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I love the sound of an LP, but it always slides down my leg when I'm sitting on the couch
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06-04-2017 11:16 PM
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Not that I have plans in this direction, but if I had a Gibson Les Paul, how would I best set it up for a jazz sound, or more pointedly, that early Jim Hall sound?
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My friend uses his LP with a Carr amp. Sound shaping on those amps is quote phenomenal. I gave up my LP about 25 years ago. Bummer in retrospect.
Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
Sound shaping for a Jim Hall sound leads me back to the off topic of the amp. Check this out and just imagine rolling off the top end of a few of these sounds using a Les Paul. Patience and get past the first few very rock oriented sounds.
?Recommended Gear’s DEMO!!?
?????"CARR... - ????? ??????????Last edited by West LA Jazz; 06-05-2017 at 01:15 AM.
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You'd need the right Les Paul and the right amp - similar to what Jim Hall used early on in his career.
'54 - '56 Gibson Les Paul Custom (all-mahogany body, AlNiCo V pickup in the neck position, P-90 in the bridge position). The modern equivalent is the Gibson '54 Les Paul Custom (all-mahogany body, AlNiCo V pickup in the neck position, P-90 in the bridge position) made from the '70s to the '90s, or the Gibson '54 Les Paul Custom Historic Reissue (all-mahogany body, AlNiCo V pickup in the neck position, P-90 in the bridge position) which replaced it.
Played through an old Gibson GA-50 amp - the circuit is available to be cloned. One modern equivalent is the (expensive) SeQuel Tribute amp. There are several others as well.
The guitar looks like this. Gibson was mightily pissed off at Les for using a competitor's pickup (Gretsch had an exclusive deal with Dearmond) on a Gibson, so they solved the problem by making their own version of it that looked different enough so that Dearmond wouldn't sue them. It's a direct steal of the Dearmond Model 2000 "Dynasonic" pickup that Les Paul favoured, executed by Seth Lover. Here's one from '94. This one weighs 8 1/2 pounds:
Of course, some folks prefer the new-fangled hum-bucking pickups. Here's a Gibson reissue of Mickey Baker's '57 Les Paul Custom, wired like an ES-5. This one weighs just under 9 pounds:
While I'm at, some folks like really lightweight Les Pauls. Here's a Gibson reissue of '54 Les Paul Custom, that has been chambered. This one weighs under 7 1/2 pounds:
And here's a link to a picture on Photobucket, as reminder of what (*&^%$ asshats they are and why the sooner they put themselves out of business the better.
Last edited by Hammertone; 01-04-2018 at 01:59 AM.
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What a BEAUTY! Originally Posted by Hammertone
You'd need the right Les Paul and the right amp.
The guitar looks like this:
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I used to get a very jazzy sound plugging directly into an ordinary consumer-grade cassette deck. Ultra clean, lots of mids, very round tone, and playing into a live VU meter does wonders for one's picking technique. I got this idea from a Jeff Baxter column in GP. One could of course re-amp the recording or use the deck as a preamp for additional tone-shaping options. I used this setup with headphones as a practice tool. All those arps and scales and finger exercises get on other people's nerves pretty fast. Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
Last edited by citizenk74; 06-05-2017 at 01:37 AM. Reason: haste
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Les Pauls are great guitars. No doubt about that. I have had several of them including a 3PU Black Beauty weighing more than 5kg. No tool for standing on stage for more than 2 hours. Are they great for jazz? They have a very nice clean tone in the neck position if you roll off the volume. Are they the most suitable guitars for jazz? Dont thiink so. They are wonderfull sustain machines. Great for screamy blues. A LP for jazz is possible, so is the tele. Many great players prooved that.
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They have a cool history and are good enough guitars if you dig them but I don't. I've never been into them or wanted one, and for liking guitars as much as I do that is odd but nothing about them grabs me. The negatives are too many and its strengths aren't important to me. Also even though an L5 is heavy for an archtop, it is not that heavy and sitting down the weight is distributed more evenly since the sides are much wider. The small body size also makes it hard to deal with sitting down and using a strap to raise it up is of course very uncomfortable. In terms of solidbodies I am firmly in the telecaster camp. But to each their own - that doesn't mean they can't be good jazz guitars if someone can make them work.
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I went for 11 years without an archtop. My 1975 Les Paul Custom was my only electric guitar during this period and I used it mainly to play jazz. I only had one amp during this period, a 70's Polytone Mini Brute 2.
