It's time for a Les Paul. Experts help needed!!!!!

[zeegler]

Well, I've been trying to avoid it for a long time now, but I think it's about time I bought myself a Gibby. I am going to sell some gear, and begin browsing around to see what's out there. I need some pointers though on what year I should be looking for. I want a slim to medium sized neck. I'm not too picky about the finish, and I'm also willing to look at guitars that are in less than perfect condition, as long as they don't have any major mods. Help me out here people.
By the way, I want a Standard. Definitely not a Studio, Special, or anything with 3 hums.

[jgcable]

Re: It\'s time for a Les Paul. Experts help needed!!!!!

Go for a cherry sunburst custom.

[zeegler]

Re: It\'s time for a Les Paul. Experts help needed!!!!!

[ QUOTE ]
Go for a cherry sunburst custom.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't want a Custom John. I want a Standard, and I really like the honeyburst. My Weddington is Cherry burst, so I'd prefer something different.

[BTB007]

Re: It\'s time for a Les Paul. Experts help needed!!!!!

I think you'll have to await a response from Don, but have you thought about a Classic?
I loved the 1996 one I had. The inlays and tuners weren't as green as the newer ones are. I had the classic '57's put in and I swear that neck pickup is the best ever!

[zeegler]

Re: It\'s time for a Les Paul. Experts help needed!!!!!

What's the difference between a Standard and a Classic. Yeah, I'm dumb. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[zeegler]

Re: It\'s time for a Les Paul. Experts help needed!!!!!

By the way, I HATE gold tops. Sorry!

[SRD86]

Re: It\'s time for a Les Paul. Experts help needed!!!!!

As far as I know, not much, I think it's more cosmetic, I have a Standard and a Classic, the neck is a little thinner on my Classic, but aside of that they seem similar to me, but i'm far from an expert

[jwoods986]

Re: It\'s time for a Les Paul. Experts help needed!!!!!

The classic has open ceramic pups, the inlays and tuners are "greenish" for a vintage look, and it has the 60s slim neck (although you can get that on a Standard now). Those are the main differences as far as I remember (I had a classic).

[jgcable]

Re: It\'s time for a Les Paul. Experts help needed!!!!!

Let me take a few guesses why you feel its time for a Les Paul.
1. Your tired of playing guitars that have excellent upper fret access.
2. Your tired of playing guitars that are comfortable to play for extended amounts of time.
3. Your looking for a guitar that will snap its headstock off with the slightest bump.
4. Comfort bevels just don't do anything for you. You prefer having a binding digging into your forearm.
5. Everybody knows that Gibson vintage tuners are excellent.

Did I get it??

[SRD86]

Re: It\'s time for a Les Paul. Experts help needed!!!!!

[ QUOTE ]
Let me take a few guesses why you feel its time for a Les Paul.
1. Your tired of playing guitars that have excellent upper fret access.
2. Your tired of playing guitars that are comfortable to play for extended amounts of time.
3. Your looking for a guitar that will snap its headstock off with the slightest bump.
4. Comfort bevels just don't do anything for you. You prefer having a binding digging into your forearm.
5. Everybody knows that Gibson vintage tuners are excellent.

Did I get it??

[/ QUOTE ]

WOW, not much of a fan, huh? [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[Flatpicker]

Re: It\'s time for a Les Paul. Experts help needed!

The current classics are 3 piece bodies. Get a standard with the 60's neck.

[danastas]

Re: It\'s time for a Les Paul. Experts help needed!

I went through 3 Les Pauls until I settled on one last year. I was in your exact same position. On EBAY, a black beauty standard will cost you about 1k-1.1k. I bought one of those and a burst standard. I messed around with them, talked to a few Les Paul experts who knew their stuff, and they said go for the historics. The only two affordable ones were the 57 and 58s. The 57 has a thick neck, and I was originally turned off by that, but now I love it. I simply get a lot more leverage when I play it. Oh, and it's a gold top. I bought a 2004 used for $1500. The 58 sunbursts have a medium sized neck. They cost the same as the goldtops brand-new ($2500) but I haven't seen as many on EBAY so I can't say what they'll go for used.

