically, so I can have more control over the volumes and tones. The 250k pots are ok, but I use a couple of pedals (Evil Eye Fuzz and I'll be purchasing an EarthQuaker Devices Acapulco Gold power-amp distortion pedal soon) and those pedals rely more on the guitar's controls rather than the pedal's controls since they only have one control each - Fuzz for the Evil Eye and a Master Volume for the Acapulco Gold. The 250k pots currently in don't give the versatility I need. The 3-way switch mod isn't really needed, but the current one is just noisy and I'm not keen on the feel of it, it doesn't feel reliable, so I'm going to replace that with an enclosed unit/3-way switch. The Guitar in it's current form is just generally noisy and not in a nice way (grounding issues?...) but it sounds great when played. :)
Sounds great. Brilliant sounding guitar. 100 percent agree about the wax. Unpotted or minimal potting gives much better harmonics- like taking a blanket off the speaker. Personally I’m not keen on the treble bleeds, much prefer 50s wiring. One thing I do like is passive bass cut on humbuckers to get spank like a telecaster without hum
Very good demo Dave, I bought one of these when I was actually supposed to be just buying new strings, played it, and was mightily impressed.. enjoyed the vid . Subbed, 👍
Wasn't aware of the treble bleed Mod. Will have to try it. Was always not happy with with how dark some of my Gibsons sounded. Great playing as always. 🎸
Have you tried the Vintage AFD Paradise? I got mine after selling my V100 and have to say the Paradise is incredible for the money. Beautiful neck, pick ups are excellent and the Wilkinson tuners do everything you could expect of them. On top of that it looks great. I would recommend anyone who has stayed clear of Vintage to give them a try. A good one is more than a match for the best Squiers and Epi's
As usual, great video Dave. I like what you've done to the Lemondrop, it does sound a lot brighter which, in the middle position, gives it more "quack", I have the "relic" version, it came out a year before the version you have. I agree with you, the original Peter Green was stock and should be sold with the correct volume and tone knobs not the Gary Moore modifications. Would it have been easier to use a hot air gun or an hairdryer to melt and remove the wax from the pickups, just thinking about the delicate wires. "Oh Well", as usual. 🤘🏻
Thank you very much indeed. Glad you enjoyed it. It probably would have been easier with a hair dryer but I've always done it with a knife and a cloth and it works for me. As long as I'm careful and take my time its all good. :)
I have a 2013 version in distressed.. The earlier models have the regular neck heels and the correct body curve around the pickup switch going into the neck joint.. This makes all the difference to the looks thus giving it more of the les paul look... I believe they had to use the newer funky neck heel when the ran into problems with Gibson... They probably sound the same though... They are a great gigging guitar as the pickups are voiced so well.
You might want to take a look at a 50s wiring scheme, rather than introducing extra stuff into the circuitry. Also, one of the areas where eastern made guitars save on costs is stuff going on under the hood. Take the back plates off and the horrors are there for all to see; nasty, cheap plastic wiring and tiny cheapo pots and grotty caps. The good news is that quality replacements will not break the bank and are well worth doing. CTS (or other US made) pot shafts require a very minor enlargement of the control holes in the top. A very simple job. Unless the dealer has already done it, swap out the strings from new. Chinese guitars are generally fitted with Chinese made strings in the factory. These are pretty awful and suitable only for slicing cheese. Original equipment switches are usually quite poor, as well, and worth replacing with a Switchmaster or similar. Wilkinson pickups are very good indeed. Things can be improved here a little, but quality replacements can cost about £200 or more. Is it worth that kind of outlay? None of these improvements are essential (except the strings). Everything is already fine straight out of the box after a decent setup. I up-specced my Vintage over time (I have an original Lemon Drop) including new wiring and fitting Bare Knuckle pups and love it more than ever. They've quite understandably saved money on stuff. The maple top is a thin veneer rather than the full cap and the poly finish is so thick it's like a plastic membrane. I think the relicing sucks - it's just a variegated paint finish done by template, not wear. I'm not a huge fan of artificial relicing, even when it's done well. Nevertheless, it's a great guitar and they really are superb value. I own three Gibson LPs, and I'll very often reach for the V100. My first Les Paul type guitar was a MiJ Columbus LP copy. It was a shocker, really. A bolt-on neck with a nut made of chewing gum, humbuckers that weren't really, poor quality electrics and fittings, and a plywood body. Absolutely no comparison.
Bogallan I own four Vintage brand guitars, two V100s, a V6JMH and a VSA535, 95% of there guitars are fantastic, the only real weak spot in all 4 is the potentiometers and thin wire used. I'm in the process of upgrading the wiring harnesses on all 4 but fully plan on keeping the stock pickups. An odd contrast though is that despite the cheap electronics, the craftsmanship of the actual soldering and wiring cavity is top notch. Someone took a lot of pride in their work during the finishing process and I was very impressed by that.
Hey Dave, great channel! I share your love of Vintage guitars, got me a Vintage V6 sunburst after trying a Fender American Strat and deciding I prefered the V6 and being £800 better off! Can't quite place your accent, but definitely somewhere in West Yorkshire?
Yeah the volume pot was very annoying...i got a treble bleed installed today...gonna pick it up tomorrow, this will be so awesome! Its such a great guitar! peace
Just watched the journey from unblocking to now, this guitar will soon to be purchased! By far the best review on RUclips! The tones you ranged gave a great insite in what can be achieved! New sub but I'm going to enjoy going through your channel and watching more videos! Keep it up man! Ps where abouts are your from? Ta!
