I have a cunning plan but I need some wisdom before I proceed. Actually owning a CE24 has been a bit of Saul on the road to Damascus moment for me, the thing is just perfect for me physically - weight, neck, scale length - the lot. In comparison, my two LPs feel like relics of another time, and not in a good way.
So, I have an LP Special - all mahogany body - with P90s which sounds really good, to me. In the past I've had other LPs, but with maple caps, and P90s and, to me, they didn't sound so good. They felt a bit weedy and thin compared to the LP Special.
Is this just my feeling, or do others feel the same? Clearly, the Gibson R whatever with gold top, maple cap and P90s is a decent guitar but......?
I'm not actually thinking of buying another LP of any sort but I am looking at the satin CE24 Standard PRS which comes with a mahogany body and a set of proper 85/15 pickups. Why? Because I think a set of 85/15s would be perfect in my old CE24 and, since you can't buy them anywhere, buying them with a guitar attached is the only option. And putting a decent set of HB sized P90s into the mahogany bodied CE24 would might produce a very playable and brilliant sounding LP Special substitute.
Or am I quite mad?
Save a cow. Eat a vegetarian.
Comments
I'm sure that someone with knowledge will give a better opinion, I'm just an idiot looking for a village in the grand scheme of things
I think they made the std all mahogany and a maple cap version.
when i get a new Gretsch, it takes me a weekend to dial in the pickups (I’m very familiar with Filtertrons).
A simple pickup adjustment can make a significant improvement in tone
If the P90s are of equal specification, they suffer the traditional Gibson problem of volume imbalance due to greater string excursion above the neck position pickup. The traditional solution of lowering the neck pickup to achieve a volume balance can leave both positions sounding weak.
Where the maple cap might be a factor in all of this is that the unamplified acoustic sound might be brighter than an all-mahogany body - especially one with no carved cap.
The neck pitch angles may also be significant.
Speaking of necks and angles, the PRS CE24, with its screwed-on maple neck, scale length, different pitch angles, vibrato bridge and pickup placements is more likely to amount to an SG or Telecaster substitute than any LP variant. (None of this is to say that it could not be enjoyable to use.)
Since you inclined to try this idea and have humbucker-sized cavities to fill, I suggest Seymour Duncan P-Rails pickups - probably in combination with Triple Shot mounting surrounds. Wiring the whole thing up could prove extremely tricky but the end result would be an highly versatile guitar.
I've had 5 maple topped PRS guitars over the years and ended up selling the lot. I've got a couple of mahogany body PRS S2s now that I prefer to all the maple topped ones I had over the years.
@rlw a CE24 with humbucker sized P90s won't sound like your LP Special. It's a bolt on neck with a different scale length, and as already discussed the maple cap will make a difference. That doesn't mean it will sound bad, but if you are expecting the same sound then you may be disappointed.
I’ve got the LP to sound like that but i think that the bolt on neck will give me a much, dare I say it, more Strat like sound. If it doesn’t work I’ll put my original PRS pickups in it instead.
I also had a PRS McCarty with maple top and P90s. Not even close to the same sound to my ears.
There is no 'H' in Aych, you know that don't you? ~ Wife
Turns out there is an H in Haych! ~ Sporky
Bit of trading feedback here.
PRS utilise a pair Of S. Duncan p/ups in their model - quite powerful as well - something like 12 or 13K on the bridge and can be to 'spikey' for me - I've heard a few with replacement p/ups that are more vintage flavoured and the guitar changes character once again - In short the PRS is a great guitar but sounds better with different pick-ups
P90 with a Gibson scale sounds right (possibly, by dint of appearing first). Increasingly longer scale lengths sound less right. Usable but less juicy.
There is no 'H' in Aych, you know that don't you? ~ Wife
Turns out there is an H in Haych! ~ Sporky
Bit of trading feedback here.