Okay - I saw this clipon YouTube and thought it could be interesting to breakdown and discuss (well, that and I just finished a HUGE load of work over the past couple of weeks and can use a mental break ;)).
The clip: a guy from Guitar World magazine trying to sell a new line of DiMarzio PAF replicas. PAF is the nickname given to the first Gibson Humbucking pickups - PAF is short for “patent applied for” since Gibson was patenting some aspect of their design (trivia nit: when they got the patent and began putting the Patent # on stickers on the back of the pickups -well, they used the patent number for a vibrato device they had also patented…:rolleyes:). Anyway, this fella compares and contrasts the new pickups in a newer Les Paul Historic Reissue with original PAFs in an original '59 Gibson sunburst Les Paul - the Stradivarius of electric guitars. That guitar (often referred to as a “'burst”) is worth a few hundred thousand dollars.
NOTE: this thread is NOT going to be about “older/vintage” guitars vs. “new” guitars. There is a lot of debate about whether older/vintage guitars used better wood, aged better and have “mojo” etc. I have played old dogs and new stars - to me, a good guitar is a good guitar regardless of when built. Ah - but I love this video because it shows how a good guitar compares to a GREAT guitar, regardless of how old either is. Since that can be subtle thing and it feels like this video makes it jump out (to me) I thought it would be worth exploring.
So - this is more-than-beginner, train-your-ears kinda stuff. Or, put it another way, this is pretentious cork-sniffing ;). Give it a listen and you can weigh in…
(Geek terminology: the real '59 will be referred to as the '59; the Historic Reissue will be referred to as the “R9” - Reissue of a '59; this is the common shorthand amongst Gibson geeks…)
Okay - watch the video just to take it in, then read this, then watch it again (sorry for being a pain). Here’s a few things I want to point out:
- Playing both unplugged: Wow, just very clear. Two key things to listen for - 1) yes the original '59 is much louder as the guy points out. Okay - cool; I happen to prefer louder unplugged guitars, too. BUT - the loudness is NO indication of how the guitar will sound plugged in. It’s helpful (IMHO) ONLY because, well, it’s louder - so you can hear more of the guitar’s sound without straining and sticking your ear close to the guitar - duh! Far more important is 2) Can you hear how much more harmonically rich the real '59 is vs. the R9?? I mean, it is not even close - and has very little to do with the loudness of either guitar. Can you hear how all the notes come together with more 3-D depth and clarity on the '59? How pinched and bright the R9 sounds in comparison? How you want to let the '59 ring out longer - NOT because it is louder and will sustain longer, but because, well, the notes just sound better all together - something about “the system” of that guitar reinforces some harmonics and dampens others to result in a tone where combos of notes work together in a better way. The R9 sounds like an unplugged solidbody guitar; the '59 sounds like an acoustic being played in a room down the hall. This, my friends, is all the difference in the world when it comes to hearing a truly great guitar.
(by the way, I just saw a video of Paul Reed Smith discussing his guitars, and I heard him say it in a way I think makes the most sense: “The guitar is the singer and the pickup is the microphone.” So true - and the '59 is clearly a better singer.)
Now - let’s take a look at the plugged-in comparisons. The guy compares bridge pickups, then neck pickups, then both. Each has a different key thing to point out.
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Bridge pickups: Jeez, could it be any more clear how the '59 just sounds flat-out better?? Done, end of story, stick a fork in it!! You hear the '59 and automatically think “oooo, Jimmy Page!” whereas with the other one you hear it and think “okay, good classic rock tone, not bad” - subtle, but obvious. Okay, but let’s break that down a bit - listen to both. Can you hear where the R9 has a more compressed tone that is a bit less pleasing to your ears? It sounds a bit more like an angry wasp - the crunch of the tone is much more nasal and in your face - imagine it at high volume; you might wince a bit. Listen to the '59 - there is none of that angry wasp in the tone, nothing about the tone sounds like it would hurt your ears at high volume. As a player, I hear a lot of openness in the space - and I hear a responsiveness that makes me want to play that guitar.
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Neck pickups: honestly? I don’t hear much difference. That’s one of the reasons I like this video - it isn’t just about trashing a new guitar and gushing over a holy grail. In this case, they sound reasonably similar - and that’s cool. The '59 has a bit more “tube-iness” to its sound, I suppose. My one comment is that I don’t think the guy doing the demo spends much time playing in the neck position - when you solo a lot on the neck, you tend to stretch out notes more because you get more interesting stuff happening - think Clapton on Sunshine of Your Love or Santana - this guy’s playing doesn’t bring that out in the notes…
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Both pickups: again, I like this video because there is something interesting to point out. I happen to much prefer the original '59’s tone - richer, fuller, all the good stuff. Seems pretty clear to me. Ah - but really listen to the '59 vs. the R9 - the thing that is missing from the R9 is **The Sizzle™ **- when you hear the '59, you get a little layer, like frosting on a cake, of old-electronics-coursing-with-energy “sizzle.” That, my friends, is the indescribable “something” that many folks look to 'bursts to deliver that sets them apart. “What?!” you say? “So they want their guitar to sound like a old movie gizmo that the mad scientist used to bring the monster to life?!” Well, not exactly - that sizzle is just another layer of tone, but, like with a good tube amp sitting on it’s sweet spot (see here), it is very touch dynamic. When you play notes straight up, you minimize the sizzle - but if you are Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, say, and you “pinch the note” where you pick it and brush the string with your thumb to bring out the harmonics - that sizzle really jumps out. So the sizzle does a great job of “selling”/ making more obvious the variations in your picking style and attack - so they jump out. That means it is that much more responsive to you - as a player that is a great thing.
There is more - but since each of the comparisons (Unplugged, Bridge, Neck and Both) had something different and interesting to point out, I thought I would just share and leave it for now. Again - please note that the R9 is an excellent, well-made guitar. This is like comparing a $100 bottle of recent Cabernet with a $3,000 bottle of '61 Lafite-Rothschild - both are premium, but one is just ridiculous. Now - you may thing the one is ridiculous because of its transcendence, or you may think it’s ridiculous simply because of the price.
What do you think? Does this help?
