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Yeah mine also has a fat neck, it's really nice and comfortable.
Harley Benton seems to be the only single coil Precision Bass available for under a grand but it's actually under 100 quid so I've always thought it surely can't be good at that price, can it?
It was a bright shiny thing with cheap knobs but I sanded and polished the finish bought an all-parts pickguard and some vintage style knobs.
Someone else might think its rubbish but it stays in tune, the neck feels great I didn't have to file the frets and it plays great.
Edit, not a brilliant picture but the finish looks a lot better after sanding (scouring in fact!)
https://i.imgur.com/iNS7oSd.jpg
I will say though, having stripped a very nicely finished "mahogany" Epiphone of its finish, it was just a glass-like layer of poly over a veneered blob of the weirdest, damp-feeling balsa-like substance I've ever seen.
It looked like a nice guitar, but basically had a similar construction to a Smartie, and no amount of pickup swapping helped it.
Cheap Gibsons sometimes look a little crude, but they're real guitars made out of real wood, and often sound excellent.
As for buying second hand, I totally get your worries. Can I suggest buying through the classifieds on this site? There are a ton of knowledgable people who will jump in and say if something seems dodgy.
Yes.. All Gibsons are (with the exception of the new wax finished acoustics).. The faded and tributes are just really thin.. Probably just a coupe of layers.
http://www.rabswoodguitars.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/RabsWoodGuitars/
My Youtube page
As well as the Les Paul Tribute I’ve got an early PRS SE single cut soap bar, Youngest Son has a PRS SE single cut and a top-end (I can’t remember the model but it’s the one with the USB output, Shadow nanomag “acoustic” transducer, and built-in tuner as well as a super blingy top and top-of-the-range for Epihone hardware and electrics) Epihone Les Paul.
It’s inarguable that the PRSii are ridiculously well made and finished for the money, they play very well, sound great, and have held up well to 10 years or so of quite hard use, the Epiphone (headstock shape aside) is also very well executed (and has the gadgets into the bargain). What the Gibson gives up in slickness and shinyness it more than makes up for in charm and even shipped with a soft case/gig bag that puts the PRS gig bags (which used to be pretty the benchmark for that sort of thing) in the shade. If you go for the stripped back looks and “woody” feel (which obviously I’ve fallen for a bit) the Gibson stands up pretty well and doesn’t feel like it’s built down to a price.
Aside from that though, I'm surprised to see someone who owns both seeming to prefer the low end Gibson. I wonder if maybe the prs se's from 10 years ago weren't as good as the recent ones? Obviously it's personal opinion to a degree, especially since you mention "charm" (which I admittedly don't know what means but assume it's a very personal thing), I'd just expect anyone with both to see the prs se being quite substantially better pretty objectively.
On the topic of liking the stripped down look, my Mrs actually likes the look of the Tribute more than my other guitars and I do like the look of it myself. I do think it looks and feels cheaper than the prs though.
watch Gumtree, Reverb and eBay for a while, there is continuous turn over. any seller here who has a posting history away from classifieds is probably sound.
a short dialogue with the seller usually gives you a feel for whether they're straight up.
avoid dealers unless you're content to pay their 30% mark up. (my two year old Classic was £1200 from the first owner, dealers ask £1700 for them http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/128673/dangd-scratching-the-les-paul-itch)
avoid any ad with a hyperbolic over-punctuated title eg "** SUPER RARE *** PLAYERS GRADE CLASSIC VINTAGE LES PAUL ***MUST BE SEEN***!!!!!!"
Costs a bit more, but you have that peace of mind.