Top Wrapping on les paul

midlifecrisis

thought id give it a go, as it came on a recent used epiphone 339 i bought, but not having had it the other way id nothing to compare it to.  I thought id try it on my old les paul studio raw power. strings been on a couple of hours and im very pleasantly surprised. I wasnt really expecting to notice much difference but there seems to be. I removed the old strings, screwed the tailpiece right down and restrung. stretched and tuned the strings as usual. My first observation, string bending is easier, 4/5 fret bends are easily obtainable (using 10s). more importantly, the string returns to tuned pitch. in fact tuning seams much more stable.  the guitar feels more resonant but im not sure how much this is due to new strings or me imagining it. wondered what other peoples experiences have been stringing this way.

Philtre

Do the strings scratch the tailpiece?

richardhomer

We do this one A LOT....

bingefeller

I did it a lot of years ago on my old Les Paul Studio Natural, which I bought from Guitar Guitar back in 2011.

The strings did feel a little more floppy, again using 10s.   I would say that if you were using 11s and top wrapping. you could get the same kind of tension as the 10s.   There was something weird about the feel of the strings and tone that I didn't like.  I was under the impression that the overall tone, when playing chords, wasn't as defined.  

Another thing I didn't like is that, on that particular guitar, it damaged the tailpiece as the strings made little indentations on it.  This annoyed me when I went back to normal string configuration.  

I did consider top wrapping on my current 2018 Les Paul Standard, which I got past November from Guitar Guitar.  I would use 11s and also buy another tailpiece so if I wanted to go back to normal configuration I wouldn't have the damage.  

midlifecrisis

Philtre said:

Do the strings scratch the tailpiece?

ive read they do, but as this is a raw power and is naturally relicced through use i dont really care

meltedbuzzbox

A tail piece costs a few quid. Easily replaced for not a lot

jaygtr

The biggest problem for me, is that it looks absolutely hideous. 

Neil

Duane says it's right. 

impmann

The Duane pic just proves that "golden era" Les Pauls have the 'wrong' neck angle too... ;-)

Looks horrible, wrecks the plating on the tailpiece... nope. Not for me.

ICBM

impmann said:

The Duane pic just proves that "golden era" Les Pauls have the 'wrong' neck angle too... ;-)

No, he had them set up for slide.

Gassage

I always found it makes the strings feel 'bouncier' and easier to bend, so always do it.

rico

I've done it for years. Currently playing my LP in Eb with 12's and it feels like playing somewhere between 10's and 11's in concert pitch with no top-wrapping. 

ellwood

I've done it on a couple of mine to see what all the fuss was about. Has helped the tuning stability on one of the old Grecos. Can take it or leave it...

impmann

ICBM said:

impmann said:

The Duane pic just proves that "golden era" Les Pauls have the 'wrong' neck angle too... ;-)

No, he had them set up for slide.

One was.

The other, if you look carefully didn't exactly have a 'bus' action... ;-)

underdog

Top wrapping on a tune o matic looks wrong, once it looks wrong it doesn't matter if it offers any other benefits, it looks wrong so stop it.

p90fool

ICBM said:

impmann said:

The Duane pic just proves that "golden era" Les Pauls have the 'wrong' neck angle too... ;-)

No, he had them set up for slide.

He had no choice