I go through phases with taking my pickguard off my les pauls as well . Gives them a different characteristic . I have the same unbust 60s. I'm gonna take mine off to see what it looks like . Might show more flame 🔥 on the top
I'm middle aged too, and it's fun to look back and see the different seasons we go through as guitarists. Guitars that used to inspire us now collect dust, while guitars we never thought we'd like become our new number ones. All part of the journey I suppose. Gorgeous guitar by the way!
got a couple of PRS SEs that i changed the pickups out in. While they're fine guitars, they're not my les paul. Note: I got them before i got the Gibson. When you play a les paul, you understand why they're 3000 dollars.
@@MrCalifornia0maybe i will, some day. The truth is that I'm very fond of my SEs that I put after market pickups in and wouldn't trade them for a core model. They play and sound great.
LOVE IT....can't play those necks BUT those Tune O Matic bridges are the bomb..I have one on my ESP M-I...I bought a 2021 with a slim tapered neck( so it said) and had to send it back.....don't like finishes on the back of necks....LOVE em but can't play them.....congrats....
Amazing playing/video!! Am pretty set in getting one of these in bourbon as well. Any qualms with the stock pickups? I heard someone switched them out for a pair of Duncan’s (59 for the neck and JB for the bridge). They said the original pickups caused a little muddiness when playing heavier stuff/drop D.
@@mastertheguitar I got one. Same feeling on the neck p/u. Cant adjust heights/pole pieces enough to yield a good middle blend and to use the neck or bridge alone. Just not balanced. I'm not a fan of the mismatched coil windings on the Burstbuckers. I'm going to get a set of PAF replicas, probably 7.5 and 8 k w/ alnico 2.
Some people simply like swapping out stuff and tinkering. Be it the pickups... the buttons, the tuners, etc. The bridge pickup on the 60s is perfectly fine for low tuned stuff. That's why you dial in your EQ and pedals depending on the gain, strings and tuning you're using. E standard, Drop D, and even Drop C is no issue at all. You are also obviously not going to be playing chunky Drop A# rhythm on the neck pickup. So yeah, the neck pickup is too muddy for that. But the bridge is fine. Some people actually say the bridge is a little too bright and too thin... these are good qualities to have for high gain + low tuning. I don't think it's too bright or too thin at all. I think it's a classic 60s Les Paul tone with a ton of grit, texture and clarity. The 50s standard is a little bit warmer/darker with all the clarity and texture. So compared to the standard 50, the 60s is little brigther and thinner. Which makes it waaaaay better for low tuning and high gain. The 50s Std is amazing for classic Guns n Roses, Aerosmith and so on. 60s much better for low tuning and high gain.
Do the Grover rotomatics buttons come off if you undo the end screw ? I'd like to replace mine with metal tulips. I thought that screw adjusted the tension. Also I had an old les Paul with Kluson green plastic about 30 years ago but I had to heat those and pull them off and they melted 🤣 I think they were moulded to the shaft
That's a beautiful guitar! Before you change the pickups, maybe you should try something else! Do you know why there are screw pole pieces? You can adjust them to follow the string radius to have a more even response, from the strings. You can set the PU itself 2mm on the bridge from the low and high E-string, the neck PU 3mm. Then set the screws for D- and G-string 2mm up, for A- and B-string 1.5mm, on each pickup. Leave the screws for the E-strings as they are. It seems to be lost knowledge from the early days of humbucker development. Please, try that before you decide to invest into other pickups and let me know what you think.
To call that a AA top does not adequately describe it. I'm not an expert but would call it a AAA any day. I have a 60s standard in Ice Tea and it is a AA top. But quite light weight for a Les Paul, which is why I picked it. By the way, I would have guessed your Les Paul is a 50's based on the tuners. Nice playing!!!
That is absolutely a AAA and as for the tuners he replaced the buttons with hipshot's Kluson style. The music stores list two different version 60's standard's one is just a 60's standard which has a slightly flamed top but no where near what he has in the vid and the other is 60's standard AAA which from pics i have seen range from so so to Holy crap! I have my eyes on a used one and it is a "holy crap" AAA top.
I made the same call. There were nicer tops on the other Les Paul’s. I picked the best sounding and playing guitar which was an iced tea Les Paul standard. Very light too which helps. Under 8.5 pounds
@@Dam-oH You got real lucky because a large majority of the standards are over 9lbs. The 8.5 and under ones are all Custom shop's. My 60's in iced tea is 9.9 which is deemed heavy but i do not care because of the tone it has and insane AAA top.
@@These_go_to_eleven_1959 I was lucky to play loads of them. I had it down to two in the end. One was a 50s style and a good bit heavier. Sounded fantastic though. I went with him because I preferred the slimmer neck and hotter pickups
@@Dam-oH I am considering replacing the 61 set with a set of Sheptone "Tribute" P.A.F's i have in cream. The 61 set is pretty good but i am not 100% with them at this time.
