How many times will I buy a les paul

cbellanga

Interesting topic.. I’ve been upgrading my les Pauls over time.. first a satin studio, then a wine red standard and then finally what I’d consider the pinnacle with my current R9 so I should be quite happy with the experience. Still, I never touch it. Strats have been always my go to guitar and recently I share that with the nocaster tele that I really enjoy playing. Although I love just staring at the r9, it’s a beautiful design thing.

webrthomson

Yeah I like the sound of a LP but I agree some o fthe ergonomics are lacking - I find I have issues with the following:

1. Weight - I've got a custom thats about 10-11 pounds, sounds great but far to heavy
2. Heel - WTF is this still this cumbersome
3. No belly cut - as I'm, ahem, a larger gent without the cut it sits at an odd angle when on a strap

While I still like my two LP's I did the following to solve the issues:

1. PRS 594
2. Feline Lion

Issues are now gone - granted the 594 does not sound exactly the same but it's close

JerkMoans

Has anyone ever routed out the back of a Gibson to make it more comfortable?

FelineGuitars

I like Les Pauls but only rarely do I find one that I like a lot 
Ease of play and manageable weight are the factors i look for as long as the sound is there 

However building my own take on them with the Lion model made the difference (to me) 

I could control the weight, give superb top fret access and still keep the sound and ensure that it sounded tight focussed  and resonant. 

rainer2859

[Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/xNXZbWT.jpg)

1984 Dot reissue, 100% mint with original Tim Shaws fitted, might be available ;-)

impmann

CloudNine said:

And no messing about with funky neck angles. Exactly where it should be, tailepiece decked and strings well clear of the back of the bridge. Having the right neck angle seems to regularly correlate with a good sounding and playing guitar. Some of the Gibson LP's and ES335's I have seen recently, jeeez...... Really need to find the right one of those....

Erm... sorry, I disagree with that statement - and always have. And always will.

The "right" angle is bobbins. If the tailpiece was designed to be decked, it wouldn't have been designed to be adjustable in height and it was. QED.

As for this statement about them not sounding "good" when the tailpiece isn't decked... thats crap. Utter crap. My own Goldtop isn't decked and I don't think anyone who's heard it would say it doesn't sound 'good' - in fact most say it sounds great/amazing. You are welcome to play/hear it at the Northampton Jam for yourself if you are available.

This business of neck angle vs sound/playability isn't a hard and fast fact - despite internet "wisdom". I've played plenty of Les Pauls that sound uninspiring that are 'perfect' in these regards and plenty that are great that aren't. You are welcome to choose your own guitar based on whatever criteria you want (including neck angles, tailpiece height etc) but do not cast aspertions against those that don't fit your vision.

:-)

FelineGuitars

JerkMoans said:

Has anyone ever routed out the back of a Gibson to make it more comfortable?

Dont know if i'd risk doing it to a Gibson in case it was chambered in some way , but to a new build I don't mind

merlin

I've had a few and am now settled on an R6. To my eye, ears and hands they work best as goldtops with mahoosive necks and P90s. This one will probably my last...

chrisj1602

I love Les Pauls and I've had some great ones. I always tire of them and sell them and don't currently have one.  If I could have any guitar now, it would be a Les Paul.

CloudNine

@impmann  In my experience, there is a difference in tone when the tailpiece is decked. I have no idea why to be honest. And with guitars that have a shallower neck angle, where the bridge does not need to be so high, as well as the pickups not needing need to be raised way up, they always seem to sound and play better, to me.

I will say that all the really high end LP style guitars that I see, all have a shallow neck angle/low bridge, and most of the lower end guitars have much steeper neck angle/high bridge. It is easier to make it on the steep side, then raising the bridge will accommodate it. The steep angle takes the need for accuracy out of the process I suppose. Building with a shallower angle you are walking a fine line of having very little room for manoeuvre. What is the reason all these high end builders go for that shallow neck angle? Also, all the golden era Gibsons seem to have a much shallower neck angle. Why is that? 

I would not personally buy an LP with a steep neck angle/high bridge anyway, but each to their own.  

p90fool

CloudNine said:

 Also, all the golden era Gibsons seem to have a much shallower neck angle. Why is that? 

I would not personally buy an LP with a steep neck angle/high bridge anyway, but each to their own.  

No they don't, well not after '52 anyway. The ABR-1 is narrower than the Nashville, which is why it always seems to have more clearance available to deck the tailpiece.

Also, the vintage bridge pickup ring is waaay higher than the current Standard/Traditional one, you wouldn't get it under the strings with a significantly reduced neck angle. Indeed, some late-50s sunbursts DO have deep scoring on the pickup ring from the strings, proving that a shallow neck angle is by no means "correct". On the contrary, those guitars are borderline faulty. 

Some people will always see anything which isn't exactly the same as a '59 as wrong, even things which make no difference, and the flatter belly of 50's guitars and Historics compared to Standards makes a nonsense of neck angles anyway. 

I can tell the sonic difference between a decked and non-decked tailpiece under some circumstances, but you can mimic the effect exactly by placing spacers underneath the tailpiece. It's not the position of the tailpiece but the fact that it's screwed tight to the body which matters, and that's a five minute fix. 

Whole forums are dedicated to this pointless minutiae on Les Pauls though, but ask an SG player about top-wrapping, bumble bee caps or truss rod condoms and he'll say "Eh? Got any fags mate only I don't get me Jobseekers til Thursday, this one's in A by the way."

CloudNine

Sorry, but regardless of bridge type, the older LP's I have seen and played always seem to have a shallower neck angle. Some of the bridge heights I have seen on some modern LP's and 335's in recent years is insane. Look like they might topple over.

