So, with my own curiosity and all your feedback - I *HAVE ORDERED* the harness, A more correct 50s spec LP one. And it will all be filmed, so pop back and see it :)
The SB56 has 50s wiring. I often wonder what that guitar would be like with hum buckers instead of P90s but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Wish they had the same wiring on the SB59 from the factory.
A 'burst reissue Gibson Les Paul was on my bucket list for a long time. After owning several Eastman SB59 and SB56 models I no longer have that desire. Period. Eastman for the win. Get the Gibson if you have to have the "brand name", I get that. For me, I think Gibson's are overvalued for what you get at this point. They have a very good marketing department.
The SB59 definitely sounds better to my ear with the new pickups, but I would choose the sound of the Gibson regardless of headstock in a blind comparison. To me, when playing the T59 and T64, both guitars feel alive to play in comparison to the SB59. I thought initially it might be the difference between hollow/semi-hollow body vs solid body, but my Alder Tele feels much more resonant than the SB59. I'd be careful not to over invest in searching for a sound that the guitar might not naturally have. Just my two cents. Thanks for all the effort in the video.
Nice!! I used to have to have an R8 with Custombuckers with an Eastman SB59/v at the same time. The Eastman for me after having many LPs' (usa giboons, heritage, tokai) was on par with the gibson. Loved the custombuckers, have that rapsiness that I love. Like that tele on steroids things going...the lollar imperial on the eastman sound great but are kind of more a bit more modern and polite you could say. the SD 59 I had them in my SB59 I had before getting the SB59/v, and those were defintively more modern sounding to me, which is good depending what you want. they were the best with higher gain of the 3 pickups. The lollaar swork very good with high and lower gain. and custombuckers bette rwith lower gain. I recently put some 225 heritage pickups on my Eastman I found by chance, which are Alnico III and same ohms as the custmobuckers, just that are waxed, custombuckers are unpotted. and now yeah, the Eastman is very on the line of what I remember of my R8. love how it sounds now, sound more aggressive and has that extra raspinness or bite like tele on steroids that I really like. (although I recently grabbed my first SG, and if you want that tele on steroids sound, the SG is exactly that haha...amazing the bite the SG has..didnt know what to expect wth the SG. both amazing guitars the LP and SG and each has its own vibe for sure, worth to have both) I sold the R8 cos was just too much money to have on 1 guitar, and the Eastman is on par and love it as much so kept the eastman, and now is perfect with the current pickups for my taste. Still the eastman is not cheap at all, but is not 5k lol. Nice upgrade!! I wasnt that fond myself on the SD59 myself, was not like the vibe I wanted.
you summarised exactly my thoughts here with this comment haha. I got my sb59 before i knew about the sb59v and have since tried it and loved the lollars on that. The only reason i didnt get lollars here is the custombuckers came up for half the price of a set of imperials.
@@Paul-D I've only just sold a set of Lollar Imperials. I had a 1996 Les Paul, upgraded the wiring-harness to vintage specs and installed Lollar Imperials... it made a massive difference. I traded the 96 for a Murphy Labs LP (plus three other guitars) and sold the Imperials separately. I'd definitely try and get a set.
For me it's un-potted pickups and speakers without doped rims. Potted pickups and doped speakers can still sound great, but probably would sound even better without the treatments?
I have an sb59 and I'll probably put a JB in the bridge and leave the SD59 in the neck. That's just my preference though. Can't justify the price of Custom Gibson when the Eastman is so damn close for a fraction of the price. The Eastman is just a vehicle to get me where I'm going. Ill never buy a telecaster when I can build them at home and they play and sound just as great as the custom shop for a fraction of the cost. More players should build guitars at least once so they can see how badly they are getting ripped off. With the money I save I can buy tools to do all my own setups, fret jobs etc....also when I record in the daw humbuckers imo all sound pretty similar. The difference is so minute if I want a different sound ill play the Sb56 gold top or the telecaster.
It is very tough to justify the price for sure. Especially if you have the skills to build one! The way i kind of see it is its okay to take enjoyment in simply having nice things even if the monetary value isnt there. Same concept as having a rolex instead of my seiko - but its a stretch to justify it haha.