I was 31-42 years old at that time. Today, at 59, I do not think that would work as well. My 75 weighed 11 pounds even. My current Les Paul is a 2002 57 Historic Black Beauty and weighs 10 pounds even. I find that I am taking her out less and less. Perhaps it is time to sell her and buy a chambered version?
I bought my first Les Paul in 1980 and have owned one ever since. I cannot imagine life without a Les Paul to tell the truth. Consider me a fan.
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This guy used it for jazz, with Bigsby even, and ceated an interesting tone...
Robert
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In 1979 God gave my Les Paul to a burglar.
Divine Intervention ?
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I'm sure you can play jazz on them--Ulf Wakenius does, or did--but I've never liked Les pauls and have never bonded with one. Things that put me off
Scale length--too short
Humbuckers--never liked humbuckers much
Weight
Comfort--not as comfortable sitting down as a tele
Style--dislike the fake archtop styling. The low level LPs with the flat bodies are more tolerable
I built a les paul jr-tele hybrid, but although it's a very nice sounding guitar i rarely play it, because it's just not as comfortable as a tele shape for me
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Very interesting thread but if the weight is a problem what about the newish version ES with the semi hollow body and "f" sound holes. Have not tried or even picked one up to look at but does it also have a slightly larger body that could make it more comfortable. I am also surprised not to hear of changes of pickup to make them more jazzy? Please keep the thread on the move as you are getting me interested in their possibilities, who knows by the end of this thread I may just join the L.P. ranks!
Graham
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This is me playing my Les Paul Recording if anyone interested in hearing what it sounds like in a jazz context. The amp is a Quilter Aviator Twin Ten.
Guitar solo is at the 2:30 mark I think.
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Sounds good to my ears...fine playing too.
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I had it all figured out and found a comfortable way to play my mid 70s LP.For sitting i just dont stand to much anymore at least to play that beauty.A foot stool for my R leg.My shoulder strap wrapped around my L leg to balance the wieght.A cushion for my lap and a slim cushion between my body and the guitar.Got more comments and laughs and tips for that then playing.Help a handicap poor fella wants to learn how to play in spite of limitation.Establishments saw possible law suits.But the sad thing now is the neck for what i play now is too Narrowl.So i rarely get it out.
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Same thing happened to me in 1976. Never touched another one. Originally Posted by rabbit
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I think it's rather obvious that a LP was never meant to be played while seated without a strap and sitting on your outside leg, so don't do that. If you can't get a Paul to sound just as crisp and articulate as a tele, you are misusing your controls on your guitar and/or amp and you likely have not adjusted your pickups correctly; it's all there. Maybe some folks have had LP's with Super distortion style hot wound pups that were the source of their discontent. My idea of aLP is one with low wound paf style pups, which incidentally were specifically designed to mimic Fender single coils but without the hum.
To each their own and thank Dog for variety.
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The best jazz sounding LP I ever played was also a triple pickup boat anchor, similar to the one above. Originally Posted by Hammertone
5kg = 11 pounds. That's getting heavy in my book. Here's my '03 Historic Reissue (solid mahogany body) Les Paul Custom "Mickey Baker" model, that weighs in at just under 9 pounds:
Mine was an R7 weighing in at just over 11lbs. Man, I loved the tone...and hated the weight!!
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Hammertone, I've just got to ask: How many guitars do you have?! Seems to be a lot, and all very fine specimens.
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I have used a Les Paul for everything, including country for five years. It was heresy through a Mesa Boogie, until I was finally accepted by the local Telly wielding country players around me.
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Absolutely excellent playing. And see what I mean? The Les Paul's natural sound pulls off Jazz so well. Its a little bully on the bandstand. I love it. Originally Posted by entresz
Thanks for Sharing entresz. And you look sharp in your suit. Very Dapper..
Joe D
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Funny that no one ever mentions in almost all (not all ) pics Les Paul is sitting down when he plays.
Also back in the day when Michael Bloomfield,EC,etc got their tone from just an amp and guitar Les Pauls definitely were the way too go!
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Is God collecting LPs? He got my gold top in '81. I haven't owned one since. Originally Posted by WilliamScott
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Er, ah…too many? I've finally gotten to the place where I'd like to sell 20 or 30 of them. Not all fine specimens, but some neat stuff. A few new Beatle basses. A few new modern Hofner jazz guitars. Lots of nice old Hofner archtops. All sorts of unusual old carved German archtops. No shortage of fine American guitars. And a few that are for sale on this very board. I bump them up when they get down to page 4. Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
I've worked with Hofner since 2000 on all sort of marketing-related stuff, including product design and distribution, and used to be the distributor for Canada, so I have some inventory...
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