Stephens Design Pickups Santucci LP Replica demo + Extras.

[@johnmirabile3535]

WHOEVER IS IN TO 50'S GIBSONS, PAFS, ETC! THIS MAN IS A GENIOUS! AS FAR AS I HAVE SEARCHED THE WEB, BOOKS, PAFS, VINTAGE GEAR, THIS IS THE UNSUNG HERO OF THAT WORLD! BAR NONE!

[@SDPickups]

As always, John, thank you.

[@johnmirabile3535]

@@SDPickups THE TRUTH IS THE TRUTH, ITS WELL DESERVED.....

[@rik3382]

Dave, thank you for all you do. Gibson will never make a les paul that sounds as good as you'r does. Those are best sounding PAF ever. Thank you, thank you for all you do.

[@SDPickups]

Thanks, glad you're enjoying and understanding what I do.

[@cliveburgess4128]

Always a pleasure Dave! Thanks, Clive.

[@johnmirabile3535]

GETS BETTER EVERY TIME!

[@MrHongkongleo]

I watched several videos now and I'm surprised there aren't more people watching that stuff. Also the quality of the videos is impressive in every way. I have a question: which currently available new or used (up to 20 years old) single cutaway LP style guitars would you see as worthy instruments to be transformed with the different upgrades that you showed to get closer to a vintage tone?

[@SDPickups]

Its probably because I don't use click bait titles for my videos. I really hate it when KZbin channels have to use absurd titles that have nothing to do with the actual content of the video, to get you to click on their waste of time video. Its dishonest and dumb. Pretty much ANY Les Paul would vastly benefit from the changes I recommend in the video series, "THE LES PAUL THAT ISN'T." Before I did the deep dives into harnesses, hardware and of course my replica PAF's, I couldn't afford an expensive Gibson, so my first demo guitar was a cheap Chinese Epiphone. It had a veneer top, cheap junk Nasheville bridge, but was easy to play, it was my first test guitar, and simply replacing the harness in it turned it into a great sounding guitar. But Epi's are metric guitars so most of the hardware isn't available in metric sizes, much less than close to vintage materials. My next test Les Paul was a JAPANESE Epiphone Les Paul that Gibson had made around the 2002's. These have real Brazilian fretboards, real maple tops without veneer, real mahogany backs, Grover tuners, long tenon neck joints for amazing sustain, real abalone fret markers, and all weigh 8 pounds. They were so good that Gibson stopped having them made because they were higher quality than Gibsons. I ended up buying 6 of them for pretty cheap because nobody knew about them. They are also metric, but I learned to how make the metric parts on my metals lathe and mill. So it doesn't really matter a whole lot who made the guitar as long as it acoustically sounds great and has the right woods, hopefully with real maple tops and mahogany backs. The only Gibson I have is a 2014 Classic, back when they correctly used real ABR1 bridges, with posts directly into wood and no cheap anchors like they are using on most everything now. I hated the Classic when I got it. I upgraded everything on it like in the video series and it just sounded on the harsh side of things. Finally I put the Four Uncles bridge on it, made a prototype bridge PAF replica for it from a new wire source, and now its very good sounding and playable. It doesn't have a long tenon neck joint, some really strange neck joint I can't identify and nobody seems to know what it is, but it has decent sustain for some weird reason. Just buy something you can afford, don't go by "looks," get something older thats cheaper and you won't cry if it gets a ding in it, LOL.

[@jorispiteraerents6226]

Awesome , I love my Belden '55 NOS vintage wire pu's . Thumbs up Dave !

[@SDPickups]

Thanks Joris!

[@DDWyss]

I'm so thrilled to hear you are writing a book! Nobody does research like you do. The world needs a record of your knowledge and wisdom! There are no better sound samples than what I find here! Now all we need to do is clone Dave so he can write his book and make that many more of the best PAF pickups ever! Thanks, Dave! Keep spreading the gospel of SD Pickups!

[@SDPickups]

Thanks. I do wish I could clone myself and make "Dave.2" work his butt off for me, LOL. thanks for the comments!

[@patchesthejaybird8431]

@@SDPickups Sorry Dave, there can only be one!

[@martinpark8371]

Good to hear from you again Dave as usual sounds amazing!

[@SDPickups]

THANK YOU!

[@kasimirokaz3775]

Glad to see you again. Always enjoy the content.

[@SDPickups]

Thanks, Kaz.

