Very Intersting....Gibson "redesigns" the Les Paul

[LexLuthier]

Maybe they can route out a bunch of wood, and fill it in with Balsa wood. Oh wait, they arready did that. :LOL

[Endrik]

what next... toothpicks?

[Norton]

Next step, they'll move the plant to Iraq for cheap labor

[jwoods986]

For what they are charging, this is ridiculous! Of course, now prices will go up for used ones that are solid wood.

[skorb]

will Epiphone now have to pay a $300 licensing fee to use the Gibson style holes?

Gibson needs a fucking mgt change.

[xsentrick]

Don't some of the Agile LP copies avaliable at Rondo already have chambered body models??? Or is this something different.

[nsubulysses]

People at Gibson need to get a job

[hippietim]

Hmm...I need to head over to GC and see if they have any '07 Standards. I'm very curious about this. Chambering is not necessarily a bad thing.
I played a bunch of the Cloud series at Music Machine several years ago and they were fantastic sounding instruments. Gibson not clearly stating that they are semi-hollow in the documentation is pretty lame.

Reading about this on the LP forum is funny. One guy even said they should change the name because these are no longer Les Pauls.

[Bengal]

I wonder what Les Paul himself thinks...

I tend to agree with the LPF. They really are not Les Pauls. In shape maybe but not in construction...

[hippietim]

Can it still contain "Les Paul" in the new name?

[shreddermon]

I wouldn't be concerned by them changing the "swiss cheese" pattern, as LPs have been semi-chambered (i.e., weight relieved) for quite a while now. Besides, chambered bodies can kick ass. My GMP sure does.

The thing that is shocking to me is the statement that the revised glory-hole'ing has resulted in a "20 to 30%" weight reduction. That's a HUGE difference in wood for a solid-body guitar.

And it sounds like he's saying that's 20-30% less than was already the case with the old swiss cheese pattern. So now they've taken - what? - maybe 30 to 50% total out of the body? And they're not advertising as such. Yikes. Sure sounds like it might be cost-cutting double-speak, after all.

[xsentrick]

So maybe they should call them.........wait for it................................................ ..................Less Pauls.

[danastas]

I talked to someone who deals in GMPs, and he said the older solid Roxies are still much sought after and command a high price. You only see people selling chambered Roxies.

I hope this means that they're still going to leave the Historics untouched. The Historics are not weight releaved.

[Bengal]

Can it still contain "Les Paul" in the new name?

They can call it whatever they want. I don't care either way since I'm not a Gibson customer. But to me it does seem that it is a far cry from what it use to be...

I'm wondering if there is just a shortage of lightweight mahogany. Or if Gibson is just buying cheaper grade mahogany and doing this to it. Maybe it's me but most McCartys I've run accross are not over 10 pounds and I dont' think they chamber those bodies. I'm betting it's a cost saving feature. Shame some of that cost cutting doesn't trickle down to the customer...

And if they do this to the Standard line, can the Historics be far behind? I'd say no...

[charvelguy]

Greco was doing it long before Gibson did.
Warmoth also started doing this the past couple years I believe too.
Chambered has its applications and benefits, just not wanting to shell out same $$$. A studio custom lite with a floyd would be cool tho.