I want a Les Paul

[bigdaddyd]

I played a LP Special at GC the other day. Selector switch was upside down, switch tip missing, action was terrible. When I told the sales guy, he just laughed and out it back on the wall. With a good setup, however, it would have been a great guitar.

I see that all the time, not to mention the guitars are always out of tune. Workers just walking around. This is not just at GC. I never understood how hard it would be to make sure the guitars were maintained. I mean, wipe them down once in a while and make sure they are in tune. Nothing worse than walking into an empty store with 2 or 3 salespeople sitting there with nothing to do and not one guitar is in tune. No guitar cords around to plug into anything, and no one knows where anything is.

 

[gibson08]

I played a LP Special at GC the other day. Selector switch was upside down, switch tip missing, action was terrible. When I told the sales guy, he just laughed and out it back on the wall. With a good setup, however, it would have been a great guitar.

I see that all the time, not to mention the guitars are always out of tune. Workers just walking around. This is not just at GC. I never understood how hard it would be to make sure the guitars were maintained. I mean, wipe them down once in a while and make sure they are in tune. Nothing worse than walking into an empty store with 2 or 3 salespeople sitting there with nothing to do and not one guitar is in tune. No guitar cords around to plug into anything, and no one knows where anything is.

Its sales, first impressions are everything, their is no doubt sales would go up if those guitars played descently when they were grabbed off the wall. That being said, the GC I go to is great about that stuff, the main guy there (Ron Lucas) who I consider a friend of mine really takes care of his stable and if I ask for one off the wall he usually checks the tune and action before he will even give it to me and he has def sold me quite a few guitars! Guess really I just proved my own theory

 

[Bob Savage]

An interesting note from the mylespaul forum.

"Weight-relief started around 1982/1983. Every Gibson USA Les Paul between 1982 - 2007 is weight-relieved. They do not have solid-body construction. Weight-relief is also known as "swiss cheese holes" and refers to the nine holes drilled out of the body in order to reduce the weight of the guitar."

But....

"The historic reissues are solid. All historic reissues, be it Standards or Customs, are solid. The exception being the chambered reissues. Chambered reissues are often referred to as Cloud 9 guitars. They are identified by their serial number, which begins with CR. chambered-reissue.org"

 

[Steinmetzify]

Great info guys!

Man, I'm really lusting over the gold top.

Dude whatever you get just remember...no other guitar is as cool a a GTLP.

Hope you have a great NGD soon......LPs just fuckin rock. Enjoy MLP too....there's a metric ton of info over there.

 

[Ventura]

[Bob's post above regarding weight-relief and chambering]

Be very careful here Bob. The sweeping generalizations DO NOT work for Gibson. Just saying!! There have been weight-relieved customs, there have been chambered customs, not all chambered customs are designated as C9, there have been many solid body guitars that didn't have the designation of re-issues or customs since the years given. It's a not black and white.

Put it this way. I have a very trustworthy cat who works at Gibson HQ. Any time I see a Lester being brokered that I'm interested in, I always always always get the SN and run it past him. He tells me the facts as they are on his database - and it's alarming the difference between "what the model line is supposed to be" to what these often "one off's offer". SO again, take it with a sprinkle of salt. Use them as "loose" guidelines, not definitive facts.

For the record, I only own LPCs and Reissues - all of which are damn straight solidbody and, in the case of the RI's, perfect recreations (I'm a stickler for binding idiosyncrasies, wood grain patterns on the headstock, that little slip of maple showing in the cutaway of certain years, etc).

It's taken me years. And I still have a LONG way to go to say I know a lot about Lesters, BUT I know enough now to get what I want

And for all that is sacred, stay the f*ck away from that bakelite richlite bullshit fretboard crap. Fact is, stay in the late 80s through to 90s for a good used Lester at the price you're aiming for

 

[Badronald]

Eh. I understand. I went through this for a while too. HAD to have a Les Paul.