[@royalmountguitars6081]

Wonderful guitar and great pickups!

[@lanetacker1496]

Man it sounds just like a vintage les paul! The possum burst is a beast congratulations on finding and putting together the ultimate les paul also great playing!

[@SDPickups]

Thanks. Yeah the Santucci Les Paul copied everything about the vintage ones, I did the hardware and harness and the Belden vintage wire PAF replicas. Plus our Four Uncles Restorations ABR1 replica which nails the old bridges 100%. The results are light years beyond anything Gibson made after 1960. Gibson has made it very clear they are incapable of making a Les Paul like the originals. They are a hardcore corporation, and their bottom line isn't accuracy, but MONEY. I see players defending Gibson, but they have never played anything but mass production Gibson Les Pauls that are so cold and lifeless sounding. You CAN upgrade parts, harness, and pickups, but they will still sound flat and harsh. I have a Gibson Classic, really beautiful guitar, but a heart of ice, nothing I did for helped much at all.

[@lanetacker1496]

Yeah I completely agree I have watched all the les paul that isn't videos and upgraded everything in my les paul and I have your amazing SD 59 pickups and your harness in my 59 replica and it's outstanding much better than anything gibson is making and my replica is built out of proper pre ban woods thanks too you I finally have a les paul that feels and sounds like an original and I've played some orginals and your pickups are the best and most accurate they are exactly like orginal PAFs the other pickup company's are not even close to the amazing work you do

[@samhyans5403]

Thank you for going to the lengths for us who want true historic accuracy

[@SDPickups]

Sadly there are very few of us. The truth is that your average guitar player thinks that all Les Pauls are just guitars and anything Gibson makes must be the best, when the truth is that theirs are probably the worst out there. Japanese Les Pauls are so much better, my Japanese made Elitists all sound natively better than any of the Gibsons in my shop, and doing the upgrades on them only makes them superior. The one replica I had made by Santucci, hands down is the most authentic and best sounding LP I've ever played.

[@samhyans5403]

@@SDPickups Macmull made 1 Les Paul which I bought of the original owner. They source vintage wood and it’s one of the best Les Paul’s out there, the tail piece is made in Japan oddly enough, it sounds incredible

[@SDPickups]

@@samhyans5403 Those Japanese tailpieces weigh a ton and are nothing like originals. I have one stamped "Japan" on the bottom and its like a boat anchor ;-) Watch my four part video series "The Les Paul That Isn't" to see comparisons between original light weight aluminum tailpieces and the modern ones, plus ALL the vintage hardware vs modern. Then watch my Four Uncles Restorations ABR1 bridge replica that we spent two years perfecting, after destroying a real vintage ABR1 to get the exact alloy content for the zinc and brass parts, that sounds identical to the vintage ones. Those old bridges were a big part of vintage LP sound.

[@samhyans5403]

@@SDPickups the one I have on my guitar is the lightest tail piece I’ve ever seen, it weights less than a cigarette

[@SDPickups]

@@samhyans5403 Which proves its completely wrong. Probably its hollow. Originals were not hallow.

[@lovesgibson]

Wow, that is the real original Les Paul burst sound! You definitely should write a book

[@SDPickups]

I'm working on it actively, won't be long before its done.

[@darrellminx5459]

You are The man. That spell M A child no N I said Manish Boy. Your pickups are very special!!!!

[@SDPickups]

Thanks Darrell

[@johnmirabile3535]

WHAT A GUITAR, I ENDED UP WITH THE CUSTOM TELE AND ITS AMAZING..,....I DIDNT WANT TO WAIT THE 9 MONTHS FOR HIM TO BUILD IT.........BUT I SHOULDVE.....GONNA ORDER ONE SOON....

[@SDPickups]

It was longer than that for me. I have an LP Special coming from him this month I waited for over a year. He's getting more known and his prices will go up and his wait time will go way up I'm sure.

[@philipsanders9192]

Hello.Your pick ups are amazzzzing!!... But your guitar touch is a beautiful thing. Touch is very important part of giving those pick ups soul. Thank you. Peace to the world.

[@SDPickups]

Thanks. Yeah, TOUCH is so very important. My weak point is my vibrato, ten gauge strings are a little stiff for me to get that great vibrato of the heroes I like, but I do try. 9 gauge strings don't quite do it for me, guess being old makes my hands probably a little weaker. YES, PEACE TO THE WORLD!