@@Paul-D A great guitar is a great guitar. Even Eastman has started jacking up prices on their new solid body guitars. I really don't care what the headstock says on it. Always great videos on your end and either way.
For sure, thanks man. It is a little annoying the prices go up AND they stopped the varnish finish - its the way of things and I never knew the founder passed away last year too... so maybe that leads to changes also.
Gotta say I preferred the Eastman. I even listened without watching and choose the Eastman. Both beautiful but I preferred the bloom of the Eastman if I was going to clarify it. The Gibson as you so aptly stated was the sound I was familar with. That is different than what I prefer which was the Eastman all day long. Cheers Pauly. Bloody ripper of a video. 👍
As you know, I'm definitely an Eastman lover, with a T59v (ES345) and their equivalent of an LPJ. I've been chunking down my guitar collection over the past few months and my plan was to buy an SB59v, but having sold four guitars I went mad and bought a Murphy Labs R9. To begin with, let me say that I tried six Murphy Labs LPs and they were all noticeably different in terms of look, feel and sonics... so even at the highest Gibson Custom Shop level, there's no clear winner. Listening to your recordings... massive kudos for playing some Jan Akkerman... and sonically I'd say that the LP was the clear winner; however the LP had the advantage of having the wiring-harness skewed in favour of the Custom-Bucker pickups. I'm convinced that with some pickup and harness matching you could easily get the Eastman to match or beat a Custom Shop LP for a fraction of the price. Would I now swap my Murphy Labs R9 for an SB59 ? No, the one that I chose is as close to perfect for me as possible; but if I had to sell and buy a guitar for 20% of the price I'd be buying the SB59v and sticking some Lollar Imperials in it. Great video mate... please post it to Guitar Addicts UK. ;)
People have been trying to crack the Gibson LP code since the '60s. They have always been expensive, even then. However, no one has been able to make a "cheap" LP sound as good as the best made Gibson (and perhaps boutique builders). You can swap electronics all day, and that can get improvements that are worth while, but the key is in the knowledge and experience in the selection of woods, as there are many grades, and treatments. So my advice is play what you have and be happy, but save up for the LP CS. P.S. If I could do it over, I would skip all the money put into pedals and amps, get a great guitar and a good small combo amp, maybe a fuzz and reverb and that's it.
I think it’s a very subtle difference but when you compared the Eastman to the R9 both with custombuckers, the R9 had it for me, particularly on the bridge pickup, little more clarity and bite I thought. Both sounded bloody great though.
Another nice video Pauly. I preferred the sound of the custom buckers vs the Seymour’s, they sounded more open to my ears. As you say pots and caps will have a bearing as well as whether the loom is 50’s wiring over modern. Monty’s do a lovey 50’s LP loom.
So I've been on the hunt for a new Les Paul-style guitar, you know, something that not only sounds awesome but looks killer too, to pair up with my ol' faithful Gibson Les Paul Studio. I hit up a local guitar shop to check out what they had for about three hours. They had a whole bunch of guitars there-different Maybach Lesters, an Eastman 59V, and a bunch of Gibsons. Gotta say, my first impressions were all over the place. The Eastman was cool and all, but it was kinda lacking in the low end compared to the Gibsons, especially the Maybach. But man, that Eastman had some sweet playability, and the fit and finish were top-notch, except for that sticky violin finish, which was a bit of a bummer. Now, the Maybach guitars, they had these killer lower mids and low-end vibes, perfect for clean tones and blues. But they were missing that signature Les Paul growl I was after. Plus, some of those Maybachs had necks like baseball bats, not really my thing. Then there were the 2023 Gibsons. Loved the neck profile on those babies, a nice change from the thin but wide profile on my 2016 Studio. They played pretty darn well too, but there were some quality issues and setup hiccups. And call me picky, but I was digging the satin-finished neck but really wanted a gloss body, which I couldn't find. As for looks, the Eastman's body shape just didn't vibe with me after all these years of drooling over Les Pauls. And that sticky violin finish? Nope, not for me. On the flip side, the Maybachs looked slick and played smooth, but the neck profile and pickup setup weren't quite hitting the mark for me. I know it might sound shallow, but the feel and look of a guitar are pretty darn important when you're dropping 2000+ euro's on one. So, even though the Maybachs weren't perfect, I'm thinking I could slap some Bareknuckle pickups in one and get that Les Paul roar I'm after, all for a lesser price compared to the Gibsons. Their 60's profile is very simmilar to my current Les Paul so it wouldnt be a problem although in an ideal world it would have been a bit less wide and a tad thicker. Long story short, my guitar quest taught me that every brand has its strengths and weaknesses. It's all part of the journey to finding that perfect axe. You can look at hundreds of gear demos to make up your mind, but actually spending some time in real life with a guitar is much more valuable.
