Let's Talk Les Pauls

  • Thread starter Thread starter Zaphod B
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ausrock said:
Zaph,

At least two of our LP's are chambered (the two Elegance) and I think the Standard LE may be as well, my son's main LP Std weighs in at 11lbs..........the thing is, they all "sing" with their own individual character and personally, I wouldn't be worrying too much about chambering, rather than focusing on finding the ones that "speak to you" when you touch them.......that's when you know you've found the right one.

:cool:
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Quite right! :)
 
Buck62 said:
If you want to buy the absolute BEST Les Paul for the money, get the Epiphone Elitist Les Paul.
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Buck, I've heard great things about the Elitist line. I'll see if I can find one in the area to demo. :)
 
Zaphod B said:
Two useless responses so far. :D

Thanks for nothing! :p
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I used to own a 77-78 Gibson LP custom(I can't even remember !!)....I have the ticket still...somewhere. Bought it brand new...other than that, I know nothing.


Now you have another useless response to your thread....:D
 
true-eurt said:
I used to own a 77-78 Gibson LP custom(I can't even remember !!)....I have the ticket still...somewhere. Bought it brand new...other than that, I know nothing.


Now you have another useless response to your thread....:D
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Haha, thanks to you, too! :D
 
Quality Control

Most of the comments on the quality slide of Les Pauls are very true. But word on the street is that Gibson is getting its shit together quality wise. From what I've seen lately this appears to be the case, particularly from the custom shop. Good attention to detail, setups, finish etc. However if you want a new one get an absolutely new one, I'm talking shipped within the last 3 months or so. Otherwise you're paying too much for the Gibson name on a guitar that's inferior to, say, a Heritage (which btw represents an excellent alternative at a more reasonable cost).

If you're okay with a used one late 80's or early 90's is your best bet. Standards seem to have been high then.

-small
 
I know there has been a lot of talk about Gibson's QC, but I think the consensus is that it's spotty rather than bad all around. Meaning that there are Gibsons out there that are questionable, ones that are just OK, and ones that are very good, and that it's our responsibilty as consumers to find the very good ones.

Anyhow, as I said earlier, the plan is for a new model, and I won't be in the market until early 2008 at the very earliest. By that time there should be more information on the chambering and QC issues.
 
I ordered two PRS Dragon II pickups for my Gibsun Les Paul Surprise, they should be here soon.
 
Get an older one if you can

I had time to play the '79 Les Paul last night. First time out of it's case in a few months (I've been WAY too busy). I'm still smiling today. Worth every penny.

You'll see opinions that Gibson's are over priced and not worth the name. I used to feel that way too but never really said anything b/c I just didn't know enough about it. Now I do.

I also know a ton of guitarists. Many of them "purists"; many of them skeptical; and all full of their "own opinions". A lot of them are die-hard Strat players. But every single one of them who've ever played a vintage LP knows what it's all about. Tone, feel, quality - it's all there.

So go out and find yourself a gem.
 
Someone offered to trade me their LP II for my taylor. LP II? It was red? I told him to buy an SG with a bigsby and trade me.
 
Update on Chambered LPs

I just called the local GC and talked to one of the guitar salesmen. He verified that all Gibson USA LPs that they are receiving are chambered.

He said that he couldn't really tell much different in tone from the previous weight-relieved models (not that I trust some unknown salesman's assessment of tone ;) ), but that they are a lot lighter and feel really different around the neck.
 
cusebassman said:
Buy a Heritage :D
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Seconded.



Or one of the nice Hammers. They're really nice.




You wanna hear perhaps the most baffling thing I've ever heard?












Do you?











Gibson's Custom Shop DOESN'T TAKE CUSTOM ORDERS.









"What a second," you say, "that can't be right. I mean, they CALL it a custom shop, so it must take custom orders, right?"

Nope. Gibson's Custom Shop no longer makes custom guitars, period. (well, unless you Zakk Wild or some such).




Fucking weird, if you ask me.





Oh yeah, buy a used one from the mid nineties or so. You'll be much happier. Or better yet, get a Hammer or a Heritage. They'll cost less, sound better, and be better made.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
93 custom

just got a 93 custom in to clean and set up ..... friggin thing was never cleaned .. probably had the original strings on it .... took off everything i could and started cleaning and buffing out scratches .... actualy cleaned up nice ....... dont like the neck .. it is huge ... the frets are like rail road ties ..... they are thinner and taller that the frets on my 83 .... overall quality on this one is just ok ..... nothing special
 
More on Heritage Guitars

It appears that Heritage Guitars is looking for a buyer, and it's not even clear whether production will remain in Kalamazoo. I spoke with a nearby shop that has carried Heritage instruments in the past, and the owner had the opinion that most of the original Heritage employees were getting old and wanted to retire. I guess the company didn't do a great job of apprenticeship with young craftsmen, I dunno. :confused:

Heritage has been closed for some time - a few months? :confused: - so there has been no new product going out to dealers. A web search shows some remaining Heritage stock out there, but whether the Heritage name remains or not, it appears that all the existing instruments are about to become orphans.
 