[@hardrockerdave94]

@@SDPickups Don’t know what brand strings you’re currently using but Ernie Ball make a hybrid set of 9.5 - 46, might be worth a look! Great video too!

[@johnmirabile3535]

HIP HIP HOORAYYYYYY! I WANT THE 1ST SIGNED COPY!

[@SDPickups]

Its probably going to be a Kindle book, not printed, but I think Kindle can print paper books too, have to check that out.

[@TheAmphibic]

Okay, starting to get it now. I somehow missed it first time around. Congratulations on your marvellous achievements. The sound is epic. I’m mainly a Strat player but into any pickup that creates a fab sound. Some people have stories of talking to old Seth. In my case it’s stories about talking to old Bill Willy Lawrence Stich. I digress. I’ll have a look around to see if there are any old cool pickups kicking about you might like to check over … ;) Peace man, I’m impressed.

[@SDPickups]

I read all Seth's interviews and also Bill Lawrence. Unfortunately, Bill designed some pickups that doomed the guitars they were in. The Gibson Marauder being one of the worst. I collected Marauders back in the 90's. Great guitars but the pickups were incredibly weak and only were useable if you used pedals. Then the S1 and S3 guitars had the same problems, very weak pickups. Then the tarback pickups if they died you couldn't repair them. His best were probably his noiseless Strat pickups. Coco Montoya used those. But, I find noiseless Strat pickup have too many missing frequencies from hum cancellation. One of my clients in the 80's was EMG, their Strat pickups, too were great, but I removed them and went back to noisy Strat pickups because of their richness sound and great spank. Duncan tried to get Seth to tell him why old PAF's sounded so great, Seth didn't have a clue why, he simply used materials from Gibson's supply shack, that he called "soft iron." Soft iron is not a technical term of any steel alloys, Duncan never figured it out, and "steel" is not the secret of their tones at all, it was a LOT of things that made that sound, and all of that was due to materials of those times.

[@TheAmphibic]

@@SDPickups seen from my more limited experience and knowledge it seems to me that you are spot on again!

[@paulzytsel3557]

LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR BOOK.

[@roberthyatt5391]

Good to see you, Dave. Hope you had a good summer. Got my 4 Uncles bridge and your Corona wire pickups (and harness) installed in my R0 and can't put guitar down. Great sounds as always and f*ck the trolls.

[@SDPickups]

Awesome, thanks for letting me know. Pretty good summer, have gotten a lot of bike riding in, so am in good shape for now, at least until the damn rain starts and continues for 6 months ;-) We really need the rain right now, everything is dying for lack of water.

[@patchesthejaybird8431]

@@SDPickups Aaaaarrrgg! You could have some of our rain if I could send it. Sadly I have not the power. I was riding my bike quite a bit, then in July until now it has been non stop rain. I keep hoping we get cold and snow soon so it will stop. Then I can ride my fat bike with studded tires without the mud and slop and constant bike and chain maintenance. Nice to hear you are also a fellow cyclist.

[@lovesgibson]

I looked a little into Davide Santucci but couldn’t find too much info about the guitars. Do you have any further indepth information? Like, is he using old Gibson building plans? What kinds of woods is he using? What type of nitro does he use? Is it similar to the original nitro that gibson used? I’ve heard that the original Les Paul’s had a specific type of carve that for a long time Gibson stopped doing, does Davide’s LPs have that correct top carve? Do you know if the hardware and electronics that he uses on his LPs are very good? Or would they have to be replaced with the ones you have for that correct sound?

[@SDPickups]

Wow, alot of questions. The wood he uses is sourced from a guy I know who supplies the few replica builders out there, thats all I really know except its the standard mahogany back and maple top. I just read the other day that vintage woods are warmer than fresh new woods that are very HEAVY and very BRIGHT. The Santucci is 8 pounds 14 ounces and has a warmth none of any Gibsons have. The top carve of those days was done by an automatic machine using a wooden form that it runs over and copies the form. But being wood, the forms would wear out and I think there were 2 or 3 carves that weren't identical. After the carving is done pretty sure they were finished using a real long belt sander that works fast. So, there isn't one "correct" top carve at all. His top carve looks real nice. I don't know what harness and hardware he uses. I traded my PAF replics, several different models for the guitar. I requested a baseball bat neck, because I find those are real comfortable and easier to play for me. Plus I once played a 50's LP Special that had that kind of neck on it.It also has real Braziian fret board, which I am used to on all my Elitist Les Pauls, amazing guitars. So I got it without hardware, harness or pickups and did all that stuff myself. The pickups in it are my vintage wire Belden Set, and they perfectly suit the guitar. The guitar sustains really really well, and the Four Uncles Restorations ABR1 replica I did the reverse engineering on, adds another level of vintage sound. Yes, he uses the real nitro thats rock hard as the originals did. NOT the plasticized stuff Gibson uses now that smothers the sound. Davide is Italian and stays under the radar pretty much, so you have to contact him on Facebook to talk to him. Hope this answers your questions.