Thank you so very much and thank you ever so much for subscribing. :) This guitar is so worth buying. Its such a great instrument. I am from Lincolnshire in the UK. :)
Hi again Dave. So regarding the pickguard/scratch plate that you added, will a standard Gibson LP size fit it or does it need to be custom made or fitted?
Very good! Man .. I wanted your information to help me .. I bought a les paul PGM from this one and I want to put capacitors and treblee blade. Have you just placed the treble blades and kept the original pickups? the sound was very good! I would like to know which upgrade you have made so that I can do mine too! I do not understand in the video why I do not understand English very well! Thank you!
Fantastic sound Hey how does it work that you get a thin sound with tone on 2?? On my strat treble bleed works just by rolling down the volume. If i roll down tone it gets dark again. Why did you roll down the tone and still have a trebly sound? Please explain i want to do it also.. Cheers
love your reviews.. never heard of a treble bleed, been looking down the posts for an explanation but have not seen any, what is a bleed exactly and can it be done myself ?? also I have removed pup covers on another les paul type and had a ground problem hum afterwards, any ground mods needed if keeping covers off ?? and finally can you tell me what strings you are using on this guitar ?? thanks again and cheers from Montreal Canada, love your playing and enthusiasm
Thank you so very very much indeed. A treble bleed is a capacitor that solders onto your volume pot. Most of the time when you roll your volume down without it your tone tends to darken the tone. With the treble bleed mod this doesn't happen. Makes the guitars clean up better on the volume pot alone. I'm not sure about any grounding mods as i've never had that issue. I would get it looked at by a tech. I am using D'addario's 9s on this guitar. Thank you so very very much again. :)
hiya dave m8. just a few questions about the treble bleed mods... no1) what are the cappy values, and are they different types for bridge and neck. ie..PIO in the neck, silver mica or orange drop in bridge etc. no2) do your treble bleed mods use resistors with the cappys. if so...what values and are they wired in parallel or series with the cappy? also..have you change the tone caps from vol to tone pots? gawd... im nosey arent i? lol
Howde. They are the same values for each pickup. There Orange drop 102K. I just used the orange drops. They did come with resistors but i didn't use them. I haven't done anything else. I just shoved the orange drops on the volume pots. :)
I've personally found wilkinson tuners rather hit and miss. i've got the SG junior style guitar and the tuners on that were horribly sensitive. a set of klusons sorted it out. i'm surpised you've not had an issue with these tuners. definitely agree with the grovers though. could i suggest a before/after video? some say the weightier tuners affect the sustain and sound. also, if you've played any other v100 models, how would you say they differ? thanks Mr Dave! :)
I've had no issues with any of the Wilkinson tuners I've got on any of my Vintage's. All are really solid and work nicely. I shall indeed do a before and after vid when i finally get around to affording the grovers. Some of the other V100 don't feel or sound half as good as this one. But they are more modern sounding and i prefer that older Les Paul sound. There great guitars though. I wouldn't say no to one. Thank you and thanks for watching. :)
Hi Dave, I've just found a V100 with the distressed look, love it, plays beautifully with great tone but - on the middle switch position when I roll off the volumes slightly there's a noticeable step in tone and volume, is this normal fore these? Any comments welcome, cheers for doing your stuff matey, the gear and guitar tips are superb!!!!
ok, whilst there is def a vol drop when selecting the middle position, there's an even bigger step off in vol and a tone change when altering the vol pots, which doesn't happen in other positions. More like a switch than a roll off. No idea where you're based, where do you gig as I'd like to pop along distance permitting.
treble bleed is a super easy, inexpansive and very useful mod! I'm running all of my guitars with it now. but it took me a few tries to find the right capacity for each ;) lovely guitar btw!
Great vid Dave, as always. Enjoy watching them. I saw a photo of the original guitar and saw that the strings are wrapped around the bridge. can that be done on that guitar, without any need to change physically the bridge ( cutting to look like the nut) for string stability and would that make that or any guitar with that bridge any more resonant.
Hello mister Simpson. Thanks for your interesting videos. I'm very interested by that guitar. Can you tell me what modifications have you done on that guitar? I have seen that you have changed the pick ups but i don't understand what are the other elements that you have changed (sorry i'm french and i'm way more better in wrting english than listening someone speaking english and try to understand what he's saying!)...Thanks a lot
Thank you very much indeed for watching. The mods i have done to this guitar are Added scratchplate removed pick-up covers treble bleed added I haven't changed the pickups. They look this way under the covers. Thank you so much for watching. :)
Hi Dave great Demo as usual, the guitar sounds excellent, liked when you dropped into the Peter Green sound which was so authentic. Keep up the good work.Please can I ask the cherry guitar on the wall behind you on your right is it a Starcaster ?
hi dave I own a vintage lemondrop and really like the neck profile on it! im going to be buying a usa Gibson les paul and I was wondering what neck would be closest to the lemondrop ? would it be a 60s or 50s[fatter] neck shape.i know you have played les pauls and would like to know your opinion. cheers terry.
Great video Dave!!!! I may have missed it in the comment section, so can you please explain how you did your treble bleed? I know you said you might have done it wrong but if that many different tones come from being wrong I don't want to be right lol. Thanks Dave. Bob
Thank you very much. Glad you enjoyed the vid. :) I just used the big orange drop capacitor. It came with a tiny cap and the big orange one and i only used the big one as the small didn't seem to work when combined. I just soldered it onto the two connectors on the 2 volume pots. :)
Hey ! Thank you so much for these videos of this guitar. Is it this model exactly www.thomann.de/gb/vintage_v100pgm_lemon_drop_reissued.htm ? I'm thinking about buying it. Also, how about the nut on this guitar ? Does it look cheap ? Thank you again !
