Peter Frampton Les Paul Custom/Signature Guitar

Diminished Triad

Diminished Triad

New member
Has anyone played or watched someone live playing this guitar?
The reviews continue to seem very good - and I'm an old Frampton fan.
I'm not into relics and while I'm also a huge Boston fan I am not ready to spend 5k for a faded/dented guitar with holes even if it replicates Tom Sholz's guitar today.
The Frampton Les Paul is not a relic and just a little bit less expensive.......but still pushing well over 4k.
Anyone have experience with this guitar? The Frampton guitar is a '57 Les Paul ...while the Sholz guitar is a '68 Les Paul (but a relic). Hope someone has tried out the Frampton guitar and if so would appreciate anything you can share!
Thanks!
 
Re: Peter Frampton Les Paul Custom/Signature Guitar

Diminished Triad said:
Has anyone played or watched someone live playing this guitar?
The reviews continue to seem very good - and I'm an old Frampton fan.
I'm not into relics and while I'm also a huge Boston fan I am not ready to spend 5k for a faded/dented guitar with holes even if it replicates Tom Sholz's guitar today.
The Frampton Les Paul is not a relic and just a little bit less expensive.......but still pushing well over 4k.
Anyone have experience with this guitar? The Frampton guitar is a '57 Les Paul ...while the Sholz guitar is a '68 Les Paul (but a relic). Hope someone has tried out the Frampton guitar and if so would appreciate anything you can share!
Thanks!
Click to expand...

Okay, doesn't seem like Frampton's guitar has gotten around here. Not a good sign for the guitar. Is there a signature guitar that anyone's found to be as high in quality as it is in price? Our band has a signature EC strat - and that plays and sounds excellent. So far among the members, that's our only signature guitar although we do have one member with a Santana sig on the way.

Thanks again everyone!
 
Re: Peter Frampton Les Paul Custom/Signature Guitar

The price is not really set by any supposed idea of "quality" the price is set by what the market will pay for them. By their very nature a signature guitar is going to have the added cost of paying for the artists endorsement over the cost of the instrument. Why does your band have this obsession with playing "signature" guitars? Ive never known a single tone that was made that players revere that was made with a "signature" guitar. People go to great lengths to replicate EVH's frankenstein. A guitar that a drunk 18 year old built with miscellaneous parts and huffy bicycle paint. If your really after reasonable price and high quality then you need to ditch the idea of a signature guitar.
 
Re: Peter Frampton Les Paul Custom/Signature Guitar

It would be much cheaper to buy a used 2 or 3 pickup LP Custom on Craigslist. Besides NOT paying the signature markup, you'll also save over a grand just for the fact it's not new.

I've owned two 57 LP Customs.....a 2 and 3 pickup model. I wish I still had the 2 pup model, but kept my 3 pup model. All of them are killer guitars if they're made from the mid 80's till now.

I will say one thing about Customs. I prefer the regular LP Custom with maple top on mahogany. They have a tighter bass and more high end cut. The 57's are solid mahogany and have a softer bottom, rich mids, and buttery highs. They all sound great though.
 
Re: Peter Frampton Les Paul Custom/Signature Guitar

Diminished Triad said:
Okay, doesn't seem like Frampton's guitar has gotten around here. Not a good sign for the guitar. Is there a signature guitar that anyone's found to be as high in quality as it is in price? Our band has a signature EC strat - and that plays and sounds excellent. So far among the members, that's our only signature guitar although we do have one member with a Santana sig on the way.

Thanks again everyone!
Click to expand...

Honestly, I don't think anything is actually worth $4k, especially from Gibson these days. The fact is far too many companies make guitars that are built as well, play as well or better, and sound as good or better for $1k.

Given your massive ambivalence between Frampton and Scholz, whatever. But if you have $4k to burn knock yourself out.

That said - I played an Ace Frehley Budokan (surprise). It was the Custom Classic version (no binding on the back). AT 1800 it was a hell of a guitar and worth every penny - especially to a Frehley fan. But it was a stellar guitar any way you sliced it. But again, at that price, no back binding? Pass.
 
Re: Peter Frampton Les Paul Custom/Signature Guitar

Yeah, and the NOS models eliminate the dents and holes and stains and faded spots keeping the "new look" in signature guitars. It is amazing though that when two versions are offered, the "brand new" look costs less than the one damaged to look very close to the current state of signature player's old guitar. The EC sig guitar is a good one. Our band has a PRS Santana but has the actual signature version on order and our guitarists have heard the PRS Santana signature and say it is a great ax. We'll see... Thanks!
 
Re: Peter Frampton Les Paul Custom/Signature Guitar

Edgecrusher said:
The price is not really set by any supposed idea of "quality" the price is set by what the market will pay for them. By their very nature a signature guitar is going to have the added cost of paying for the artists endorsement over the cost of the instrument. Why does your band have this obsession with playing "signature" guitars? Ive never known a single tone that was made that players revere that was made with a "signature" guitar. People go to great lengths to replicate EVH's frankenstein. A guitar that a drunk 18 year old built with miscellaneous parts and huffy bicycle paint. If your really after reasonable price and high quality then you need to ditch the idea of a signature guitar.
Click to expand...

