A sub-700 dollar Les Paul? Srsly?

[blueman335]

Re: A sub-700 dollar Les Paul? Srsly?

This might be a blessing in disguise, an american made guitar for the price of a import. think about it. you're putting food on your neighbors table, well there's that and im sure the people making are being paid a decent wage, just say'n.

With LP Standards costing almost $2,500, they can't afford to put anywhere near the quality of materials and labor into these. The big attraction is the Gibson name. You get good PU's, but realisically, expect everything else to be done as cheaply as possible. These are not being sold at cost; there is still a healthy profit margin in them at that price.

 

[guitarrob]

Re: A sub-700 dollar Les Paul? Srsly?

Why is it so cheap?
You guy s are saying poor materials and workmanship?
More like a cheap EPI with Gibson markings?

 

[elelpe]

Re: A sub-700 dollar Les Paul? Srsly?

With LP Standards costing almost $2,500, they can't afford to put anywhere near the quality of materials and labor into these. The big attraction is the Gibson name. You get good PU's, but realisically, expect everything else to be done as cheaply as possible. These are not being sold at cost; there is still a healthy profit margin in them at that price.

IIRC you are the king of cheap/mid-priced guitars.

 

[Shadow1psc]

Re: A sub-700 dollar Les Paul? Srsly?

With LP Standards costing almost $2,500, they can't afford to put anywhere near the quality of materials and labor into these. The big attraction is the Gibson name. You get good PU's, but realisically, expect everything else to be done as cheaply as possible. These are not being sold at cost; there is still a healthy profit margin in them at that price.

I haven't checked out the detailed spec sheets, but these aren't too far apart from the regular $1,400 Les Paul Studios, and I think in a blind test you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

 

[St_Genesius]

Re: A sub-700 dollar Les Paul? Srsly?

I bought two of the 60s tributes: a 1-piece and the 3-piece. the 1-piece sounded pretty good, the 3-piece sounded amazing.

Sold the 1-piece for 50% over retail on eBay, thus paying for half of the 3-piece, which I kept.

So as much as I think the snobbishness over gluing wood together is silly, I'm sure glad it exists and that people are willing to pay extra for it.

They don't stain them black because they're beautiful, one piece, rings-like-a-bell mahogany

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: A sub-700 dollar Les Paul? Srsly?

I bought two of the 60s tributes: a 1-piece and the 3-piece. the 1-piece sounded pretty good, the 3-piece sounded amazing.

Sold the 1-piece for 50% over retail on eBay, thus paying for half of the 3-piece, which I kept.

So as much as I think the snobbishness over gluing wood together is silly, I'm sure glad it exists and that people are willing to pay extra for it.

I will reinforce what you've said - glued, multi-piece bodies don't necessarily always sound bad. Every guitar is the sum of a million factors, etc.


This stands as an independent declaration.

Beside it, and not in conflict with it, is a separate declaration that I have 9 or 10 guitars, and my two favorites are 1 piece bodies, and my next 2 favorites are 2 piece bodies. And not because I know that about them - just realized that the 1-piecers are my favorites yesterday when we talked about it. Just a correlation.

 

[Psykel]

Re: A sub-700 dollar Les Paul? Srsly?

I bought two of the 60s tributes: a 1-piece and the 3-piece. the 1-piece sounded pretty good, the 3-piece sounded amazing.

Sold the 1-piece for 50% over retail on eBay, thus paying for half of the 3-piece, which I kept.

So as much as I think the snobbishness over gluing wood together is silly, I'm sure glad it exists and that people are willing to pay extra for it.

My SG Special 60s Tribute got a 4-piece body as far as I can tell (it's painted white, but under a good light it looks like 4 pieces due to graining - might be 3 pieces tho, but I doubt it) and it sounds and feels frikken' amazing. Super resonant unplugged and it sounds really massive plugged in.

 

[AlexR]

Re: A sub-700 dollar Les Paul? Srsly?

Why is it so cheap?
You guy s are saying poor materials and workmanship?
More like a cheap EPI with Gibson markings?

No, these guitars are better than epi's....by far.
The tributes use cost cutting exercises in manufacture. The finish is thin to remove several coats of paint plus labour for buffing. There's no binding which takes time to apply and more time also in the paint stages. Inlay on the headstock is screened, not in pearloid. The wood, whilst still of Gibson quality, is from the smallest size imported or from offcuts......therefore more are required for a body blank sized piece. The tops are either plain, multipiece or both. They also aren't bookmatched or slipmatched so that the top looks perfect.

For some people this will be the turnoff.....they will prejudge the guitar saying only a 1 piece back glued to a bookmatched maple top could ever sound good.

 

[uOpt]

Re: A sub-700 dollar Les Paul? Srsly?

Unfortunately there is strong evidence that Gibson is able to select wood by sound quality with a reasonable accuracy. The cheap guitars have a much lower chance of sounding great than the expensive ones, although even the cheapest of the cheap (the faded series, which includes this LP) have a decent chance of sounding great. In addition the cheaper ones are made from more pieces of wood.

My personal pet theory is that the latter is actually working in favor of the buyer of the cheap ones. Most people here agree that guitars with 2 or 3 part bodies (or body backs in the case of guitars with a carved top) don't sound any worse than 1 piece bodies. But if you have a 3 or 4 piece faded it might be made from the leftover cuts that were on the floor after one of the really expensive ones was made. So you get whatever wood Gibson considered to be top quality, just in more pieces.

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: A sub-700 dollar Les Paul? Srsly?

Lost me at Chambered and baked.

At this price, I couldn't care less if it is chambered/baked maple for once lol. I am kind of curious now to try baked maple because I want to have a real opinion on it instead of internet talk.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: A sub-700 dollar Les Paul? Srsly?

At this price, I couldn't care less if it is chambered/baked maple for once lol. I am kind of curious now to try baked maple because I want to have a real opinion on it instead of internet talk.

The one I played I liked the feeling of better than rosewood. I actually would prefer the maple if I was going to buy a new les paul.