Im super interested in maybachs atm. Only ever tried 1 and it was very brief. And Yeh 100%. Thats been one of the main points in this channel for me - actually putting the time and passion into travelling all over the place and actually getting hands on with stuff. Particularly when i had the store it was the best excuse to just go and try out as much as possible haha.
Overall - thanks for making these videos - I’ve fallen in love with Eastmans myself… I have a couple of random thoughts - none specifically aimed at this video. I get in one sense why people keep other variables the same over AB tests. But real world, guitar output changes - you change your amp or roll volume if you need to. There’s obviously nothing wrong with the test and it will tell you something I’m sure… but it’s not how I’ve ever made music myself. Secondly, the gains from this kinda swap are always going to be minimal to none. Not that it won’t change things, potentially in ways you prefer. But these pickups are both great, both very similar designs and margins between them are very small. We’re hunting for scraps in the scheme of things. Nothing wrong with that of course. Lastly just a thought that we are so lucky to have access to so many great guitars. What a time to be alive.thanks
Yeh A/B tests like this - even high end recorded ones are only a few steps away from useless i agree, its more for videos sake and to provide some context which again is only valuable to people who decide it is. I get where your coming from for sure. And chasing small differences i think is fine if you have realistic expectations and aren’t driven by obsession with the idea nothing is good enough. Being driven by curiosity and a rough idea of what your trying to do i think is cool.
In my opinion the custom buckers have got the Eastman closer to the Gibson sound in your video. To my ears custom shop Gibsons and Fenders have a raw and heavily textured tone and warble/oscillating flavour to their audio experience which more modern guitar brands often don't deliver. In my personal experience, capacitors, POT's and wiring can make just as much if not a more serious difference to the experience of playing any one guitar. The caps can seriously make and break your personal impression of whether a guitar is too bright or too dark (adjusting cap values to taste). Luthiers are more recently offering 0.015u caps with neck PUPs to steer away from that more murky sound. I am a fan and converted all my humbucker guitars (include R Gibsons) to 0.015u caps on the neck PUPs. Mileage with these subtle changes typically varies guitar to guitar, but I have found with this particular mod that woman tone can take a noticeable leap forward in tonal quality. I now often play neck humbuckers with tone completely rolled off because it has a unique tonal quality (more like cocked wah) that only became apparent with 0.015u caps. It's like a bonus, on top of trying to keep the neck PUP more open sounding). I also stay a way from orange drop caps and prefer paper in oil. Even if the construction/material preference is more in my head, I don't care, they're my guitars ;-) The sweep and reaction to changes you dial on the POTs can also affect your impression/feel. Older (50's style) or more modern wiring schematics can also affect your feel. All of these components and each individual guitar make subtle differences which come together as greater than the sum of the parts. So my point is... If you are enjoying the journey then fine, but keep in mind if you had 3 identical Gibson R8's or 3 identical Eastman's it is not uncommon to drastically prefer one particular guitar over other identical guitars. This is why I believe the discussion of tone wood is irrelevant. If identical guitars can feel and sound different to you personally, just judge each instrument on it's own merit. Sure, use reference points (like the R8 in this video), but focus on getting the Eastman to a point it feels awesome in it's own right when you play it and try not to let the thought, "It doesn't sound/feel quite like a dream Gibson" bug you. Even if you do find all that you are looking for down this rabbit hole, you will still be left with... when I have the funds I'd like to find my perfect Gibson anyway 😆
Thanks for the great comments - i think money wise changing the pots and caps to PIO spec wont cost that much so is worth the experiment at the least. I think the custombuckers are more up my street so im happy with it - i was just surprised how far it still was away from the R8 in the room though i must admit - whilst being fully aware they are 2 different guitars. Different fingerboards etc.
