The PaulO'caster Thread

[swarfrat]

I'm still in the eyeballing stage, but I'm scheming up a "PaulO'caster", an LP sounding guitar for a die hard strat man that loves the sound but can't stand any number of Gibsonisms. (Especially angled neck pockets and the way they hang a couple frets too far out, etc..)

I've seen a number of guys with similar ideas, and thought I'd kick off a thread for it. What'd you do? What do you wish you'd done differently? Pics, commentary, whatever..

My plan is 24.75" mahogany neck. Undecided on fingerboard (ebony or rosewood).
Chambered strat body, still contemplating Mahogany vs Korina (actually, on a lark, wondering how basswood would do in this setup)
Wilkinson Trem
Duncan Jazz/JB pickups

Thinking about same wood top/back  (mahogany/mahogany or korina/korina) in clear gloss w/ gold hardware (would LOVE to see some pics if anyone has em.)
Points of pondering:
* bridges. Both my strats are hardtail. My biggest reason for going with the wilkinson over a recessed tune-o-matic is I'd like for at least one of my guitars to have a trem again. Maybe this isn't the guitar for it.
* nut - why does warmoth restrict the Earvana nut factory option to a handful of headstocks?
* if you're going for a non locking trem in a slippery modern nut material, do you have string trees, and do they stick? will a 3+3 headstock avoid the need, or does it need to be angled to avoid string trees altogether?
* anyone try it and not happy with the results?

So let's hear it / see it.

 

[JaySwear]

a headstock should be angled to avoid string trees all together, but my tele deluxe has a strait CBS headstock on it and doesn't even almost needs trees. it has the SG38 (i'm pretty sure they're called...) tuners, don't know if that makes a difference in whether it needs trees or not though. and i think all of warmoth's 3 x 3 headstocks are angled, but i could be wrong... as far as i know there's just the variax and the warmoth styles, and i think both are angled. the warmoth design can look good on a strat body though i think! i've got one and it seems to work.

i also have the JB / Jazz set in an alder body. i'm a pretty big fan! the middle can sound very much like the 2 or 4 position on a strat, the JB will do decent cleans and everything from metal to soft rock, and the jazz really sounds almost acoustic-like. i'm not great at describing pickups' qualities, but i'm a big fan of that set

i like basswood for bodies, but i might be worried it would be almost too light. i guess it's not always paper-light, but it definitely can be. you don't want any neck dive issues. mahogany would go nicely with that 24.75" neck! would be a very LP-sounding strat if that makes any sense. especially with the JB/Jazz combo i think. but with a chambered body i'd definitely be worried about basswood being too light. if you're not though i definitely do love basswood. every basswood bodied guitar i've owned has sounded awesome, and cut through the mix with great mids and lows. keeps the highs under control, too. not too sharp, but not lifeless either.

 

[GoDrex]

I'd never put a JB in a guitar with that much mahogany  - and I love the JB.

 

[dbw]

I have such a guitar.  It rules  :headbang:

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=2372.0

 

[rockskate4x]

I hear that the duncan '59 and the duncan custom 5 in the bridge are a very nice pickup combo in Gibby type guitars. I'd say mahogany with flame or curly maple top and drop top binding if you want it to look more "paul"-like... but that's mostly for looks. BK is a very nice tonewood if you had something else in mind for the looks.

As far as necks go, for this project I'm thinking ALL ROSEWOOD!!!

 

[swarfrat]

I have such a guitar.  It rules  :headbang:

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=2372.0

Nice indeed!  That's what I'm talking about. And it definitely pushes me towards korina/korina clear finish & gold hardware.  Ebony & no dots. It also makes me a little less decided on the Wilkinson.

I've heard differing opinions on JB's on all mahogany guitars. Care to expound on yours?

 

[GoDrex]

I think in an all mahogany guitar the JB's upper mids are emphasized to an unpleasant degree - - but then again some may like that sound. I tried it in my warmoth LP and didn't like it at all - and I really do love the JB in the right guitar. I feel it needs to be in a brighter guitar, say alder or ash with a maple neck for example. Or even basswood. I'm not sure about korina - I have no experience with that kind of wood.

dbw has a Custom 5 in his guitar for the bridge spot. that makes more sense to me for an all mahogany guitar. It worked really well in my LP. I'd also recommend the '59 and other "vintage" type humbuckers - preferably with an A5 magnet - - though I did get good results with the SD Alnico 2 Pro - -the bottom end has a kind of soft feel.

