My experience is very similar to Lew's, and everything he has said rings true to me when it comes to my own reaction to Les Pauls. One of my favourite players is Paul Kossoff, his guitar tone is sublime to my ears, and it is Les Paul and Marshall all the way. He makes that iconic combination work as well as anyone, and much better than most to my ears. Conversely, I've heard as many mediocre tones coming from Les Pauls as I have from Strats, possibly due to tonally deficient instruments, or players lacking the skill or knowledge to make them work. I've been able to make a living playing guitar for 30 years, but I have no need or desire to own a Les Paul. I've played dozens of them, and I've never had the slightest desire to own one, because they simply don't gel with what I want to hear or feel from a guitar.
But can Les Pauls be used for playing guitar solos? Of course they can, they have all of the required elements...strings, pickups, a neck. But as for them being some kind of 'ultimate' electric guitar, that is, of course, nonsense. That's simply another case of confusing personal opinion for fact. What we can say is that "______ guitar is the ultimate electric guitar for me." Anything more than that is simply one person's attempt to make their opinion seem more important than it really is. The Les Paul is one of the iconic guitars, because the right one in the right hands is a thing of great beauty, and totally deserving of its iconic status. But simply owning and playing one doesn't mean that you're a good guitar player, nor that you instantly have good tone. The same goes for every other guitar ever made. Similarly, not playing or owning a Les Paul doesn't mean that you're missing some fundamental truth or essential element that will separate you from being a professional guitar player, or even a good amateur.
There have been plenty of crappy, hollow sounding Les Pauls, just as there have been crappy Strats, Teles and PRS. It really comes down to the individual instrument, and the guy or girl hanging onto it. No one guitar will suit every player. You can play rhythm or a solo on any of them. Whether or not it sounds good will have a lot more to do with the player's skill set than it will with the guitar they're playing. Even then, the assessment of 'goodness' will be subjective to the ears of the listener. It's the nature of the human ego to say "my way is the right way...my choices are the right choices." To which the Universe replies.."Bollocks."
Cheers....................................... wahwah
