Les Pauls - I Have it Figured Out

  • Thread starter Thread starter Zaphod B
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I have to say I do own one, an LP, but I play my Aria hollowbody before it anyday, and half the time play a mexican strat over it as well. It is a Gibson not an Epi btw. It may be making a return soon if I can get some electronic issues sorted out.
 
metalhead28 said:
I just don't think that a Les Paul really offers anything beyond your standard humbucker equipped solid body as long as it's not an imported piece of shit. Plus they are heavy as hell and have terrible upper fret access. That's not necessarily important to everybody, I realize that, but it doesn't mean you're missing out on the holy grail of tone by playing something different.
Well said, and I agree completely.
 
new Gibbie's aren't worth the money....at all...don't buy one.

on the other hand I would give my left testicle, and a chance at having children for my buddy's 78 LP...my god, the tone COULD be the voice of God him/herself...
 
les pauls and strats are the most popular because theyre the most versatile. strats can do almost anything and les pauls are the master of tone. but one will never sound like the other. i personally own 2 strats and an SG. for a long time i didnt care much for les pauls, but ive gradually warmed up to them to the point of now im finally going to buy one. for ten years ive made my monthly trek to the music store and i always end up playing one - even when im there for drum stuff. last weekend i literally sat there for 2 hours playing various epiphone LP's. i like them. a lot. and theyre affordable. so im buying one. when i become ace frehley, ill buy a gibson. for now, the epiphone LP's are pretty nice.
 
legionserial said:
You know, I'm glad someone else shares my opinion. I have spoken to so many people about this even just recently. People who don't really know much about guitars, but play, and they ask my advice. I give them my opinion, which they ignore (fair enough I spose) and start going "Les Pauls are blatantly the best guitars", and then proceed put down every other make, granted they give explanations, but explanations like "well this guitar has too much twang" and this guitar I don't like cos I don't like the sound of x band that use them. Explanations based on very little experience which shows when you say "have you ever played one of those?" and they say "no, but I wouldn't want to".

Thats when we find out that they have never been near a Les Paul in their life either. Not even an Epi.

People are so keen to listen to hype these days. Yes, Slash has a Les Paul, but he also has infinite money to spend getting it the way he wants.

Sorry for the rant. I had rather heated debate with someone this week who doesn't know jack about guitars and asked my advice, which I was happy to give, and proceeded to pretty much insinuate that I know nothing. Fair play, I don't care what he thinks. But I find it amusing when someone says "I don't like this guitar cos it sounds like X on X record". Especially when they wouldn't know tone if it hit them in the face.

But anyway, basically my personal opinon is that I have never played an LP I liked. Thats my opinion tho.

Moral of the story - At least play a fucking guitar before you develop your definitive unchangeable opinion that its the best just cos Gibson told you so. (thats not aimed at anyone BTW) :p

Semi-irrelevant rant over....I feel much better now. :D

I had a 25 anniversery model that I liked except for the weight. Other than that....piss on an LP
 
blueroommusic said:
new Gibbie's aren't worth the money....at all...don't buy one.

on the other hand I would give my left testicle, and a chance at having children for my buddy's 78 LP...my god, the tone COULD be the voice of God him/herself...

It's funny because back in '78 we were saying the same thing.

The best Les Paul was the Yamaha SG series, the last good guitar Carlos played. But he doesn't need a good guitar...
 
apl said:
It's funny because back in '78 we were saying the same thing.

The best Les Paul was the Yamaha SG series, the last good guitar Carlos played. But he doesn't need a good guitar...

I always thought the shape of those Yamahas were so much cooler that the SG they imitated-better balanced too ;)
Tony
 
Whoa. :eek:

That list of models is... pathetic.

When I bought mine you could get a Standard or a Custom.
 
metalhead28 said:
Sorry you feel that way.

If you had included a smiley face with that post I wouldn't be so inclined to share the following opinion with you >

Get Fucked.

:D

What are we in the cave or something?
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to metalhead28 again. :D

I feel like I want a Les Paul just to have one. I have no valid or decent reason for wanting one.
 