@@Paul-D I've come to realise when going down this kind of rabbit hole, the first thing I would advise to anyone is work on caps (for tone), work on wiring and POTs if you want to change the sweep and interaction between controls. If you are going to change POTs then go for something like VIPots in the US with their 280/550k offerings. If you're super fussy for the values, pay a little extra to have them match the values across the number of VIPots you order. These days I would only consider PUP swaps once I was completely happy with my caps, pots and wiring style. ...and as I said before never get hung up on the materials/wood/scale length or any one or two aspects, because the final guitar in your hands will always be great or not so great regardless of the price. That's just personal preference and the nature of being a guitar enthusiast 🙂
Definitely - the only reason i kind of skipped that step here is because i was already working with a good quality loom - but… i learnt that good quality doesnt mean its right for every set of pickups haha.
@@Paul-D I did actually buy an SB59-v in 2020. It had antiquity’s and weighed 7lb 15oz. Very nice guitar and the aged varnish felt like one of the best guitars I’ve experienced in my hands. But last year I let it go… Ultimately I felt like you. Great guitar but I kept coming back to it’s just not the same as a Gibson LP Reissue. I am lucky to have a few reissues and when I found a Murphy Lab R9 that I liked and it was also the same weight as the Eastman, I conceded keeping the perfectly good SB59-v was pointless for me personally. So enjoy your journey but be prepared you may still give it up for a dream Gibson one day 😊
Eastman are very good guitars, with a great quality/price ratio. But they just don’t sound like their gibson counterpart: they are usually a bit lighter weight, and thinner sound… in your video, I hear a bit more of some range in the mids in the SB59, but the R8,even heard with slightly less volume, sounds fuller & more percussive. I’ve changed pots & caps in a T486B (which happened not to be CTS…), and it sounds great, … but not as full & rich in the low end as a 335. IMHO, don’t waste your time & money in changing pots & caps, if the purpose is to get closer to the R8 sound (but it might improve the progression in the pots that you mentioned). That said, I don’t really get your point of trying to get kinda the sound of your T59V on your SB59 … If you like & want a sound closer to the R8 without the price, sell the SB59 and get a USA Les Paul in which you can install your custombuckers, OR if you want to experiment with your SB59 for a fuller sound, try the bigsby (+vibramate) option : even without using it as trem system, it might give you that extra touch for a fuller sound (it worked on my Gibson SG) P.S.: I agree on 1 point: we hear a bit too much the sound of your strings in your plugged parts, & you should consider recording direct or further from the mic, but I’m a bit shocked by the « non existent tone » comment! Your videos are cool and pleasant 😉
Yeh i kind of mixed my words abit on the T59 comment - i just meant the way pickups have a more open sound not getting a solid body to sound like a semi hollow haha. I just wanted to try and get across a close tone to the room over a processed direct sound but i do struggle with recording guitars in general if im honest. It seems the more i do it, the less i feel i know about it 😅
Interesting point you make about trying to get the T59v sound on the SB59. I have a T59v and the combo of an ES with SD-Antiquities will pretty much outdo most Les Pauls. The only downside I have for a T59v also applies to ES335/345/355 etc. and that's the body-size... other than that I'd say the T59v is the most versatile guitar in the Eastman range.
Good ear, they do have less bite and attack. Thats part of why I wanted to change them. In my minds ear a les Paul has a lot of bright bite and honkiness.
Thnaks for the videos. One suggestion, try muting the room so we don't hear the direct string noise, just amplified signal as it kinds of interferes with comparisons. Thanks.
To me ears the CB sound similar to the SDs , just a bit brighter eq and a tad bit more open. The Gibson R8 is more detailed in the tone than the Eastman IMO.
I put some Monty's underspun PAFs in my SB 59/v... I also put some Bare Knuckle 550K pots int here and some PIO caps. the guitar absolutely sings now! So much clarity and chime that I didn't think was possible with humbuckers. Highly recommend Monty's pickups!
I was veryyyyy tempted with Montys it's just the custom buckers came up at half the price.... I have also now changed to PIO caps this week. Good difference for sure.
