Thinking about getting a Les Paul

[KY000]

I bought my first Les Paul in 1971. My current one is a 2014 Standard Plus.

[KY000]

I just noticed you were looking for an amp also. My Avatar 45 is less than 60 watts. But seriously, you don't even need 22w if you not playing outside your home. What tone are you looking for? American voiced or British voiced?

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

I've played Les Pauls for thirty-seven years. A few tips:

Read up, know the specs and necks and pickups.

1. Yeah, get out and play them.

2. '58 neck: thick. '59 neck: middling. '60s neck: slim. The modern standard has an "Assymetrical Slim Neck" that I find weird and uncomfortable.

3. Weight: three classes: solid is heavier to heavy. Weight-relieved is drilled with holes and can be too light, causing the peghead to drop when on a strap. Chambered is just about perfect and balanced.

4. I have three:
'74 standard built in Kalamazoo before the line was official. Heavy, medium-slim neck like a '59, sustain for AGES. This is the one that is challenging to keep on for a whole night due to weight.
2006 Studio weight-relieved. Fat neck. Neck-heavy but a lovely guitar.
2012 '60s Tribute Studio with P-90 pickups. Chambered. '60 profile slim neck. Balanced. Lovely. Weight like a Fender.

5. I'd get the Traditional over the Standard due to the neck but it is going to come down to your hands, your ears, your back, your money.

Have fun shopping!

Bob

If you like vintage LP tone...

I'd say go with a used historic with lighter non-weight relieved Mahogany than is typically found on the USA standard models. They also come with the lightweight aluminum tailpiece and ABR bridge which is screwed directly into the wood top, instead of the Nashville bridge with it's pot metal inserts!

If considering a modern style LP, check out a new Heritage H150 they are more than comparable, with more hand building in the process, real honduran mahogany back and eastern flame maple tops, and they generally come with some good pickups.

Here's a demo a did with a Heritage H150 through my Marshall 18 watt clone
https://soundcloud.com/daniel-weldon...ickups-in-h150

Here's a darker sounding clip with the same guitar through a brand new Vox AC15CC1 reissue https://soundcloud.com/daniel-weldon-1/vox-test

[KY000]

http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyl...Paul-Load.aspx

Of the three methods only #1 & #3 are currently being used.

[The Old Gaffer]

If weight is an issue, you should have a look at the Gibson ES Les Paul which is a semi-hollow body Les Paul.

[j3ffr0]

I really like that the new standards come with coil taps. Those are really handy if you want to thin the sound out a bit and emulate some fender twang. If you are only going to have one electric, giving those gives you a little best of both world.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

I've played Les Pauls for thirty-seven years. A few tips:

Read up, know the specs and necks and pickups.

1. Yeah, get out and play them.

2. '58 neck: thick. '59 neck: middling. '60s neck: slim. The modern standard has an "Assymetrical Slim Neck" that I find weird and uncomfortable.

3. Weight: three classes: solid is heavier to heavy. Weight-relieved is drilled with holes and can be too light, causing the peghead to drop when on a strap. Chambered is just about perfect and balanced.

4. I have three:
'74 standard built in Kalamazoo before the line was official. Heavy, medium-slim neck like a '59, sustain for AGES. This is the one that is challenging to keep on for a whole night due to weight.
2006 Studio weight-relieved. Fat neck. Neck-heavy but a lovely guitar.
2012 '60s Tribute Studio with P-90 pickups. Chambered. '60 profile slim neck. Balanced. Lovely. Weight like a Fender.

5. I'd get the Traditional over the Standard due to the neck but it is going to come down to your hands, your ears, your back, your money.

Have fun shopping!

Bob

Great post Bob.

Blitzwing, good luck on your research. There are so many variations of Les Pauls out there. One thing, if you see a Limited Edition it doesn't mean it is any more special than any other Les Paul or that it will go up in value. Usually it's a special order run for a retailer. Might include different pickups (that's what my LTD is).

[rburke]

Forget the Les Paul and get a SG and a Marshall.

[franchelB]

IMO, there IS a reason why the Les Paul Standard is called the "Standard"...is what most guitar players that I know buy when they buy a Les Paul. The Custom is too expensive, and the other models, like the Tradition, Studio, Deluxe, and Tribute, are "improvements" over the Standard.
But the Standard is what I would first look at if I were to buy a Les Paul (again).

[DesolationAngel]

Gonna throw a curveball...

I own a Standard 'honey burst' which was my dream electric guitar for well over twenty years before I could finally afford one. I loved it from the second I got it and I still do...

Now, a few weeks ago I was in a guitar store trying out a new Mesa amp and the guy in the store handed me a Les Paul that seemed, to my eyes, to be the ugliest Les Paul I'd ever seen. It was purple*. It had an open faced hum bucker and what looked like a P-90. It also had those robot machine heads. This is all just my opinion and I realize some people might love the look... but I didn't. But I played it. I turned on the tuners and pressed the button and watched it tune the guitar. Neat. Did it faster than I could have done with a Snark. Then I started playing it. Played with the "burst bucker", played with the P-90 (which is actually a stacked hum bucker P-90H) and played with the coil taps. A lot. And I really liked it. A lot.

It's also pretty inexpensive for a veritable swiss army knife of an electric. It just doesn't LOOK like a classic Les Paul (although the other colour schemes are, to my eyes, more acceptable).

Anyway. If you get the chance, have a play...