I played my standards side-by-side with the historics, and there was a really big difference in sound. Tonally, the historics were well-rounded, and the sustain beat the standards by a mile. I sold the standards the next day (actually sold them for $200 more than I bought them).

The best buy for the money is the fat-necked 57 GoldTop because you're getting a custom build for a good price. Of course, you hate Goldtops and fatter necks, so your best option would be these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2005-Gibson-Historic...1QQcmdZViewItem

I'm guessing this could go for $1,600 on used or older models.

[jwoods986]

Re: It\'s time for a Les Paul. Experts help needed!!!!!

[ QUOTE ]
Let me take a few guesses why you feel its time for a Les Paul.
1. Your tired of playing guitars that have excellent upper fret access.
2. Your tired of playing guitars that are comfortable to play for extended amounts of time.
3. Your looking for a guitar that will snap its headstock off with the slightest bump.
4. Comfort bevels just don't do anything for you. You prefer having a binding digging into your forearm.
5. Everybody knows that Gibson vintage tuners are excellent.

Did I get it??

[/ QUOTE ]
[img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
That's funny! I had my classic for over a year and have to say most of these are right on. The main reason I sold it was #5. I even had a setup done and the 3rd string would not stay in tune.

[jgcable]

Re: It\'s time for a Les Paul. Experts help needed!!!!!

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Let me take a few guesses why you feel its time for a Les Paul.
1. Your tired of playing guitars that have excellent upper fret access.
2. Your tired of playing guitars that are comfortable to play for extended amounts of time.
3. Your looking for a guitar that will snap its headstock off with the slightest bump.
4. Comfort bevels just don't do anything for you. You prefer having a binding digging into your forearm.
5. Everybody knows that Gibson vintage tuners are excellent.

Did I get it??

[/ QUOTE ]

WOW, not much of a fan, huh? [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually I love Les Pauls. I just don't think they are very player friendly. I think of Les Pauls like 57 Chevy's or 63 split window Vette's. Excellent to look at, I wish I had one, but not very fun to drive and virtually no performance as compared to todays cars.
I believe that every guitarist should have a Les Paul in case they want to record a rhythm track or something. I also believe they should play and gig with their Ibanez guitars. Why grab a 22 fret heavy chunk of wood that has crappy upper fret access, crummy tuners and low wide frets with a fixed bridge when you can grab an Ibanez with 24 jumbo frets, the best locking trem on the planet, the best Dimarzio pickups money can buy, unchallenged tuning stability and a 5 way super switch that literally can take you from rip roaring humbucker to strat/tele tones and a super comfortable body contour and weight. Perfect balance too! YEP..... FLAME ON!!!!!!!!

[Flatpicker]

Re: It\'s time for a Les Paul. Experts help needed!

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Let me take a few guesses why you feel its time for a Les Paul.
1. Your tired of playing guitars that have excellent upper fret access.
2. Your tired of playing guitars that are comfortable to play for extended amounts of time.
3. Your looking for a guitar that will snap its headstock off with the slightest bump.
4. Comfort bevels just don't do anything for you. You prefer having a binding digging into your forearm.
5. Everybody knows that Gibson vintage tuners are excellent.

Did I get it??

[/ QUOTE ]

WOW, not much of a fan, huh? [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually I love Les Pauls. I just don't think they are very player friendly. I think of Les Pauls like 57 Chevy's or 63 split window Vette's. Excellent to look at, I wish I had one, but not very fun to drive and virtually no performance as compared to todays cars.
I believe that every guitarist should have a Les Paul in case they want to record a rhythm track or something. I also believe they should play and gig with their Ibanez guitars. Why grab a 22 fret heavy chunk of wood that has crappy upper fret access, crummy tuners and low wide frets with a fixed bridge when you can grab an Ibanez with 24 jumbo frets, the best locking trem on the planet, the best Dimarzio pickups money can buy, unchallenged tuning stability and a 5 way super switch that literally can take you from rip roaring humbucker to strat/tele tones and a super comfortable body contour and weight. Perfect balance too! YEP..... FLAME ON!!!!!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

I have to agree. I replaced most of my Gibby's with Hamers for comfort and performance reasons.
Kept 3, a SG reissue, a LP custom, and my grandfathers 60 ES 355TD. The rest went away.