 

[swarfrat]

Okay, that does help, though I find the descriptions of wanting more treble in a bridge humbucker to be paired with brighter woods to be a bit odd. For me, no bridge humbucker will ever ever see the clean channel anyway, (blech, I did say I was a die hard strat guy) and upper mid snarl sounds like it might be snarl/bite in a good medium/high (for 20 years ago) gain crunch. (I too have a Carvin, an X-60C. Bought it used 20 years ago, absolutely love it.) 

So dbw - I'm curious why you didn't put a short scale neck on this lovely instrument, especially given the stated goal.  After staring some more at the pics, I really like the exposed black bobbins, and will be ditching the pickup covers. Your finish really came alive with the tru oil.

 

[dbw]

My fingers are clumsy enough on a long scale.  I don't like the slightly cramped feeling on a Gibson neck.

 

[swarfrat]

After a bit of surfing and scratching, I think It's going to be

Wenge/Ebony neck
BK hollow body w/ oil finish
Recessed tuneomatic caused me quite a bit of angst and wondering but I think I want the Wilky after all, but I'm ditching the PW tuners for locking Schallers.

Raw neck/oil finish should shave a couple weeks and bucks and I really kinda wanted a low gloss finish just a bit darker than clear anyway - so... I think I'll like it better.
Originally I'd planned gold hardware to go against all the wood tones, but I've seen an awful lot of black hardware lately on such guitars and... I'd still like to see some good examples of gold & chocolatey woods, but the black does look smart. Hmmm

I was really thinking no inlays on ebony, but then those 7/8 bodies came up and... I'm not sure I want to bother with a 24 fret neck w/o the double dot inlay to say it. The 7/8 BK with the BK neck guitar on the other thread just about nailed my design, if it weren't for the floyd. Major drool factor there.

 

[Superlizard]

Speaking of the JB, remember it was designed for Jeff Beck's "Tele-Gib", and thus was using 250k pots.

excerpt:

Taken from the SD pages...the Jeff Beck...I mean Jazz/Blues Tele-Gib story...
After sending his favorite Les Paul® to a shady repairman who switched out the P.A.F.’s for newer, squealing, pickups, Jeff came to Seymour for help and advice. Seymour repaired Jeff’s Les Paul, and then set about creating a special guitar for Jeff with a pair of pickups that would capture Jeff’s amazing ability to coax a wide range of tones out of his axe.

The result was a guitar that Seymour gave to Jeff as a gift. The body and neck were clearly Telecaster®. But the pickups were two re-wound humbuckers made from broken P.A.F.s Seymour rescued from Lonnie Mack’s Flying V®. Seymour called the guitar a “Tele-Gib,” and nicknamed the bridge pickup “JB” and the neck pickup “JM,” after the hot rod racer, “John Milner,” in the classic film, American Graffiti. (Eventually, “JM” would change to “Jazz Model,” which is what it’s called today.) Jeff used the Tele-Gib on his amazing 1975 release, Blow By Blow, where it gained notoriety for the haunting volume swells heard on “Cause We Ended As Lovers,” which Jeff dedicated to Roy Buchanon. Interestingly, it was Seymour who introduced Jeff to Roy a few months prior.

The JB bridge pickup became very popular, very quick. Soon, many of England’s top guitarists, including more than a few legendary names, sought out Seymour’s “JB Mod” for their guitars. They found that the JB gave increased output (16.4K Ohms) without sounding harsh or dark, like other high-output pickups of the mid-‘70s. When Seymour returned to the USA the next year, his reputation as a pickup designer and the JB’s reputation as a great pickup preceded him. And the rest was history.

Interestingly enough, the JB was very popular with hair-metalers/metalers mated to a hard rock maple body and 500K pots... best guess why (aside from the fact that it's a hot pickup)
is because the JB has that upper midrange bite (great for pinch harmonics/squealies) and cuts through a ton of distortion & compression; which is what they usually set their rig to.