Thank you very much and Mr pmckeown40 is correct. Because I play strats more than anything else i need to anchor my fingers higher and without it i fumble because my fingers anchor to low. Thank you very much again. :)
De-waxing mine as we 'speak' - in tthe oven, #75C. Would NOT recommend trying this in a gas oven in case there's any flammable vapours. Mine's an earlier model, both p/ups are black bobbined. May be that later ones/non-reliced have a zebra, may just be they pop in whatever's at hand. Once the p/ups are finished cooking, swapping the magnets for A4s and will be wiring it up with the Page wiring... so I'll have a Green/Moore/Page LP Replica.
I'm seriously interested in getting one of these. Are there any pitfalls to watch out for when buying? I'm also in need of selling a guitar. Other than eBay where is an ideal place to advertise?
Once the pickups have been wax potted, the wax is more or less there for good. The dipping process ensures that the wax gets right into the coils. You may have removed the surface excess. This will make them look tidier, but any sound difference would be illusory. The wax is still in the coils where it will remain. It's here where wax potting actually does its work. It stops the windings clanging together, particularly in scatter wound pups. If you really want to hear a difference, you really need to use pickups that have never been wax potted. Unpotted pups may have a tendency to be more microphonic at higher volumes, but I have not personally found this to be a particular problem. Similarly, there is some controversy about whether removing the covers has any real effect to the sound. If they are made of pure nickel, this will have no audible effect. However, if the covers are made incorporating ferrous metal, they will probably interfere with the magnetic field of the pickup. I'm not sure what covers Wilkinson use, but given their price point, I'm guessing that they're probably not pure nickel (edit: I've checked it - they actually are!), but plated brass or similar. Perhaps not as good as nickel, but near enough.
8 лет назад
Scraping the wax off won't remove any wax around the coils, will it, Dave? Is that zebra the original pickup? Funny they would do that for a covered pickup.
Im not Dave, but to answer your question: Yes they make Leftys, look it up on Thomann, dont know if they sell them in America i can just speak for Thomann, thats where i saw them, anyways greetings from Germany and rock on :D -Phill
Howde. Mr hosenpupsi123 is correct. They do do it left handed. There a bit limited on where they distribute them though so it kind of depends where you live. I hope you can get your hands on and thank you so much for watching. :)
I just picked up a ridiculously cheap Vintage V100CS . One thing that puzzles me is that a lot of reviews say a one piece neck & this one has a scarf joint. It plays & sounds great tho but wondering why so if you have any info. Thanks
Hey Dave I got an old unchambered one of these lemondrops and had I known how heavy it'd be I'd have gone for a new one. I know of wider straps helping, but anything else I can do about it?
Unfortunately using a large padded strap is all you can do. They are silly heavy but all the old Les Pauls are weighty buggers. I once played a Les Paul Artisan and that was just silly heavy. It nearly pushed me into the ground. Haha. :)
There sadly the small pots but they are 500k. They do eventually die but mine took a long time to do so. I would highly recommend a 1 meg pot though. They make the guitar come alive. :)
@@thedavesimpson Thanks Dave. So I would need the 500k short shaft 1 meg linear pots. Is there any brand or model you would recommend as replacements? How about the tone pots, are they also worth upgrading?
Hey dave I agree there are no rules and each one does his thing and although you might get a bit more top end without wax on the Pups but they will become super magnetic and you'll have tremendous string pull which basically just kills your tone and almost uncontrolable feedback...the worst of it is the string pull it will kill, slaughter your sustain but hey it's your guitar.
Howde. I haven't experienced any of that but i think it might have something to do with the fact that i never have my pickups super high. My neck pickup is about to fall off the screws into the cavity. haha. Thanks for watching. :)
Mate I have watched this video so many times ...told I need a "one in one out" policy now on my guitars ... Seriously considering "dumping" my SG ☹️. You should seriously consider doing Peter Green tuition days my friend ....👍 keep up the great posts
Hi Dave! I want to bay a Les Paul Std style guitar. After researching, a Epiphone Plustop Pro became my 1st choice, until I saw your videos about a Vintage 100PG model. The Plustop pro has alnico pups with coil splitting and generally looks like a good quality guitar. What about this Lemon drop? Does it have alnico magnets,and how do you compare it to Epiphones in term of quality? Thanks, love your videos!
In the end I bought a Lemon drop from a guy who says Dave Simpson is a legend. :) Also ,the guitar looks fantastic and plays like a dream. Just love it! Thanks for the advice,Dave!
I have a stock Lemondrop I've just started playing again. Only mods are tuners and Tusq nut, and it is so much darker and bottom heavy. It's an early unchambered one so that may have something to do with it, easily my heaviest guitar
Hey Dave! great playing as usual. It's amazing to me that you can use an affordable guitar, and a solid state amp and get closer Jimmy Page tones than guys with Custom Shop guitars, expensive pick ups, and a custom modded marshall!! keep up the great work! Question: Where did you find a a scratch plate to to fit your Vintage?? Did you have to cut it to fit??
WOW ... you just did it right .... these funky cleans are just adorable!
A stunning guitar getting even better ... great demo .. as always!
Thank you very much. :)
Dave , thank you so much for the de-wax tip , i,m going to do my lemon drop . U have just confirmed what i have suspected about these pups being choked with wax , as mine dont sound like i imagine a les paul -- in my head. Your treble bleed mod sounds superb and just makes such a difference to already - a great guitar. Please do a diagram or show how its done.
