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Here's a similar pressed ply Univox version, owned by Earl Hooker but borrowed here by Magic Sam. You won't get a modern cheap Les Paul copy to sound like this...
I endured one of these pieces of shit as my second electric guitar. It had no pleasing qualities whatsoever - thats why we all got rid of them as quickly as we could back then. Yes, you could fit new pickups to it but thats akin to rolling it in glitter - as you can't polish a turd.
I'm stunned that *anyone* would pay more than £50 for such a guitar - as for the prices quoted above you could buy something that sounds and plays far superior for less.
Its not kitch cool, its not cool at all... its just a cheap, nasty Les Paul.
Everybody knows that anything "vintage" and "MiJ" is worth decent money.
If you can get "lawsuit" into the description as well, then it's worth real decent money.
I'm with you. The choice between buying one of these - even one that's been sorted so that it's playable - for £250 or a s/h PRS SE really shouldn't be any sort of choice for anyone ...
Sounds like 70s disco dating all over again
But let's face it, we all have ordinary, normal-sounding guitars falling out of every cupboard, but these things are cheap, quirky and fun.
Live a little.
It's the enormously heavy plywood body that comes to mind.
To be honest, compared to what you can buy cheaply nowadays they fall very short.
This was me and my friend in the early 80s! They were always black LP Custom types and out of reach of our pocket money budgets. I eventually got a 3/4 size Satellite "Strat" and my friend got a similar Kay. Loved those guitars. My 16th birthday coincided with my rather excellent O-level results which meant a lot of money from relatives, which I spent on a Vantage LP-style from Andy's in Denmark Street, which despite being a bolt-on neck with a pressed laminate top, was a pretty decent guitar which served me well.
Or you just want something that reminds you of your youth, for less than they cost in real terms back then...
For a reliable gigging guitar with a generic sound that won't go out of tune, buzz or do anything else "interesting" I'd pick the PRS or some other modern guitar, yes. For something cool to have at home and actually enjoy owning, I'd pick the Columbus.
These comments about them being heavy surprise me - I don't remember any I've come across being that heavy, actually if anything often too light compared to a proper Les Paul.
I will admit to burning about half a dozen of them too - to be fair, they all had unrepairable (at least economically) damage like broken headstocks or the bodies coming apart, and I did strip all the salvageable parts of them first.
The sign of either real dedication or complete madness is that I took all the pickups apart and made half the number of proper humbuckers out of them .
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Think there was a Minns in Taunton. I've got a Japanese made Joodee acoustic that my parents bought me for Christmas in 1982. That was from a shop in Taunton. Minns seems to ring a bell for the name of it.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Sorry, chap, but "character"... no, the sound of these guitars *defined* characterless. If I can persuade my tape deck to work, I'll upload a recording made with my dreadful (and it was dreadful) Columbus Les Paul when I was in my teens. Even then I knew it sounded shit, played badly and had the resonance of marshmallow. Seriously, the combination of no discernable character in the wood (Ply & Hardboard), shonky mazac bridge/tailpiece, nylon nut and badly wound, single coil masquerading as humbucker pickups (through appaling pots) created the most dismal, weedy and characterless sound I've ever heard from a guitar.
And a PRS SE is 'bland'? Hmmm... I think you may be on your own with that opinion.
Nope, I guess those of us that endured these pieces of shit as guitars when we learning would rather not have anything to do with them now. Another example of how "just because something is old doesn't mean its 'good' or got somehow 'better'".
Yes, absolutely and completely characterless. It could be *any* generic modern two-humbucker guitar. Nicely made, play well, and reliable - but utterly dull.
They haven't got inherently better, but it's possible to improve them a lot if you want to, without destroying what's good about them.
I quite liked my Hondo... I did replace the pickups with some second hand DiMarzios, but I only sold it because I got a real Les Paul Deluxe.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
They're just cheap and nasty IMO, what's quirky about a cheap copy? Proper 60s/70s Japanese weirdness a la Teisco Spectrums etc. can be fun.
Our neighbour was working on his old Morris 1000 last weekend. It was his mother's, sold to her by his uncle, got loads of paperwork with it, etc, etc.
It has character a-plenty (in lieu of things like effective brakes, safety belts, lights that actually show where you're going, a radio, etc) but it's not a car that I'd choose to use to actually go anywhere.
Yet it obviously has huge sentimental value to him, so he's happy to spend the time and money to keep it in running order to maintain that value.
On that basis, I can understand someone wanting a Columbus LP - memories of their early playing days, etc.
Indeed, I too had one as my first guitar. But some things, I just don't need reminding of ...