The Les Paul Junior » Les Paul Jr. http://thelespauljr.com Everything you need to know about the Les Paul Jr Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:09:25 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Les Paul and the p90 http://thelespauljr.com/les-paul-and-the-p90 http://thelespauljr.com/les-paul-and-the-p90#comments Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:30:01 +0000 admin http://thelespauljr.com/?p=115 The p90 pickup was first produced in 1946 after production resumed (after World War II).  The p90 is often referred to as the soap bar, dog ear or humbucker casing pickups (as these are the major variations of the casing to p90 pickups) and was the standard for the Les Paul model guitars.  The p90 is known for having a very thick sounding town and has defined Gibson Guitars for many years.  The age old dispute between Fender vs. Gibson ends here.  There isn't a better sounding guitar, but they are uniquely defined by their tone.  Their tone is mainly characterized by the pickup and the p90 and the variations of this pickup are what has made this guitar a timeless instrument.
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The p90 is a single coil pickup.  This gives the sound a brighter and more transparent tone than a humbucker.  If you were to compare this pickup to a fender pickup, you would hear less crispyness or snap to it.  While it does have some single coil twang, it maintains large amounts of midrange and even a bit more low end than Fender guitars.  The most popular guitars that use p90's are the Gibson SG, Gibson Les Paul and the Epiphone Casino.  P90 pickups from the vintage era are all hand-wound, so there is a bit of variation between each pickup cosmetically.

There was also the H90 which is a stacked version of the p90 that apparently doesn't lose some of the classic p90 sound.  One of the issues with the p100 which is another popular variation of this pickup is that it apparently loses a lot of the classic sound (according to it's players).  The H90 is supposed to be rid of that issue and is the standard release for the Billie Joe Armstrong Les Paul Junior guitar.  The H90 also has slightly higher output than the single coil editions.

Just for fun here is a list of some of the more notable players that used a p90 pickup Gibson Guitar:

John Fogerty

David Gilmour

George Harrison

Tony Lommi

Mick Jones

Robby Krieger of The Doors

Bob Marley

Paul McCartney (Ephiphone Casino)

Wes Montgomery

Mike Oldfield

Les Paul

Muddy Waters

Richard Thompson

Pete Townsend

Leslie West

Neil Young

Frank Zappa

Billie Joe Armstrong

George Thorogood

Whatever your story is, I am sure you will find the tone that suits you best.  I think the most notable difference between a Fender and a Gibson is that the Gibson appears to have more body and fullness than a Fender.  Although there is a lot to be said about the feel of a Fender Strat, and the how clearly the tones cut through a mix, there is no doubt more body to a Gibson Guitar.

]]> http://thelespauljr.com/les-paul-and-the-p90/feed 0 Bob Marley & His Les Paul http://thelespauljr.com/bob-marley-his-les-paul http://thelespauljr.com/bob-marley-his-les-paul#comments Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:57:52 +0000 admin http://thelespauljr.com/?p=111 This blog is most commonly searched for information about Bob Marley's Les Paul Jr.  Bob Marley is probably the most legendary guitarist and musician (along side with John Lennon) to ever play a Les Paul Junior.  People probably assume that the Les Paul Jr isn't a full-grown or real guitar by it's name and are surprised that Bob Marley and John Lennon amongst many other guitarists (you can view our post about other guitarists who played this guitar) favored this guitar.
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Here is some information about Bob Marley's guitar:

Bob Marley played a legendary mahogany Gibson Les Paul Special.

Although the guitar is known for it's raw and thick sound,  Marley was one of the first people to play it's clean tones.  He focused on the up strokes rather than the four on the floor rock sound that the guitar is best known for.  The difference between a Les Paul Junior and a Les Paul Special is very minimal.  They came out the same year.  Originally the Les Paul Junior was intended to give entry level guitarists an affordable but nice guitar.  Later that same year the Les Paul Special came out with a second pick-up and was a more versatile model (as far as tone is concerned) but was slightly more expensive.

Many variations of both the Les Paul Jr and the Les Paul Special have come out since then, including many signature series guitars like Billy Joe Armstrong's (from the band Green Day) Custom Les Paul Jr.

Junior Marvin was the lead guitarist for the legendary recordings on Exodus and many other albums recorded with Marley and the Wailers.  He is known for his heart throbbing leads and smooth tones as well.  He too played a Gibson Les Paul Special and recorded Exodus on a TV Yellow Les Paul Special.  TV Yellow was a fairly unique shade of yellow that was made to make guitars look better on black on white TV.  When color TV came out the TV Yellow guitars were still quite popular and almost building a legendary status to them.  Some of the vintage TV yellow guitars sold on Ebay are extremely expensive and sought after.

Junior Marvin and Bob Marley were best known for their smooth tones and upbeats rather than the thick distorted sounds that their Les Paul's are known for.  They are both iconic guitarist and without question the most influential reggae musicians of all time.  Their dedication to their sound and craft, show that the Gibson Les Paul sound is not only one of the thickest rock sounding guitars, but also one of the most versatile guitars ever.

]]> http://thelespauljr.com/bob-marley-his-les-paul/feed 0 Les Paul Junior Buying Guide http://thelespauljr.com/les-paul-junior-buying-guide http://thelespauljr.com/les-paul-junior-buying-guide#comments Sat, 14 Feb 2009 22:33:56 +0000 admin http://thelespauljr.com/?p=105 One of the more common issues with purchasing a guitar, is finding the right one.  Sure, anyone can go down to their local guitar shop, or even the corporate monster Guitar Center and play an assortment of cheap to expensive guitars offered from their product line.  They have been touched by hundreds of hands, mistreated, misplayed and degraded!  But that's not always an issue for some people.  The idea of finding your dream guitar, is finding the right fit.
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The Les Paul Junior was introduced originally to offer an inexpensive guitar to the line, for students or beginning players.  It had one P90 or soap box pickup, which was located near the bridge.  If you are a regular player and have played a guitar using two pickups, you'll know that this is a sort of twangy placement for one pickup.  This gave an edge to players that wanted simplicity and perfection, of Rock and Blues.  In the years to follow, this is exactly what happened.

So how do you know if the Les Paul Junior is the right axe for you?  You might want to dig a little deeper into the setup.  I think the absolutely most appealing thing about the Les Paul Jr is the look.  Having only one pickup gives it an edge.  It's unique in sound and appearance and most importantly to the gigging professional, it was simple.  Unlike traditional Les Paul Guitars there is no blend knob to adjust which of the two pickup to get your sound from.

While we can spend hours and hours digging into what makes the guitar unique and how, we can simply look at the work that has already been done for us by the greats of the Les Paul Jr era.  Here is a small list of some of the famous guitarists that have played this amazing guitar from our resourceful online wikipedia.

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If you are interested in a Les Paul Guitar, then you might want to look into these artists and see if their guitar sound is something that interests you.  One of the more legendary artists on the list would be Bob Marley.  His guitar tone was reggae, not Rock or Blues.  I think it goes to show the versatility of this instrument, despite its single pickup configuration.  John Lennon was known for playing a Les Paul Special as well as a Les Paul Jr and is of course one of the most legendary musicians of all time.  In short, these artists of dedicated their lives to giving you a resource to see if the Les Paul Junior is the appropriate guitar for your taste and playing style.

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