Sounds great mate . It's amazing what great sound you can get - I did some wiring mods and put in bare knuckle pg blues pick ups after doing the magnet swap original epihone ones on an epihone Les Paul gold top. Was a good project .
Thank you very much. :)
I come back to this video review each time I revisit my own Lemon Drop. Always enjoyable to watch the videos you have made with this mod l guitar, Dave. I have one of the initial batch of these models, the relived one. I, too, have added a scratch plate and replaced the knobs! I felt no need to take the pup covers off as the guitar has lots of clarity and mine has no issues with treble loss when using tone or volume controls. Maybe it has different pots? Weirdly, having owned a couple of Telecasters, this guitar reminds me of that same cutting rawness when clean. The guitar is very "vintage" sounding in this respect; dynamic, cutting and quite rich. Certainly the best LP guitar I have played and closest to the sounds I was inspired by from the sixties. I periodically have a hankering for a thicker neck profile, but have to admit that mine(which resembles the shaved neck Page had on his number1) is very playable and I get the same tones as other guitars. Guess it is in your fingers for better or worse. I have checked out a number of other examples of this model since I bought mine 5 years ago and there seem to have been some significant changes over the years. Mine doesn't have your neck heel chamfer and still has the "replacement" Grover-style tuners. It stays in tune well, which means I won't change them. What I would say to anyone thinking of getting one of these, is that they are very reactive to the amp you play. Without saying what they are, I can say that the three amps I have cover the low watts lunchbox head, medium watts EL84 combo, and high headroom clean 100watts range, and the guitar reacts very differently to all of them. It likes volume, especially clean. I think it is a good guitar with a great range to complement your own personal style of playing, rather than just being a good match for the Green/Moore/classic British rock genre. Rock on, Dave. Love your playing.
Thank you very much and thanks for watching. :)
Such an immense tone of the neck pickup with the volume and tone rolled down (4:14)! And beautifully played, as always!
Thank you very much. :)
I love Vintage, great guitars at a great price. I have 3 at the moment, looking for V6 icon maybe next!
Well done Dave. Your passion comes through as always. Very helpful and informative. Great sounds man! Keep on keeping on...
Thank you very much indeed. :)
All of us pre-geriatrics loved the "Brown Sugar" teaser at 6:11
Excellent, David. This Vintage really looks and sounds the part. Well done. :)
The treble bleed mod sounds great. I'm going to mod my Fender Telecaster '72 Deluxe in the next couple of months - new 3-way switch, four new pots, 500k in place of the 250k pots and a couple of Orange Drop capacitors. Basically, so I can have more control over the volumes and tones. The 250k pots are ok, but I use a couple of pedals (Evil Eye Fuzz and I'll be purchasing an EarthQuaker Devices Acapulco Gold power-amp distortion pedal soon) and those pedals rely more on the guitar's controls rather than the pedal's controls since they only have one control each - Fuzz for the Evil Eye and a Master Volume for the Acapulco Gold. The 250k pots currently in don't give the versatility I need. The 3-way switch mod isn't really needed, but the current one is just noisy and I'm not keen on the feel of it, it doesn't feel reliable, so I'm going to replace that with an enclosed unit/3-way switch. The Guitar in it's current form is just generally noisy and not in a nice way (grounding issues?...) but it sounds great when played. :)
Thank you very much. :)
Sounds great. Brilliant sounding guitar.
100 percent agree about the wax. Unpotted or minimal potting gives much better harmonics- like taking a blanket off the speaker.
Personally I’m not keen on the treble bleeds, much prefer 50s wiring.
One thing I do like is passive bass cut on humbuckers to get spank like a telecaster without hum
Interesting. All new to me. Thanks.
Hugely interesting, I love hearing what people have done to their guitars!!! Keep up the vids crazy Dave!!! 😉
Thank you very much and happy you enjoyed the video. :)
Very good demo Dave, I bought one of these when I was actually supposed to be just buying new strings, played it, and was mightily impressed.. enjoyed the vid . Subbed, 👍
Thank you very very much indeed for watching and especially for subscribing. :)
Nailed the Fleetwood Mac tone at 4:36.
Excellent review. Thanks. I'm inspired to look for one. What value is the tone bleed capacitor that you used?
No idea. Sorry.
"Hope you like the video", man how could we not fabulous playing could listen all day ,thanks Dave \m/
Thank you very very much. :)
Wasn't aware of the treble bleed Mod. Will have to try it. Was always not happy with with how dark some of my Gibsons sounded. Great playing as always. 🎸
Thank you very very much and treble bleed is very cool mod. :)
damn the Zep songs at 6:35 :D great guitar and playing mate
Thank you very much indeed. :)
Have you tried the Vintage AFD Paradise? I got mine after selling my V100 and have to say the Paradise is incredible for the money. Beautiful neck, pick ups are excellent and the Wilkinson tuners do everything you could expect of them. On top of that it looks great. I would recommend anyone who has stayed clear of Vintage to give them a try. A good one is more than a match for the best Squiers and Epi's
I haven't tried the AFD Paradise guitar no. I would like to get my hand son one though at somepoint. :)
Sounds excellent! You nail the PG sound dude!
Thank you very much indeed. :)
Love your outlook on guitar, love your vids👍
Not sure how to do the treble bleed but it sounds great👍🙂♥️
As usual, great video Dave. I like what you've done to the Lemondrop, it does sound a lot brighter which, in the middle position, gives it more "quack",
I have the "relic" version, it came out a year before the version you have. I agree with you, the original Peter Green was stock and should be sold with the correct volume and tone knobs not the Gary Moore modifications.