Bought a fantastic Les Paul Custom. Told myself it was great. It did sound great. Tried to gig with it. Played it for a few months. It sat in my closet for a year unplayed.

Sold it, bought two American Stratocasters, retubed my Triple Rec, bought a couple pedals and will never look back.

That's all I'm saying.

 

[Shiny_Surface]

An interesting note from the mylespaul forum.

"Weight-relief started around 1982/1983. Every Gibson USA Les Paul between 1982 - 2007 is weight-relieved. They do not have solid-body construction. Weight-relief is also known as "swiss cheese holes" and refers to the nine holes drilled out of the body in order to reduce the weight of the guitar."

But....

"The historic reissues are solid. All historic reissues, be it Standards or Customs, are solid. The exception being the chambered reissues. Chambered reissues are often referred to as Cloud 9 guitars. They are identified by their serial number, which begins with CR. chambered-reissue.org"

Hey Bob for your price budget in the OP I would concur with the other posts about the 90's models, good bang for buck. The regular Standards and Classics back then were made with nice wood and are a good value imo.

Regarding the weight relief holes, chambered, etc. play as many as you can and if whatever one sings to you happens to be weight relieved I wouldn't worry about it unless you're dropping alot of $$$ and descending into the hellish world of LP collectors where playing music is the absolute last priority.

Partly kidding...lol. Some of the types you see on Les Paul forums I'm convinced don't play guitar, not that I have a problem with that of course.

EDIT: Since you like your LTD Viper so much, you might want to consider an Edwards LP (ESP). You can buy them from Japanese dealers on Ebay. I got a Custom copy a few years back and it's fantastic, solid wood body long nick tenon all the specs the snob's approve of and half your budget.

 

[freeballinusa]

http://www.gbase.com/gear/find?gs=y&hp= ... les%20paul

 

[dwizted]

Hey bro look around and see if you can score an 80s Burny, Orville or Greco. I have one of each and man do the play like butter right up there with my Gibby's and can be found sometimes at a 1/4 of the price of a Standard...

 

[Michi]

Hey bro look around and see if you can score an 80s Burny, Orville or Greco. I have one of each and man do the play like butter right up there with my Gibby's and can be found sometimes at a 1/4 of the price of a Standard...

Agree here, although I've not owned a Gibson I've certainly played and gigged a bunch of them. I had a Orville Les Paul Custom a few years back and man, that was a great guitar!

 

[stephen sawall]

I look for a bright one that is very resonate & loud unplugged.

 

[metalmaniac93]

Heritage 150CM is another great alternative. Made in Kzoo!! Mine sounds bad ass!!!

 

[Bob Savage]

Eh. I understand. I went through this for a while too. HAD to have a Les Paul.

Bought a fantastic Les Paul Custom. Told myself it was great. It did sound great. Tried to gig with it. Played it for a few months. It sat in my closet for a year unplayed.

Sold it, bought two American Stratocasters, retubed my Triple Rec, bought a couple pedals and will never look back.

That's all I'm saying.

I'm definitely not ruling out that this could happen, particularly considering my guitar use history because I've pretty much been a super strat whammy bar freak forever, but my goal is to bring my skills back playing different guitars and may of the players I've loved over the years are LP players so I'm going to give it a shot. The other thing that I'm tired of is that I can't play ANYTHING other than what I own and play on a regular basis. I really want to have a few guitar types laying around that I'll use for various things, and not be locked into only feeling comfortable on just one make/model as I have in the past. I'm also wanting to go without a bar and start trying to be more creative otherwise.

Again this could all come tumbling down in practice because I'm a creature of habit and tend to gravitate towards what I'm comfortable with, but I want to step outside of my comfort zone, at least at this moment.

Hey Bob for your price budget in the OP I would concur with the other posts about the 90's models, good bang for buck. The regular Standards and Classics back then were made with nice wood and are a good value imo.

