well hello friends and welcome to
1:37
another Ask Zac I hope you are doing
1:38
well today today of course we were gonna
1:42
talk about Les Paul's and you know I had
1:45
to kind of continue with the motif of
1:48
the what are strats for and do the what are
1:51
Les Paul's for but really this is a
1:53
chance just to kind of talk about how I
1:57
got this
1:59
r9 Les Paul that I had to pick out from
2:03
the factory and just the the tweaks and
2:06
the things that I look for in a Les Paul
2:08
and yes I'm a Telecaster guy but I love
2:11
Les Paul guitars also in love you know
2:13
the history and and such so if you've
2:18
been enjoying the show and you haven't
2:20
done it already please subscribe if
2:22
you've already subscribed and you've
2:24
been watching the show and you'd like to
2:25
support it well you can go to askzac.com
2:27
and you can pick up we have these
2:30
new hats and this is when the new
2:33
t-shirt says it's a sickness so you can
2:36
pick up one of those and and I
2:38
appreciate it
2:39
also I had a few guys reach out to me
2:42
wanting to support the show but not
2:44
wanting to buy merch and so and they've
2:47
wanted to PayPal me and kind of tip you
2:50
know kind of tip me so if you want to do
2:53
that that's great too and so I'll put my
2:55
paypal email address you know in the in
2:58
the description of the video if you want
2:59
to do that alright Les Paul guitars so I
3:05
think you know when when the Les Paul
3:08
really hit me was hearing Mike
3:12
Bloomfield on the supersession album
3:14
doing Albert's shuffle that really just
3:18
the first notes that I heard and the
3:21
tone
3:23
everything about that and then of course
3:26
again as a teenager I got you know live
3:30
at the Fillmore East and here and you
3:33
know Dwayne and Dickie's you know tones
3:35
on that album you know golly just blew
3:40
my mind
3:40
now some of the there's some lives
3:43
there's all sorts of other live stuff
3:45
with a Dwayne and on the deluxe set of
3:48
the eat a peach there's some really neat
3:50
I think it's some of the last film or
3:52
stuff that they did and that's some of
3:53
my absolute favorite but those are guys
3:57
that really hit me you know as far as
3:59
you know Les Paul players and of course
4:02
I was listening to Clapton you know the
4:03
Blues breaker record especially so I
4:06
think those were common you know kind of
4:08
Les Paul touchstones so you know of
4:12
course I was playing a lot of country
4:15
music in the 90s and such and I was
4:17
mainly using a Telecaster and a strat
4:19
and I think it wasn't until you know
4:23
until the tooth early 2000s that I
4:25
really started thinking about a Les Paul
4:28
you know to own one so as the years went
4:34
on and I started you know kind of
4:35
getting some money together and learning
4:37
about Les Paul's you know I started
4:40
checking them out and I knew I you know
4:41
I certainly couldn't afford a real burst
4:43
and then of course even like the you
4:45
know the Earl the like the 68 and 69 you
4:48
know kind of reissues the gold top and
4:50
the and the black beauty that Gibson did
4:53
even those were kind of out of my price
4:57
range just they were just still so high
5:01
so I you know I started checking out
5:05
some of the Gibson Custom Shop guitars
5:08
and started finding out about you know
5:11
the historic s-- and/or hysterics some
5:14
people call them and you know after
5:18
playing them all unfortunately the one
5:20
that I liked the best was the r9 which
5:23
is probably one of the most expensive
5:24
ones but they also have like the r5 and
5:26
r6 and the r7 and r8 and they all you
5:30
know but the R nines and our O's
5:33
they kind of get the they tended to get
5:36
the prettiest tops on them and had the
5:38
lightest weight in your bodies and such
5:42
so I you know I contacted a friend of
5:48
mine over at Gibson and I said I would
5:53
like to pick up an R 9 I was wondering
5:55
if I could buy it directly from Gibson
5:57
and you know because sometimes they do
5:59
lock accommodation sales because of
6:01
course I've you know worked with artists
6:02
and then also you know worked with true
6:05
tone I said I would like to pick up a
6:07
guitar directly you know from Gibson and
6:10
I would like to go to Gibson Custom and
6:13
I would like to try out a bunch first
6:15
and pick one out well I would not have
6:20
asked that of my friend if I had known
6:22
you know what a ballsy request that was
6:25
and how rare it was to actually get to
6:27
go there and pick him out and so my
6:30
friend was really kind and didn't say
6:32
anything about how ballsy my request was
6:36
but he he made it happen and so it took
6:41
a it took a couple months but in in May
6:45
of 2008 I got to go down to the Gibson
6:50
Custom Shop and they told me that they
6:54
were gonna give me a tour of the place
6:55
also and so I asked can I bring a friend
6:58
and they said sure and so I took my
7:02