Would it have been easier to use a hot air gun or an hairdryer to melt and remove the wax from the pickups, just thinking about the delicate wires.
"Oh Well", as usual. 🤘🏻
Thank you very much indeed. Glad you enjoyed it. It probably would have been easier with a hair dryer but I've always done it with a knife and a cloth and it works for me. As long as I'm careful and take my time its all good. :)
I have a 2013 version in distressed.. The earlier models have the regular neck heels and the correct body curve around the pickup switch going into the neck joint.. This makes all the difference to the looks thus giving it more of the les paul look... I believe they had to use the newer funky neck heel when the ran into problems with Gibson... They probably sound the same though... They are a great gigging guitar as the pickups are voiced so well.
Blimey there's a whole load of different tones there!
Lemon Drop Ladyland! Love it (-8
You might want to take a look at a 50s wiring scheme, rather than introducing extra stuff into the circuitry. Also, one of the areas where eastern made guitars save on costs is stuff going on under the hood.
Take the back plates off and the horrors are there for all to see; nasty, cheap plastic wiring and tiny cheapo pots and grotty caps. The good news is that quality replacements will not break the bank and are well worth doing. CTS (or other US made) pot shafts require a very minor enlargement of the control holes in the top. A very simple job.
Unless the dealer has already done it, swap out the strings from new. Chinese guitars are generally fitted with Chinese made strings in the factory. These are pretty awful and suitable only for slicing cheese.
Original equipment switches are usually quite poor, as well, and worth replacing with a Switchmaster or similar.
Wilkinson pickups are very good indeed. Things can be improved here a little, but quality replacements can cost about £200 or more. Is it worth that kind of outlay?
None of these improvements are essential (except the strings). Everything is already fine straight out of the box after a decent setup.
I up-specced my Vintage over time (I have an original Lemon Drop) including new wiring and fitting Bare Knuckle pups and love it more than ever.
They've quite understandably saved money on stuff. The maple top is a thin veneer rather than the full cap and the poly finish is so thick it's like a plastic membrane. I think the relicing sucks - it's just a variegated paint finish done by template, not wear. I'm not a huge fan of artificial relicing, even when it's done well. Nevertheless, it's a great guitar and they really are superb value. I own three Gibson LPs, and I'll very often reach for the V100.
My first Les Paul type guitar was a MiJ Columbus LP copy. It was a shocker, really. A bolt-on neck with a nut made of chewing gum, humbuckers that weren't really, poor quality electrics and fittings, and a plywood body. Absolutely no comparison.
Bogallan I own four Vintage brand guitars, two V100s, a V6JMH and a VSA535, 95% of there guitars are fantastic, the only real weak spot in all 4 is the potentiometers and thin wire used. I'm in the process of upgrading the wiring harnesses on all 4 but fully plan on keeping the stock pickups. An odd contrast though is that despite the cheap electronics, the craftsmanship of the actual soldering and wiring cavity is top notch. Someone took a lot of pride in their work during the finishing process and I was very impressed by that.
Hey Dave, great channel! I share your love of Vintage guitars, got me a Vintage V6 sunburst after trying a Fender American Strat and deciding I prefered the V6 and being £800 better off! Can't quite place your accent, but definitely somewhere in West Yorkshire?
Thank you very much indeed and i am from Lincolnshire. :)
Yeah the volume pot was very annoying...i got a treble bleed installed today...gonna pick it up tomorrow, this will be so awesome! Its such a great guitar! peace
Just watched the journey from unblocking to now, this guitar will soon to be purchased! By far the best review on RUclips! The tones you ranged gave a great insite in what can be achieved! New sub but I'm going to enjoy going through your channel and watching more videos! Keep it up man!
Ps where abouts are your from? Ta!
Thank you so very much and thank you ever so much for subscribing. :) This guitar is so worth buying. Its such a great instrument. I am from Lincolnshire in the UK. :)
Pup covers...no.... Treble bleeds... YES! Hmm, the pup covers are SO much part of that classic LP look.
Hi again Dave. So regarding the pickguard/scratch plate that you added, will a standard Gibson LP size fit it or does it need to be custom made or fitted?
I'm not sure. I used my Epiphones scratchplate. I don't think a Gibson one fits though. :)
It's a live in your hands, Dave))) Thank you
1:49 - I thought you were going to say “flip the pickup around the right way.” 😳😂
I bet you’re right, though. No wax = PAF sound. 👍🏻
Very good! Man .. I wanted your information to help me ..
I bought a les paul PGM from this one and I want to put capacitors and treblee blade. Have you just placed the treble blades and kept the original pickups? the sound was very good! I would like to know which upgrade you have made so that I can do mine too! I do not understand in the video why I do not understand English very well!
Thank you!
Fantastic sound
Hey how does it work that you get a thin sound with tone on 2??
On my strat treble bleed works just by rolling down the volume. If i roll down tone it gets dark again.
Why did you roll down the tone and still have a trebly sound? Please explain i want to do it also.. Cheers
Btw i cant decide if i shoukd get a vintage lemon drop or a pro jet now. What do you really like best. A strat i akready have..
wow ! the bridge pickup sure got the typical "Les Paul quack" !! sweet tone !
Its rather nice isn't it. :)
totally !!
Howdy Dave. What model greenbacks are in the Marshall cabs? I know you've said in one of your videos before but can't seem to find it.
