Loud Goldtop

[01redcobra]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask this question, but here goes:
My '57 Goldtop reissue is noticably louder than all of my other Gibsons. I have a Flying V with Burstbucker Pros, an Explorer with one Burstbucker 3 and one Burstbucker V, and Les Paul Classic with a Burstbucker 3 and a '57 classic plus. They all have their individual sound, but none of these are as loud as my Goldtop. The Goldtop is supposed to have Burstbuckers ( I never pulled them to check, but it has never been apart since I bought it new. What could be making the volume difference?

[NightWinder]

MAybe 500k pots instead of the Gibson 300k's?

[01redcobra]

All the guitars have 500k pots in them. But even then, once the pot is dimed it isn't showing any resistance anyway, right?

[Spence]

Proximity of pickup to strings maybe. Even 1mm difference can make an enormous difference.

[David Schwab]

All the guitars have 500k pots in them. But even then, once the pot is dimed it isn't showing any resistance anyway, right?

It's showing 500K to ground. If you have two pots in parallel it's 250K to ground, and so on.

Is the guitar louder unplugged?

[01redcobra]

No, I can't say that it is louder unplugged. And I have experimented with distance of pickup to string.
It's just louder than any of the other guitars I have excepting my '58 LP Custom, which is about as loud as the reissue Goldtop.

[Possum]

winds...

Is the DC resistance lower than the others? Lower wind pickups often sound louder because treble sounds louder than middy sounding pickups. Maybe also they used alnico 5 instead of 2?

[bob p]

Is the guitar louder unplugged?

that's what i was thinking. do your other guitars have hardrock maple caps?

[01redcobra]

I'm not sure about the DC resistance, but the pickups in the guitar are burstbuckers (as per Gibson) and they should have alnico 2 magnets. I have Burstbucker Pros and BB 5's in the other guitars and they have alnico 5 magnets. So I would think the Goldtop would not be as loud as the others. Guess I'll end up ripping into the Goldtop to investigate further.

[TD_Madden]

checking the resistance doesn't require any dismantling..

just sayin'

[01redcobra]

Actually two other LPs have the maple tops. I ran a side by side again yesterday with my wife listening and she verified the Goldtop is louder. Now I'm not complaining, I just would like to know the reason for the volume difference so if I wanted to, I could make the others the same as the Goldtop.
I'm going to check at the jack in the guitar with a meter and see if I find any difference there.

[bob p]

Actually two other LPs have the maple tops.

WHAT KIND of maple tops? Not all maple tops sound the same. Its not surprising that an R7 with a hardrock maple cap would sound louder than something like an R9 flametop with the same pickups.

[GlennW]

Do all of these guitars have the same size and brand of strings?

[Possum]

maple?

You guys were discussing woods recently and said that flamey maple is more diffused sounding than plain maple. Ever notice that all the famous 59 LP's that made recording history were mostly plain tops?

[David Schwab]

I still say it depends on the flame maple. Hard flamed maple will sound like plain hard maple. Big leaf (soft maple) will sound warmer. The curls are not the grain. They are perpendicular to the grain.

It could also be the mahogany back. I have two basses both made from the same cherry board. One has a zebra top, and one is birdseye maple. The maple bass is louder, and I think it's partly because that piece of cherry is highly figured, so it might be more flexible.

And it could be because of differences in the neck, not the body.