Just the Les Pauls

Sold this a few years ago:

 

My old boss owns this one:

 

Always loved the Les Paul but they seem to get heavier with every passing day

Les Paul Custom (1995)


The pretty Standard


Jr.


Armstrong Jr.


My favorite - Les Paul Sg Custom

 

The 1979 The Paul. Not at all flashy but great playing and sounding guitar! And it was only $250 (in 1983)

 

Darn it now you've got me salivating. Of course, if I somehow had the money to buy a Gibson today (haha funny) it's a real gamble if it's gonna work or not. It might be a Friday car.

 

Love the green flame top

 

Old pics, sorry.

LPs by Ricochet posted Dec 30, 2009 at 3:34 PM

my 2 Japanese girls by Ricochet posted Jun 2, 2010 at 4:24 PM

 

Aw... It will be difficult to resist now - me included !

A+!

 

Incredible collection. Wow.
I used to own quite a vew of them but sold them vor various reasons. Mainly because they are so heavy on my shoulders and because the toggle-swith was alway in my way.

I am looking for a Junior right now. Love these little student model. They are a lot lighter and there is no toggle-switch on them.

 

Might as well include this particular folly.

In the tried and trusted tradition of @audept, I drunk purchased one of those "The Stratosphere" stripped 2019 Les Paul Classic body and neck listings on eBay. I had always fancied a nice burst Les Paul but had never had a reason for it, since my 1979 The Paul did everything as well... except be flashy looking. I had just received a payment from a client and was celebrating with some Jim Beam when I saw the listing... and 'click'.

I should have just returned it, I'm primarily a bass player these days and I certainly didn't need it.

It arrived a couple of days later and it was truly flawless to look at. I wired it up with a couple of Gibson '61 pickups (they only put these on SGs for some reason) got a set of Tulip Grovers Schaller bridge etc. I checked the frets with a rocker... yikes. The frets 12 and above were higher than all the rest. I thought these things were Plek'd? Anyway, I leveled, crowned and polished the frets and strung it up. Really nice! For about three weeks I stopped to stare at it every time I walked through the room, even picked it up once or twice for a quick strum.. really nice.

As soon as I needed cash, it was the first thing on the list to go. Listed it and sold it for less than I had into it.

 

My 2008 Epi 1959 Tribute Std. #234 of 1959 issued. I know, I know, but hey $300 used from GC during the first Great Recession Christmas. Also picked up a Vibro Champ for $200. ($500 for both) It was in Brentwood outside Nashville. I went for the big sale and I bet there were like 20 shoppers, mid-day wandering around. The manager was stressed.

 

Les Paul Custom and amp circa 1983

 

I want one of these, LP Gold Top 56’...Yummy

 

I'd only been collecting guitars for a couple of months (early last year) when GC had a sale on Epi LPs. I saw the Traditional Pro III Plus LE (what a mouthful) as the best value (with quilted top and actual US-made Gibson 57 pickups!) and ordered one in Transparent Black.

But the guitar I received looked a lot different with a green tint! I mulled it over and decided to keep it even though I didn't love the color, I did love the guitar. Didn't like the color clash with cream plastic and gold knobs so blacked it out after seeing some expensive Gibsons finished that way.

Looks OK in the light green case lining.

 

Then in June GC had a 2019 Gibson Studio Tribute they were closing out, down to $939 from $1200. I got them to give me the 10% Veteran discount off that so I bought probably the last good one in the company. No new ones left, this one was hanging untouched on the top row in a store.



I feel I got really lucky, this guitar is perfect with excellent build quality and I love everything about it.

So the Epi has US '57 HBs with coil splitting, phase shift and even a +15db amp while the Gibson has 490R and T pickups (very good, actually) with no switching.
I prefer the Gibson and feel it deserves the better pickups. Bought the pots and caps to switch the '57 HBs into the Gibson and will use the Jimmy Page wiring to get all the crazy options.
I bought a set of 5-wire GFS pro series HBs for the Epi but can switch in something else if I don't like them.

 

Here're mine in backwards order of acquisition:
2018 CS LP Deluxe 1975 Tribute:



2018 LP Classic:


'80s Burny Custom I degolded w/ aged Faber bits & BKP Black Dogs:


A '78 LP DC Special RI that came to me somewhat hacked up & I had some subsequent fun with, awesome for maximum aggro power chords :


My first nice guitar, a '92 LP Studio:

 

Very cool, great guitars ! 78

 

Love the Studio! I missed out. I have Burstbuckers that came with my Epi Tribute. Personally I would have preferred the 490R and T. I had a set in a modified Epi Lp100 slab. Wish I still had it, great sounding guitar.