The Gibson Les Paul Electric Guitar Blog

Q:  I have an Epiphone Les Paul. Went from the factory issued 10 strings to Ernie Ball 9s. Now I can’t get the tone correct. I have a Korg tuner and it doesn’t know what string I’m trying to tune, no matter how high and low I tune. This is the first string change I’ve ever done and this is my first guitar. Before I take it to a shop, I want to try to fix the problem. What do I got to do? The relief on the neck looks right, may not need adjustment, maybe it does. There’s no vibrations from the frets. I’m guessing it’s the intonation. But how do I reset those? And how do I know which way to go? Maybe I’m in over my head. Someone help. Thanks!

A:  Okay, make sure the strings are tuned with little slack. so they will be closer to being in tune. if your tuner has an input (it does, i think) you can plug the guitar into the tuner. if it cant recognize the pitch…i already prefer chromatic tuners to let me know what pitch the string is. your problem is… well i dont know much about les pauls setup, but basically when you switch string gauges (going from .10 to .09) you need to loosen the spring tension in the back of the guitar, at least on other common electric guitars. les pauls are made a bit differently, hollow body for a more “classic rock” sound. but it might only be for gibson’s…. your best bet is to not mess with it too much. quarter turns, retuning (strings stretch over time and get out of tune with frequent playing!), but if you really need help, go to your local guitar repair place, and ask them if they can walk you through it. When i needed my Schecter Hellraiser /w Floyd Rose tremelo..well i had a bad fret buzz because i went from drop d to standard all the time. and blah blah blah the guy at my repair shop (parson’s guitars) was nice enough to walk me through it and help me understand what was going on. so just make sure you ask questions when in doubt. all else fails google search your problem. Hope i could help!

Technorati Tags: classic les paul, custom les paul, gibson electric guitar, gibson electric guitars, gibson guitar les paul, gibson les paul, gibson les paul bass, gibson les paul cherry, gibson les paul electric guitar, gibson les paul epiphone, gibson les paul faded, gibson les paul guitars, gibson les paul mahogany, gibson les paul neck, gibson les paul special, gibson les paul standard guitar, gibson les paul studio guitar, left handed les paul, les paul guitars, les paul supreme, signature les paul, sunburst les paul, vintage gibson les paul, vintage les paul