Howde. They are 25 watt greenbacks in this cab. Not my favourite but very nice sounding speakers. Thank you for watching. :)
+Dave Simpson thanks. What's your favourite then? Celestion heritage G12H(55) are nice.
My favourites are the Celestion 75watt speakers. :)
I own a few Les Pauls and I have to say this guitar here sounds fantastic.
That it does. :)
love your reviews.. never heard of a treble bleed, been looking down the posts for an explanation but have not seen any, what is a bleed exactly and can it be done myself ?? also I have removed pup covers on another les paul type and had a ground problem hum afterwards, any ground mods needed if keeping covers off ?? and finally can you tell me what strings you are using on this guitar ?? thanks again and cheers from Montreal Canada, love your playing and enthusiasm
Thank you so very very much indeed. A treble bleed is a capacitor that solders onto your volume pot. Most of the time when you roll your volume down without it your tone tends to darken the tone. With the treble bleed mod this doesn't happen. Makes the guitars clean up better on the volume pot alone. I'm not sure about any grounding mods as i've never had that issue. I would get it looked at by a tech. I am using D'addario's 9s on this guitar. Thank you so very very much again. :)
thanks for your reply and looking forward to new vids
Sound great mate,I've got the road worn.It needs abit of a set-up on it.Keep well Dave.
Thank you very much and i shall do. You to. :)
Very nice demo as always.
Thank you very much indoodle. :)
hiya dave m8. just a few questions about the treble bleed mods... no1) what are the cappy values, and are they different types for bridge and neck. ie..PIO in the neck, silver mica or orange drop in bridge etc. no2) do your treble bleed mods use resistors with the cappys. if so...what values and are they wired in parallel or series with the cappy? also..have you change the tone caps from vol to tone pots? gawd... im nosey arent i? lol
Howde. They are the same values for each pickup. There Orange drop 102K. I just used the orange drops. They did come with resistors but i didn't use them. I haven't done anything else. I just shoved the orange drops on the volume pots. :)
Dave, there is a small hole in the back of the tuning peg, is this to tighten the gear inside or ? Thanks great if you could help.
Its to oil the gears but don;t ever use it. Let them get gunked up. They work better this way. Haha. :)
I've personally found wilkinson tuners rather hit and miss. i've got the SG junior style guitar and the tuners on that were horribly sensitive. a set of klusons sorted it out. i'm surpised you've not had an issue with these tuners. definitely agree with the grovers though. could i suggest a before/after video? some say the weightier tuners affect the sustain and sound. also, if you've played any other v100 models, how would you say they differ? thanks Mr Dave! :)
I've had no issues with any of the Wilkinson tuners I've got on any of my Vintage's. All are really solid and work nicely. I shall indeed do a before and after vid when i finally get around to affording the grovers. Some of the other V100 don't feel or sound half as good as this one. But they are more modern sounding and i prefer that older Les Paul sound. There great guitars though. I wouldn't say no to one. Thank you and thanks for watching. :)
Hi Dave, I've just found a V100 with the distressed look, love it, plays beautifully with great tone but - on the middle switch position when I roll off the volumes slightly there's a noticeable step in tone and volume, is this normal fore these? Any comments welcome, cheers for doing your stuff matey, the gear and guitar tips are superb!!!!
The volume drop in the middle position is normal yeps. Thank you very much indeed for watching. :)
ok, whilst there is def a vol drop when selecting the middle position, there's an even bigger step off in vol and a tone change when altering the vol pots, which doesn't happen in other positions. More like a switch than a roll off. No idea where you're based, where do you gig as I'd like to pop along distance permitting.
Chris B Youve probably already tried this - but try raising the weaker sounding pickup.
treble bleed is a super easy, inexpansive and very useful mod! I'm running all of my guitars with it now. but it took me a few tries to find the right capacity for each ;) lovely guitar btw!
Thank you and thanks for watching. :)
Great vid Dave, as always. Enjoy watching them. I saw a photo of the original guitar and saw that the strings are wrapped around the bridge. can that be done on that guitar, without any need to change physically the bridge ( cutting to look like the nut) for string stability and would that make that or any guitar with that bridge any more resonant.
Thank you very much for watching and you can top wrap this guitar without any mods yes. :)
Great sounds... Very good & vintage setup!!! Cheers Dave ;-)
Thank you and thanks for watching. :)
Hello mister Simpson. Thanks for your interesting videos. I'm very interested by that guitar. Can you tell me what modifications have you done on that guitar? I have seen that you have changed the pick ups but i don't understand what are the other elements that you have changed (sorry i'm french and i'm way more better in wrting english than listening someone speaking english and try to understand what he's saying!)...Thanks a lot
Thank you very much indeed for watching. The mods i have done to this guitar are
Added scratchplate
removed pick-up covers
treble bleed added
I haven't changed the pickups. They look this way under the covers. Thank you so much for watching. :)
Hi Dave great Demo as usual, the guitar sounds excellent, liked when you dropped into the Peter Green sound which was so authentic. Keep up the good work.Please can I ask the cherry guitar on the wall behind you on your right is it a Starcaster ?
Thank you very much indeed. The cherry guitar is a 1962 Hofner Verithin. I have a video or 2 on my channel somewhere. :)
hi dave I own a vintage lemondrop and really like the neck profile on it! im going to be buying a usa Gibson les paul and I was wondering what neck would be closest to the lemondrop ? would it be a 60s or 50s[fatter] neck shape.i know you have played les pauls and would like to know your opinion. cheers terry.
