LP Lowdown

  • Thread starter Thread starter Zaphod B
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Zaphod B

Zaphod B

Raccoons-Be-Gone, Inc.
Last week there was a thread in which someone commented that there weren't too many choices in Les Pauls. I thought I'd compile a list of the available LP models.

The following Les Pauls are from the Gibson USA shop and don't include Custom Shop Guitars. I count 22 configurations, and most of these have multiple finish options. For the most part these are immediately distinguishable from one another. Here ya go:

- BFG
- Bille Joe Armstrong
- Goddess
- GT
- HD.6-X Pro Digital LP
- Menace
- Special New Century
- Supreme
- Vixen
- Double-Cuts
--- DC Pro
--- Faded DC
- Standards
--- Standard DC Plus
--- Standard
--- Standard Faded
--- Standard Premium Plus
- Studio
--- Smartwood Studio
--- Studio
--- Studio Premium Plus
--- Swamp Ash Studio
- Classic
--- Classic Antique
--- Classic Custom
--- Classic
 
Thanks for the list!

I think that part of the problem, though, is not the lack of models, but lack of variation between the models.

Look:

Carved-top H-H models:

- Goddess
- GT
- HD.6-X Pro Digital LP (has that stupid digital pickup, but still is a H-H guitar)
- Menace
- Supreme
- Vixen (kind of a stretch because of the thinner body)
- DC Pro
- Standard DC Plus
- Standard
- Standard Faded
- Standard Premium Plus
- Smartwood Studio
- Studio
- Studio Premium Plus
- Swamp Ash Studio
- Classic Antique
- Classic Custom
- Classic
- Studio Vintage Mahogany (not on the Gibson Website)


Non-"Carved-top H-H" models:

- BFG
- Bille Joe Armstrong
- Special New Century
- Faded DC
- LP Junior from MF/GC (also not displayed on the Gibson website)

Then we get to the pricing. Seven of those (Faded DC, LP Junior, BFG, Special New Century, Menace, Vixen, and Vintage Mahogany) are under $1000 street price. Studios are around $1250-$1350, then you're up to $1600 - $2600 for the rest. The only middle ground is in the DCs, which still have all the cosmetic appointments of the Standards...it's probably lack of demand that keeps that price low. For all of that range in price (excluding mention of a lack of mid-range models), you'd think you could get something besides two chrome or nickel humbuckers (with the occasional gold option) and a carved top a little more often. Like I griped in an earlier post, what happened to regular Juniors, Regular Specials, etc.?

I'm just sayin'...
 
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I hear ya - Gibson could easily do more mixing and matching with pickups and body styles, and add more lower-priced models. (And the amount they are asking for a Billie Joe Armstrong is just absurd for what it is.)

I guess they've mostly abandoned the lower end of the market to the Epiphone brand.
 
Just a couple of corrections to your post:

The Billie Joe has a single H90 dogear at the bridge.

The BFG has a P90 neck and a humbucker bridge.
 
Sorry - I know. When I said "Non-carved top H-H models" I meant "Non-carved top, non-HH models".

And 15 bills for a BJ Junior is, well, retarded.

The original has been edited with quotation marks to better convey my understanding.

Word.
 
BrentDomann said:
Thanks for the list!

[bold]I think that part of the problem, though, is not the lack of models, but lack of variation between the models.[\bold]

Look:

Carved-top H-H models:

- Goddess
- GT
- HD.6-X Pro Digital LP (has that stupid digital pickup, but still is a H-H guitar)
- Menace
- Supreme
- Vixen (kind of a stretch because of the thinner body)
- DC Pro
- Standard DC Plus
- Standard
- Standard Faded
- Standard Premium Plus
- Smartwood Studio
- Studio
- Studio Premium Plus
- Swamp Ash Studio
- Classic Antique
- Classic Custom
- Classic
- Studio Vintage Mahogany (not on the Gibson Website)


Non-"Carved-top H-H" models:

- BFG
- Bille Joe Armstrong
- Special New Century
- Faded DC
- LP Junior from MF/GC (also not displayed on the Gibson website)

Then we get to the pricing. Seven of those (Faded DC, LP Junior, BFG, Special New Century, Menace, Vixen, and Vintage Mahogany) are under $1000 street price. Studios are around $1250-$1350, then you're up to $1600 - $2600 for the rest. The only middle ground is in the DCs, which still have all the cosmetic appointments of the Standards...it's probably lack of demand that keeps that price low. For all of that range in price (excluding mention of a lack of mid-range models), you'd think you could get something besides two chrome or nickel humbuckers (with the occasional gold option) and a carved top a little more often. Like I griped in an earlier post, what happened to regular Juniors, Regular Specials, etc.?

I'm just sayin'...
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thats exactly what i meant. i sorta mis spoke i suppose. but all of the last pauls look exactly the same. it'd be nice to have some variety.
 
tom18222 said:
thats exactly what i meant. i sorta mis spoke i suppose. but all of the last pauls look exactly the same. it'd be nice to have some variety.
Click to expand...