[@bloodredsky24]

Always enjoy your videos Dave! Looking forward to your book!

[@SDPickups]

Thanks. Need to do more work on it this weekend....

[@georgedez3474]

I want a set like that. 👍

[@SDPickups]

I have enough of that wire to last another year or so. These are my highest priced PAF replicas and once the wire is gone, these sets are gone forever.

[@georgedez3474]

@@SDPickups please let me know how to contact you.

[@SDPickups]

@@georgedez3474 At the end of every video my email address is shown. These are priced at $2650 and have about a 9 month delivery time. My regular sets are a two year wait time.

[@davestephens8033]

@@georgedez3474 My email address is at the end of every video in the past couple of years.

[@joshuajkoplin]

Hey Dave! Remember me from Barkley’s tavern in Phoenix??

[@SDPickups]

Of course I remember you! Didn't you move to Portland and worked in a machine shop?

[@joshuajkoplin]

@@SDPickups Yep! Hey man! How are you? Still doing your deal 20 years later. I sent you an email.

[@PetervDorst]

I have a replica made by the same guy who is one of the 4 uncles! Of course with 4u abr. Any recommendations for an after market stop tail piece?

[@SDPickups]

Go watch my series "The Les Paul That Isn't," the Klusons are what I use and what Gibson is using. There just aren't any accurate replica tailpieces being made yet. Four Uncles is talking about doing that but it will take some time. It took two years for us to do the ABR1 replica, but the tailpiece is alot less complex piece of hardware.

[@bigbpar72]

Thanks for the video, I know a lot of time goes into them. Ive sent some emails your way but have not gotten anything back. Trying to get an update as to where I stand in the wait list for the PAF replica set, HD PAF replica cover and Harness I ordered in Mar 2021. Whats the best way to get in touch?

[@SDPickups]

Send me another emails to the address at the end of the video. I'll keep an eye out for it. For some reason Comcast blocks some emails. But I am also behind in answering emails, I just get too many and I color code them to answer later and sometimes forget to do that. All the orders are behind, its just too much work to keep up with, but your order is logged and recorded and you'll be notified when it comes up for building.

[@bigbpar72]

@@SDPickups Thanks, I just sent the email over

[@bigbpar72]

@@SDPickups I sent another email a few days ago. Hope you got it. From Brandon

[@bigbpar72]

Thanks again Dave for all you do

[@madbadoberan]

You are awesome. Love you❤.

[@SDPickups]

Thank you much! ❤❤❤❤

[@MM6900]

Love you Dave

[@lynxtone6473]

I want to order Belden wire again . How to contact? Thanks ❤

[@SDPickups]

Got your email and wrote you back, might have a set for you, but won't know until tomorrow.

[@maderasymaterialesmagdalen5771]

@@SDPickups ESE SOY YO, GRACIAS HE RECIBIDO TU CORREO, ESPERO TU CONFIRMACION SALUDOS

[@SDPickups]

The original buyer paid on friday, so that set is gone. Email me again, its hard to know who is who because KZbin names and email names aren't the same. I am putting people who want this set on an email notify list, there will be more sets coming soon, but I have to keep grinding away to build the old list sets, of which there are too many, so things are going slow as usual.

[@maderasymaterialesmagdalen5771]

@@SDPickups TE E ENVIADO UN PAR DE CORREOS ELECTRONICOS Y AUN NO HE RCIBIDO RESUESTA, QUEDO EN ESPERA , QUIERO UN SET BELDEN 55

[@johnmirabile3535]

PAL, HAD TO WATCH THIS AGAIN, SOOOOO AMAZING, SOUNDS LIKE MY TELE, BESIDES YOURS EVERY PAF SET I HAVE DOES THIS STRANGE WOLFY THING ON THE BRIDGE AT THE HIGHER END, WTF IS THAT? CANT WAIT TO BUY A SET....I SHOWED TODD, HE GOES HOW COME YOURS DONT SOUND LIKE THAT? I WANTED TO KILL HIM, BUT I WAS PLAYING THE SG WITH SOME WANNABE PAFS IN IT, EVEN SO, THERE BETTER THEN THE 60'S I HAVE YOULL SEE WHEN I SEND THEM TO YOU...YOUR A MASTER BUDDY!