It would be more of a 60s profile but you might struggle finding anything exact from Gibson. :)
@@thedavesimpson OK, thanks for reply. Looks like a drive down to andertons to try before buying. Cheers Terry.
Great video Dave!!!! I may have missed it in the comment section, so can you please explain how you did your treble bleed? I know you said you might have done it wrong but if that many different tones come from being wrong I don't want to be right lol. Thanks Dave. Bob
Thank you very much. Glad you enjoyed the vid. :) I just used the big orange drop capacitor. It came with a tiny cap and the big orange one and i only used the big one as the small didn't seem to work when combined. I just soldered it onto the two connectors on the 2 volume pots. :)
Hey ! Thank you so much for these videos of this guitar. Is it this model exactly www.thomann.de/gb/vintage_v100pgm_lemon_drop_reissued.htm ? I'm thinking about buying it. Also, how about the nut on this guitar ? Does it look cheap ?
Thank you again !
Thank you for watching and that is the exact model and the nut is awesome. :)
Thanks a bunch mate ! Think i'm gonna buy it.
Great video, Dave. The scratch-plate, did you add it for practical or ascetic use...or bit of both?
Practical, he's said before he struggles without it thanks to playing strats and their big pickguards
Thank you very much and Mr pmckeown40 is correct. Because I play strats more than anything else i need to anchor my fingers higher and without it i fumble because my fingers anchor to low. Thank you very much again. :)
+Dave Simpson Ahh, cool. I've only watched a few of your videos to date (Peter Green lessons) so not seen it mentioned as of yet. Good stuff.
dave do u thing that a regular knob toggle switch gibson will fit in this guitar or i have to buy another one from another brand thanks mate
Regular Gibson ones will be to big. You'll have to get one that will fit an Epiphone. : )
Is the scratch plate off another Vintage? I've test fitted a Gibson one on mine and it doesn't fit - apologies if you've said this & I've missed it
Howde. Its off my Epiphone Les Paul. :)
Nice, Dave! One of my favourite players on You Tube!
Thank you very very much indeed. :)
De-waxing mine as we 'speak' - in tthe oven, #75C. Would NOT recommend trying this in a gas oven in case there's any flammable vapours. Mine's an earlier model, both p/ups are black bobbined. May be that later ones/non-reliced have a zebra, may just be they pop in whatever's at hand.
Once the p/ups are finished cooking, swapping the magnets for A4s and will be wiring it up with the Page wiring... so I'll have a Green/Moore/Page LP Replica.
Great playing... other than the reliced look is there a difference between the v100MRPGM and the v100PGM?
Theres not much difference but i prefer this one.
I'm seriously interested in getting one of these. Are there any pitfalls to watch out for when buying? I'm also in need of selling a guitar. Other than eBay where is an ideal place to advertise?
No pitfalls that i have found. there juts great guitars. :)
I personally would'nt change anything on the lemon drop, but "to each his own". Still a nice guitar though. Rock on !!
Thank you for watching. :)
Once the pickups have been wax potted, the wax is more or less there for good. The dipping process ensures that the wax gets right into the coils. You may have removed the surface excess. This will make them look tidier, but any sound difference would be illusory. The wax is still in the coils where it will remain. It's here where wax potting actually does its work. It stops the windings clanging together, particularly in scatter wound pups. If you really want to hear a difference, you really need to use pickups that have never been wax potted. Unpotted pups may have a tendency to be more microphonic at higher volumes, but I have not personally found this to be a particular problem.
Similarly, there is some controversy about whether removing the covers has any real effect to the sound. If they are made of pure nickel, this will have no audible effect. However, if the covers are made incorporating ferrous metal, they will probably interfere with the magnetic field of the pickup.
I'm not sure what covers Wilkinson use, but given their price point, I'm guessing that they're probably not pure nickel (edit: I've checked it - they actually are!), but plated brass or similar. Perhaps not as good as nickel, but near enough.
Scraping the wax off won't remove any wax around the coils, will it, Dave?
Is that zebra the original pickup? Funny they would do that for a covered pickup.
No but i get inside the pickups and scrape it all out. The zebra is original yep. :)
i am a lefty and they have the regular v100 base model available. would you say the base v100 is of the same quality?
I would say it is the same yes. :)
hey thanks. great stuff by the way i check out your channel alot
dave do u no if they make these left handed ??? thanks great sounds more open now
Im not Dave, but to answer your question: Yes they make Leftys, look it up on Thomann, dont know if they sell them in America i can just speak for Thomann, thats where i saw them, anyways
greetings from Germany and rock on :D
-Phill
Howde. Mr hosenpupsi123 is correct. They do do it left handed. There a bit limited on where they distribute them though so it kind of depends where you live. I hope you can get your hands on and thank you so much for watching. :)
What is the difference between Vintage v100 mpg vs mrmpg vs pg?
Hello Dave! I agree with the wax potting thing,I would never use wax potted pickups! Cool video anyway,take it easy man! Don W.
Thank you very much and thanks for watching. :)
Your welcome man,looking forward to another cool one! Don.
I just picked up a ridiculously cheap Vintage V100CS . One thing that puzzles me is that a lot of reviews say a one piece neck & this one has a scarf joint. It plays & sounds great tho but wondering why so if you have any info. Thanks
great demo, I own the mk 1 lemon drop, they are great guitars
Thank you. :)
Wow just wow, you could do every sound with that Paul now, what value caps did you use?
Its rather versatile. I used a orange drop 102k capacitor. :)
+Dave Simpson question, what's the neck profile like? 60s slim? 50s chunk?
