2016 LP Studios

[JDOD]

Looking at getting a backup guitar for my Crimson - finally gave up on the Ibanez last weekend, I just don't enjoy playing it anymore - I've probably not even attached the whammy bar since I was at uni and I can't quickly Drop D it.

I'm going to visit Crimson tomorrow (to get a bit of work done on my Custom) and to check out some of their stock guitars - they've got some stock guitars which seem to be based on my Custom albeit without the neck-through design and lower quality hardware/electronics etc - they start at about 800 quid.

Alternatively, I've been looking at Les Paul Studios:
https://new.andertons.co.uk/p/LPSTU...l-studio-traditional-spec-in-vintage-sunburst
https://new.andertons.co.uk/p/HLPST...dio-faded-hiperf-2016-spec-in-satin-fireburst
They're now under a grand from Andertons.

Firstly, do any of you real LP fans know if these are "proper" LP pickups? or do they stick lower quality hardware/electronics on the Studios?
2nd, 2016 models - I take it these don't have the wide, flat, picket fence fretboards. Is this correct?
3rd, the trad spec and hi perf spec seem really similar. The obvious differences seem to be the Ti nut and smoothed out access heal on the Hi Perf. Also, the Hi Perf seems to have G Force.

Also, I'm looking at a new Custom surfboard at the moment which will fuck all this up anyway.

 

[Greg_L]

Looking at getting a backup guitar for my Crimson - finally gave up on the Ibanez last weekend, I just don't enjoy playing it anymore - I've probably not even attached the whammy bar since I was at uni and I can't quickly Drop D it.

I'm going to visit Crimson tomorrow (to get a bit of work done on my Custom) and to check out some of their stock guitars - they've got some stock guitars which seem to be based on my Custom albeit without the neck-through design and lower quality hardware/electronics etc - they start at about 800 quid.

Alternatively, I've been looking at Les Paul Studios:
https://new.andertons.co.uk/p/LPSTU...l-studio-traditional-spec-in-vintage-sunburst
https://new.andertons.co.uk/p/HLPST...dio-faded-hiperf-2016-spec-in-satin-fireburst
They're now under a grand from Andertons.

Firstly, do any of you real LP fans know if these are "proper" LP pickups? or do they stick lower quality hardware/electronics on the Studios?
2nd, 2016 models - I take it these don't have the wide, flat, picket fence fretboards. Is this correct?
3rd, the trad spec and hi perf spec seem really similar. The obvious differences seem to be the Ti nut and smoothed out access heal on the Hi Perf. Also, the Hi Perf seems to have G Force.

Also, I'm looking at a new Custom surfboard at the moment which will fuck all this up anyway.

Studios usually have all the same pickups and hardware you'll find on higher end Les Pauls. No worries there. Studios are real Les Pauls without any of the fancy stuff....which unfortunately includes fit and finish much of the time. A Studio can be great, or it can leave you wondering how it ever left the factory. You just have to put your hands on one and see.

For 2016, as you can see you have a few options.
The "Traditional Spec" is gonna be built like a standard Les Paul - normal nut, normal neck, normal pots and pickups, just a visually stripped down Les Paul.
Th "HP" is the weirdo. It does have the wide flat neck that everyone hated on the 2015 models. It also has the "zero nut", although now it's made of titanium. The pickups will be hotter, and the tone/vol controls may include push/pull pots for coil splits, phase flipping, and possibly a blower switch. On some models these switches are included on the board in the control cavity, which is goofy in and of itself. The plus to the HP is that it has a shaved heel which a shredder type will love. And of course the robot tuners.

I personally like the shaved heel of the HPs, but everything else about them is goofy IMO. I'd go Traditional spec if it were me.

It's nice to see you coming around and getting away from all those wanky Nickelback guitars.

One more thing...the new pricing on Studios is excessive. Here in the US, you can find a great used better Les Paul for the same price as a new Studio.

