Gibson Historic Hardware: The Best There Is?? (Ft. Four Uncles, Royal Mount & St.Helens)
Joe Perkins
2,634 views
I've recently bought one of my dream guitars - a Gibson Custom Shop Historic 1956 Reissue Les Paul. And what a mighty instrument it is! I've swapped out the stock pickups for some ThroBak '52/'54 P90s to give a little less mud & more clarity, and since you last saw it the pots have been changed for the Centralab-replica VIPots, and some Jupiter PIO capacitors are now in there too. Electronically, everything is now as good as it can possibly be.
But...what about the hardware?! I've done hardware swaps before with fairly substantial results; but that was on 'standard' Gibson guitars; not a Custom Shop Historic Reissue. These instruments are all about historical accuracy; and so much has been said over the years about what Gibson actually put on their top tier instruments. Of course, they've developed their hardware over the years too...so where are we at this point in time?!
I was originally considering finding one company who made the most vintage-accurate metalwork out there; but there's so many great people nowadays who have analysed metal compositions and casting techniques, that I ultimately decided not to limit myself to just one manufacturer. Instead, I went for a "greatest hits" of who seem to make the ultimate versions of the individual components.
The tailpiece & studs are made from the correct lightweight aluminium by St.Helens in Germany; the posts and thumbscrews are from Royal Mount in Italy, who craft their components from genuine vintage brass rods; and the ABR-1 bridge is from the much-discussed-on-forums Four Uncles. This gear is absolute money-no-object, top tier, vintage reproduction taken to the limit.
But how will the huge-money aftermarket behemoths compare to the stock Gibson hardware? Will it be a huge improvement and show that Gibson could really do better at this price point? Or is the Gibson metalwork absolutely up there in terms of materials, manufacturing, and (most importantly, of course!) tone?!
What do you think? Is the mega-bucks boutique hardware an improvement, or not? Comment below!
Amps:
Dr. Z Z-Plus
Dr. Z Route 66 Junior
Amps running into a Zilla Studio Pro 2x12 cabinet loaded with Celestion Silver 100 & Fane A60 AlNiCo speakers. Recorded with Chandler Limited TG Microphone, '70s Sennheiser MD441 and sE RNR1 ribbon mics, with a Schoeps CMC6 room mic.
0:00 Intro
8:39 Unplugged Demo
9:22 Clean Playing
14:15 Overdriven Playing
19:19 Outro
jp@joeperkins.co.uk
Vector images by freepik.com
17 Comments
I put a Faber bridge and tailpiece on my 76 Les Paul and it was a big improvement.
like the FU, Schwarz or St Helens. If you want to spend the extra money it is your right but sonically i did not hear any upscale. The Pots /Harness are a much more important factor for the Vintage tone.
Gibson Historic Hardware: The Best There Is?? (Ft. Four Uncles, Royal Mount & St.Helens)
Joe Perkins
2,634 views
I've recently bought one of my dream guitars - a Gibson Custom Shop Historic 1956 Reissue Les Paul. And what a mighty instrument it is! I've swapped out the stock pickups for some ThroBak '52/'54 P90s to give a little less mud & more clarity, and since you last saw it the pots have been changed for the Centralab-replica VIPots, and some Jupiter PIO capacitors are now in there too. Electronically, everything is now as good as it can possibly be.
But...what about the hardware?! I've done hardware swaps before with fairly substantial results; but that was on 'standard' Gibson guitars; not a Custom Shop Historic Reissue. These instruments are all about historical accuracy; and so much has been said over the years about what Gibson actually put on their top tier instruments. Of course, they've developed their hardware over the years too...so where are we at this point in time?!
I was originally considering finding one company who made the most vintage-accurate metalwork out there; but there's so many great people nowadays who have analysed metal compositions and casting techniques, that I ultimately decided not to limit myself to just one manufacturer. Instead, I went for a "greatest hits" of who seem to make the ultimate versions of the individual components.
The tailpiece & studs are made from the correct lightweight aluminium by St.Helens in Germany; the posts and thumbscrews are from Royal Mount in Italy, who craft their components from genuine vintage brass rods; and the ABR-1 bridge is from the much-discussed-on-forums Four Uncles. This gear is absolute money-no-object, top tier, vintage reproduction taken to the limit.
But how will the huge-money aftermarket behemoths compare to the stock Gibson hardware? Will it be a huge improvement and show that Gibson could really do better at this price point? Or is the Gibson metalwork absolutely up there in terms of materials, manufacturing, and (most importantly, of course!) tone?!
What do you think? Is the mega-bucks boutique hardware an improvement, or not? Comment below!
Amps:
Dr. Z Z-Plus
Dr. Z Route 66 Junior
Amps running into a Zilla Studio Pro 2x12 cabinet loaded with Celestion Silver 100 & Fane A60 AlNiCo speakers. Recorded with Chandler Limited TG Microphone, '70s Sennheiser MD441 and sE RNR1 ribbon mics, with a Schoeps CMC6 room mic.
0:00 Intro
8:39 Unplugged Demo
9:22 Clean Playing
14:15 Overdriven Playing
19:19 Outro
jp@joeperkins.co.uk
Vector images by freepik.com