The Billy Gibbons Les Paul Mod

[pri0531]

I read in a recent guitar mag that Billy has the tops of his Les Pauls and the fretboard taken off so they can scoop out wood from the body and the neck. How much wood I do not know. It of course makes it weigh less, but also gives him some serious tone (i.e. maybe more resonance). After playing an ES 335 I can appreciate the idea (at least for the body aspect). Has anyone else heard this or done this?

Gibbons played with G3 in Houston last year and his tone was HUGE. U could hear him way over Joe, Steve and John. I was fortunate to have aftershow passes and I asked Steve what Gibbons was playing through and he stated the LP straight into one of Joe's Marshalls.

Out,
GP

[darren wilson]

Hm. Hollowed-out neck? Sounds tricky, because you'd have to be certain to leave enough wood in there to hold the truss rod in place and to prevent the neck from curling up like a pretzel.

Don't forget... most tone comes from the fingers. My guess is that if Billy Gibbons used Satch's Pearly, he's still sound huge... and like Billy Gibbons.

[pri0531]

Yeah, I was thinking that it was all in his fingers. But little mod here and there does help out a bit. It would definitely be major surgery to scoop the neck. Who knows what is true? I also heard from what I consider to be a reliable source of information that Gibbons has LPs that have some balsa wood in them. After seeing Billy last year I seriously doubt he could hold a stock LP without falling over.
Out,
GP

[Dead Roman]

remember. billy gibbins also plays a set of size 8 stringds for super low action, this means that his neck would not have to be as strong as a standard guitar neck

[Bozz]

Wouldn't the neck feel less solid if there wasn't as much wood in it?

I don't know if I could plat a hollowed out neck...Couldn't take the extra vibrations.

[darren wilson]

Billy Gibbons plays 8's? You're kidding, right?

[Jimi D]

Gibbons does play .008s... It's a testament to the power of the silly myths we're willing to buy into that nobody believes that when they first hear it, but it's true. Huge tone. Light strings. Go figure...

[pri0531]

Yeah - I have heard that he uses 8s for a very long time. Hard to believe he has that HUGE tone with 8s.
Out,
GP

[Gresh]

ssssshhhhh.....I think I just heard SRV rolling over in his grave

[Dead Roman]

First, Stevie played heavy guaged strings and tuned down mostly because he played hard as hell. Second, Stevies tone had alot to do with the guaged strings he had, heaveysys wont necesarily give you better tone just different tone. Billy Gibons uses 8's mostly because he want hella low action without having to have super light touch. Physics man, satch uses nines for his tone and has super low action but he has to tweak the hell outta his guitars. since the pattern of the vibration of size 8 string is smaller than that of a heavier guaged string you can have really low action without tweaking the fretboard of your guitar all to hell and changing the feel a lil.
This is just the way ive rationalized it. but billy gibbons action is just as low as satch's, billy dosent have to have the light touch satch does though.


P.S. Stevie Ray Vaughan is ONE OF the greatest guitarists that has ever walked this earth.

[dex]

I was under the impression that if you want a VERY low action, you got to get thicker strings.
11's do not vibrate as much as 8's and therefore you can have them set up closer to the frets.
Am I mistaken?

Also if Billy's sound is as huge as that, and he plays with his fingers, his strings must take a lot of abuse and therefore he can not be having them too close to the frets, otherwise they will buzz out every time.

Am I wrong?

[johncowan]

I read the same article....but I didn't recall the reference to hollowing out the neck. I think it said Billy's lifelong friend removed the top of his LP, hollowed out every extra piece of wood possible inside the body and flawlessly replaces the top. I think it also mentioned that he strung the instrument differently to reduce the angle between the stop tail and the bridge.

That's alot of work to get to your tone...one would hope it would make a significant difference. Though there is something to be said about tone being in the fingers....

I'll never forget a guy who was in a band came over and played my Yamaha starter guitar about 10 years ago. I'll be damned if it didn't sound 100 times better than any note I ever played on it. Some people do have those magic hands.

[darren wilson]

Originally Posted by Dex

I was under the impression that if you want a VERY low action, you got to get thicker strings.
11's do not vibrate as much as 8's and therefore you can have them set up closer to the frets.
Am I mistaken?

Also if Billy's sound is as huge as that, and he plays with his fingers, his strings must take a lot of abuse and therefore he can not be having them too close to the frets, otherwise they will buzz out every time.

Am I wrong?

Yes... you're wrong.

The lighter your strings, the lighter your touch has to be. Lighter strings = lower tension at pitch = more string excursion = greater vibration.

It's a delicate balance, because even though you have greater string excursion, you have less mass, which means less metal flying back and forth above the pickups, and probably less resonance between the strings and the body wood.

I'm guessing that this is where the hollowed-out body comes into play. By removing a great deal of mass from the body, it might encourage more resonance with the lighter strings.

[DLHelfand]

He absolutely claims to have the necks done as well, but then again, I understand that the Reverend Billy G is well known for making up stories regarding his gear.

[Reaper]

ssssshhhhh.....I think I just heard SRV rolling over in his grave

spinning is more like it