594 vs LP questions (maybe not the best title)

Matte82

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Hello all. As some may remember I have a 594 WL that I love. However due to personal issues I may need to sell it. The only way I’ll be held over until I buy another, is if (and I realize it’s a ginormous if) I can get my old les Paul studio into roughly the same tonal territory without costing an arm and a leg.

Obviously the pickups play a huge part in the sound. And being as the goal is to gain funds, 58/15LT’s probably aren’t an option. So I grabbed a good deal on some thornbuckers.

Next up is the bridge. The 594 has brass saddles and posts. But does anyone know what the rest is made of? I’ve read both brass and zinc for the bridge itself and zinc and aluminum for the tail piece. Not necessarily looking to be exactly the same, but what do you think would work best? I’ve been reading and brass for the bridge and aluminum for the stop bar seems to be common. But zinc is more budget friendly. How much of a difference will it make?

I also have a core nut, that looks like will fit with a little work. I plan on adding some locking tuners. Probably graphtech ratio.

And before you all say I’m wasting my time, it’s torn apart as I’m refinishing it. It was once white but had turned into a horrible urine yellow. Not a cool vintage yellow. Anyway I’m almost ready to stain and finish it. So need to figure out what else I need.

Thanks in advance. And let me know any ideas or suggestions you may have.

Oh and as to why I didn’t just sell the LP for funds. It is the first guitar I ever bought myself. So it has sentimental value and was planning on fixing it up at some point. I doubt I ever sell it.
 
Amplified I can get basically any tone I want out of whatever guitar I've got at the moment. Billy Gibbons sounds like Billy Gibbons, regardless. Not that I'm Billy Gibbons.

Unamplified & the way the guitar feels in my hands, against my body... that's where the difference is. I love Les Paul's. I love my PRS guitars.

But I'll never confuse the feel of a Les Paul for a 594, or my Teles which I also love.

My advice to you, sell the 594. Do what you gotta do. Then whenever you can, buy whatever flavor of the month Paul is putting out at the time.
 
Hello all. As some may remember I have a 594 WL that I love. However due to personal issues I may need to sell it. The only way I’ll be held over until I buy another, is if (and I realize it’s a ginormous if) I can get my old les Paul studio into roughly the same tonal territory without costing an arm and a leg.

Obviously the pickups play a huge part in the sound. And being as the goal is to gain funds, 58/15LT’s probably aren’t an option. So I grabbed a good deal on some thornbuckers.

Next up is the bridge. The 594 has brass saddles and posts. But does anyone know what the rest is made of? I’ve read both brass and zinc for the bridge itself and zinc and aluminum for the tail piece. Not necessarily looking to be exactly the same, but what do you think would work best? I’ve been reading and brass for the bridge and aluminum for the stop bar seems to be common. But zinc is more budget friendly. How much of a difference will it make?

I also have a core nut, that looks like will fit with a little work. I plan on adding some locking tuners. Probably graphtech ratio.

And before you all say I’m wasting my time, it’s torn apart as I’m refinishing it. It was once white but had turned into a horrible urine yellow. Not a cool vintage yellow. Anyway I’m almost ready to stain and finish it. So need to figure out what else I need.

Thanks in advance. And let me know any ideas or suggestions you may have.

Oh and as to why I didn’t just sell the LP for funds. It is the first guitar I ever bought myself. So it has sentimental value and was planning on fixing it up at some point. I doubt I ever sell it.

LPs are great!!! Let it do its thing and enjoy it until you can get another 594!!
 
I don’t expect the LP to be a 594. I just want it to be as close as possible. Even if it’s still miles away.

I have an SE sc245 soapbar. So I know the SE’s are solid, but it is also for sale. And it’s probably sentiment as much as anything, but I like my LP more than it. However my rosewood neck mccarty soapbar is a different story. I’m not selling it either. Haha. So I won’t be without a prs.

I guess my biggest question is does anybody know for sure what material is used for the bridge and tailpiece? From what I’ve been reading a brass bridge will add some midrange. Which is what I love about the 594. Then there is brass and then there is bell brass. Does anyone have any experience comparing these?

I just know you guys have a lot of experience and know great guitars. So again thanks. :)
 
Amplified I can get basically any tone I want out of whatever guitar I've got at the moment. Billy Gibbons sounds like Billy Gibbons, regardless. Not that I'm Billy Gibbons.

Unamplified & the way the guitar feels in my hands, against my body... that's where the difference is. I love Les Paul's. I love my PRS guitars.

But I'll never confuse the feel of a Les Paul for a 594, or my Teles which I also love.

My advice to you, sell the 594. Do what you gotta do. Then whenever you can, buy whatever flavor of the month Paul is putting out at the time.

Wait. What???!?! Your user name says otherwise. ;)
 
I don’t expect the LP to be a 594. I just want it to be as close as possible. Even if it’s still miles away.

I have an SE sc245 soapbar. So I know the SE’s are solid, but it is also for sale. And it’s probably sentiment as much as anything, but I like my LP more than it. However my rosewood neck mccarty soapbar is a different story. I’m not selling it either. Haha. So I won’t be without a prs.

I guess my biggest question is does anybody know for sure what material is used for the bridge and tailpiece? From what I’ve been reading a brass bridge will add some midrange. Which is what I love about the 594. Then there is brass and then there is bell brass. Does anyone have any experience comparing these?

I just know you guys have a lot of experience and know great guitars. So again thanks. :)

I don't know what they're made of, but does John Mann make a replacement for the LP two piece? If he does, I'd go that route. Bound to sound better!
 
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I don't know what they're made of, but does John Mann make a replacement for the LP two piece? If he does, I'd go that route. Bound to sound better!

