Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

[Xeromus]

So a buddy of mine is letting me borrow his Gibson Les Paul gothic for about two weeks. #1 I think the all black and satin finish looks pretty silly but it actually starts to grow on you after a while. #2, this thing sounds really damn good. It has some major mojo. There are a lot of bad Gibsons but this actually a very well built, good sounding one. The stock pickups are really great and a lot better than I expected them to be. Does anyone know if they put a different size fret wire on this series? Because the neck is really comfortable to me. I hate low wide frets. Well anyway, I swore off Gibson guitars a long time ago. But I think if I can find a good one I might get a Les Paul again at some point. I'd offer to buy this one, but I know he won't sell it. As much beef as I have with Gibson, this is a pretty good guitar.

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

Welcome to the dark side.

 

[pac112]

Re: Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

the gothic has a very simple yet appealing finish.

 

[Mike M.]

Re: Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

I might be wrong (correct me if I am) but I think the Les Paul Gothic has a swamp ash body. If this is true it's a great guitar IMHO. I say that because I own a swamp ash Les Paul Studio. If I'm right about the gothic I can see why you liked it so much. I went to buy a LP Studio because that's what I could afford. Played about 5 of them and the connection just was'nt there. Tried the swamp ash and I felt that "mojo" that you mentioned right off the bat. Of all the guitars I've owned I've disliked one thing or another about its pickups to the point of changing them. This has not been the case with mine. The ONLY change I've done was to swap the necks stock 300K volume pot to a 500K to clear it up a bit. Once you have the pickups height set properly (low) you've got some great tones happening. Very underrated pickups. Yeah, very comfortable neck and the frets seem just the right size. I think it's a very sturdy, well built guitar.

 

[Xeromus]

Re: Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

I might be wrong (correct me if I am) but I think the Les Paul Gothic has a swamp ash body. If this is true it's a great guitar IMHO. I say that because I own a swamp ash Les Paul Studio. If I'm right about the gothic I can see why you liked it so much. I went to buy a LP Studio because that's what I could afford. Played about 5 of them and the connection just was'nt there. Tried the swamp ash and I felt that "mojo" that you mentioned right off the bat. Of all the guitars I've owned I've disliked one thing or another about its pickups to the point of changing them. This has not been the case with mine. The ONLY change I've done was to swap the necks stock 300K volume pot to a 500K to clear it up a bit. Once you have the pickups height set properly (low) you've got some great tones happening. Very underrated pickups. Yeah, very comfortable neck and the frets seem just the right size. I think it's a very sturdy, well built guitar.

Yeah I had to lower the pickups on this guitar to get to the "sweet spot". I think you're thinking of the voodoo series which were swamp ash. As far as the Gothic series, I really don't know.

 

[TheProphet]

Re: Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

Mike ... I think you're thinking of the Voodoo series ... I'm pretty sure the Gothic is Mahogany and Maple

 

[pac112]

Re: Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

Mike ... I think you're thinking of the Voodoo series ... I'm pretty sure the Gothic is Mahogany and Maple

+1. yup. i played the Epi goth explorer and LP studio. the LP wasnt that nice but the Explorer is sweet!!

i heard the voodoos aint that tonally good due to the ash bodies. is that true?

 

[Xeromus]

Re: Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

+1. yup. i played the Epi goth explorer and LP studio. the LP wasnt that nice but the Explorer is sweet!!

i heard the voodoos aint that tonally good due to the ash bodies. is that true?

I just checked too, the gothic series were maple/mahogany.

 

[Mike M.]

Re: Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

Yeah, you guys are right. As soon as you mentioed the Voodoo series I knew I had them mixed up. My mistake.

 

[Guitarist]

Re: Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

Yeah, you guys are right. As soon as you mentioed the Voodoo series I knew I had them mixed up. My mistake.

And as soon as you mentioned Voodoo, you're poll count hit 666.... :saeek:

 

[Scott_F]

Re: Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

another one bites the dust

 

[Mike M.]