 

[JDOD]

Studios usually have all the same pickups and hardware you'll find on higher end Les Pauls. No worries there. Studios are real Les Pauls without any of the fancy stuff....which unfortunately includes fit and finish much of the time. A Studio can be great, or it can leave you wondering how it ever left the factory. You just have to put your hands on one and see.

For 2016, as you can see you have a few options.
The "Traditional Spec" is gonna be built like a standard Les Paul - normal nut, normal neck, normal pots and pickups, just a visually stripped down Les Paul.
Th "HP" is the weirdo. It does have the wide flat neck that everyone hated on the 2015 models. It also has the "zero nut", although now it's made of titanium. The pickups will be hotter, and the tone/vol controls may include push/pull pots for coil splits, phase flipping, and possibly a blower switch. On some models these switches are included on the board in the control cavity, which is goofy in and of itself. The plus to the HP is that it has a shaved heel which a shredder type will love. And of course the robot tuners.

I personally like the shaved heel of the HPs, but everything else about them is goofy IMO. I'd go Traditional spec if it were me.

It's nice to see you coming around and getting away from all those wanky Nickelback guitars.

One more thing...the new pricing on Studios is excessive. Here in the US, you can find a great used better Les Paul for the same price as a new Studio.

Oi!!!... my Crimson is not a wanky Nickelback guitar! I don't like binding and fancy bits on guitars anyway - it makes them look like guitars that people with side parted hair would play.

I don't really care so much about the G-Force - great if they're there, wouldn't give a toss if they're not. I'll still probably press my tuner pedal in between takes when the amp is loud anyway.

Slightly annoying that they have the wider fretboard as I don't get on with these anymore, my Custom has a pretty chunky neck and normal fret-board, I just find the Ibanez irritating now. The other features like the heal (I can't resist an occasional "tasteful" shred) I quite like, don't really care about the nut that much. Coil taps and stuff would be handy as I do like a coil tap. When double tracking at the moment just using my Crimson I tend to coil tap on one of the tracks instead of changing guitars.

My local guitar shop in Bristol normally have a good collection of Gibsons. Hopefully I'll get back from Crimson's workshop tomorrow in time to try them too before I head back to the office.

 

[Greg_L]

Don't overlook SGs if you're interested in a Gibson. They don't need shaved heels because the neck/body joint is at the 19th fret. There is no fret access problem whatsoever on an SG. You can "fret" on the neck pickup if you want to. The rest of it is basically the same stuff as a Les Paul.


On the G-Force, I'm not sure you can just tune them like normal. I've seen some where the tuning pegs just spin in your hand and do nothing if you try it manually. I think there's some bypass procedure you have to go through. I'm not sure though as I avoid those things. They're good if you use alternate tunings a lot and have to change on the fly. They're stupid if you just tune normally.

 

[JDOD]

Don't overlook SGs if you're interested in a Gibson. They don't need shaved heels because the neck/body joint is at the 19th fret. There is no fret access problem whatsoever on an SG. You can "fret" on the neck pickup if you want to. The rest of it is basically the same stuff as a Les Paul.


On the G-Force, I'm not sure you can just tune them like normal. I've seen some where the tuning pegs just spin in your hand and do nothing if you try it manually. I think there's some bypass procedure you have to go through. I'm not sure though as I avoid those things. They're good if you use alternate tunings a lot and have to change on the fly. They're stupid if you just tune normally.

I'm not specifically interested in a Gibson - I just want a "good" guitar with a pair of decent buckers in it which I will actually want to play on and won't just be hanging on the wall waiting for when I need to double track. Gibson's really do seem to fit the bill in that respect and it would be nice to own a real "Gibson". PRS make some guitars that fit the bill too, but I'd have to look for one that doesn't have seagulls on the fretboard or a flamed green and purple cap on it.

