A few days ago I visited a friend at a music store. I walked past a collection of used guitars. One of them caught my eye: a 2010 Gibson Trad
![](https://i.imgur.com/cFxR6JB.jpg)
Now it didn't look like this on the wall. The lighting made it look like a boring plain top.
Now, being the curious person that I am, I asked to try it out. What's the harm? I have three of this guitar shape and they're all killers.
Big mistake.
Not only was it better than my three MIJ Lawsuits (AND lighter) , it was better than every other Les Paul I've tried out or played I've had the privilege of trying out many standards throughout the year, a Heritage H150, one of those really, really high end Tokais and a few CS Historics. Of that list, only some Historics (not all) and the H150 were on par or slightly better.
For good measure, I A/B'd it with more Gibbies the store had. I A/B'd it with other, more figured flametop trads, a 2000 classic, a 2011 Trad, a 2008 Standard, A friggin 2007 R8 and a CS Black Beauty. This one was the best. I didn't care that it was a swiss cheese guitar, I didn't care that the neck was bowed noticeably, I didn't care that the fingerboard was dry or that the frets were gunky. It was the most resonant, and it sounded great and loud acoustically.
I went home, scored some deals by flipping some gear (guitars, basses, pedals, pickups, even computer parts), and went back to the store the moment it opened the next day.
I've given it some TLC: a proper setup, new strings, handwound PAF "clones", ordered some. Faber stuff to try out (all reversable mods)
I've always thought that the notion that "a guitar picks the player" was horse**** up until I was "called" by a guitar that turned out to be so much better than everything else I've tried. Could be still in the honeymoon phase, but I feel as connected to it as I do my no. 1 Rangka strat.
The nitro finish was a plus too. One of the things that makes this axe so comfy to play![](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190812/70a9fb4184573ac18f4ceccf4b7b790e.jpg)
![](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190812/2d2fdac88ee72587c50f492028e3e42d.jpg)
![](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190812/1155e6246a73c85a20a99ff91a53d9b3.jpg)
Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk
![](https://i.imgur.com/cFxR6JB.jpg)
Now it didn't look like this on the wall. The lighting made it look like a boring plain top.
Now, being the curious person that I am, I asked to try it out. What's the harm? I have three of this guitar shape and they're all killers.
Big mistake.
Not only was it better than my three MIJ Lawsuits (AND lighter) , it was better than every other Les Paul I've tried out or played I've had the privilege of trying out many standards throughout the year, a Heritage H150, one of those really, really high end Tokais and a few CS Historics. Of that list, only some Historics (not all) and the H150 were on par or slightly better.
For good measure, I A/B'd it with more Gibbies the store had. I A/B'd it with other, more figured flametop trads, a 2000 classic, a 2011 Trad, a 2008 Standard, A friggin 2007 R8 and a CS Black Beauty. This one was the best. I didn't care that it was a swiss cheese guitar, I didn't care that the neck was bowed noticeably, I didn't care that the fingerboard was dry or that the frets were gunky. It was the most resonant, and it sounded great and loud acoustically.
I went home, scored some deals by flipping some gear (guitars, basses, pedals, pickups, even computer parts), and went back to the store the moment it opened the next day.
I've given it some TLC: a proper setup, new strings, handwound PAF "clones", ordered some. Faber stuff to try out (all reversable mods)
I've always thought that the notion that "a guitar picks the player" was horse**** up until I was "called" by a guitar that turned out to be so much better than everything else I've tried. Could be still in the honeymoon phase, but I feel as connected to it as I do my no. 1 Rangka strat.
The nitro finish was a plus too. One of the things that makes this axe so comfy to play
![](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190812/70a9fb4184573ac18f4ceccf4b7b790e.jpg)
![](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190812/2d2fdac88ee72587c50f492028e3e42d.jpg)
![](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190812/1155e6246a73c85a20a99ff91a53d9b3.jpg)
Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk
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