Zaphod B said:
I finally figured out the whole deal on Les Pauls. Well, kind of. :o

Every time I get an American Musical Supply catalog, or surf the ZZSounds or Musician's Friend web sites (or even the Gibson web site), I get terminally confused about all the different models.

Here is the current Gibson Les Paul lineup:

The "Gibson USA" models are as follows:
-- LP Classic
-- LP Goddess
-- LP GT
-- LP Melody Maker
-- LP Menace
-- LP Special New Century
-- LP Special w/humbuckers
-- LP Studio Baritone
-- LP Supreme
-- LP Vixen
-- LP Standards
-- LP Studios

Then there's the Custom Shop Models:
- Historic:
-- 1957 Junior
-- 1958 Junior
-- 1960 Special Single-Cut
-- 1960 Special Double-Cut
-- 1956 Goldtop
-- 1957 Goldtop
-- 1957 Custom
-- 1958 Standard
-- 1959 Standard
-- 1960 Standard
- Custom:
-- Class 5 Quilt Top
-- Les Paul Custom
- Limited Historic:
-- 1965 Goldtop
-- 1954 Oxblood
-- 1954 Custom
-- 1957 Custom Faded Cherry
- Limited Custom:
-- 1968 Custom Figured Top
-- Les Paul Ultima (holy fucking shit, this one is $8,000)

So what's the decoding secret?

Beats the shit out of me. But I'll bet they are following the Harley-Davidson Model Of Confuse By Naming, Mixing, And Matching, Then Overpricing. Harley has, I think, three basic frames, four or five engines, and a buttload of different handlebars and other fittings. Out of a few basic major components they offer a bewildering array of motorcycles that all have names like "FLDXCS Night Shadow" and "FLCSSR Boulevardier", and that look just different enough that they will strike different emotional chords within different potential Harley buyers.

One of these days I'm going to find the Secret Gibson Decoder Ring. Until then, I'll keep looking for deals on blems and b-stock! :D

..

Well, it's not terribly difficult...at least for the USA models.

-- LP Classic - hotter pickups and a faster neck
-- LP Goddess - geared towards females
-- LP GT - a goldtop
-- LP Melody Maker - one P-90 at the bridge, no maple cap
-- LP Menace - ok this one is a marketing ploy, going for the hard rockers
-- LP Special New Century - appealing to the glam rockers with a full body mirrored pickguard and no maple cap
-- LP Special w/humbuckers - no maple cap with 2 humbuckers
-- LP Studio Baritone - it's a baritone
-- LP Supreme - chambered body, nice top, etc.
-- LP Vixen - appealing to the ladies once again
-- LP Standards - they are what they are, but you have choices of finishes, etc.
-- LP Studios - same as the standard but no binding, etc.

Each one of the above is going to have a different feel and tone to it.

It's not like Fender doesn't do the same thing. Here's the model listings for just the Stratocaster:

American
American Deluxe
American Special
American Vintage
Artist
Classic
Custom Artist
Custom Classic
Custom Shop Limited Edition
Deluxe
Highway One™
Special Edition
Standard
Time Machine™

And I'm not sticking up for Gibson nor knocking Fender...I own several guitars of both brands.

Guitars are just tools, and I personally think it's cool that there are different options based on the tone and style of one's playing.
 
blueroommusic said:
new Gibbie's aren't worth the money....at all...don't buy one.

on the other hand I would give my left testicle, and a chance at having children for my buddy's 78 LP...my god, the tone COULD be the voice of God him/herself...

haha. that's gibson's quality control....eruhhhhh....lack of. it's always been that way. it was worse in the 70's and 80's. you have to look at/play a lot of gibsons to find a good one.

I have 2 really good one's.I don't know how many I looked at before I decided to buy my les paul, but on the day I went to buy it, I looked at about 10 different stinger series 57's.

I had also been looking at cs356's the whole time I was looking at les pauls and waited another year before I decided on the one I bought. It turned out it was one of the first I played though.