buddy Jay Smith and Jay is the guy that
7:04
designed the ask Zach logo and also his
7:08
t-shirts and other things and he's a
7:10
great longtime friend of mine and so he
7:13
and I went together and we got to take
7:15
this great tour of the you know the
7:18
Gibson Custom Shop and got to see
7:20
everything from the woods to you know
7:23
them scraping the binding and painting
7:25
and the the vos stuff that they were
7:27
using at the time that they were
7:28
smearing on the on the finish and
7:31
everything it was it was just it was
7:33
fantastic and then I got to go through
7:36
all of the our nines they had which they
7:39
had about thirty five of them and so I
7:41
went through every single one of them
7:44
they told me beforehand I couldn't play
7:46
through them through
7:47
so there would be no amp available so I
7:49
could just you know play through it you
7:51
know acoustically and then also they had
7:54
they had a scale so that I could weigh
7:57
him because of course that's kind of a
7:58
big deal with Les Paul's and so out of
8:01
all the thirty-five this one was the
8:05
lightest weight with the prettiest top
8:07
and the most resonance and also you know
8:09
it felt good to me
8:10
so and this one was pretty enough that
8:13
they had not put the pickguard on and so
8:15
when I picked it out the the gentleman
8:18
said oh you know it's this one's got a
8:21
really nice top so we haven't put the
8:23
pickguard on yet do you want us to put
8:24
the pickguard on I said no way so I've
8:28
kept it you know pickguard less and so
8:32
yeah so it was really really special to
8:36
be able to to get this and of course
8:38
it's probably one of the most probably
8:40
most money I've you know spin on a
8:41
guitar besides my 67 tele and it's a
8:46
great great instrument and funnily
8:49
enough you know as soon as any of us buy
8:52
anything even if it's nice you know we
8:53
start jacking with it and you start
8:56
getting on the forums and he start you
8:58
know checking out all sorts of things
8:59
and of course I did that and I tried out
9:03
like tone pros like locking hardware and
9:06
I didn't like it and so I stayed with
9:09
the the stock hardware on here I have
9:13
not changed that out I did I did change
9:16
out the pots to the nicer feeling 500
9:20
k's and actually got some old caps from
9:24
bill crook he had some old caps lying
9:27
around that were the I think they're the
9:31
the white Dublin or whatever they're not
9:35
the bumblebees they're the ones that
9:36
were used right before the bumblebees
9:38
but anyway he had a set of those in his
9:39
parts drawer and so he gave he donated
9:42
those to me so thanks to bill crook then
9:45
you know i you know i started messing
9:49
with pickups and you know the pickups
9:52
that were in it were burst buckers and
9:54
they were heavily potted
9:57
and so I knew I wanted to try I wanted
10:00
to get something that was unpadded and
10:02
so what I ended up doing and ended up
10:04
being very happy with and they're still
10:06
in the guitar is I contacted the Seymour
10:10
Duncan Custom Shop and I had a custom
10:14
set of antiquities made and this other
10:16
unpadded and I wanted them under wound
10:21
because I had found that I really liked
10:24
the the humbuckers that were lower
10:26
output because they tend to have more
10:28
that chirp to him and more clarity and I
10:31
wasn't trying to be you know no I wasn't
10:34
trying to be Led Zeppelin or anything
10:37
like that and I'm more of a clean player
10:39
though I do like some Drive so I ended
10:42
up I had to write this down
10:44
so the neck is 6.8 K and the bridge is
10:49
7.9 K and so basically it's kind of like
10:54
the the the the bridge pickup is like a
10:59
stock neck pickup as far as output and
11:02
so what I've told told people is if they
11:04
want to get a set of Antiquities get to
11:06
neck pickups and use them in both
11:08
position that way you'll kind of have a
11:10
lower output set and not have to pay
11:11
extra for a custom thing on top of that
11:16
you know because I was having to have
11:17
these custom-made
11:18
I asked if if Seymour Duncan would sign
11:22
the bottom of the pickups saying to Zack
11:25
from Seymour and I didn't think he would
11:27
do it but he did so yeah so if this
11:31
guitar is ever still one yeah it'll be a
11:34
set of Seymour Duncan antiquities with -
11:37
Zac from Seymour on the bottom so anyway
11:41
yeah so yeah so this has been a really
11:45
great guitar and you know I know I'm you
11:48
know a Telecaster guy but there is
11:50
something about the the fatness and the
11:55
sustain that you can't get you know from
11:58
other instruments and you know it's just
12:01
having to do with the you know a big
12:03
block of mahogany you know with a you
12:06
know slab a maple on the top
12:09
and just you know the design the neck
12:12
angle body the neck angle you know these
12:16
you know separate you know tail piece
12:18