Regarding the weight relief holes, chambered, etc. play as many as you can and if whatever one sings to you happens to be weight relieved I wouldn't worry about it unless you're dropping alot of $$$ and descending into the hellish world of LP collectors where playing music is the absolute last priority.

Partly kidding...lol. Some of the types you see on Les Paul forums I'm convinced don't play guitar, not that I have a problem with that of course.

EDIT: Since you like your LTD Viper so much, you might want to consider an Edwards LP (ESP). You can buy them from Japanese dealers on Ebay. I got a Custom copy a few years back and it's fantastic, solid wood body long nick tenon all the specs the snob's approve of and half your budget.

Thanks man... greatly appreciate the info and quite frankly, I'm not hung up on the guitar not being weight relieved if I like how it plays and sounds.

 

[Ventura]

Thanks man... greatly appreciate the info and quite frankly, I'm not hung up on the guitar not being weight relieved if I like how it plays and sounds.

Chambering may be more up yer alley then as it actually is there to potentially "enhance" resonance, whereas weight-relieving is just boring out holes of heavy wood for the purpose of making it less heavy.

Just sayin'

 

[Bob Savage]

Chambering may be more up yer alley then as it actually is there to potentially "enhance" resonance, whereas weight-relieving is just boring out holes of heavy wood for the purpose of making it less heavy.

Just sayin'

Well, that certainly opens up the door for more years.

 

[Woodsie]

I added a pic of it to my previous post

My reissue '57 GoldTop DarkBack is one of my best players, straight out of the box. It wasn't, however, $1500...

Well, mine started out at $2100. I know what you mean though. I'd love a reissue but couldn't afford $4-5k for one guitar.

 

[TrueTone500]

Some 2006, 2007, and some '08 Historic models were made with period correct Honduran mahogany. If you're looking for true vintage LP tones, try to narrow your purchase to these years. A Honduran '68 LP Custom will weigh no more than 9.0 lbs. +/- .3 lbs.

This is my 2008 model... Best sounding LP I've ever played or owned.

 

[londaxe]

I've hated how the LP has played for longer than I can remember, but I want one bad and of course, I know nothing about them.

Aesthetics aren't a concern and quite frankly I don't want to spend the big bucks on one either so a great playing, well worn (not a full on beater) is fine as long as I don't have to do a hardware refresh or refret.

That said, I'm looking for input on what years, models, gotchas and other things to look for.

Tell me I'm nuts if that's what it is, but I'd like to drop $1500 or less (especially the less part) if possible.

I'm also thinking of offering a trade for my Vigier Excalibur Custom but I still need to know what I'm looking for.


Aaaaaaaand... Go!

Here's one I bought recently for the exact same reason. Wasn't bothered about the looks, although I don't think it's a bad looking guitar...

2001 LP standard raw power

these can usually be had for a bit less than other standards because of the clear satin finish, but everything else is the same really.

As for the weight relief/chambering, I had this really nice standard from 1999, which WAS a solid slab of mahogany. It might have been a limited model, or just something they were doing for a short time. It was slightly different from other standards too... grover tuners stock, and it had a somewhat unique finish as well.

I don't know if my new one is weight relieved or not, but it's equally as heavy as the one I just mentioned. I really like the LPs from 1999-2001, but the late 80's/early 90's are also pretty nice if you can find one in good condition

 

[LP Freak]

These are great guitars and excellent quality.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/PAUL-REED-SMITH ... 53f575a71e

 

[Shawn Lutz]

Bob, I never really cared for LP's either. I started playing in 81 and out of the blue last March I bought a 2012 Traditional Plus, my first ever LP and I love the thing. I hardly play my other guitars since so about 95% all LP and I've also been playing more than I have in years.

You're in a price range where you can find some nice ones. Check out the Traditionals (50s neck) and Traditional Pros (60's neck)

I want another one now, an ebony Custom.

oh i you still have that JMP/JCM 2203/4 you're gong to like how a good LP sounds through it