So, you guys who are familiar with Heritage guitars -

Would you recommend buying a Heritage H-150 (their Les Paul equivalent) by mail-order, sight-unseen, knowing that there will likely never be any factory support - in other words, no warranty or technical support whatsoever?
 
That's really a tough call.

The Heritage guitars that I've seen were very nice...including the archtops, the semi-hollows, and the LP-styles, but I never played one. We had a Heritage dealer here in our small town for a while, but unfortunately he opened a shop across the street from the Fender/Peavy dealer (who was actually a businessman) so it didn't last too long.

At the time I wasn't in the market for an electric (I've owned 3 from 1982: a 1963 Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gent, a Strat, and my current LP Deluxe, not counting the Ric 366/12 since it was not a six-string) but, as you may conclude, I like quality axes.

I would happily have gone for a Heritage, and, in fact, I'm sorry to hear that they're going away. They look like Gibsons from the '50s.

Is resale a consideration? With a Gibson, you can generally recoup (within reason). With a Heritage you might be reduced to flogging it on eBay with a **SUPER RARE!!!** banner like you see for the mutts people try to peddle there.

If the seller has a return policy, I'd be tempted to go for it. The last of the Kalamazoos. Are the pickups a standard humbucker size? If so, you could easily tailor the sound to your liking.

Let us know what you decide.
 
lpdeluxe - You've hit on a lot of the points I was considering.

My initial goal was to populate my collection with a Gibson LP - not a Studio, or Special, or DC, but a bound-body, carved-maple-top, single-cut Les Paul, because I consider it a benchmark instrument, one that is a necessary addition to any batch of guitars, and I don't have one.

Based on the positive comments about Heritage guitars that I've seen in this and other posts (especially if Light likes 'em), I'm willing to entertain the idea. And knowing that they are made in the original Gibson Kalamazoo factory, by some of the former Gibson craftspeople, does give them a "more Gibson than Gibson" appeal.

But I'm a little leery of the current situation. The Heritage H-150 does use standard form / fit / function humbuckers (P-90s on some models) so replacement is surely possible. Resale? Who knows what the market will say?
 
Zaphod B said:
So, you guys who are familiar with Heritage guitars -

Would you recommend buying a Heritage H-150 (their Les Paul equivalent) by mail-order, sight-unseen, knowing that there will likely never be any factory support - in other words, no warranty or technical support whatsoever?
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Is Heritage going away? If so, too bad. If not, my guess is that they would help you out even if you bought used.

I own a Heritage H-535 (like a 335) and it is a fantastic instrument. I've played the H-150s and almost bought one, but ended up finding a 1993 LP Studio for $400 and couldn't pass that up. The H-150s I played were great.

If you bought a Gibson and needed a repair you'd probably be sent to a local authorized repair shop anyway. No reason you couldn't take the Heritage to the same guy.

The sight unseen part is the thing to worry about. You basically have to trust the seller there. If you trust him and he says that everything is cool, then maybe you're ok. If you don't know the seller, you could be asking for trouble. Of course this is not exclusive to Heritage guitars, it goes for anything.
 
I have an 83 LP Standard I bought for $300 out of the newspaper in 1988 in Des Moines. In perfect shape with the exception of a little belt buckle rash. Red metal flake. The seller was in a family country band that had called it quits so he was selling all his gear.

I recently had the pickups replaced with SD Antiquity PUPs and my guitar tech friend recapped it with Orange Drop caps so now the volume pots really roll off smoothly. Major improvement in tone. It is a heavy guitar, but plays extremely smoothly. It's not a versatile instrument, but it does have its own distinctive sound. My other electric solid body is a 93 PRS Custom 24. The action on the Gibson is faster and smoother, although the PRS is more versatile.

Given Gibson's historically spotty QC, I think you just need to play a lot of them. And I'd certainly look at used instruments. For what they are charging for a new LP, you have a pretty broad choice of other instruments available to you. I'd seriously consider an American made Hamer as an alternative.
 
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