@@Paul-D Yeah, they don't come cheap... but I'd totally recommend if you get the chance :) The underspun PAFs really opened up the my Eastman, which is a pretty dark sounding guitar.
Thats interesting - ive always found eastman to be bright across the board compared to the Gibson counterparts. Same with the acoustics being bright compared to their Martin counterparts
@@Paul-D At one point, I had Bare Knuckle PG Blues, Bare Knuckle 550K pots, etc, in my Eastman, and a friend had EXACTLY the same in his Custom Shop 58 Les Paul (one of the best Les Pauls I've ever played), and the two sounded completely different. His had way more bite and cut. I got closer with the underspun Montys. Each guitar is different, though... and all the elements make a difference to the sound.
For sure - funny enough PG blues was a choice too as they were on sale at gear4music - when i went to order they had sold out. I will be modding these custombuckers this weekend to have out of phase middle, i cant do without that on a LP haha
I’ve have both r9 and R7 and an Eastman with wizz pickups. The Eastman hangs with the custom shop easily. All sound a bit different so each has pros n cons but none a decisive winner
I may as well give you my thoughts regarding the video after the juvenile 69 joke! Regarding the end comparison, to me the Gibson sounded fuller and more dynamic and the Eastmen weak and thin compared to it. I always think it's a matter of combinations. You take great sounding pickups out of one guitar and they sound just OK in another and sometimes when you put the pickups back into the original guitar they never sound the same as they did before. So it's a sum of all the parts I think rather than just one element like the pickups. I use Frankenstein monsters bride as an analogy. You get all the good looking lovely parts and put them together and she still looks horrendous. She has a goth like sexy thing going, don't get me wrong, but never the less she won't be winning any beauty contests any time soon. I have a 50's correct harness lying around - as you do! I was gonna mod an Epiphone with it but I thought to myself, well the Epiphones I have both have the CTS pots and one even the orange drop capacitors. Yes would be an upgrade but not a big one. Keeping harness to turn a cheap humbucker guitar into a still cheap and prob still sounding crappy and tinny guitar. No doubt the placebo affect is gonna be strong though and it will sound killer!
I definitely think the 50s wiring harness i added since has helped more then i thought it would. But yeh totally see what you mean in regards to switching parts and all
@@Paul-D Don't get me wrong, My ears said in the last comparison Gibson was fuller and more dynamic but I am seriously considering getting an Eastman. I have some pretty expensive guitars(for my budget anyway) but in the LP section, just the 2 epies and a cort, all on the cheap side. So an Eastman is a big upgrade at a good price. I have Seymour Duncan Antiquities pickups in a 335 type guitar and they sound killer but like you I am thinking is it cause they are in a semi hollow and how they gonna sound in a solid body? I suspect still killer but you never know till you do it. I am thinking of getting an Eastman like this one and putting the Antiquities in it. Marriage made in heaven? We shall see lol
All very interesting....I recently bought an R9 which I took my time over and played approx 12 R8's / R9's. What struck me was how they all sounded different, so was this down to the pickups or the wood? Well, in the end I took the R9 I thought sounded the best and the R9 that I thought looked the best and the shop swapped the pickups for me to give me the best of both worlds. During the process we speculated whether the pickups in the best sounding R9 would sound the same in the other, best looking, R9. Bottom line is that they did sound as good (in this case at least) so the difference in sound was in the pickups even though the guitars were manufactured at the same time. So my takeaway is that the Gibson Custombuckers do noticably vary in tone and after some research I found that the Custombuckers are machine wound but every pickup will have a unique winding pattern giving it a unique sound. Interstingly though the bridge pickup that was swapped in was a bit brighter, bit more bite and output than the original one, BUT the original one had a higher DC resistance which was contrary to what was expected. So in conclusion I don't think you can literaaly compare Custombuckers to each other and expect them to all sound the same. In your case Pauly the difference you're hearing may well be the difference between different Custombuckers. It would be interesting to now swap the Custombuckers between guitars and see how that sounds, also swap the caps and pots...that should give a true indication as to the woods / contrsuction etc contributing to the sound.
Yes very true mate - No 2 things are going to sound the same even if they are the same spec, year and name lol. I am going to go ahead and get a tippy top wiring harness suited to the custom buckers. Between Montys or Home of tone
Eastman are great for the money if you put in the pups sure it’ll sound like a CS since that’s what they use. It’s a cool upgrade but I’d just buy a CS.