This is not Gibson hating by the way. I own several Gibsons, and dearly love them.

re. The Tailpiece being decked and tone, I am none the wiser as to what is going on. Tried washers on a guitar in the past and not convinced it worked. You can mute the strings between the bridge and tailpiece while playing, and it does not affect the sound of the guitar at all, i.e. No vibration going through the strings beyond the bridge, so why would coupling of the tailpiece to the body make any difference? So how and why it all affects tone is beyond me. 

p90fool

CloudNine said:

Sorry, but regardless of bridge type, the older LP's I have seen and played always seem to have a shallower neck angle. Some of the bridge heights I have seen on some modern LP's and 335's in recent years is insane. Look like they might topple over.

This is not Gibson hating by the way. I own several Gibsons, and dearly love them.

re. The Tailpiece being decked and tone, I am none the wiser as to what is going on. Tried washers on a guitar in the past and not convinced it worked. You can mute the strings between the bridge and tailpiece while playing, and it does not affect the sound of the strings at all, i.e. No vibration going through the strings beyond the bridge, so why would coupling of the tailpiece to the body make any difference? So how and why it all affects tone is beyond me. 

How much older? I've played a lot of very shallow Norlin guitars, but the two or three late 50s Standards I've played have been pretty middling tbh. 

More recently I have no idea, my 2012 Trad isn't too high and I didn't really notice anything remarkable about the couple of dozen I tried while shopping. 

If you don't like the steeply angled ones that's fine, but I can't say I've noticed a common tonal theme among them personally, like most other Gibsons, they seem to be all over the place!

impmann

A friend has an early 60s 335 - he has bought into this bs about the tailpiece needing to be decked and so has to top wrap his strings. Looks shit and doesn’t sound any better or worse than before.

And the whole top wrapping thing - I thought the reason that Mr Allman did that was because he was having problems with the angles.... 
And look at JoBo’s original Goldtop had to be top wrapped due to the angles too (that’s what JB claimed in early interviews.

AllthegearNoidea

FelineGuitars said:

I like Les Pauls but only rarely do I find one that I like a lot 
Ease of play and manageable weight are the factors i look for as long as the sound is there 

However building my own take on them with the Lion model made the difference (to me) 

I could control the weight, give superb top fret access and still keep the sound and ensure that it sounded tight focussed  and resonant. 

Stunning build

ArchtopDave

My favourite electric. I have five, though they are not all Gibsons - one's a Trussart Rustomatic SteelDeville, and one I made myself.

LesbianWithAGun

I bought my 3rd Les Paul today/(yesterday)...

I bought my first Les Paul on eBay...
Seller's photos;

a 2000 Samick Korea Plant/Factory Epiphone Les Paul Standard.that I had @FelineGuitars rebuild...
I love that Les Paul.

It had a broken neck.

I really love my 1996 Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul Standard Red Sparkle Top/Dark Back.
It has a thinner neck and is a chambered guitar.

and my most recent purchase...
A 2005 Gibson Les Paul Standard R7 Gold Top/Dark Back.

My guitars tonight/just now.


I swapped over the toggle switches knob heads, and love it like that on both guitars.
My red guitar has gotten redder like a cosmic mystical 'blood red'/like a jewel of a toggle switch, and my Gold Top/dark back now looks way cool!

LesbianWithAGun

I judge a Les Paul/(guitar in general) on how it sounds unplugged, how it feels to play.
This Gold Top wouldn't be here if it didn't sound sexy unplugged because, that's how to hear the guitar, is unplugged.
It's all wood/solid heavy and it's got all the right shapes, light reflections and shadows.
I type this post, and look over to it/them (My Gibsons)... Because they're so beautiful, all of them/both of them have the same 'belly' as I like to call it, and this guitar, now that I've had my way with it today, having the pickups I want installed, looks like and sounds like the guitar I dreamed about since wanting to play on anybody's guitar.
As I was leaving, I remembered to ask if it was chambered (expecting the gentleman who served me to say it was 'because of the year it was built') and he said no. Sure enough... It's a heavy guitar, also what I wanted. - This was after they kindly put in the pickups I like and the straplock system that I like... I'm so happy I got my  new  used guitar (I don't really have enough money to buy them new but... I could buy a nice new guitar for the same money, but I'm fussy for what I want, there are a lot of great used guitars out there/In London/the world that I couldn't buy brand new/that I want/with my budget)... I just save money like that as I can toast my shopping list done.

When I got my 1999/2000 American Fender Deluxe Stratocaster, I became a Gibson Guy who had a Fender if ever that was a title to have; Though nice guitars because I do love Fender & Gibson; today 'yesterday' (haven't gone to bed yet) by chance.. - Confirmed it; but it's all good.

austinrocket

Had 3 or 4 and been looking for another for a few weeks. Not sure why cos I really struggle with them but I love the look. However the longer I go without finding one, the more I'm thinking I should just buy another SG instead as that's always been my go to guitar

MagicPigDetective

I read the comments on this thread with great interest. I'm a Strat owner with little experience of playing Gibsons, but I have developed an overwhelming GAS for a Les Paul, overtaking my previous hankering for an SG. But (sensible hat on), it would be a gamble to splash out on the expense of a proper Gibson, so I'm thinking of going for a Vintage Lemon Drop which is only £350 new and by all reports fairly similar in build to a Gibson; I hope it will give an idea of whether I'm suited to a Les Paul type guitar. I'm thinking that the only sure way of knowing is to own one; I find it hard to make quick judgements form brief under pressure testing in guitar shops.