Best ‘bang for the buck’ Les Paul?

BlueStrat

PRS SE 245?
or the Bernie Marsden signature?
 Great quality and a good price

Logie

For an indicator, there’s a spotless Tokai LS150 on gumtree for £1000. If the lack of Gibson on the headstock doesn’t bother you it’s a lot of guitar for the money.

duotone

dazzajl said:

Snags said:

For everyone saying "Vintage V100", is that stock, or is it "Vintage V100 with a new bridge, pickups, switchgear etc."?

Not being pissy, genuinely interested. I've got a 90s LP Studio (by chance, I wanted an LP, and it was the 90s when i'd saved up enough money to buy one, but couldn't stretch to a Standard), but am often intrigued by things with a little more visual sparkle. So a pre-loved V100 could be an interesting compare and contrast, but only if it's as-it-comes, not a modding platform (no time for poncing about at the moment).

Depending on where you get it from, it could be perfect out of the box or in absolute dire need of a decent setup. It won’t need anything replacing though, the Wilkinson hardware and pickups are fabulous 

I remember Trev Wilkinson saying how Seth Lover told him the secret/tip for the classic Les Paul tone.

“It’s gotta be Nickel silver backing plates & Nickel silver covers” 

Check from 2:35mins

https://youtu.be/F_EIJOkQWFY

hollywoodrox

underdog said:

Gibson Les Paul tribute are good guitars, to be honest I'm not sure of the price of a used Les Paul these days but for a grand I'd imagine you would have a lot of choice.

I didn’t love mine like I do my epiphone’s  Which just feel so much better so I sold it .
my 2016 epiphone custom pro LP was outstanding .

I really really fancy the Harley Benton SC custom FR  24 frets and a Floyd rose 1000 under £300.

I really like late 80s play to standards as far as Gibson goes . I was going to buy one that had had a neck break but my luthier friend said with that particular break he would avoid it , but a lot that have had a clean break and been fixed are stronger than new . It was a shame as it looked like one of the 87 factory second ones Gibson sold him to take on tour promoting AFD.

if I could get one like that or similar to the Joe Perry one he had that would be ideal 

sunshinewelly

The gibson signature T models were very good

You can get them second hand for £1000

http://aws2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/Les-Paul-Signature-T.aspx

sunshinewelly

Ultimately you will end up getting a gibson. I went through a number of les Paul's telling myself let's be different ie tokai, epiphones

But I am sorry the name on the headstock does make a difference

Just get a gibson les paul and be done with it

End up being the cheaper option in the end 

DrJazzTap

Jap tokai or a 90s les paul studio 

Revolting1

If a maple capped singlecut rather than a Les Paul will do check out JJ Electras,made in UK, great pickups which split

well,great fingerboards and usually seriously undervalued second hand around  £500 ish bound or unbound.

 

mynameistrouble

I used to own a beautiful 98 LP Custom, and never got on with it. I tried and tried but it just never quite sounded right. I kept wanting to change out the pickups and stopped myself, thinking if it doesn’t sound how i want then i just have to accept that the name and the look is not reason enough to keep a guitar I don’t get on with.  

Before that I had a Gibson SG, same issue - looked great, had the name, never sounded how i wanted even when i changed out the pickups.

More recently i got a firebird, which has been the closest a gibson has come to the sound I want.

Then a couple of weeks ago i got a 1976 Greco LP Custom from russianbear and completely stock out of the box it just sounds right and there’s nothing i would change about it.

So, bottom line, Gibson looks amazing and has the name, but definitely not the be all and end all. 

johnhe

I think that “bang for the buck” means different things to different people. And everyone has a different budget available.

For me, I have an additional criteria. My busted left shoulder means I’m always looking out for a lighter weight guitar. I’ve had a few Les Paul tributes. If you can stomach the satin finish, I think they’re really hard to beat - you’re getting a made-in-America Gibson with a nitro finish.

Last year however I was in the position to be able to pay a little more, so I went on the hunt again. After looking at various used custom shop Les Paul’s, I ended up buying a Eastman SB59. Mine is a black one with the SD Pearly Gates pickups. All solid wood, ebony board, nitro finish. And weighs just under 7.7lbs. Even with a huge budget, I would be struggling to get a CS LP that light. I’m very, very happy with the Eastman. I can’t say I wouldn’t still fancy an R9 with Gibson on the headstock. But the Eastman was around £1500, which I thought was very good value for The quality of the guitar i ended up with.

here it is.

https://imgur.com/gallery/4f8dhwT

Musicman20

I ended up with a 2017 Gibson LP Tribute Model which was crazily under £600 new back then.

Great guitars if you can find one. Satin finish, nothing too flashy, great pickups, nice weight, reveal binding.