EDIT: My old Fender FMT Tele just about fit the bill actually from the point of view of the electronics, features, dimensions etc. Its just that it was only about 500 quid and after getting my custom it really just felt like a cheap guitar and I totally lost interest in playing it... its like when I sold my Merc and got a cheap Citreon when I was buying my latest house. I now take no interest in driving and the French bucket of bolts is full of stinking wetsuit boots, old paper coffee cups, sandwich wrappers, lumps of surfwax. I don't even change out of my wetsuit to drive home in it!

 

[Greg_L]

I'm not specifically interested in a Gibson - I just want a "good" guitar with a pair of decent buckers in it which I will actually want to play on and won't just be hanging on the wall waiting for when I need to double track. Gibson's really do seem to fit the bill in that respect and it would be nice to own a real "Gibson". PRS make some guitars that fit the bill too, but I'd have to look for one that doesn't have seagulls on the fretboard or a flamed green and purple cap on it.

Lol. That's what I hate about PRS. They are the cheesiest looking guitars ever. The fucking birds, man...so lame.

 

[JDOD]

Lol. That's what I hate about PRS. They are the cheesiest looking guitars ever. The fucking birds, man...so lame.

Yeah, if I was gonna get a PRS I would want a double cut (they just look like ugly Gibson clones with a single cut). I'm looking at the 750 to a grand braket and I'm struggling to find one that has dots instead of birds but also doesn't have a trem of some description and a shredders colour scheme. There seem to be a couple of semi-hollows that fit the bill but I'm not sure I want to go down that road.

This one is quite nice:
https://new.andertons.co.uk/p/MHSD0...mi-hollow-electric-guitar-in-vintage-mahogany

 

[Greg_L]

Yeah, if I was gonna get a PRS I would want a double cut (they just look like ugly Gibson clones with a single cut). I'm looking at the 750 to a grand braket and I'm struggling to find one that has dots instead of birds but also doesn't have a trem of some description and a shredders colour scheme. There seem to be a couple of semi-hollows that fit the bill but I'm not sure I want to go down that road.

This one is quite nice:
https://new.andertons.co.uk/p/MHSD0...mi-hollow-electric-guitar-in-vintage-mahogany

PRS is the guitar for the old side-part hair guy. Every classic rock hack cover band in the USA has a rich old white guy playing his PRS at his weekend warrior "rock" mustang sally cover gigs.

That plain maroon with dots isn't too bad though.

 

[JDOD]

PRS is the guitar for the old side-part hair guy. Every classic rock hack cover band in the USA has a rich old white guy playing his PRS at his weekend warrior "rock" mustang sally cover gigs.

That plain maroon with dots isn't too bad though.

Its a semi-hollow which I suppose isn't a bad thing as it will actually be an alternative to my custom as opposed to just something slightly different. I think I would prefer one in seafoam green or acid yellow - something a bit stupid.

 

[JDOD]

Also, I would hazard a guess that PRS's QA/QC is better than Gibson's, so if I couldn't play on the exact one but could get my hands on a similar one from the range I could expect one ordered off the web to be almost identical!

 

[Greg_L]

Probably. PRS are very good guitars. I've never heard one single horror story about them....besides what they look like.

 

[Btyre2013]

if I had a guitar made by Crimson guitars, especially a custom one made by Ben Crowe, I would never touch another guitar again, you are a lucky man! Yes PRS do have a good reputation, even the cheaper ones are pretty good.

 

[JDOD]

if I had a guitar made by Crimson guitars, especially a custom one made by Ben Crowe, I would never touch another guitar again, you are a lucky man! Yes PRS do have a good reputation, even the cheaper ones are pretty good.

Mine isn't made by Ben himself, its made by Chris - who also seems to be really good. I think Ben obviously checks everything that goes out of the door though.

You're right though - it has totally killed any enthusiasm I have for picking up another guitar. I'm looking forward to seeing their stock instruments tomorrow.