[@johnmirabile3535]

I NEVER UNDESTOOD THE TELE ON STEROIDS THING TILL I HEARD YOURS ANY WINDER I EVER BOUGHT A SET FROM CLAIMING TO HAVE THAT QUALITY? THEY WERE THE WORST BRIDGE PICKUPS, NOW ANYTIME I HEAR THAT FROM A BRAND? I KNOW IT MEANS THE BRIDGE IS GONNA BE A SKREACHER, SHRILL AND NO WARMTH, EVERY BRIDGE PICKUP I EVER HEARD OF YOURS, HAS WARMTH, THATS THE MAGIC TO ME

[@SDPickups]

The wolfy thing is on purpose, its one thing I learned from vintage magnet wire, and its secrecy protected :-)

[@Superchixxx]

Sounds great Dave! What type of stings do you use? Pure Nickel? Also, which thumbwheels and posts are you using (in general, not this specific guitar)? Thanks

[@SDPickups]

I tried the NYXL strings recently couple months ago, so thats what these are but they are due to be changed. I do like the Pure Nickel Pure Blues from DR too. Philadelphia luthiery has the bridge posts and wheels in brass. Nobody seems to have them in metric threading though, in cause you're not play a Gibson.

[@Superchixxx]

@@SDPickups thanks Dave, appreciate it. I have Four Uncles bridges on my Les Pauls & opted for the Philadelphia Luthiery posts wheels, but recently changed them for Royal Mount. Sound really good too. Thanks for the string tip! Cheers

[@patchesthejaybird8431]

Good to see you, and see what your up to these strange days. Once again, your pickups just sound righteous! That Les Paul replica just sounds so right! It looks right too. By the way, I'm building myself a one off sapelle les paul special/tele hybrid. So its p90s I'll be winding for myself next. Trolls and bashers are lame, and they just lurk waiting. I come by your channel because the positive vibe of your mad science is a bit contagious. I'll never do what you do, but that's not the point. Take care, and have a good one Dave! By the way, have you noticed how expensive plain enamel is lately??? Gah! That alone will limit how many more pickups I will likely wind in the future. 😲 Happy Halloween! ☠️👻👽👺👹👿😱

[@SDPickups]

I have a lot of stock of PE so haven't bought any for awhile. Its always been expensive, I just buy the five pound rolls. Sounds like a fun build for your guitar. I flunked wood working in. high school, so I'd totally suck at building guitars, LOL, thanks for the comments.

[@murrayguitarpickups9545]

I get what you mean about these people that just want to argue. I had a guy comment on one of my videos that the Epiphone Alnico pro is exactly the same as a vintage PAF and I wouldn't know because I cant afford a real PAF. I just said well, you're pickups must sound amazing, let's hear them

[@SDPickups]

Yeah, there's fake "experts" out there for sure. But the ones who post insults and misinformation I can do without, so I screen all comments now.

[@murrayguitarpickups9545]

@@SDPickups I will be ordering that book for sure!

[@johnmirabile3535]

@@SDPickups THERES JUST MISERABLE, JEALOUS, SAD PEOPLE, OUT THERE, ESPECIALLY NOWADAYS! ITS A SHAME, IF YOUR A GEAR HEAD, AND LOVE PAFS, AND ANYTHING VINTAGE GIBSON? DAVE SHOULD BE PUT ON A PEDISTULE...AND THEY COULDNT BE DEROGATORY TO A NICER GUY.....ILL GET EM' FOR YOU DAVE LOL....GODBLESS, CANT WAIT TO READ THAT BOOK...

[@guyroger4131]

Hey man. Sounds good. You want to sell that guitar. Let me know.

[@SDPickups]

Won't ever sell this one, until I'm dead. I have another Santucci Les Paul Special coming in a few weeks. A replica of one I played in 1968 that just burned a hole in my heart. Can't wait!!!

[@rustymohican8280]

If you need any help with the book, I am an award winning editor for technical documentation and training. I would be honored to help.

