Can you convince me HM improves tone?

[blackie2]

If the body is vibrating it is that many FEWER vibrations that are making it to the pickup. They are heating the body, instead.

Really? Pickups are activated by changes in the electro-magnetic field. Any vibration in the wood is from changes in air pressure and vibrations transferred through the posts not electro-magnetic changes.

 

[LauriPaul]

Although I like Greg's playing I'd never use him as tone reference.. All of his LPs sound alike

 

[horseman]

I bought a HM RDS guitar to see what was about, absolutely love it. Result: I sent to Kim another two. I have 14 guitars, since I got my HM, I don't touch in any other. On top of that, regardless the tone, the reshape they do on the neck is killer, make it so soft and easy to play!!

 

[MiniB]

Also, how about the lacquer on the HM's...does it feel hard and fully cured?

 

[hoss]

Hard as glass, it also collects dings and scratches easily.

 

[David Mccarroll]

Devil's advocate here...youtube clips are 100% worthless for assessing guitar tone.

You are trying to work out whether HM's work improves the tone of a guitar by listening to highly compressed MP3s probably through computer monitors?

Seriously! All I can tell you is that my MH RDS 59RI has been played by most decent players here in Sydney and every one of them has pronounced her "the best feeling and sounding Gibson I have ever played"

Having worked in Sydney's biggest seller of Gibson CS guitars (I believe we sold more CS Gibsons than every other shop in Australia combined!), I played hundreds of 58, 59 and 60 RIs - most were good, some were great, and maybe one in 100 just had that "OMG" thing where the guitar was just utterly phenomenal in every way.

The 59RI that HM rebuilt for me is every bit as good, if not better than the very best of the OMG RIs, and at least for me, with 6100 frets and no nibs, she feels fantastic. Some of it is purely personal judgement, but my feeling is that the combination of harder glue, brazilian fingerboard and a seriously glass hard but thin Nitro finish just gives the guitar an amazing liveliness and spank, and with the big frets, she sustains forever.

So, as someone who actually owns and gigs with one, yes, they do sure sound good, and while the project was seriously expensive, it was worth every cent.

Cheers,

David

 

[abracadaben]

You are trying to work out whether HM's work improves the tone of a guitar by listening to highly compressed MP3s probably through computer monitors?

Seriously! All I can tell you is that my MH RDS 59RI has been played by most decent players here in Sydney and every one of them has pronounced her "the best feeling and sounding Gibson I have ever played"

Having worked in Sydney's biggest seller of Gibson CS guitars (I believe we sold more CS Gibsons than every other shop in Australia combined!), I played hundreds of 58, 59 and 60 RIs - most were good, some were great, and maybe one in 100 just had that "OMG" thing where the guitar was just utterly phenomenal in every way.

The 59RI that HM rebuilt for me is every bit as good, if not better than the very best of the OMG RIs, and at least for me, with 6100 frets and no nibs, she feels fantastic. Some of it is purely personal judgement, but my feeling is that the combination of harder glue, brazilian fingerboard and a seriously glass hard but thin Nitro finish just gives the guitar an amazing liveliness and spank, and with the big frets, she sustains forever.

So, as someone who actually owns and gigs with one, yes, they do sure sound good, and while the project was seriously expensive, it was worth every cent.

Cheers,

David

thanks for the contrib. very cool. Im tempted to HM my pearly

 

[David Mccarroll]

Jamman, ripping Burstbuckers out was the first thing I did with Historics

I have asked this at another thread:
I have an old vintage harness in my parts drawer but never used it. I could put it in my Historic Makeover/Custom Order R8...

If all pots are on 10 (not that I don't use them and roll them back) vintage pots and caps (I have old NOS) can not make a difference in tone, right?

There's nothing wrong with the electronics/parts on a Gibson Historic - they are ...... well, adequate for the purpose....

But - there is much better stuff out there - True Vintage Taper pots, bumble bees, grey tigers, whatevers, Throbak Pickups, Lollar Imperials, you name it - the Duncan Antiquities in my 61 LP/SG wreck sound fantastic. The switch and socket are Switchcraft, and that is as good as it gets in any case (I am pretty sure there have been zero changes to these two components since about 1935).

And, nope, you are wrong about the pots on 10 making no difference to the tone - they are not "flat out" on 10 - a 250K pot will show an output impedance of 250K or so at the jack, a 500K pot will show about 500K - leakage to ground, be it 250K or 500K or 1Meg means a loss ot treble - 250K pots in a Gibson kill some of the "sparkle" and presence, likewise 1Meg pots in a Telecaster render the guitar excruciatingly bright (why, of all guitars, did Fender choose the Tele to put 1Meg pots in????) - it therefore stands to reason that even on 10, the tone caps MUST be acting on your signal, albeit to a very subtle, and to my ears at least, unnoticeable degree, but there.

So, better components, yes, they will make a difference - whether it is for the better is for you to decide. Dave Grohl loves the tone of Dimarzio Super Distortion pickups - they do it for him in his Dans - me, hey, not so much ......

 

[David Mccarroll]

thanks for the contrib. very cool. Im tempted to HM my pearly

My pleasure - at least I am lucky enough to be able to give advice from personal experience.

The only issue with Kim's work is that you will never pick up a modern Gibson ever again without thinking; "what a joke....." at the very least, 99% of modern Gibsons have truly awful fretwork.

Sorry, that's the truth, one of my friends just got a 2013 Perry and, y'know ...... ummm ....... see my earlier comment .......

 

[MiniB]

What would one consider the minimum amount of improvement to make it 'worth it'?

 

[hoss]

What would one consider the minimum amount of improvement to make it 'worth it'?

How much is the tone improvement of a real Burst worth over a Historic?

 

[MiniB]

Can we get a minimum percentage?

How much is the tone improvement of a real Burst worth over a Historic?

Thing is...I think the worst sounding Burst is still probably worth more (at least collector-wise) than the best sounding historic.

 

[hoss]

Thing is...I think the worst sounding Burst is still probably worth more (at least collector-wise) than the best sounding historic.

And will sound $100K worse

 

[MiniB]

Do we know of any admittedly bad sounding Bursts?

 

[hoss]

Do we know of any admittedly bad sounding Bursts?

I haven't played a bad one but I have heard from previous owners that there are plenty out there. One very popular. I am not naming names, though.

 

[jlb32]

Do we know of any admittedly bad sounding Bursts?

How could any of the originals possibly sound amazing without a HM. J/K but some of the comments really crack me up.

 

[7gtop]

whether HM makes one sound better,
which of course ...

I don't see how they could make one sound worse ...

and... It sure looks like they would improve the fiddle

LPC

 

[The Wedge]

I wish Gregor would play something other than elevator music.

 

[The Wedge]

whether HM makes one sound better,
which of course ...

I don't see how they could make one sound worse ...

and... It sure looks like they would improve the fiddle

LPC

He's the Leatherface of the guitar world.