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It was bloody marvellous.
But I'm in no hurry and try both Gibson and PRS.
If you are talking new, then you have to look at resale. I've sold too many "dream guitars that I'll never sell". Waiting for the end of year blowout on a Les Paul Traditional is a better financial deal. When I bought my current Les Paul, I actually ended up with an R8, but I tried about a bunch of Traditionals that were knocked down to £1200. A new Japanese Tokai would probably have set me back £1000 at the time. Given the difference in resale, and that fact that I could live with the Burstbuckers in a LP Traditional, but not the overwound Tokai pickups I'd go for the LP any day and it would make financial sense to do so.
Given that I'd prefer most Traditionals I've played to my old Tokai it makes sense from a playing point of view as well as financial.
Where Tokai normally score is when you can get them second hand, because the resale is so bad on them. While I'd prefer a LP Traditional to a Tokai, the Tokai is still a very good guitar and might be half the price second hand. A second hand Tokai will knock spots off most other things in it's price range. Thankfully there are enough people who have the "I'll never sell this guitar" delusion who are willing to buy new, that some of them still come up second hand.
The yard is nothing but a fence, the sun just hurts my eyes...
https://reverb.com/news/gibson-announces-custom-shop-les-paul-with-built-in-overdrive
...oh.
At the moment I'm looking for:
* Hamer Watson, SS2, Vintage S, T62.
* Music Man Luke 1, Luke II
Please drop me a message.
If it's a keeper for life then fine, but a Gibson will hold it's price better. You can get a great second-hand Gibson for £2K.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
The last time I did that I had no intention to even look at anything Gretsch, but there was a red Panther on the wall which I tried just for shits and giggles. It was such a killer guitar. Budget couldn't quite stretch that far at the time, though.
I've been laughed at for saying it before but if you want great Les Paul look at the slash signature models, yet to play one that was anything other than excellent and really they are pretty much LP standard money.
If I was the OP I'd find one of those and upgrade it to be exactly the way I think I want it in terms of hardware, pickups, and electronics. And still have some spare cash afterwards.
> You can get a great second-hand Gibson for £2K.
Indeed you can. But until you've compared it to an equivalent £2k used Tokai, we're back where we started.
There are Tokais out there that are great and in your opinion an equivalent Tokai will be better, however there are a lot of people who disagree and you're qualifying it with "well if you've never compared it to a £2k Tokai you're talking shit". No one is disagreeing with you about them being great guitars but they are a Les Paul "copy", some people including me would rather have the real thing. Not because they are worse, I would put my 1999 Standard against all others because its mine and I love it, but because that is their choice. Stop criticising people for making personal choices, it's got naff all to do with brand loyalty there's enough of us questioning the brand in this thread and others. Gibson has made and continues to make great guitars, the op has expressed he wants a Gibson and will try some others along the way. Give it a rest with the Japanese flag waving, there's only one person on here being inflammatory and waving brand loyalty in everybody's face and it's you.
P.s. Who cares what guitar is on that cover, his number one guitar and number 2,3,4, & 5 were all Fender Strats so thats brand loyalty for you.........
The yard is nothing but a fence, the sun just hurts my eyes...
Cheers,
Ben.
At the moment I'm looking for:
* Hamer Watson, SS2, Vintage S, T62.
* Music Man Luke 1, Luke II
Please drop me a message.
I would always ignore the branding and look at the instrument, and so would almost certainly buy a top-flight Japanese model, knowing that, wherever I buy it from, I will almost certainly get a 'good' one at a justifiable price and won't have to embark on a long search for a Gibson version that has actually been put together in a way that reflects the price tag, let alone the '1 in 10' that Gibson supposedly gives some sort of magical mojo to.
Another reason for thinking this way is that I regard the links between the current owners of the Gibson trademark and the original Gibson company as being little more than marketing spin. To my mind the only 'genuine' Les Pauls are those that were made by the now long-dead original Gibson company in Kalamazoo.
Today's Gibson company is by all accounts dreadful to work for with a poorly motivated workforce and, let's face it, it is in the 'copy' business as much as any maker of 'Chibsons'! The only real difference is that it just happens to have legal title to the seemingly all-important 'Gibson' brand name and some almost irrelevant specifics of the shape of the guitar. Being able to exploit the Gibson brand name and the legacy of those guitars made by what to most intents and purposes was an entirely different company, in a different location 60 years ago is the only thing that keeps the company afloat as it lurches from one disaster to another.
(OK, to be fair Gibson is also an innovative guitar maker, offering the public such such things as the Firebird X, the Dark Tiger and robo-tuners. Enough said!)
The only downside to refusing to be a 'brand whore' is that so many others are, and as a result the resale values for guitars that don't have the 'right' name on the headstock might not be so good.
FGN also make some good 'LP shaped' bits of wood and their quality should be on a par with an Ibanez prestige, which they also make. Plenty around on the German market (which always values quality) including some from Thomann, although they don't seem to stock the top of the range models such as the LS30, which is pretty comparable to a Gibson vintage reissue. Others do, for example:
http://www.lkg-guitars.de/gitarren/fgn-guitars-made-in-japan/fgn-neo-classic-ls-30-faded-vintage-violin-incl-high-quality-lifton-case-l160792/
Here are the base and mid-range models. I would probably go for one of these, especially seeing as the main difference between these and the LS30 is that the top of the range one has a solid flame maple top, rather than plain maple, or plain maple with a flame veneer.
http://www.lkg-guitars.de/gitarren/fgn-guitars-made-in-japan/fgn-neo-classic-ls-10-plain-faded-cherryburst-incl-lifton-case/
http://www.lkg-guitars.de/gitarren/fgn-guitars-made-in-japan/fgn-neo-classic-ls-20-heritage-darkburst-l121079/
Some nice galleries of the low and mid range FGN 'LP' models here:
http://www.guitarsrebellion.com/crbst_608.html
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