[@SDPickups]

Wow, thanks. Do you know how to format writing for Kindle publication? I can't afford to have books printed, so Kindle is about my only option, that or selling PDF copies, but then people would be posting illegal copies online and among themselves. I don't want to make this a literary masterpiece, and mostly its all stream of consciousness writing as I remember things and put them down. You'd probably want to kill me after a week ;-) I'm on a Mac too, and most Kindle friendly apps for designing pages are PC only. Am just writing eveything down in text edit, and not formatting any photos as of yet. My email address is at the end of the video if you want to touch base with me. Thanks.

[@rustymohican8280]

@@SDPickups Don't worry - For over 30 years I have been given piles of engineer's notes from which I have written books. I come from a long line of engineers and inventors so I can translate genius engineer to english (and other languages). I can use Kindle Create or Microsoft Word to format the book. The easiest way to organize the book is to take your ideas and create a table of contents. You will be surprised at how easily you will see everything, and then you can reorganize it until you like the way it fits together. Right now you just need to make a list of all of the main subjects you want to cover. Start with an overview of your background and how you got interested in guitar pickups. Everything else should flow from there.

[@rustymohican8280]

@@SDPickups I sent you an email.

[@dezionlion]

Youd also be dumb not to share

[@SDPickups]

In THIS book, I only share things that will not teach others how to make what I make. The things I have learned and the processes I invented to recreate vintage PAF tones are MANY and will not be made public until I die. And it consists of things totally unknown out there in the world. I DID write it all of that down in a long little book that will be sold once I am gone. Most people who buy that book will never do the same amount of work I do just to make one PAF replica set. Its a LOT of hard work. There are no simple ways to do what I am doing, and most "winders" only want things as easy as possible. So, they just buy kit parts, wind them (mostly HAND winding which is the worst thing one can do), put in a magnet and call it done. This is why my customers who have tried many "booteek" humbuckers tell me they all sound alike; its because they all use commercial parts anyone can buy, but none of that stuff is whats found in vintage PAF's. BUT this book I am writing now, has no real secrets in it, but most of it is also not known by anyone.

[@patchesthejaybird8431]

@@SDPickups Yep, that's why I wind my own booteek pickups from off the shelf parts, so I don't have to pay booteek prices for off the shelf parts. I did build my own machine winder and mechanical traverse. I just don't have all of those other amazing skills like you have mastered! Machining, and the metallurgy and all that is beyond my experience. I love that video showing you machine your own parts. You remind me of the dwarves in Norse mythology but winding magic pickups instead of spears and magic helmets.

[@SDPickups]

@@patchesthejaybird8431 Well, there's no magic about what I do. Its all about physics and the fact that all metals and wire from the PAF era are not the same as now, there's no match for any of those old materials. The old materials after years of learning exactly what all of it really IS, taught me why old PAF's sound the way they do, so all that knowledge drove me to do a zillion experiments to see how much of those old sounds could be recaptured with modern materials using the results of those experiments. It took years and years for it to all make sense. But yeah, I have a 50 pound bag of "Voodoo Dust" I don't talk about, LOL.

[@patchesthejaybird8431]

@@SDPickups Science, not understood, seems like magic. Anyway, the materials used in years past surely produce the vintage character of PAF. Also, it seems that differences in wood, hardware and construction have a similar effect on the sound of vintage Les Paul's when strummed acoustically. I have a 71, or early 72 LP Deluxe, and the neck on it has a perfect carve. It must have been hand carved by one of the o!d masters. My favorite neck profile on any guitar I have owned. Its neither slim tapered, nor the chunky round feel they call a 50's profile today. It lies in between, full, but streamlined with just a hint of vee. With all that's known about guitars today, why can't gibson get it even close? I guess they don't really care.

[@SDPickups]

@@patchesthejaybird8431 I bought an LP Deluxe brand new in about 1970. I hated that guitar, it was plywood and tinny underwound minibuckers. I put Gibson buckers in it and they sounded dull and lifeless. Quickly got rid of it. There were a very few LP deluxes built on old bodies I think before the plywood sandwich stuff. I played on of those that had been badly converted and it was pretty decent. I restored the harness and better hardware and then it sounded great. Those McCarty era Gibson's were the worst in my opinion, I also bought an SG around '72, just lifeless and tinny sounding. Watch my video series "The Les Paul That Isn't" it shows all the vintage hardware and hanresses from real vintage parts and how Gibson doesn't use anything similar for decades, and. how to change that stuff for much better tones.