I had a really good job and still lived with my parents though, otherwise I never would have been able to pay for them.

I do agree that they are overpriced, especially considering the quality control issues you see pretty regularly. It's just a matter of how much you want one and how long you're willing to wait for the right one.

oh and a quick note......while fender is generally much cheaper than gibson, their guitars are much cheaper to manufacture and I think that they are equally overpriced.

and another addition: Gibson is a pretty shitty company, and I probably wouldn't buy another guitar from them. So I'm not really not trying to sway anyone's opinion towards them.
 
I've never paid big bucks for a Les Paul. I bought my only LP back in 84' for $500
and it was an 80'(59' LP Stnd RI) "Jimmy Wallace". I don't know what it's worth today but at least 10x what I gave for it.It has about the best neck I've ever felt on ANY LP. I don't take it out to gigs because it WOULD get stolen. Alot of guys say the older guitars are better, and I don't actually agree, but this guitar will hold it's own with any LP you put it up against.

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blueroommusic said:
new Gibbie's aren't worth the money....at all...don't buy one.

on the other hand I would give my left testicle, and a chance at having children for my buddy's 78 LP...my god, the tone COULD be the voice of God him/herself...

cool avatar, that's one of my favorite albums to listen to.

I agree on the price gauging. Find one second hand they will be much cheaper and all ready broke in. There's a vintage shop near my area. You can find a good used LP or St for affordble prices. The Epiph. LP Custom is not a bad guitar. It felt rock solid to me and the tone was also there.
 
To some extend Les Pauls and Strats are popular today because they’ve always been popular. In the early days of music in the 50s and 60s, Fender and Gibson were the two primary firms that made professional level quality instruments. For the headliner rock and country artists, the LP, Strat, Tele, and 335 were seen on TV every day. They also were good guitars.

Today there are dozens of firms that make quality guitars, but the LP/Strat image is still very common on TV. Many kids want what they see on TV, regardless of other facts and figures.

Gibson’s have always been fairly expensive. They have produced some very good looking LP models, and many past ones were very well built and had great tone. As many others here have already said, Gibson quality is not what it used to be, and their prices have just continued to go up.

Many kids want a LP who have never really played one. Many times it is a status thing. It only takes a single 4 hour gig with a LP to find out how heavy they are, and difficulty of upper fret access, and that you need to shop for a much wider strap to avoid neck/shoulder pain.

Fender models have a more reasonable price range. Fender also has some import models, that look and sound very similar, that are very inexpensive. Artists like Clapton and Hendrix have done wonders for the sales of Strats.

Sometimes buying guitars is like buying cars. Practicality, mileage, dependability, service record, and other similar factors aren’t always want leads a buyer to a specific model. Many times is the model itself that sells, regardless of the actual facts. It’s kind of a “Don’t confuse me with the facts, I WANT THAT ONE…” approach.

If I were buying, or recommending, a guitar, I don’t think Gibson would be a player today. For what you get in quality, they’re overpriced. Fender still have many good reasonable priced Strat and Tele models. For higher end guitars, PRS is one firm that makes high quality very playable guitars.

Parents sometimes ask me about guitars for their kids. I usually recommend a Fender Strat pak as a place to start. For a few hundred bucks they get a Strat guitar, cord, and small amp. If they lose interest a few months later (which most do), the parents aren’t out much. If they continue, they can get a better model later.

Ed
 
Texsunburst59 said:
I've never paid big bucks for a Les Paul. I bought my only LP back in 84' for $500
and it was an 80'(59' LP Stnd RI) "Jimmy Wallace". I don't know what it's worth today but at least 10x what I gave for it.It has about the best neck I've ever felt on ANY LP. I don't take it out to gigs because it WOULD get stolen. Alot of guys say the older guitars are better, and I don't actually agree, but this guitar will hold it's own with any LP you put it up against.

100_0218.jpg

100_0213.jpg

000_0093.jpg

100_0215.jpg
wow what a black face / silver face slut! lol
 
yeah i think paying over 2 grand for a guitar that is mad by a machine is a bit of a joke.
 
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