and Umbridge you know which is really
12:21
neat because on a on a telly or a strat
12:24
you can't really adjust the tension
12:26
because that's what this tail piece is
12:28
for you can raise it or lower it and you
12:31
can change the tension here and and you
12:35
can even would get the tension really
12:36
low by top wrapping which that gets too
12:39
loose for me but yeah on a telly you
12:43
know our strap you're kind of stuck with
12:45
you know when you get to action where
12:47
you want it that's just the break angle
12:49
that you have and you can't you can't
12:52
change that that's kind of one of the
12:55
tough things but it's also you know
12:57
there's simplicity in the Telecaster
12:59
design so yeah so yeah so this is turn
13:06
the moss torsion off and echo so this is
13:09
this is just the guitar and this this is
13:11
the neck pickup
13:14
[Music]
13:41
[Music]
13:59
again what I look for in a Les Paul is
14:02
clarity and also that chirp I want to
14:07
hear that chirp and so in the the bridge
14:09
pickup has a nice you know clarity you
14:23
almost kind of do kind of a Telecaster
14:24
thing you can almost chicken pick so it
14:37
has a nice thing to it a couple things
14:41
that I do whenever I'm playing a Les
14:43
Paul one is I I do not use the same EQ
14:46
settings at all so you know normally I
14:50
set the treble at four and the base at
14:53
five when I'm playing a tele or the Les
14:56
Paul
14:56
I set the treble to five and the bass
14:58
down to three and that's because you
15:01
know this guitar just has more output
15:03
more content more mid-range more bass
15:06
and because that you kind of have to
15:08
tame it a little bit you know on the amp
15:10
otherwise it's just going to be too much
15:13
so kind of have to be careful especially
15:15
if you're going back and forth with a
15:17
Tele and a Les Paul it can be you know a
15:21
bit much but these guitars are great you
15:25
know because of the amount of sustain
15:26
that they have and you know they're easy
15:29
to play yeah they have less you know
15:33
kind of fight to them than a telly and
15:36
so it's a yeah and the reason I have one
15:39
is because it just it makes me play
15:41
very differently you know I'm not
15:43
tempted to do anything said I would do
15:46
on a on a Telecaster and that's and
15:48
that's good it's a it's a it's a very
15:50
very good thing
15:52
I love the the fact that it's got two
15:55
volumes and two tone controls because
15:58
that fixes the problem that I have with
16:00
the tele
16:01
we're this way I can you know set the
16:03
tone you know full up for the neck
16:05
pickup and then I can darken the back
16:06
pickup and you know that just you know
16:09
gives you you know a much much better
16:12
sound another thing that's interesting
16:15
about Les Paul's is by watching a lot of
16:18
the better players that use them you'll
16:21
see that a lot of them will live kind of
16:23
on both pickups and they won't really
16:26
change that they'll just mix the pickups
16:30
differently depending on what song
16:31
they're playing or if they're going to
16:33
solo or not and a lot of them will tend
16:36
to kind of back off the bridge pickup on
16:38
their playing rhythm and then they bring
16:40
in more of the bridge pickup when
16:42
they're gonna solo and it's a it's a
16:44
great great sound and yeah definitely
16:48
you know don't just leave everything
16:51
full up and just go back and forth you
16:53
know really really utilize those the
16:56
mixes of tones that are available here
16:58
another thing that I've always been
17:00
tempted to do on one of these is to get
17:03
a phase reversal switch and that's
17:07
because of you know of course Peter
17:08
Green and you know just that that cool
17:12
out of phase sound and it's great
17:14
because you know again because you have
17:16
two volumes and two tone controls you
17:18
can mix the amount of out of phase nests
17:20
and so like on a tele when you put the
17:22
two pickups out of phase I mean you're
17:24
stuck with that weird phased you know
17:27
heavily phased sound that has no base
17:29
and on a Les Paul you can mix that
17:32
amount of out of phase nests and you can
17:35
get some really really great tones and
17:38
you know JD my buddy JD has a push-pull
17:43
pot on his old 62 335 which he calls
17:47
read and you know and he he can flip
17:51
that and get that cool sound
17:54
so yeah and then it's just fun to put
17:57
some put some drive on and a little
18:00
delay and put it on the back pickup and
18:05
[Music]
18:09
[Applause]
18:11
[Music]
18:28
[Music]
18:32
alright well guys I really appreciate
18:35
you watching the show today and I hope
18:39
you will you know get out your Les
18:41
Paul's and you know comment below about
18:44
about your Les Paul or humbucker
18:46
equipped guitar and yeah let's just have
18:49
fun together well thank you so much and
18:52
we'll see you next time
18:53
buh-bye