+1. You always pay a premium for signatures, but it's not necessarily for higher quality.
 
Re: Peter Frampton Les Paul Custom/Signature Guitar

blueman335 said:
+1. You always pay a premium for signatures, but it's not necessarily for higher quality.
Click to expand...

Has anyone seen/played a signature guitar they thought was actually worth the price (meaning not too much more of a markup from either stock or customs)?
Seems like signature models are much more memorabilia than they are sound and play? Yet lots of them include stories of how the artist collaborated with them not just to recreate an exact replica of his/her guitar but also to build a great playing/sounding guitar. If there is a signature model out there you think actually comes close to being worth the premium price would enjoy knowing what that one is. Otherwise, same model guitar and pickups and a fraction of the price it is! :-) Thanks!
 
Re: Peter Frampton Les Paul Custom/Signature Guitar

Clearly signature guitars attract a higher price because they have an additional value attached to them, i.e. the artist's vibe :-) However, is it worth it? Well, the first thing to appreciate is that the PF LP is a different guitar to the standard 2 pup custom. For a start it's got 3 pups, it's wired differently from the standard 3 pup models, it has a slimmer neck and, most importantly, it's weight-relieved. Ok, all of that might not justify the whole of the extra cost differential but when you add the signature aspect then you can see why it does cost more. I'd love to have one myself but can't justify the expense (shot myself in the foot there didn't I?). However, if I see a secondhand/used/pre-owned one at a reasonable price then I'm going to go for it! :-)

Oh, and by the way, the new models may have Richlite fingerboards as opposed to the more traditional ebony versions but that shouldn't make a jot of difference. In fact I'll stick my neck out and say that Richlite is better because it can be produced consistently and to a high quality level. The same cannot be said for wood.
 
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Re: Peter Frampton Les Paul Custom/Signature Guitar

I'm kind of ambivalent about signature guitars (let's ignore, for argument's sake, that the Les Paul and the like were/are signature guitars). If they have specific, unique features that I like, then I would get one (Clapton and Beck strats, for example). But I'm not too keen on ones that are simply reproductions of an artist's stock guitar, if I can get virtually the same specs without the artist premium. Not that I have the money for either, but I'd rather get a stock R9, say, than some uber relic'd 10K repro of some guy's 59.

The Frampton Custom is pretty close in price to the regular reissue, though. So if you prefer the neck, say, to the regular reissue, it might be worth it to you. But I find Gibson necks of even the same supposed spec vary so much, that I'd hunt around for a use RI that has a neck I like.
 
Re: Peter Frampton Les Paul Custom/Signature Guitar

Old thread, but...

I have one (and an Alex Lifeson "Inspired By" ES-355) and I love it (them)!

midnight-blues-albums-my-pictures-picture53471-img-0310.jpg

According to Frampton and Mark Mariana, from whom he received the guitar back in the early '70s, it's a '54. There's been speculation that it's a '57 (likely because of the three pups, but Mark Mariana had the guitar routed and replaced the pups), but the consensus seems to be that it's a '54. In reality, no one really cared back then what year their guitar was.

I also have a '72 Limited Edition "Fretless Wonder" that I've had since '73. The neck on that is similar to that of a '59. I'm not sure what the neck on the '57 reissues is like, but the Frampton is thin, like a '60.


Anyway, I recently saw this ad:

_57.jpg

Anyone know anything about these pups?


:beerchug:


[url]http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/cellar/173245-peter-frampton-appreciation-thread.html"]http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/cellar/173245-peter-frampton-appreciation-thread.html"][url]http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/cellar/173245-peter-frampton-appreciation-thread.html


Midnight Blues

Shut Up And Play!
 
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Re: Peter Frampton Les Paul Custom/Signature Guitar

good research! more and more coming to light from what's hidden behind the curtains of the CS.

personally, I've also been trying for a few weeks to find out more about what the CS makes for Neil 'Spyder' Giraldo.
 
Re: Peter Frampton Les Paul Custom/Signature Guitar

Thanks!

Love Neil! Saw him and Pat earlier this year. They put on a GREAT show and Neil is a really creative player as far as I'm concerned.


:beerchug:
 
Re: Peter Frampton Les Paul Custom/Signature Guitar

I was going to by a signature Gibson but I flunked the Bar Exam and they wouldn't sell it to me.
 
Re: Peter Frampton Les Paul Custom/Signature Guitar

There was a music store in town when I was a teenager that had an original 70's black Custom that had been ordered from Gibson with 3 pickups. I still think about that guitar. They wanted $2k for it but this was at the time when used LP Standards were going for $800 and Customs around $1,000 and no one wanted a 70's Gibson. It was a beast though!
 
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