Unfortunately I don’t see one. However that lead me to Callaham bridges. Which lead to Faber. I think I’m going to get one of their master kits. I really like how it works. The bridge is zinc and aluminum with brass saddles. The tailpiece is aluminum. And it’s all locking with a simple but effective method. Most importantly no set screws to come loose. I’ll report back once I get it together. Thanks again.
 
A guitar is always a simple equation: sum of the parts. Take one piece out, change the whole. It’s a tough expectation to make a Les Paul be like a 594...flippin’ unrealistic, IMO. Let each guitar be what they are and just enjoy it. (Except for modding. That’s just fun!) Oh, and just flip the 594, there will always be another one.
 
Unfortunately I don’t see one. However that lead me to Callaham bridges. Which lead to Faber. I think I’m going to get one of their master kits. I really like how it works. The bridge is zinc and aluminum with brass saddles. The tailpiece is aluminum. And it’s all locking with a simple but effective method. Most importantly no set screws to come loose. I’ll report back once I get it together. Thanks again.

It was worth a look! Good luck on your project!
 
A guitar is always a simple equation: sum of the parts. Take one piece out, change the whole. It’s a tough expectation to make a Les Paul be like a 594...flippin’ unrealistic, IMO. Let each guitar be what they are and just enjoy it. (Except for modding. That’s just fun!) Oh, and just flip the 594, there will always be another one.

That’s the best part is knowing how many 594’s are out there. And my next one will have a rosewood neck. That’s the only thing mine doesn’t have and part of my justification for selling it.

And I do have trouble expressing my ideas sometimes. Yes I want the LP to be 594ish. But not a clone. I better way to say it is, I want it to hang with the prs guitars.

For example I thought my Godin guitars were around an 8-9 on the scale of good guitars. Then I got a prs. And so if I call them a 10, the Godins are now a 6 or so. Probably more 7-8ish but there’s just something about the prs I have that make them a league above. So my hope is to get the LP to a 8-9ish. And if in the improvements it’s gets a little prs flavor along the way, all the better.
 
That’s the best part is knowing how many 594’s are out there. And my next one will have a rosewood neck. That’s the only thing mine doesn’t have and part of my justification for selling it.

And I do have trouble expressing my ideas sometimes. Yes I want the LP to be 594ish. But not a clone. I better way to say it is, I want it to hang with the prs guitars.

For example I thought my Godin guitars were around an 8-9 on the scale of good guitars. Then I got a prs. And so if I call them a 10, the Godins are now a 6 or so. Probably more 7-8ish but there’s just something about the prs I have that make them a league above. So my hope is to get the LP to a 8-9ish. And if in the improvements it’s gets a little prs flavor along the way, all the better.

I think this is a really good approach... if you just want to improve your LP but if you go into it expecting to get close to the 594, you might be in for BIG disappointment. Probably nothing with scratch that itch other than a Rosewood necked 594 (which you will have one day soon). But I totally understand not selling the LP if the guitar means a lot to you.

I hope someone can answer your question about the material.
 
Unfortunately I don’t see one. However that lead me to Callaham bridges. Which lead to Faber. I think I’m going to get one of their master kits. I really like how it works. The bridge is zinc and aluminum with brass saddles. The tailpiece is aluminum. And it’s all locking with a simple but effective method. Most importantly no set screws to come loose. I’ll report back once I get it together. Thanks again.
That's an excellent choice, Faber top rated. tight machining specifications Germans do exceelnt precision machining.
3 years ago I picked up an Epiphone Les Paul Joe Perry boneyard. it was an excellent guitar Dirt cheap. it was played quite a bit. Which usually means somebody loved it and it played really well. however I completely stripped it down to pure wood. the bridge Retaining spring and screws rattled like crazy. And the saddles were deeply over cut and over grooved, Like it had been set up too many times.
I bought all brand-new Seymour Duncan 59 pickups top-of-the-line prewired push pull pots wiring harness.
I bought it gotoh bridge and decided to try a 2nd alternative graphtech NW1 zinc aluminum alloy saddles and bridge, and Faber was number 3 which I didn't purchase.
so the
1. Epiphone bridge was noisy and rattley Even after I tried to refurbish it. it was brass saddles tossed it finally
2. The gotoh Bridge was fine it had zinc saddles, A definite upgrade for ease-of-use quietness, I had no problem with the tone seemed very good.
3. The graph tech secret alloy Resomax bridge saddles NV1 must be some sort of zinc alloy. the tone was very similar to the gotoh, But the sustain and harmonics were Just better. So that's a fine bridge, With the metal saddles.
I absolutely hate the graphite saddles that they sell, I call them tone suckers, I'm reasonably impressed with the Resomax metal saddles, I would use them again.

I took it in to my guitar shop had it PLEK'ed fantastic stunning guitar After the complete rebuild for about $550 total, Sold to a good friend he absolutely loves it, still has it.

The faber was number 4 on my list, But I had decided to try something other than brass saddles, so I wanted to experiment with the graph Tech.
but I think you're on the right track the faber with brass saddles, Should be extremely high performance with the brass saddle tone your chasing.
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I’ll offer that a PRS is livelier than most LP’s, some of which seem pretty inert until stadium volume.

what do you mean by "livelier" and "inert"....? I have 3 LP's (a Standard, Traditional & DC) all they play and sound amazing IMO, very resonant even without an amp and sorry and by no means inferior to any other guitar brands tone wise and at any volume.....even my PRS's.....
 
what do you mean by "livelier" and "inert"....? I have 3 LP's (a Standard, Traditional & DC) all they play and sound amazing IMO, very resonant even without an amp and sorry and by no means inferior to any other guitar brands tone wise and at any volume.....even my PRS's.....

I just think thinner bodies resonate better.

Not always better. An SG has its own sound, yet different than an LP sound.
 
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