* apparently it's called 'plum insane'.

[TjthePhD]

I love my Lester, and I want no other electric guitar. Still, they aren't for everyone, and I feel no need to try to convince anyone otherwise.

[Jason Cole]

Originally Posted by GitFiddle

I have 11 Les Pauls covering the spectrum you describe above, have a 58 instead of the 59. I gravitate heaviest to my Traditional. It is my go-to. If I had to own one, that's the one I would keep. You may decide otherwise.

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

I've played Les Pauls for thirty-seven years. A few tips:

Read up, know the specs and necks and pickups.

1. Yeah, get out and play them.

2. '58 neck: thick. '59 neck: middling. '60s neck: slim. The modern standard has an "Assymetrical Slim Neck" that I find weird and uncomfortable.

3. Weight: three classes: solid is heavier to heavy. Weight-relieved is drilled with holes and can be too light, causing the peghead to drop when on a strap. Chambered is just about perfect and balanced.

4. I have three:
'74 standard built in Kalamazoo before the line was official. Heavy, medium-slim neck like a '59, sustain for AGES. This is the one that is challenging to keep on for a whole night due to weight.
2006 Studio weight-relieved. Fat neck. Neck-heavy but a lovely guitar.
2012 '60s Tribute Studio with P-90 pickups. Chambered. '60 profile slim neck. Balanced. Lovely. Weight like a Fender.

5. I'd get the Traditional over the Standard due to the neck but it is going to come down to your hands, your ears, your back, your money.

Good info!

I own 5 Lesters. A 2005 Faded Cherry Studio, a 2012 Special Junior with P90's, a mid-90s Korean Epiphone Doublecut with P90's, a 2010 Epiphone 1960 Tribute, and a 2008 Gibson Traditional.

The Traditional is the closest I've found for that "Holy Grail" Les Paul tone. It's just there. It IS...

My Epiphone 1960 Tribute is very very close... Same pickups, Classic 57s, aka "PAF". If I had bought the Epiphone first, I probably wouldn't have bought the Traditional. But even so, the Traditional is NOT for sale!

The Faded Studio gets trashed-talked sometimes because it was the lower end of the Gibson range when it first came out, but I adore the Burstbucker Pro pickups, and I love the neck and ultra thin finish. This guitar feels like a nice old denim jacket. Some of the later ones are pretty light, but mine is just as heavy as my Traditional, about 8 1/2 lbs. These are no longer made, but you can still find great deals in the used market.

The Les Paul Special and Epiphone Doublecut both have P90's, so it's a slightly different sound and look than what most people think of when they first think "Les Paul"... Many people like P90s for mild overdriven "raunch" but personally I love P90s for clean jazzy stuff, where you're getting a little natural compression through a nice tube amp, ala Charlie Christian.

The Les Paul is a legendary guitar. There are a lot of options, but you DON'T need to play all of them... Just explore the players with tones you like, and see what they used. And don't overlook Epiphone. They're making some great guitars these days. If you get one of the high end models with the USA pickups, they sound virtually identical to their American counterparts.

Hope this helps!

[Blunote]

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

If you like vintage LP tone...

I'd say go with a used historic with lighter non-weight relieved Mahogany than is typically found on the USA standard models. They also come with the lightweight aluminum tailpiece and ABR bridge which is screwed directly into the wood top, instead of the Nashville bridge with it's pot metal inserts!

If considering a modern style LP, check out a new Heritage H150 they are more than comparable, with more hand building in the process, real honduran mahogany back and eastern flame maple tops, and they generally come with some good pickups.

Here's a demo a did with a Heritage H150 through my Marshall 18 watt clone
https://soundcloud.com/daniel-weldon...ickups-in-h150

Here's a darker sounding clip with the same guitar through a brand new Vox AC15CC1 reissue https://soundcloud.com/daniel-weldon-1/vox-test

Another vote for checking out Heritage. What Dan didn't mention is that the Heritage Guitar Company was founded by former Gibson employees when Gibson moved operations to Nashville. The company occupies the historic Gibson Parson Street factory and uses many of the same machines and processes that created the iconic guitars of the 60's and 70's rock era.

For less money than a Gibson Standard, you can have a custom built guitar that is arguably the equal or Gibson's high end custom shop guitars.

That said, there's nothing wrong with a Gibby as long as you find a good one. I just think Heritage produces a better value by comparison.

[pitner]

Had a 1972 Custom but gave it to a friend as I was not using it. As I get older I seem to lean towards single coils electrics. Must be my ears who knows. The 72 is in good hands and get played quite a bit.

[jp2558]

Originally Posted by franchelB

IMO, there IS a reason why the Les Paul Standard is called the "Standard"...is what most guitar players that I know buy when they buy a Les Paul. The Custom is too expensive, and the other models, like the Tradition, Studio, Deluxe, and Tribute, are "improvements" over the Standard.
But the Standard is what I would first look at if I were to buy a Les Paul (again).

This. If you're are like me, you hear 'that' sound in your head and you'll never be happy until you have the tools your heart really wants. You won't regret a Standard. Heck it's what Jimmy Page and Joe Walsh use. I lucked out when I bought my Custom only because it was the only LP the store I bought from had left and the sale was 1/3rd off on Les Paul's with any trade. It was 1987 and I walked out the door not knowing the difference between a Standard and a Custom. Oh and the price was $750 out the door with my $300 Japanese Starfield as a trade. Sheesh - how did I get so lucky?