Epiphone Les Paul Custom Blackback - "The Tuxedo"

Quick snapshots of the guitar before I start to change parts . . .

I found it quite difficult to aquire a Les Paul in antique ivory until this one came around.

Gibson Vixen

Serial number marks 2006 as year of production.

Mahogany body (slimmer than standard Les Pauls) and neck with diamond - shape inlays.

Wrap around tail piece, 490R neck and 498T bridge pickups.

Master volume and tone with the common three way toggle options.
Everything else equals pretty much standard Les Paul specs.


Standard tuning with D'Addario EXL110W strings.

Fenix Les Paul - Alchemy - The long true story of turning sh*t into gold

Let me elaborate for a moment because this one took me so long and life is made out of stories you tell, isn't it?

When I was seventeen, I was shovelling shit, muddy water and other waste at the local sewage plant.
It was one of the hottest summers even before climate change turned our planet into a crazy pressure cooker and the only thing that kept me going was the idea of buying my first electric guitar with the earnings of my labour.

All summer long I would work in the heat, reciting ICP's "The Great Milenko" in my head - it was like a mantra that kept me going.

When all was said and done I could perform the stupid verses of  said album like a Shakespearean actor and I could finally afford my first Les Paul copy.

No, it wasn't the Fenix one - just hear me out, there's more....
In the same year on a family vacation in hungary I walked into a local guitar store.
All the way up behind the counter there was the most expensive guitar they had on offer, hanging on the wall - a slime green Epiphone Les Paul.
I bought it with my hard earned money after just holding it in my little hands for about 15 seconds - I could not try it out because I didn't even knew any chords to play back then.
I will remember the face of the shop keeper forever though....

So where is the connection to the Fenix Les Paul?
Well, even back then I was thinking about a pickup replacement and I wanted a Pearly Gates humbucker but it was just too pricey for a poor boy like me.

I picked up the Fenix Les Paul quite cheap because a girlfriend was selling the guitar of a former ex.
We met close to a local graveyard (how fitting) and although nothing worked on the instrument, I went along with the deal.
Just like life goes, I got an opportunity to finally get a Pearly Gates humbucker for reasonable money.

So there we go - Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates at the neck and a Rio Grande BBQ pickup at the bridge to live and breathe the ZZ Top sound.

Tres Hombres

Cheers!

Aria Pro II PE - Series: An Update

An odd one for sure, I'm still searching for information.

The only thing I know is that it was made in Korea, after Aria left their production in Japan, which happend in the 90'ies.
The serial number would indicate 1999 as production year not those numbers are not very reliable.

The PE - series were the Les Paul - kind guitars but this one is equipped like a strat with three pickups and a vintage style vibrato.

I recently put two rail humbuckers and a rail single coil in, here are some pics from my original post:

Tuning is an open D variant, often referred to as "Zen guitar tuning": D-A-D-a-a-d.

Cimar Double Cut

Back in the 70's Cimar was somehow connected to the Ibanez brand - if you believed in the interweb's information that is out there.
I for my part don't care much about the guitar's past - still sounds great in present days.

Kramer Assault 220 FR Powerstrat in Disguise

Well, since Gibson owns all rights for the once renowned Kramer brand, the quite common shape of the instrument does not surprise but this one is closer to a powerstrat than to a Les Paul.


Facts:

• Mahogany body and neck
• Rosewood fingerboard with 24 frets
• Scale is 648mm
• High output humbuckers can be split
• Master volume and tone
• Three way toggle switch
• Floyd Rose style vibrato

So shape, woods and pickups are close to a Les Paul but  scale, frets and vibrato make it a strat style guitar.

Best of both worlds?

Johnson JLP - 50 WA Classic Series

Now I know, I posted this one before http://bartbowlesblog.blogspot.co.at/2010/03/mr-brown.html

I didn't post the details though, so here they are, mainly to help me recall all the (useless) information:

Built in 2010
Mahogany neck and body
Korina top
Walnut finish
Rosewood fingerboard
Three Tesla VR - 60 Classic Gold Pickups

So there you go - all the secrets of "Mr. Brown" revealed.

Fenix Les Paul

Sadly she's mute at the moment... pretty much everything inside needs to be redone - hope to find the time soon.