I guess the devil's in the details, coming down to what kind of binding is used, what pickups are used and whether they have covers or not, whether the headstock is bound and what kind of decorative inlay is used, etc, etc, ....

In my mind, there are and always have been two kinds of Les Pauls: those with carved tops and those without. Everything else is secondary to those two categories. (Doublecuts don't count because they don't look like LPs. :D)

So I guess where you guys are seeing sameness, I see a variety of detail.

It's all good. I think. :p:D
 
tom18222 said:
thats exactly what i meant. i sorta mis spoke i suppose. but all of the last pauls look exactly the same. it'd be nice to have some variety.
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So what you're saying is it'd be nice to have some Les Pauls that weren't Les Pauls.
:D

I mean, guys ....... look back at the early days when what are the very most desirable Pauls were built ..... they had like 2 or 3 models.
And things like that melody maker thingie were called Les Pauls but I never felt they were. It was just marketing ....... the old Les Paul Jr. for instance. We old guys that were around back then felt like "they can put Les Paul on the truss rod cover all they want ...... it doesn't make it a Les Paul".
I remember having that conversation many times in the late 60's and in the 70's.
Pauls, by definition, had a carved top and a single cutaway.
That's what a Les Paul is ........ IMO they should just have different names for the other models. Hell, I remember seeing at least one SG shaped git that came with the Les Paul title on the truss rod cover. It still wasn't a Paul.
A paul has a certain shape and and a carved top and that's what it is.
Calling anything else a paul is like putting the Jaguar badge on a ford escort. It may be their right to do so but it's still ot a Jag.
 
Yeah, I catch your drift, Lt Bob. Even flat-top LPs don't seem quite right, but since I own one I'll take it.

I never have been able to accept Epiphone LPs as LPs. It's as you say: just putting a "Les Paul" on the headstock doesn't mean it's so.

But then we could go back to that whole can o' worms about when is a Strat a Strat.

In my mind the ultimate, "real" LP will be a single-cut with a carved top. Any other detail is secondary.
 
Zaphod B said:
I never have been able to accept Epiphone LPs as LPs. It's as you say: just putting a "Les Paul" on the headstock doesn't mean it's so.

.
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I totally agree. My main gigging ax is an Epi Zak Wilde LP.
And even though it's a nice git and definitely a top of the line Epi, I never refer to it as a Les Paul. I always say I play an Epi Zak Wilde. Even though I own it and like it it doesn't seem like a 'real' Les Paul to me. And would I pay those big bucks for a 'real' one? Not on your life unless I was freakin' rich. I can play just as good and sound just the same on less expensive gear and being a full time musician means I don't need to be spending that kind of dough.
But I'm not gonna kid myself and think that I have a real LP.
 
Lt. Bob said:
I totally agree. My main gigging ax is an Epi Zak Wilde LP.
And even though it's a nice git and definitely a top of the line Epi, I never refer to it as a Les Paul. I always say I play an Epi Zak Wilde. Even though I own it and like it it doesn't seem like a 'real' Les Paul to me. And would I pay those big bucks for a 'real' one? Not on your life unless I was freakin' rich. I can play just as good and sound just the same on less expensive gear and being a full time musician means I don't need to be spending that kind of dough.
But I'm not gonna kid myself and think that I have a real LP.
Click to expand...

To me, the definitive Les Paul is a black carved top custom with two humbuckers, a bound body and neck, and gold hardware.
 
ggunn said:
To me, the definitive Les Paul is a black carved top custom with two humbuckers, a bound body and neck, and gold hardware.
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Nice axes but I HATE gold hardware (even though two of my axes have it)
It looks good in the store and looks good if you just play it at home.
But if you gig with it . it quickly goes to shit.
Although, I did know a bassist that took his hardware to a jeweler and had it actually gold plated ..... it looked awesome and didn't have any problem looking good after years. It was suprisingly affordable too ...... only a couple hundred bucks I think.
 
ggunn said:
To me, the definitive Les Paul is a black carved top custom with two humbuckers, a bound body and neck, and gold hardware.
Click to expand...
Yummy. Make that a triple-pickup.

I used to think the same, but now I've gotten to where I like the translucent stains rather than the opaque finishes.
 
lp

lt. bob great point ..... my main gigin guitar is a epi lp deluxe .... i refer to it as the epi or as the red one ..... i do have a black les paul custom [gibson] that i refer to as the custom and i do some gig's w/ it ........ but there is something about the epi that i am into ..... the tone, those sweet mini's, the neck, the action, some combo of all the above just fits me ............. in the end it is not what is on the head that count's ........ it is what comes out of the amp that is important ..........
 
Lt. Bob said:
Nah ...... that middle p'up gets in the way of my pick. I keep hitting the damned thing.
Click to expand...
I just like the way they look. :D I need that space between pickups, too, so I can dig in.
 
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