Weak Sounding Les Paul - Is Something Wrong?

gubble

I've a 2016 Gibson Les Paul Studio Faded - which i believe is equipped with Burstbuckers.

Recently I've felt it's sounded rather weak and brittle. When compared to my Vintage V100 it sounds thin and weedy like it's not giving full output.

I gigged it on saturday and ended up changing over to a strat which sounded much fatter and more powerful - not what I should be thinking when comparing these two guitars.

Everything on the les paul seems to be working well otherwise - does anyone have any suggestions as to what this could be?

Thanks in advance

ICBM

Definitely something wrong there.

Does it affect both pickups? If so it can only be the switch, jack or the connection between them. If it’s one with the PCB in the control cavity I would suspect one of the jumper connectors or a solder joint on the board.

gubble

it does affect both pickups yes.

I've remembered i've had another issue whereby when i plugged it in it wouldn't make any sound and i had to toggle the selector switch a few times to make it work - awesome quality on a 2 year old USA built guitar there.........

ICBM

gubble said:

it does affect both pickups yes.

I've remembered i've had another issue whereby when i plugged it in it wouldn't make any sound and i had to toggle the selector switch a few times to make it work - awesome quality on a 2 year old USA built guitar there.........

If there's been a previous problem with the switch I would look there first - if it affects both pickups equally it must be the solder connection on the output, where there are two terminals connected together. Check the jack too, although it's less likely.

If it's not that and it does have the PCB, it could a microscopic bad connection that the vibration from flipping the switch would 'cure' - sometimes these things can be amazingly sensitive. If it's a fault on the PCB, probably the easiest and best solution is just to remove the whole thing and fit a traditional loom - the PCB is a solution looking for a problem, or more accurately a problem looking for a problem.

gubble

Thank You - i'll take a look at that.
I've literally no idea why gibson fit the PCB boards in the guitars it really is madness

SteveRobinson

ICBM said:

 the PCB is a solution looking for a problem, or more accurately a problem looking for a problem.

I think the PCB is purely a cost-cutting measure. The whole unit can be made off-site and plugged in by relatively unskilled employees, no need for soldering each guitar which is time-consuming.

sweepy

If there is conductive paint in the cavity, check that the switch isn't shorting out. One old faithful precaution is to use an old cardboard toilet roll  as an insulator 

ICBM

sweepy said:

If there is conductive paint in the cavity, check that the switch isn't shorting out. One old faithful precaution is to use an old cardboard toilet roll  as an insulator 

Worth checking, but unlikely because the symptom of a short is a quiet muddy tone rather than a quiet thin one. A quiet thin tone means there's an open circuit with the signal being passed by capacitance somewhere - it's most common in pickups if there's a break at the ground end of the coil.

crunchman

SteveRobinson said:

ICBM said:

 the PCB is a solution looking for a problem, or more accurately a problem looking for a problem.

I think the PCB is purely a cost-cutting measure. The whole unit can be made off-site and plugged in by relatively unskilled employees, no need for soldering each guitar which is time-consuming.

Or not soldering each guitar.  I had an ES339 where the wires were wrapped around the lugs of one of the volume pots but not soldered.  After a few months, it started cutting out intermittently until the problem was diagnosed.

Gibson pickup selector switches can be a bit of a problem.  I had to replace the one on my ES Les Paul when it was only a few months old.

SteveRobinson

crunchman said:

SteveRobinson said:

I think the PCB is purely a cost-cutting measure. The whole unit can be made off-site and plugged in by relatively unskilled employees, no need for soldering each guitar which is time-consuming.

Or not soldering each guitar.  I had an ES339 where the wires were wrapped around the lugs of one of the volume pots but not soldered.  After a few months, it started cutting out intermittently until the problem was diagnosed.

I've seen that on several guitars. One decades old and not soldered!