I need your opinion on this Les Paul please...

[Surgeon]

Hi guys,

I'm currently looking to buy a LP and I was wanting a Heritage lately, being more and more attracted to them.

Anyways, I found what seems to be a nice Gibson in the local classifieds. It's a Les Paul XR-2, quite a rare bird (not a collectible one tho). From what I could gather from the little bits of information here's what it is supposed to be:
Carved flamed maple top, bound body, rosewood neck, pearl dot inlays, mini-humbuckers with a coil-tap switch and gibson embossed covers (why would somebody want to tap a mini-hum?? :smack: ). I only found one nice photo on the internet (attached here). The seller sent me a bunch but only one taken from far made it to me... I'm waiting for a second try on his part. It seems to look identical to the one in the attached pic tho. It's a 1981.

Seems to me like a studio with a bound body, dot inlays (like some of them had for a period right?), flamed maple top in honey burst... The only thing I kinda don't care for is the coil-tap switch....

I could get this guitar for 1000$ canadian (800$ US by the current exchange rate)... If the guitar's in good shape that would seem like a good deal to me...

What do you guys think? Any experience with this guitar? Any frank opinions on this gibson era or the minihums?? Even the *cough* almighty *cough* les paul forum had almost no information on this guitar....

Thanks guys,

Phil

*edit* The first pic is from the internet, the second is the only one that made it to me from the seller....

 

[H8Red442]

Re: I need your opinion on this Les Paul please...

I have zero experience with this guitar but it looks sweet. In 2003 I bought a used LP Custom from a friend for $700 and it was a hell of a deal. This seems just as good a deal given it's rarity. I'd jump on it if you're jonesing for a LP. If at all possible I'd check it out in person first.

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: I need your opinion on this Les Paul please...

Without more/better pics, it's hard to say...I just looked at the reviews on HC (mainly for the price ranges!)....they only had the XR-1 & XR-3..........oh, and it seems the coil tap is from the factory(?)!!!

I dunno....seems like a decent enough LP to me, especially if there's some wiggle room in the price!

GO PLAY IT!!!!

 

[hellrider77]

Re: I need your opinion on this Les Paul please...

i've never been a mini humbucker fan, i don't know about canada, but around here its pretty easy to run up on old deluxes in the same price range and 90% of em have been changed over to full size buckers. that is if your wanting more of the standard look. if the dot inlays and mini buckers dont bug ya, then i say go for it.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: I need your opinion on this Les Paul please...

Hi guys,

Terry: Yes, the coil-tap is original from the factory... quite weird and probably one of the reasons it's a rare model.... I haven't looked at the reviews tho...

Hell: Unfortunately for me, deluxes run a high price over here... For that price I'd be lucky to be running in a good used studio. Few studios go for under 1K over here and these are not in good conditions... You may get lucky every once in a while (I'm talking guitar shopping here )for studios here but mainly, that's what they go for..

I guess the fact that it's rare and a little of a odd-ball makes it appealing to me too... It looks kind of like a studio but without the trapezoids and nice appointements (binding, minihums (dunno if that's nicer or not...) flame maple cap, and honey burst finish)

It looks quite nice in my opinion as I don't mind the dot inlays (trapezoids would've been nice tho) and I'm quite curious about the minihums... might replace them with semourized Minis if I don't like 'em... do P90s fit in that routing? that could be a nice option....

I'm waiting for more pics from the seller... if they look nice enough I'll pay Montreal a little visit and go play next week-end.... If it sounds good and resonates good, I might just take it home.

Thanks for your opinions guys!

Anyone else has input on this?

 

[Surgeon]

Re: I need your opinion on this Les Paul please...

Oh yeah, as I said I searched the Les paul forum and found only 4 threads...

All of 'em had a copy paste of what the blue book said about them... 3 lines... damn...

 

[Scott_F]

Re: I need your opinion on this Les Paul please...

If you can play it in person, do it. That one pic either has 10,000 fingerprints on the bottom or it's got a lot of dings. I can't tell with the low rez pic.

Remember, its' not hard to put P90s in a guitar made for mini humbuckers. Something to think about.

And, nothing wrong with mini humbuckers. Leave the min in the bridge and put a P90 in the neck, ala Neil Young.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: I need your opinion on this Les Paul please...

If you can play it in person, do it. That one pic either has 10,000 fingerprints on the bottom or it's got a lot of dings. I can't tell with the low rez pic.

Remember, its' not hard to put P90s in a guitar made for mini humbuckers. Something to think about.

And, nothing wrong with mini humbuckers. Leave the min in the bridge and put a P90 in the neck, ala Neil Young.

Thanks for the input Scott,

I'm waiting for some more pics from the seller and some close-shots too hopefully...
I won't spend a penny on this thing unless I play it first of course, not only for the condition but also for the resonnance...

P90s were definitely something I was considering, as well as a Seymourized Mini set... as for the mini(bridge) and P90(neck) hybrid, that might be a great idea....thanks...

 

[CapoFirstFret]

Re: I need your opinion on this Les Paul please...

btw, the finish in the picture of the one that's available for sale is not honey sunburst...it's a cherry sunburst....just a small note, so that you know what you're getting into

honey sunburst = goes from yellow to dark amber
cherry sunburst= goes from yellow to red

 

[Surgeon]

Re: I need your opinion on this Les Paul please...

btw, the finish in the picture of the one that's available for sale is not honey sunburst...it's a cherry sunburst....just a small note, so that you know what you're getting into

honey sunburst = goes from yellow to dark amber
cherry sunburst= goes from yellow to red

Thanks Capo, I noticed that too but figured that it'll either be different in person (due to photos) or just end up being cherry....

The blue book stated that they were available in honey burst but I guess the finishes available for the XR-1 were also available on the XR-2...

 

[CapoFirstFret]

Re: I need your opinion on this Les Paul please...

either way man, that's a pretty good deal on a les paul.....even with mini hums (which I kinda like). I think those are smudges on the bottom, but could be anything.....I'd be all over it especially if it were the honey burst (one of my favorites)...but I'm not so big into cherry but you can't argue with a deal!

 

[Surgeon]

Re: I need your opinion on this Les Paul please...

either way man, that's a pretty good deal on a les paul.....even with mini hums (which I kinda like). I think those are smudges on the bottom, but could be anything.....I'd be all over it especially if it were the honey burst (one of my favorites)...but I'm not so big into cherry but you can't argue with a deal!

Yeah, I'm no big cherry fan but if it plays and sounds real nice, it could almost be pink (well ok, not really)....

I can't wait to see the other pics.. if they're ok I'll go and play it... can't wait man... I heard minis a couple of times and I kinda liked 'em too... It seems like a good deal to me if it is in good shape... I'd take this before a studio if all is well...

 

[WhoFan]

Re: I need your opinion on this Les Paul please...

That is a Gibson i had never seen before! I take it they were a budget version of the LP Deluxe?

WhoFan

 

[Surgeon]

Re: I need your opinion on this Les Paul please...

That is a Gibson i had never seen before! I take it they were a budget version of the LP Deluxe?

WhoFan

Good question...

The Blue Book has them classified in the same "category" has the classics... the deluxes are another chapter... It does look like it could be... I just don't remember what years they were produced....