I inherited some money from my grandmother and bought the 60s standard ice tea, wanted something to have for the rest of my life to remember her by. Thought a nice guitar is better than some watch. 3 more days and it'll be here, can't wait.
Congrats and enjoy! It sure it will be a special instrument because of your Grandmother. I did something similar with my McIlroy acoustic after my Mum passed away. ❤️
Hi, quick question..I have a 60s unburst and was gonna buy new machine heads as I prefer the kluson ones you've put on yours too. Did you just swap out the chrome half moon buttons to the kluson ones without actually changing the rest of the machine heads? Any advice would be great..thanks & enjoyed your video 👍
I have the same guitar, same color & our tops are very similar. I replaced the kidney buttons with keystones as well, also put some regular amber bell knobs on & took off the pick guard like you did. My biggest mod has been the pickups; I really didn’t care for the 61’s. Had Aleksandar at Wizz make me a set of his PAF clones & they’re amazing. Got rid of the boxy, cocked wah sound of the bridge pup & the muddy neck. The guitar itself is spectacular. I searched for 2 years to find an LP that I bonded with & I’m really glad I took my time because it led me to these beauties. Gibson has upped their game recently, my guitar was literally flawless, couldn’t find a tool mark or dead spot anywhere. Hope you’re as happy with yours as I am with mine.
@@joeldavis1040 they are unpotted. I prefer PAF-style pickups to be that way, I’ve found they sound much more open & dynamic. I play pretty low gain so microphonics aren’t an issue.
@@MrCalifornia0 Life happened last year and I had to sell my R8 but I recently acquired an R9. Other than the neck profile they are both very similar. The Custombucker 3 unpotted pickups are very nice and give a good classic rock and blues tone. In the end I prefer the R8 neck as it is chunkier than the R9 which is still better than the slim 60's in my book. Once you own a custom shop reissue there is no going back to the standard American stuff.
I have the same guitar and I would like to buy tuning keys and knobs like theses. Can you recommend me a brand/model/online shop? Ideally I don’t want to put cheap AliExpress parts on a quality instrument like this.
In 2019 I bought a 60 series Gibson Les Paul Standard in beautiful Ice Tea. I had always wanted one and I finally checked that box. The fit and finish is wonderful and the tone is amazing! The older it gets, the better it sounds. In a recent visit to The Gibson Garage in Nashville, Tennessee, one of the Techs told me that it takes years for the wood in a Les Paul to figure out that it's not a tree anymore and that's when the tone becomes SO good! I love your Unburst and the channel! Thanks for all you do Mark and for sharing your talent! I am a Patreon member as well. Keep the great content coming!
Love the look of the Kluson tuner buttons and top hat knobs so I did the same to my 60's. Never was a fan of the reflector knobs or those ugly kidney bean shaped tuning buttons on Grover's. I would have just went with the 50''s but prefer the slimmer neck.
I got the tribute recently and really like everything about it bar the neck being slightly chunky. But man I’m tempted to get a 60s standard and take the tribute back…. Decisions….
@Mastertheguitar, I am like you in that the minor cosmetic things like some hardly noticeable tooling marks on the fret board or some finish left on the binding that the razor did not get off completely does not bother me. as long as the issue is not something that effects the playing or intonation then i am not concerned. I will be buying the same guitar you have here also used and can't wait! Just looking at it makes me want to play!🤘
What kind of tuning peg did you buy? From the links that you provide which one did you choose? I was looking at pearl but it looks like it is not a screw top? Thank you
This was a cool vid but probably not for the reasons you may think... I picked up a lot of cool stuff just from you noodling around. I like those chord progressions and the way you moved around the fretboard in a rhythm guitar player way... I'd love to see some videos posted on that type of material... you know, how you think of chord progressions, fills as you're playing, etc. Hope you're picking up on what I mean... this doesn't make a ton of sense while reading it back myself.
I don't no, was just a Gary Moore style thing I knocked up for the video :) Maybe could be something that's covered in a future video? Been meaning to get stuck into harmony/improvisation lessons for quite a while now.
I would rather do what you did and keep the Grovers on and change the buttons, but Looking at the site... which colour did you choose ? as its really not a great view of these buttons on their site... and were they easy to install ? @@mastertheguitar
I recently bought a 60s Unburst LP and it’s simply a stunning guitar, an absolute beauty. Got it from Sweetwater and was a bit iffy about buying one without playing it first. I had them set it up to my specs and I must say they nailed it. Guitar is perfect, I could not love it more, it is inspiring to play and a real work of art.
I finally got a Les Paul in 2020 after 40 years of wanting one, it too is a 60's standard and the craftsmanship is horrible. Tooling marks on the fret board, neck binding, and sunk binding around the cutaway, tuners on crooked as well as the input jack plate. The craftsmanship on my PRS S2 and Ibanez prestige and ESP EII obliterates the craftsmanship in my Les Paul. Guitar sounds great but just bummed out about the lack of "American Workmanship" on it. Great channel keep up the good work.