 

[ido1957]

Mike has a LP Studio which I played around with last Saturday at his place. I believe it has the same pickups as my Custom 498/490. I find my Custom is louder, the pickups seem "cleaner", much brighter on bridge and bassier on rhythm pickup. I can roll back my Custom volume knob to about 7 before the treble drop becomes apparent. On the Studio, it drops noticeably at 9. I don't care for coil taps as I have a Strat, so I haven't really analyzed them much.

His setup is a little bizarre too - the tailpiece is set about the same (unscrewed about 1/2 inch) but the bridge is really raised on the bass side. The bass side is maybe 3/8 inch higher than the treble side so the bridge tilt is quite apparent. The action is a quite a bit higher than mine, but not excessive and it does allow bending well. If he were to lower the bridge (bass side especially) to level it out, I think the bridge pickup would need to come down to almost flush with the rings.

It has no binding in the nut which I believe was never filed. No pings when tuning and no lube required when changing strings.

It does have issue where the amount of pressure on the strings will affect the intonation of a chord. Once you determine the pressure required you can play any chord without the problem. Initially I tuned the guitar depending on the key - like an open D tunes slightly different than a barred D. I ended up tuning slightly flat or sharp on various strings, so combined with the pressure check, allowed a fairly well "intonated" chord in all formations. This might be a fret leveling issue or nut depth issue but I'm not sure. I usually just get my tech to fix these problems on mine by describing the problem and he just fixes it.

I find my Custom's Richlite fretboard has a much smoother/faster feel than his rosewood board. It's not hard to play, it just feels a little slower/stickier than my Custom. The neck shape is a tiny bit smaller from what I recall. The back of the neck has some kind of poly over wood whereas mine is poly over paint. Both feel the same to me and though not "satin" or light poly like my EC Strat (my preferred feel), they are about the same for feel/speed moving up the neck.

I can't endorse buying a Studio as with all guitars, you need to play them to find one that just feels "right" and sounds the way you like. I think with every guitar I've bought, I've spent at least an hour in the store playing all sorts of songs on it, to see if it can handle a variety of tones/fretting/speed. And I can tell if it is going to tire my fretting hand out too quickly as some neck shapes are too big/too small for my hands. I don't gig now but you're looking for something that you can play all night and with a few pedals get a variety of tones.

 

[Mickster]

Looking at getting a backup guitar for my Crimson - finally gave up on the Ibanez last weekend, I just don't enjoy playing it anymore - I've probably not even attached the whammy bar since I was at uni and I can't quickly Drop D it.

I'm going to visit Crimson tomorrow (to get a bit of work done on my Custom) and to check out some of their stock guitars - they've got some stock guitars which seem to be based on my Custom albeit without the neck-through design and lower quality hardware/electronics etc - they start at about 800 quid.

Alternatively, I've been looking at Les Paul Studios:
https://new.andertons.co.uk/p/LPSTU...l-studio-traditional-spec-in-vintage-sunburst
https://new.andertons.co.uk/p/HLPST...dio-faded-hiperf-2016-spec-in-satin-fireburst
They're now under a grand from Andertons.

Firstly, do any of you real LP fans know if these are "proper" LP pickups? or do they stick lower quality hardware/electronics on the Studios?
2nd, 2016 models - I take it these don't have the wide, flat, picket fence fretboards. Is this correct?
3rd, the trad spec and hi perf spec seem really similar. The obvious differences seem to be the Ti nut and smoothed out access heal on the Hi Perf. Also, the Hi Perf seems to have G Force.

Also, I'm looking at a new Custom surfboard at the moment which will fuck all this up anyway.

What year is your LP Custom? Why look at a Studio if you have that? Just curious.........or probably missing the point I guess.

 

[JDOD]

What year is your LP Custom? Why look at a Studio if you have that? Just curious.........or probably missing the point I guess.

Yeah, you probably are... I don't have an LP custom!

