Talk to me about the Les Paul Moderns and Supremes.

[japetus]

Might just bust out the belt sander and go to town lol

Do you have any old brit g12-75 cabs

 

[GJgo]

Do you have any old brit g12-75 cabs

Not sure about raceu but I do, just picked up an 84 B and 86 A cab.

So the last few hours I've been rabbit holing comparing these Moderns to Customs, regular + 57RI + 68 RI. Seems like most of the difference is in the PUPs. Maybe I need to take a trip to play all this shit.

 

[RaceU4her]

Do you have any old brit g12-75 cabs

I don’t

 

[Jack Luminous]

@Jack Luminous I havne't seen those before- the neck joint looks amazing!

Yeah it is ! I have two, one stop tail with rosewood board, akin to a standard LP, and one just like a custom with ebony board and floyd. Both amazing sounding fiddles and very light and comfy. I don't touch my other guitars since I bought them.

 

[GJgo]

Doing some more reading, I'm seeeing that the Custom RIs come with a nylon nut. Almost $7K for a guitar and a nylon nut!?! WTF is that?!?!

Anyway, seems like what I'm hearing is that the Moderns really do sound more.. modern, to the extent that if I was to compare one of those to a good Eclipse there might not be a significant tonal difference. That if I want that classic LP sound I should be looking more at a Custom or Standard. Sound right?

...Or, the difference with the chambering is subtle but there, if I had a Modern / Supreme and put some OG PUPs in it it'd get me there without a 10lb axe on my shoulder? Whatever I get will be gigged.

 

[bubucci]

Chambered guitar can sounds good, but they don't work for heavier music as good as traditional full body or 9-hole relief. And they are prone to feedback much more.
Did you checked 'standard' Custom ? The are heavier than reissues but 498T pickups and thin neck profile make them perfect for rock/metal music and black custom looks just fantastic.
Cobra burst is pure perfection.

 

[romanianreaper]

I wonder about thinner neck LP’s too as my standard is basically unplayable for me, I’m wondering if I can have the neck shaved down like Page did or something.

Is yours a 50s neck?

 

[cardinal]

The newer non-reissue Customs have 9-hole relief and to me sound and feel great. I thought the frets were kinda small but that's a complaint I've had about most recent Gibsons.

 

[GJgo]

Chambered guitar can sounds good, but they don't work for heavier music as good as traditional full body or 9-hole relief. And they are prone to feedback much more.
Did you checked 'standard' Custom ? The are heavier than reissues but 498T pickups and thin neck profile make them perfect for rock/metal music and black custom looks just fantastic.
Cobra burst is pure perfection.

Yeah I have been looking at the standard Customs. From what I can tell I think you're right, it'd be more up my alley than a RI custom.

 

[GJgo]

Hold up- with these comments I just realized the new Customs are also weight releived. (and still 10 lbs LOL) So this is not the tone devil?

 

[tpruitt]

I have been checking these out recently.
I thought the small (low) frets would be my hang up but,if these have chambered body that’s gonna be a problem for me. Chambered les Paul’s always sound hollow to me. Like it kills what a les Paul in known for.

 

[tpruitt]

Hold up- with these comments I just realized the new Customs are also weight releived. (and still 10 lbs LOL) So this is not the tone devil?

I’ve got a 2022 custom shop custom and it punches hard. It may be weight relieved but no way is it chambered.

 

[GJgo]

I have been checking these out recently.
I thought the small (low) frets would be my hang up but,if these have chambered body that’s gonna be a problem for me. Chambered les Paul’s always sound hollow to me. Like it kills what a les Paul in known for.

Yeah unfortunatley the Supremes are modern chambered. Which sucks because the one I was looking at was a stunner.

 

[RaceU4her]

Is yours a 50s neck?

I’m not even sure, I know it’s a 96 standard by the serial number, I found it on Craigslist in one of those too good to be true deals so I just kind of grabbed it without playing it much. My hand cramps, pops, there’s string noise I’ve not experienced in any other guitar, it just feels slow and clunky

 

[cardinal]

Hold up- with these comments I just realized the new Customs are also weight releived. (and still 10 lbs LOL) So this is not the tone devil?

They have 9-hole relief. The ones that I've had were very heavy. The historics (which don't any any relief) tend to be much lighter. But you pay a lot for it.

 

[mooncobra]

I would just hunt down a bitchin standard. I played a standard the other day from Craigslist. It was a 91 and the guitar killed. The imbecile selling it apparently thought he had a piece of history because his price was nothing short of preposterous, so much so, that I thought it was a typo. Nope, this buffoon was dead serious. On my way out I said, “sir!! You have egregiously offended me! This is an outrage of the highest order!! (I was now in the middle of a powerful temper tantrum) I then challenged him to a duel (to the death of course) with dull butter knives.

 

[GJgo]

I am currently leaning towards a normal Custom. A black one, because apparently the white ones are made on the USA production line because they have to use their paint booths for the white... WTF?

I also went down the Axcess rabbit hole- SUPER cool specs, however I found out they are thinner (like an ESP?) and around 8 lbs., with less of that heavy-ass Custom dripping tone. Dammit. Seems like every time they try to do something different & more modern, it includes sucking tone!!

 

[hopkinWFG]

Find yourself a good used Gibson CS RI 57 and never turn back...

 

[peterc52]

I don’t know if they’re alike. But I have a Custom Lite from the 80’s and it kicks all sorts of ass with an Aldrich

 

[GJgo]

Find yourself a good used Gibson CS RI 57 and never turn back...

As it turns out, my local GC has a new one of these in stock so I played it. At first I was turned off by the neck size but after A/Bing it with 10+ other LPs on the wall I realized how much better it really is. That said being all Mahogny it was definitely darker than the maple cap LPs across the board- which sound killer for bluesy riffs, but I have a suspicion in a mid / high gain band setting the maple cap ones will cut better.

So, I went down the rabbit hole of the 57RI vs the 68RI vs the not-RI Custom. Did you know the 57's PUPs are unpotted, and the RIs both use nylon nuts which likely have something to do with tuning stability? Anyway long story short, for what I'm going for I decided the non-RI Custom is probably the one for me.... and it'll be here on the brown truck this afternoon.

On paper I wanted the white one till I found out they're made on the USA production line because they have to be painted over there. For that price I want an actual custom shop build, so that was a nope for me. Black it is!

I also spent a minute looking at Custom Explorers, but at the end of the day what I'm really after is the LPC TONE which I've yet to experience another guitar that does that particular thing.

Over the years I've had a ton of passive PUP humbucker guitars and have bonded with essentially none of them despite @Beyond Black continually telling me I need a good one. So, here's hoping this one fits the bill.