Vintage nickel-silver covers were very thin and kept treble loss to a minimum, but later covers – especially thick brass ones – did the upper frequency response no favours. Loose covers can also be a cause of microphonic feedback. In fact, players who removed their covers were probably just hearing a little more treble, because the capacitive effect of the covers caused high-frequency roll-off. It was generally thought at the time that removing the covers made the pickups sound louder. This is one of the earliest mods players performed on their humbucker-equipped Gibsons. Here we see an ‘uncovered’ double black Shed PAF Daddy Use a Stanley knife to cut through the solder, being extremely careful with your fingers and the pickup itself, then lift the cover off. Remove your pickup coversĬovers are usually held in place with two blobs of solder. Some are very costly while others are cheap, and many won’t cost you a thing. So here are 25 of our top tips for modifying Les Pauls. There are easy and affordable ways to customise and expand your range of tones, and players are no longer restricted to conventional control layouts or even P-90- and PAF-style pickups. However, this is one area where Les Paul players need not be bound by ‘vintage correctness’. The vintage ethos drives many of the electrical modifications, too, with circuit reconfigurations, capacitor tweaks and the ubiquitous PAF replica pickups. However, you should be aware that US-made Les Pauls are fitted with hardware that conforms to imperial measurements, whereas those of Far Eastern manufacture – like Epiphones and the various Japanese lawsuit ‘replicas’ – require metric hardware. Nowadays, the range of bridges, tailpieces, tremolos and tuners that will slot right in place is extensive. In the past, many Les Paul players shied away from hardware upgrades because they were reluctant to drill holes in a quality guitar. Broadly speaking, the categories break down into cosmetic changes, electrical modifications, and hardware upgrades. Even if you’re disinclined to undertake woodwork or have at it with a soldering iron, there’s still plenty of scope for modifying, customising and upgrading your Les Paul.

Vintage burny les paul