---------- Update ----------

Cheers Ido! Buckets of info as usual. Your ears must be a curse sometimes given the amount you seem to fuck about with intonation.

 

[Greg_L]

His setup is a little bizarre too - the tailpiece is set about the same (unscrewed about 1/2 inch) but the bridge is really raised on the bass side.

I saw this same thing on a $3k Standard a few weeks ago. It was a real piece of shit.

 

[minerman]

Jdude, I took a huge gamble with both my Gibson guitars, buying them both online, un-seen, & un-played. I really lucked out because both of 'em are great IMO. Sound-wise, there isn't much difference between my LP/SG, but the feel is totally different (obviously)...

I recommend what Greg suggested, go try a shit-load of used Gibson guitars, & find a good one for a lot less than a new one...

No experience with any PRS guitars here at all, so I can't say anything about them, except they're expensive...But if you're wanting a Gibson, check out all the used models you can, pawn shops, guitar shops, try 'em all. You might get lucky & find a great guitar at a great price...

 

[JDOD]

So, went down to Crimson today to try a few of their stock guitars.

Crimson are right in the middle of nowhere! They are down this lane:


They did a bit of work on my guitar (which is now even more amazing) while I played a few of their stock instruments through this wall of amps:


Their stock guitars are really nice and reasonably priced, especially when you consider that they're going to be properly set up by a good luthier prior to being sent out. They've got some cool stuff down there too, some really weird guitars - one of the guys was working on a pair of neck-though, 8 string fan frets that were going to have lasers mounted on them!

Don't think I'll go for one though - they were basically just a down-graded version of my custom so I'll have no reason to get it down and play it when my custom is to hand. I want a guitar which is an alternative to my Crimson as well as a backup.

So, I then went to a big store in Bristol to check out some Gibsons.

I quite liked this:

This is 600 quid from Andertons (650 tag on the one I just tried), so cheaper than a Crimson, and was a really nice guitar. Sounded good and felt good. Its also different to what I currently have so I would have reason to actually get it down and play it.

Bit confused by the line-up though with the LP Studios, apparently all four of these are the same guitar:
https://new.andertons.co.uk/p/LPST5...ul-50s-tribute-traditional-spec-in-honeyburst
https://new.andertons.co.uk/p/LPSTU...l-studio-traditional-spec-in-vintage-sunburst
https://new.andertons.co.uk/p/LPSTW...-studio-faded-traditional-spec-in-worn-cherry
https://new.andertons.co.uk/p/LPSTS...ul-studio-faded-traditional-spec-in-fireburst
But they vary a fair bit in price and I can't work out why, particularly from and electronics and hardware point of view. If the difference in price is purely down to aesthetics then I'll just get the cheapest!

I tried a PRS Mira too (without fucking seagulls on it). It was 1000 quid and I hated it immediately. Neck was too thin and too sticky and the frets were too small. Just didn't make me want to play at all.

Also tried an SG - the neck on this was like a bat! Didn't like it.

So, at the moment I'm leaning towards a Les Paul Studio. But they're cheaper in Andertons than my local shop by 50 quid. Not sure buying one unseen is a wise idea but the difference in price would pay for the fuel for me to get to Andertons to try out their range.

EDIT: It was this PRS. https://new.andertons.co.uk/p/S2MIV...prs-s2-mira-electric-guitar-in-vintage-cherry but they wanted a grand for it in my local shop.

 

[BroKen_H]

I actually needed the Studio HP neck. Love the thing. I'm no great guitarist by any means, but it's playable for someone like me that has 3/4" thick fingers...thickness of the neck isn't the issue, it's the extra 1/4" width I needed. The 2016 tuners actually auto bypass (or it's set that way by default) I can tune manually without any problems (okay, you have to fight the motors). If I wanted an open D tuning for one song in the middle of a set, though, that would be a great use. If you play stock tuning all night long, not much use for it.