Are 2018 gibson les paul custom a good to go with the price?

[hopkinWFG]

Been thinking of getting a les paul custom or an SG... but am weary of gibson consistency on their upper tier les paul custom... has anybody tried it and its worth the price tag ? Or its better to go with heritage 157 ?

 

[thiswaythatway]

5k for a Les Paul custom and you get plastic inlays and don’t get a real ebony board plus QC is a coin toss. No fucking thank you! Spend 800 and get an Edwards!

 

[bubucci]

For start SG and LP are very different guitars.
For the price of new Custom ,I rather go with used Reissue/Historic. These are Gibsons with ''right'' sound and better woods and QC. If You have shop, where You can play more Customs, try 'em, maybe some of them will speak to You. I have 2017 Classic which play better than most 80-90-00's Standards I have ever played so it's more about particular piece than anything else.

 

[Detroit1973]

5k for a Les Paul custom and you get plastic inlays and don’t get a real ebony board plus QC is a coin toss. No fucking thank you! Spend 800 and get an Edwards!

Or Just Buy Used.

 

[hopkinWFG]

How about heritages ? I supposed they are on par or even better than gibby ? I just dont have luxury to play fancyful of gibbies...i mostly buy online

 

[HellraiserJohnny]

Took me several years to find an old school LP. While I was on the path I picked up a 120th Ann Explorer which I love and now I found this little LP Killer - Ethan Hart EH-3. Tone Pro Bridge, real ebony\Maple\Mahogany. Beautify custom inlay. Binding on both sides. Check the price folks.

 

[JT087]

For my taste I don't find the customs worth it. Maybe I lucked out, but I bought a 2017 Standard and put in a RS guitar works vintage electronics kit and some Lindy Fralin Pure P.A.F. pickups with 7.6k output on the bridge / 7.3k on the neck with A5 mags. The tone of it has beaten out any my buddies custom shop models I've A/B'd it with. Lindy winds the pups really loose to give it a more open sound even when the amp is compressing a lot. I'm sure the Fralins have a lot to do with why I prefer mine over theirs.

If you dig the compound radius which I do very much then it's worthwhile. Having said that it's the only LP I own and maybe had I sat down 10 other more recently built Standards my opinion would be different comparing them to the custom shops. I found ordering online is best through Wildwood Guitars. You can get full specs from them including the neck dimensions, and even give them a list of the LP's you're interested in. They'll spend some time with the guitars and give an honest assessment of what's what.

 

[Bad.Seed]

As a big fan of Gibson guitars, I truly can't understand why anybody in their right minds would purchase a new Gibson, other than a faded model, instead of buying from the used market. With the level of market saturation, you're bound to find a good deal on the guitar you're looking for if you're even remotely patient.

Customs are great guitars. They are built in the same custom shop with the same wood (other than fretboards) as the Reissues. As with any guitar, it's a crapshoot whether you will get one that speaks to you or not, but you're taking much less of a risk purchasing used at less than half the retail price. Plus, Guitar Center let's you return stuff within 45 days at no charge. If you hate it, take it back. I hate guitar center, but I take advantage of their return policy to the fullest extent. I never get stuck with shit I don't want, and I only buy if the price is better than right.

 

[CEG85]

There are good and bad ones from every era.
I would -HANDS DOWN- buy a used custom over a new one. This is a personal preference.

The new models are way too overpriced.

 

[LPMojoGL]

Had an opportunity to buy a new Custom LP for basically cost.
Was so excited, until i pulled it out of the case. Spotty binding work, richlite smelled awful.
Even at such a great price, passed on it. Bought a Satchel Charvel instead.

 

[Mad Axe]

For what the new ones cost I would just buy a 70’s Custom. As much as the blues lawyers hate the Norlin era, every 70’s Les Paul, SG or ES-335 I’ve played has been killer. They have a different character than modern era Gibsons.

 

[paulyc]

5k for a Les Paul custom and you get plastic inlays and don’t get a real ebony board plus QC is a coin toss. No fucking thank you! Spend 800 and get an Edwards!

Or Just Buy Used.

This !!!

 

[paulyc]

For what the new ones cost I would just buy a 70’s Custom. As much as the blues lawyers hate the Norlin era, every 70’s Les Paul, SG or ES-335 I’ve played has been killer. They have a different character than modern era Gibsons.

THIS FO’ SHO’ !

 

[hopkinWFG]

How about gibson les paul custom dated back to 1999 or 1997 .... how good are these made ? More consistent better tonal qualities and good neck profile ?

 

[JT087]

For what the new ones cost I would just buy a 70’s Custom. As much as the blues lawyers hate the Norlin era, every 70’s Les Paul, SG or ES-335 I’ve played has been killer. They have a different character than modern era Gibsons.

Not gonna lie, my experience buying a 78 LP was awful. The case smelled like an animal crawled up inside of it and defecated everywhere before finally killing over. The guitar didn't smell much better.

No matter how much you cleaned the fretboard, this black layer of gunk would come off onto your fingers and felt kind of sticky. Ofc it needed all kinds of love like bridge repair, pot replacement, new tuners which isn't abnormal for an older guitar. Even with a proper setup it just wasn't easy to play. The piece of shit had the guitar listed as mint. I suspect for some people there's mint and "mint for it's age".

Came to the conclusion there's nothing hygienic about a guitar that old, nor did it sound special in any way. /end of rant.. Needed to get that off my chest sorry.

 

[paulyc]

I have 3 1981 Customs, an 81 Standard, and an 81 Explorer, none of them have ANY of those issues.

 

[JT087]

I have no doubt there are some good ones, I just had to vent a bit. Been internalizing that for way too long.

 

[Mad Axe]

For what the new ones cost I would just buy a 70’s Custom. As much as the blues lawyers hate the Norlin era, every 70’s Les Paul, SG or ES-335 I’ve played has been killer. They have a different character than modern era Gibsons.

Not gonna lie, my experience buying a 78 LP was awful. The case smelled like an animal crawled up inside of it and defecated everywhere before finally killing over. The guitar didn't smell much better.

No matter how much you cleaned the fretboard, this black layer of gunk would come off onto your fingers and felt kind of sticky. Ofc it needed all kinds of love like bridge repair, pot replacement, new tuners which isn't abnormal for an older guitar. Even with a proper setup it just wasn't easy to play. The piece of shit had the guitar listed as mint. I suspect for some people there's mint and "mint for it's age".

Came to the conclusion there's nothing hygienic about a guitar that old, nor did it sound special in any way. /end of rant.. Needed to get that off my chest sorry.

That sucks, it sounds like you got screwed!