I think A/B tests are silly. Fixating on minute differences and living in a state of FOMO is not a way I want to approach anything. I only comment because ALL I get from RU-vid guitar videos is some form of sales pitch or someone with gear anxiety fretting about wether a piece of gear is 1% better than another. I'd really like to just hear people playing music, and playing music with OTHER PEOPLE even more. Somehow I think this platform won't be the most conducive to that end. Good luck with whatever ya do and best wishes to all. Decommodify your minds!
I see where this comment comes from and I respect what your saying - but for what its worth, Im not living in a state of FOMO or fixated on something being 1% better if I change it etc. However a *part* of my enjoyment of being in the guitar community is seeing differences with mods, gear and just nice things in general. Doesn't mean I don't also play with others and my RU-vid channel is only a part of what I enjoy about guitar :)
@@Paul-D I wasn't directing it at you specifically. It's just hard to find anything that feels like a human interaction anymore, it's all mediated by material artifacts.
Custom buckers a little harsh to my ears, that could be dialed out easy enough though, pots make a difference, all subtle changes that effect what we hear and what we like, horses for courses.
Hi Pauly, before you go and swap out pots and caps... do you have identical sets of fresh & brand new strings on both guitars? Just a thought that crossed my mind. Cheers.
@@Paul-D ah apologies .. apologies for being all ‚youtube commenter‘ but on you… funnily enough I’m going on a similar (mojotone low wind clones being delivered today :-))
All good man - im not arrogant enough to think everyone hears every word I say on these vids haha - plus I don't script anything so VERY often forget to say stuff lol. Fun fact in fact - the previous owner of these custom buckers swapped them out for mojotone low winds! So there you go!
I’ve recently come to a conclusion in that a Gibson is the historic guitar that many other try to be. The fact is that if you take your time and play a bunch and shop around, you’re gonna find one you love and nothing else is gonna come close. The time and money we spend on chasing the Gibson sound is crazy. Just buy the Gibson
The eastman is alot more volume and resonance for sure. Usually id say thats because eastman is always lighter then the gibson counterparts - but in this instance the R8 is actually a little lighter then my eastman haha.
Personally, I would go for a Japanese made Tokai with these PU options. If I'm going to pay £1600 for a new LP I want it to look as much like a Gibson LP as possible. Tbh I really dont like Eastman's take on the LP shape obviously as much about avoiding Gibson cease and desist letters as anything else so they can sell in the US. I'm trying not to sound like a Gibson fanboy but the Gibson original LP design shape has never been surpassed aesthetically IMHO.
Total respect from me there - the Japanese tokais were high in the running before i found eastmans - i happen to like there take on all the Gibson stuff even the acoustics. But that said i agree the original design is the best.
The Maybach Lester Honey Pie I snagged used off Reverb (not sold new here in the colonies) is built just like a Gibson custom shop version, the finish and German (Amber) pickups are better than anything I've ever played, and the chunky neck is sublime. My Eastman SB59v will likely get sold, since the potted Lollar Imperials just don't sound as good, and neck is thinner than I prefer.
With your comment, I suggest this video is not for you and you should concentrate on other videos. This video is just as relevant as any other and still applies as a valid A/B comparison. It does remind us all that these rabbit holes do give subtle results. Yes, without being a guitar virtuoso, the subtle differences are even more subtle. But there are plenty of lower level tinkerers and hobbyists that are wondering what would happen if you take customer buckers and put them in another brands guitar. Plus if you are experienced and any good at playing guitar yourself, you will know that the only thing that really counts is how the instrument and its components make you feel when you are playing them. Those subtle differences in feel are what it’s all about for the player, not how it sounds on a basic youtube video. Plus just lighten up you’ll feel happier for it.😊
I thought the playing was great, particularly liked the UFO and Led Zeppelin appearances. All any of us are trying to do is to get the sounds that are in our head, which we connect with and which feels good under the fingers. Ability and indeed the gear used to do that, whether budget or premium, really isn’t that important as long as it’s working for the player and motivates them to pick up their instrument. Nice one Pauly!