Hey Dave I got an old unchambered one of these lemondrops and had I known how heavy it'd be I'd have gone for a new one.
I know of wider straps helping, but anything else I can do about it?
Unfortunately using a large padded strap is all you can do. They are silly heavy but all the old Les Pauls are weighty buggers. I once played a Les Paul Artisan and that was just silly heavy. It nearly pushed me into the ground. Haha. :)
Hi Dave. What size are the stock volume pot's on this guitar?
There sadly the small pots but they are 500k. They do eventually die but mine took a long time to do so. I would highly recommend a 1 meg pot though. They make the guitar come alive. :)
@@thedavesimpson Thanks Dave. So I would need the 500k short shaft 1 meg linear pots. Is there any brand or model you would recommend as replacements? How about the tone pots, are they also worth upgrading?
Great video! the cab is the Greenback?
Thank you and the cab is indeed Greenback speakers. The 25 watt ones. :)
Tanks I hope take ones soon!
Hi Dave
How would you describe the neck, is it a modern c shape, a 59`ish or.....?
Its a very slim neck. Not really fat in anyway. Flat fretboard. Fits the hand nicely. : )
Mr Dave if you decide to get rid of the tuning pegs ill buy them off you.i need some new 1s for my 97 epi have done for years. Cheers!
No problem. :)
It would be great if you could make a video on how to take off pickup covers☺
I'll see what i can do. :)
Great guitar great mods great chops. Did you do any mods on the gold top?
Thank you very much. I've only relic'd my goldtop at this point but i shall be adding treble bleeds when i can afford it. :)
great video, nice guitar and Awesome Skills
Thank you very much. :)
HI DAVE what is that red strat in the background?
Its a squire bullet i refinished in fiesta red. Great guitar. :)
Excellent setup on that animal.
Thank you very much. :)
Hey dave I agree there are no rules and each one does his thing and although you might get a bit more top end without wax on the Pups but they will become super magnetic and you'll have tremendous string pull which basically just kills your tone and almost uncontrolable feedback...the worst of it is the string pull it will kill, slaughter your sustain but hey it's your guitar.
Howde. I haven't experienced any of that but i think it might have something to do with the fact that i never have my pickups super high. My neck pickup is about to fall off the screws into the cavity. haha. Thanks for watching. :)
The strat in the back. Me likey
Its rather nice isn't it. :)
so the treble bleed makes the sound bright at low volumes but at high volumes does it changes the original sound ?
It does yeah. It doesn't do anything to the full volume tone. :)
How do you remove the wax and not have that make the pickups microphonic?
You don’t.
ITS REMINDS ME HE LOOKS LIKE DAVE SIMPSON! HEY DAVY; ROCKN BLUESLY ROOLY !
Mate I have watched this video so many times ...told I need a "one in one out" policy now on my guitars ... Seriously considering "dumping" my SG ☹️. You should seriously consider doing Peter Green tuition days my friend ....👍 keep up the great posts
I have a series where i teach how to play like Peter. :) Thank you very much indeed for watching. :)
Hi Dave! I want to bay a Les Paul Std style guitar. After researching, a Epiphone Plustop Pro became my 1st choice, until I saw your videos about a Vintage 100PG model. The Plustop pro has alnico pups with coil splitting and generally looks like a good quality guitar. What about this Lemon drop? Does it have alnico magnets,and how do you compare it to Epiphones in term of quality? Thanks, love your videos!
I have no idea what the magnets are but the quality is on par with Epi and i would have this over an epi. Thank you for watching. :)
In the end I bought a Lemon drop from a guy who says Dave Simpson is a legend. :) Also ,the guitar looks fantastic and plays like a dream. Just love it! Thanks for the advice,Dave!
Great guitar. 5.20 -5.29: The Police! And that with a Les Paul.
Its rather awesome isn't it. :)
Hi Dave, I got the Lemon Drop Relic Lefty a couple of years ago, interesting what you've done to yours,
Nice. I really would like one of them at somepoint. Thank you for watching. :)
what version of treble bleed mod did you install?
It was just called the orange drop. I don't know the specifics. Sorry.
Thanks for your quick answer!
Thank you for commenting. :)
Hows the guitar mr tube? im about to buy one. love your mods.
Its awesome. :)
funny, just planing to buy this guitar. :-).
As someone who lives in the states...is there anyway is can get this axe without eBay?
Try contacting vintage directly and see what they say. :)
I guess I'm one of the first. Just 360p for now so I'm going to way on that encoding.
I have a stock Lemondrop I've just started playing again. Only mods are tuners and Tusq nut, and it is so much darker and bottom heavy. It's an early unchambered one so that may have something to do with it, easily my heaviest guitar
Mines extremely heavy to and unchambered. Its easily one of the heaviest Les Pauls I've ever played. Thank you for watching. :)
That mod sounds great!
Thank you. :)
THANK GOD some one who likes the scratch plate left on there LP!
Can't play without it. :)
What is your favorite guitar?
Its my 2002 Fender Strat. :)
Yip, defo getting one and installing these mods!
Hey Dave! great playing as usual. It's amazing to me that you can use an affordable guitar, and a solid state amp and get closer Jimmy Page tones than guys with Custom Shop guitars, expensive pick ups, and a custom modded marshall!! keep up the great work!
Question: Where did you find a a scratch plate to to fit your Vintage?? Did you have to cut it to fit??
Thank you very much and i shall do mu best. :) I just took the scratchplate off my Epiphone LP. It fit perfectly. : )