Interested in a Gibson Les Paul Junior :)

Jemini

New member
what does the forum Think about this guitar?
the simplicity speaks to me...1 pickup, 2 knobs, 6 strings.
looking into some YT Reviews but I wanna hear from you guys as well :)

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Re: Interested in a Gibson Les Paul Junior :)

Those machinehead gear housings appear over-sized for Kluson "keystone" replicas. I hope that they are not those Robot Tuning abominations. Also, Juniors should have smaller, oval plastic key buttons.
 
Re: Interested in a Gibson Les Paul Junior :)

I've got a Bille Joe Armstrong signature model. Plays well and a good ol' rock n roll sound. Unfortunately I don't use it much anymore but have played some good gigs using it, and it got a fair bit of attention everywhere I used it!
 
Re: Interested in a Gibson Les Paul Junior :)

Don't get a 2015 unless you like a very wide fretboard.

I like the recent ones but the bridge makes it a bit difficult to intonate because it isn't offset. Some of the aftermarket options work well, some don't.

Otherwise I love Jr's my personal fave was an '86 with a TOM and stoptail. I currently have a 2012 that I've modified quite a bit but it's a solid guitar
 
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Re: Interested in a Gibson Les Paul Junior :)

A good Jr is the only guitar you'll ever need


Geez, I wonder why so much time and money has been put into developing multi-PU guitars over the last 70 years, and why they far outsell single PU guitars by a overwhelming margin. Maybe almost all players need more than a good Jr.?

'Simplicity' of a single PU guitar, as in fewer tone options? Having a 2nd PU is too complex?
 
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Re: Interested in a Gibson Les Paul Junior :)

Never change.

Geez, I wonder why so much time and money has been put into developing multi-PU guitars over the last 70 years, and why they far outsell single PU guitars by a overwhelming margin. Maybe almost all players need more than a good Jr.

'Simplicity' of a single PU guitar, as in fewer tone options? Having a 2nd PU is too complex?
 
Re: Interested in a Gibson Les Paul Junior :)

Geez, I wonder why so much time and money has been put into developing multi-PU guitars over the last 70 years, and why they far outsell single PU guitars by a overwhelming margin. Maybe almost all players need more than a good Jr.?

'Simplicity' of a single PU guitar, as in fewer tone options? Having a 2nd PU is too complex?

I guess we predominantly buy guitars with our eyes not ears and multi pup guitars are aesthetically more pleasing of course the fact Hendrix/Clapton/Page etc used those guitars must not be dismissed
Far more tonal variety can be achieved with playing style and dynamics than any wiring or pup options, I have a number of multi PU guitars but there are few sounds I couldn't replicate with a junior, you can give it a psuedo neck pup by rolling the tone off and playing closer to the neck using your thumb. So not so much too complex but ironically more limiting as its easier to change your tone via a switch than actually practicing your pick attack/angle/dynamics etc



Sure there are specific sounds you cant get like the out of phase Peter Green or a filtertron, but with a couple of good OD's and good amp you can do everything with a junior. A good player can get convincing psuedo Gibson HB tones out of a SC Fender and vice versa. So for examples sake you can't get that specific PG tone, so what? you can find an equally great usable tone out of a jr
In fact I'd go as far as saying you have infinitely more tones available with half a dozen different picks.
Put it this way if you're giving the greatest musical oppurtunity of your life and the only guitar you have access to is a jr are you really going to say:
'Sorry Mr McCartney/Dylan/Young/(insert applicable name here) I can'y play with you cos this junior's too basic for me to express myself I need my LP with alnico pups and Jimmy Page wiring'
Me I'll grab that jr. probably wouldn't get called back though!

For OP get that junior (but double cuts are cooler)
 
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Re: Interested in a Gibson Les Paul Junior :)

There is nothing like a single pickup guitar to teach you the TRUE use of the vol and tone controls.

Having neck pickups is nice, but you get very lazy.
Juniors are a great guitar, and are raw and uncomplicated rock machines with surprising versatility.


The 2015 you have pictured would be the one I'd advise most strongly against....mainly due to the robot tuners. Most also find the 2015 neck absolutely horrible, myself included. You might be different, but the vast majority find the wide nut/flat back to be the opposite of what we look for.

I would go for a secondhand historic, or anything from a few years back myself.
 
Re: Interested in a Gibson Les Paul Junior :)

juniors are just flat out cool.
So are esquires.
So are these (I always imagine that eddie van halen would have played one of these if he was a star in the 50s):
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When you think about how many guitar sounds are out there, really no axe can cover all the bases. It can be a really good thing to have an axe that does one thing, but does it well. You end up being creative in your choice of notes, phrasing and nuance when you play single pickup axes and that can only be a good thing in terms of making good music.
 
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Re: Interested in a Gibson Les Paul Junior :)

I'm interested in one as well and the guitar is basically "in the lead" as a contender for my next instrument. You can find these on Reverb all day for great pricing.
 
Re: Interested in a Gibson Les Paul Junior :)

Far more tonal variety can be achieved with playing style and dynamics than any wiring or pup options


Absolutely not true. You can use the same style and dynamics with both PU's, and have twice the tonal variety. Out of necessity, you may get more creative in your playing and get more sounds out of a Jr than you may normally get from your bridge PU, but adding a 2nd PU with a whole set of tones of it's own, plus the tomes that come from the middle position, plus all the wiring options... you can't do anywhere near that with one PU. Just too limiting for me.
 
Re: Interested in a Gibson Les Paul Junior :)

Nope.. The beauty of a Les Paul is 2 pickups and 4 knobs. There is a lot of tone in there with a neck and a bridge.
I've never liked anything about a Junior. They do nothing for me as a player who uses a neck pickup a lot..
 
Re: Interested in a Gibson Les Paul Junior :)

Yes Jr is a stripped down and simple guitar but can be very versatile, arguing that it can't be is just silly.

Not liking them is one thing for whatever reason you choose but a good Jr is a righteous machine. If you live on the neck pickup move along I guess but don't be so shortsighted to think that there are not a ton of players that can't wring damn near every sound they want out of them.
 
Re: Interested in a Gibson Les Paul Junior :)

Those 80's shredders with just a bridge pickup and volume knob are the lazy ones, I mean it really is so much work to flip the switch to a neck position

:smash:
 
Re: Interested in a Gibson Les Paul Junior :)

Yes Jr is a stripped down and simple guitar but can be very versatile, arguing that it can't be is just silly.


No one's saying they're not versatile. They just aren't as versatile as a 2 HB guitar because of the inherent limitations of a single PU. You can do everything on a neck PU that you can do on a bridge PU, which doubles your tonal options, and being able to combine them gives you a third tier of tones.

Plus having two HB's gives you a number of additional wiring/tone options, a fourth tier of tones, like:
- bridge HB + neck screw
- neck HB + bridge screw
- bridge slug + neck screw
- bridge screw + neck slug
- bridge HB + neck screw linked in series
- out-of-phase
- out-of-phase linked in series


To say that a single PU guitar is just as, or almost as, versatile as a 2 HB guitar takes a huge stretch of the imagination. If you want a stripped-down basic guitar with a single PU, go for it, milk everything you can out of that PU. I personally don't own any single PU guitars because they only have a about 1/4th the tonal options as a 2 HB guitar. Because I choose guitars with my ears instead of my eyes, I'm not going to give up all of that.
 
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