Höfner Club Solid

HCT - CS10 in nice glossy black.

Mahogany body, maple top, set neck with rosewood fingerboard.
Höfner Hi - Power Diamond Pickups that really deliver a great vintage - style tone (which means something different to everybody but I like the sounds of this one a lot).
Two volumes and one master tone.

Rather round neck shaping and the string spacing is quite tight - which I like but for players with huge hands the strings might be a little but too close together.

The building quality is even higher than I expected, definitely an instrument to consider if you don't expect it to be a high gain metal monster.

Epiphone Baritone Iron Cross

Got this one a while ago but the original pickups didn't sound well in my ears.

Finally found the time to solder two EMG 85'es in there.

Master Volume only (second knob is a dummy) and regular toggle switch.
Scale length is 705 mm (27.75 inches).
Baritone tuning - B, E, A, D, Fis, B.

Not really an "Iron Cross" though - but that's the official name - one has to find a catchy name for advertisement I guess.

Vintage V100 - Women Wine And Song

Vintage V100 WR, great instrument, love the feel on the neck, love the mini - humbuckers.
Wine - red finish with gold hardware and creme - coloured plastic parts - elegant.

Tuning is open G or "Spanish Tuning": D G D g b d .

Epiphone Custom Classic AEB with Al DiMeola Pickups

Epiphone Custom Classic AEB.

Looks good, plays well, very nice indeed.

Found some time to put new pickups in:

DiMarzio DP201 Al DiMeola Signature Neck Pickup
DiMarzio DP202 Al DiMeola Signature Bridge Pickup

Could not resist to take some more pictures too.

Career Les Paul - Quick Connection makes me Wylde!

Finished another one earlier this week.
It's a rather cheap thing of course but everything that should be straight is straight and it's got the right angles at the right places.
Only setback is the wood. That's why I decided to put EMG pickups into that pale fellow.
I know there are some pairs of ears out there that might dissagree but for me EMGs are the perfect solution for instruments which don't sound so well on their own.
Now the communist copy of my preferred instrument has a Zakk Wylde set installed. I reversed it though, the EMG 81 is at the neck position and the 85 at the bridge.
That quick connection thing of EMG is rather nice, a whole less soldering to do but space is always an issue and I really don't know if this is the way to go. I had quite a hard time fitting everything into the cavity, so soldering might still be my first option.
White pickup frames of course, white knobs and white tip for the toggle.
Funny enough, I'm gonna work on a black LP next!
And yeah it's an Career guitar, so you can start arguing about brands and quality and working conditions right away, in the meantime I'll be throwing my hands in the air, wave them around and so on.


Update: Those black blocks hurt my eyes - yeah, same ones, just different colour.

Aria Pro II Les Paul - Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue

Well, actually the colour is called "Seafoam Green".

It's an Aria Pro II, roughly dated to the 90's.

It reminds me of the Godin SD series. Good guitar but with the three newly installed Häussel - Pickups she really might prove quite useful.

Custom wiring was conceived by the old stage robber himself and was realised by "thegoldenratio".
I highly recommend visiting his blog if you find the time. I know I owe him big time for this...

Great tone in every position but don't expect high gain, the lady isn't built for it. Hard blues, Country and Folk we are talking here. Love it.

Pickups:

• Vin-B Alnico 2 Humbucker
• Single Coil Blues
• CTK-A Rail Humbucker

The Asama - Nippon, land of technology

Japanese made guitar from the Seventies.

Those mad scientists from the land of the rising sun built in a phaser and a distortion effect.

Distortion sounds just like the regular 70´s distortion: Think electric razor.
Phaser sounds decent though.

The instrument itself is a nice Les Paul copy, yet with a bolt on neck.

Johnson Les Paul - "Mr. Brown"

Les Paul Custom with three humbuckers.
Mahogany neck and body with Korina veneer, Rosewood fretboard.

Really nice guitar but I´m thinking about changing the looks a little bit.

Question is: go for full fanciness or for understatement?

The dark brown colour gives it a very elegant look
which might be spoiled by too much "glitter".
Yet it´s tempting to try and pimp the hell out of it!

Opinions anyone?