 

[elfro89]

I had a simlar problem, loved the sound of a lespaul but wanted something wth a whammy bar and just an overall beast of a machine.


my advice, parker nitefly!!! i have never in the whole of my life playing anything as comfy as those beasts.

i'll give you a quick run down of its features

it has a carbon fibre neck and feels generally awesome. it has a mahogany body and a set of custom dimarzio's. it has locking tuners and a graphit nut. it has 3 options for the bridge (fixed, down only, or fully floating) it can all be adjusted without taking any backplates off. it has a stereo jack which splits the signal from the piezo pikcup and the magnetic pickups. it has stainless steal frets that are medium jumbo. the neck never needs to be adjusted seasonally, the neck will never warp. you can actually song on the neck and not damage it in anyway. all for around $1100

heres a vid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNi6144ER9Y

 

[Orpheo]

the tone of a les paul is too unique to copy in a strat type guitar. you need a thick back, a thick top, and then you're getting somewhere. its not 'just' the pickup.

my call? get a tele carved top, with a good trem, like the tremking, or the supervee, and use just a good pickup, and then you're close. a flattop will always sound more like an sg, than a les paul.

 

[swarfrat]

I've read enough here now to know better than respond, but ... Doh, I know it's not just the pickup, hence, woods, scale length, and bridge tradeoffs (though I decided against the recessed TOM). In fact the pickup is still a big question mark, but one I'm not as worried about because of its ease of replacement.  If it nails the SG tone, that's plenty good enough, but SGocaster doesn't exactly roll of the tongue or immediately convey the goal like Paulocaster does.

 

[Steve_Karl]

My fingers are clumsy enough on a long scale.  I don't like the slightly cramped feeling on a Gibson neck.

I was raised on Les Pauls ... i.e. until the ealy 80's when I got my first W. Strat. and sold my last LP.
A few months ago I thought maybe I should have a Les Paul jsut for the feel but I now also don't like the short scale neck.

Too small for me ... now that I'm hooked on the feel of my warmoth ... so I've been planning a Strat with HB pups also.
The other things I really don't like about the LP is how it feels on my lap and stomach, I really love the strat body shape,
and the cave man bridge. I can't live without two screws per saddle at this point.

.

 

[tfarny]

My 2c = don't worry as much about the wood species (mahogany / korina are great, sure) as about the bridge. Get a good non-trem bridge of any type if you really want an LP tone. I would also probably suggest getting a solid, heavyish body - say 5 lb or more - not something chambered. I think Orpheo is right that the heaviness is a bit of a factor that you need. But the carved top tele is thinner than a regular tele, not thicker. Just get a heavy solid mahogany body with a non-trem.

For pickups, I don't have too much experience with humbuckers. I had a custom 5 briefly, and I really liked it though - if you want a high output bridge pickup you could do a lot worse. I have a pearly gates with an alnico 4 magnet in it that I personally love, just need to find the guitar for it now. Overall though, I don't associate "les paul tone" with any of those modern pickups like the JB etc. - I would just get some Seth Lovers or something if your goal is the Paul tone.

 

[JaySwear]

what about a mahogany strat, rosewood top, no forearm cut (to add a tiny bit of girth to the body) and maybe some creme binding. rosewood top is just MY dream guitar :icon_biggrin: but the rest would be awesome i think. big mahogany body with few contours taken out of it. but i guess there are two types of les pauls; the chambered and solid. i always think of big heavy guitars with few features for comfort. a chambered body would be awesome too, but i think leaving the forearm cut out would be really cool.

 

[Nando Vallart]

I don't associate "les paul tone" with any of those modern pickups like the JB etc. - I would just get some Seth Lovers or something if your goal is the Paul tone.

Bare Knuckle The Mule Alnico IV or Stormy Monday Alnico II(for a more vintage and round tone)

 

[GoDrex]

I don't associate "les paul tone" with any of those modern pickups like the JB etc. - I would just get some Seth Lovers or something if your goal is the Paul tone.

Bare Knuckle The Mule Alnico IV or Stormy Monday Alnico II(for a more vintage and round tone)

or the Black Dog set - for vintage/hot

 

[Nando Vallart]

Yes!