How To Make 02' LP Std. Play Like Historic 60RI

[msrecprod]

I have a couple Les Pauls, and just recently I bought a Historic 60RI. The playability of the 60RI is better then my 2002 Standard, my 90' Anniversery. The biggest difference that I notice is the Stainless Steal frets on the 60RI verse the Standard. I was wondering about the things I could do to make the Standard play and sound as good as the Historic 60RI.

 

[msrecprod]

Bump

 

[alderbody]

you could replace the nut, with bone.

Change the pickups. Get a set of WCR pickups.

Replace the electronics with a RS Guitarworks kit.

Finally, get a lightweight tailpiece from RS, allparts or wherever.


Your Standard may sound even better than the RI.

probably, you'll want to do the same to the Historic as many people have already done...

 

[msrecprod]

alderbody,

Is there any big difference between the two in terms of the body. I know the historic has a long tenon. Does that make a huge diffference it the tone?

 

[alderbody]

it should make a difference in sustain, but i cannot be sure how "huge" it would be...

Although it's a wellcome option in those Historics, i think Gibson did it mostly for originality reasons.

In terms of body materials, they shouldn't have any differences.
They both should have mahogany backs with maple (figured, curly, flame or plain...) tops.
And the necks should also be mahogany with rosewood boards.

btw, the Historics might be made of lesser pieces of wood...

 

[msrecprod]

The two guitars are the same weight. What was done differently in the two guitars to have the Historic play so much better then the Standard?

 

[xroads]

I think you need to be more specific when you talk about "better playability" of the RI.
Is sustain better?
Is the sound better?
Is the setup better (trussrod setting, fret leveling, string height, tuning, nut setup, tuning stability etc etc)?
Is the neck angle or shape more comfortable to you?

A close examination might give you the answer....hope this helps!

 

[msrecprod]

The biggest thing that I notice is that the Historic is easier to play. If I'm doing a lead line the strings seem less graby to my fingers, and the bends are much easier. If I'm playing a chordy part, the placement of my fingers to the chord is a lot more fluid. It's kinda like when I first got my PRS and it played better then my LP or Strat. Now I have this Historic and it plays better then all my guitars and I havn't even had it setup yet. The other hing is when I went to buy the guitar I auditioned a couple of other Historics and they played just as well, they all sounded a little different, but they al played really well.

 

[xroads]

I would bring it to a tech to do a setup. Sometimes fret leveling and proper setup can do wonders. If you trust the tech, he can tell you reliably if something is wrong with the setup.

 

[pokey]

Originally posted by msrecprod
The biggest difference that I notice is the Stainless Steal frets on the 60RI verse the Standard

SS frets on historics?