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Edited Date/Time
1/27/2012 3:39pm
I bought a new Les Paul a month or so ago. And I'm in love.
I've always liked the look of gold-tops, but I had a LP a long time ago, and it was too heavy, didn't play that well, and really didn't suit my purposes. But I owned it for a year and sold it for more than I paid for it (sold: $1800, paid: $1600).
But it was a 1995 version of the Gibson Les Paul Custom '57 Reissue Black Beauty with three humbuckers in it. It was pretty, but not a great guitar.
But I ran into a 2011 Les Paul Standard Pro at Guitar Center with P90s in it. And I love P90s. I have a Firebird with P90s in it, too (which I bought in part to avoid buying a Les Paul).
This Les Paul is fucking amazing. It's not just how it plays, physically, but the P90s are split-coils with push-pull knobs, so you can chop the power. I can make this LP sound like a Strat, or just about anything I want. It's fucking awesome.
Just sharing because I'm pumped. I've been playing this thing at least an hour a day since I bought it, and it has made me a better player (simply the motivation of wanting to play does that).
Here's a pic:
It retails for $3399, according to the Gibson site (click here to check the webpage on it: http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/Le… ), but the street price (I think it's a Guitar Center exclusive) is $1999. There's the gold-top, which has a '50s-style neck (fatter) and a black one with a '60s-style neck (thinner), and the '60s one at GC was $100 less.
I offered them $1900 out the door, and they did $1950. And I'm in love. Such a fucking great blues guitar. Or rock guitar. Or whatever. Great for slide - anything. Amazing shit. Highly recommended, and I'm not a "Les Paul" guy.
I've always liked the look of gold-tops, but I had a LP a long time ago, and it was too heavy, didn't play that well, and really didn't suit my purposes. But I owned it for a year and sold it for more than I paid for it (sold: $1800, paid: $1600).
But it was a 1995 version of the Gibson Les Paul Custom '57 Reissue Black Beauty with three humbuckers in it. It was pretty, but not a great guitar.
But I ran into a 2011 Les Paul Standard Pro at Guitar Center with P90s in it. And I love P90s. I have a Firebird with P90s in it, too (which I bought in part to avoid buying a Les Paul).
This Les Paul is fucking amazing. It's not just how it plays, physically, but the P90s are split-coils with push-pull knobs, so you can chop the power. I can make this LP sound like a Strat, or just about anything I want. It's fucking awesome.
Just sharing because I'm pumped. I've been playing this thing at least an hour a day since I bought it, and it has made me a better player (simply the motivation of wanting to play does that).
Here's a pic:
It retails for $3399, according to the Gibson site (click here to check the webpage on it: http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/Le… ), but the street price (I think it's a Guitar Center exclusive) is $1999. There's the gold-top, which has a '50s-style neck (fatter) and a black one with a '60s-style neck (thinner), and the '60s one at GC was $100 less.
I offered them $1900 out the door, and they did $1950. And I'm in love. Such a fucking great blues guitar. Or rock guitar. Or whatever. Great for slide - anything. Amazing shit. Highly recommended, and I'm not a "Les Paul" guy.
And Racer92, thanks!
The Shop
No endangered species were harmed in its making, right?
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/update-gibson-guitar-ceo-says-feds-told…
If you import wood illegally, I'm sure there are different standards to importing an actual finished product.
Instead, why don't they import legal wood?
I don't remember the last time I saw a Les Paul Custom for under $2,000. (Yours is a Custom, right?)
Actually I do remember.
A few years ago, Guitar Center in Brea had a "Tobacco Burst" Lefty on the wall for $1400.
I almost bought it on the spot, but figured I should warm my wife to the idea first.
After a few days of schmoozing the wife, I went back...
It was gone!
I know some guys prefer Fender, but I think every guitar player should have at least one quality LP in their lifetime. If you ever find the right one, it just feels right in your hands immediately.
Nerdy needs to put up some Youtube clips of Goldie in action !
I had a Custom way back when, but not anymore. And this guitar is far superior to that Custom that I had before.
Are you a lefty?
Strats aren't the same, though. Strats are harder to play (which is good, in my opinion) because the longer scale makes sustain tougher to get, and same with the lower-powered single-coils, etc. You really have to saw at a Strat (which is awesome, and I love doing it) whereas the LP you can just kind of be nice to it...
I only have two off-the-rack guitars out of the seven guitars I currently own: My Strat of almost 30 years (my all-time favorite), and the old Takamine acoustic I got for H.S. Graduation back in mumblemumblemumble.
Of the other five, I ordered a lefty ES-335 from Gibson, a W-14 Grand Auditorium from Taylor, Yamaha built me a guitar to play at a Yamaha sponsored gig at the Budokan in 1990 (only time I ever played it, and it's currently on semi-permanent loan to my left-handed nephew), an unlabeled hollow body Telecaster copy built for me by Bernie Heffner of Eden Haus fame, and a TR Strat copy built to my specs by Tom Riser of Strings and Things in Fullerton.
It sucks to be a lefty and see all the wonderful axes hanging on the wall at Guitar Center, and the only left-handed ones are an Indonesian Strat, and a $175 Yamaha acoustic...
The kid's doing pretty good, but the first time I put one of my guitars in his hands we were all amazed at how quickly he translated everything he's already learned to the lefty guitar.
It just feels natural to a lefty to fret with the right hand.
I think if you force a kid to learn on an instrument that doesn't feel natural, you might frustrate him out of wanting to play.
Jimi Hendrix was actually right-handed, you know...
Pit Row
Yeah, but his brain was different from the rest of us.
There have been a few right handed golfers who played lefty, too.
I suppose if you're learning something from scratch, you could go either way.
The point is that if you feel unnatural doing it, it will probably be harder than it needs to be.
If you hand a kid a guitar (who's never held one), and he naturally flips it to a lefty stance, you've got to figure that he'll learn easier and excel faster on a left handed instrument.
He should get that thing appraised.
The finish is actually wallpaper on the guitar with a clearcoat sprayed on top. Very cool guitars. I'd love to have one of those.
'Nuff said!
If I didn't have at least a little soul, what would I need an ES-335 for?
"Beard" used in the same way it's used for wives of gay men. It's a disguise to make people believe you have to have a soul.
Clever, but not THAT clever...
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