Re: Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

And as soon as you mentioned Voodoo, you're poll count hit 666.... :saeek:

Not to worry. I checked my scalp to see what number it was that I saw a while ago. 665. :smack:

 

[pac112]

Re: Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

Xeromus!

so which do u think is better to you? the gibby studio or the ESP Ltd Deluxe EC-1000?

 

[xerxes]

Re: Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

Welcome to the dark side.

im sorry, did u say somthing? i was too busy being mesmerised by your avatar

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

There's a reason I'd sell off all my guitars before the Les Pauls, if financially forced to.

A Les Paul Standard with a bone nut, cut perfectly, and perfectly intonated, with your favorite Duncan pickups, is quite possibly the best sounding humbucking guitar, IMO.

Like the Strat, it's just one of those designs that was magical and stood the test of time across the widest number of pro players. Les Paul, Strat, Tele baby!

 

[chcjunior]

Re: Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

Too many other good guitar lines out there for me to sign up to a brand I detest and a guitar I think is terribly designed and terribly overpriced. But who knows...sounds like you got turned around!

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

chc, how's that G&L Asat Deluxe treatin ya? For the record, my Legacy Deluxe is right up there with the Gibsons.

 

[Xeromus]

Re: Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

Xeromus!

so which do u think is better to you? the gibby studio or the ESP Ltd Deluxe EC-1000?

As good as the Gibson is, I have to say I still favor the ESP without a doubt. The build quality between the two is about equal. But I do like the feel and sound of the ESP better. But it's not really a fair comparison either. They sound different because they are different guitars although very similar in shape. The EC is 24 fret, has a thinner U shape neck back (nice!) and the body is thinner and has a tummy cut and other contours. I like it a lot for that reason. The problem I have with gibson and fender is their obsession with tradition. Yes, every electric guitar ever made has sprung from a Les Paul, Strat, or Tele or combination of the two or three. No one since then I feel has done anything really as original. The other problem is while these other companies are always modernizing and improving their designs, Fender and Gibson in their arrogance never change the design. Which in a way is a good thing, but how much would it hurt to put a tummy cut on an LP so it wouldn't dig into your ribs? How about the same for a telecaster, and with a forearm contour? I think the strat body is the most ergonomic shape that's even possible for a human so that can't be improved upon any further.

Again, in my opinion, I think the most ergonomic shape for a guitar to be used by a human being would be a strat style double cut set neck or neck through with a smooth heel contour. Everything just fits like a glove that way.

I wouldn't choose the ESP or Les Paul over one another. They are both great guitars and sound really different. The Gibson actually sounds a lot brighter than I expected it to.

 

[chcjunior]

Re: Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

chc, how's that G&L Asat Deluxe treatin ya? For the record, my Legacy Deluxe is right up there with the Gibsons.

I think I'm going to drop the C5 in it as per your suggestion. Your advice on the CC in the Hardtail was pretty dead on, so I'll give the C5 a whirl. The JB sounds good in it, but it's not quite there.

Pickup selection aside, I dig the Asat more and more every day. I love the tone...nice and beefy but still maintains clarity. Plays like butter as well. I've already decided to work in into the line up next weekend when we record.

What scares me about Les Pauls is they somehow got to Jeff_H. He's the reason I ended up giving the Dean Hardtails a try (and I love that guitar as well). If they got to Jeff_H, ain't none of us safe.

 

[Xeromus]

Re: Damnit!! I wish I could remain biased. Gibson Les Paul review

Too many other good guitar lines out there for me to sign up to a brand I detest and a guitar I think is terribly designed and terribly overpriced. But who knows...sounds like you got turned around!

Well not turned around. I still think the majority of what Gibson puts out is garbage. But if you get a nice one, it really is very nice. I also think the Les Paul is horribly ergomically designed and lacking imagination. Looks like they just took a traditional acoustic body shape, made it smaller and solid body, added a cutaway for higher fret access and were done with it. I will never go out and buy a new one, but if I ever come across a good studio for a decent price I might actually consider it. I agree with you, there are too many other good companies making guitars that are just as good for half the price. Les Pauls aren't THAT special.