What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

Re: What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

I'd take it a step further and say that the 90's was the best decade for guitar gear period.

All the big companies had access to great wood, and the craftsmanship and design echoed the 50's and 60's, only they had a lot more knowledge about what they were doing. Amps harkened back to the golden era, and so did effects. But the materials and quality in the 90's were THE END of the USA golden era, with a few exceptions.

Now, everything is being cheapened. And we handed our asses to China. The 90's will be remembered as fondly as the 50's and 60's. That ship has now sailed.

In 10 years, if anyone has any money, collector prices will be crazy for classic guitars, boutique amps, and pedals from the 90's. Buy now. It'd be like buying 50's/60's stuff in the 70's.

I agree 100% and could not have said it better...
 
Re: What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

...let a '97 Custom get away that still haunts me as the "Most Powerful Guitar in the World!".
 
Re: What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

Geez reading everyone else's assessment is making me want to get another 90's Les Paul (although I don't really NEED one). :scratchch

I have Cherry SB and Gold Top so I guess a Black one would round out the group nicely:1: But there's always Iced Tea and Tobacco to consider.

Does anyone have a comparison of a 90's Standard or Classic vs one of the newer Traditional ones?
 
Re: What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

1995 Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul Classic Plus:

GibsonLesPaulClassicCustomShopPeacock02.jpg

That is a thing of beauty. I normally don't go for fancy tops but that one is an exception for me. Just stunning. It even looks like it plays great.
 
Re: What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

I had a '92 Alpine White Studio which was one of the best playing guitars I've ever had!
 
Re: What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

Never liked the thin skinny neck on the Classics, they don't feel like an LP to me. 90s period is really nice but I think I prefer the 2002 - 2006 period more. My 2003 LP beat out the two 90s LP Standards that I had owned. The 03 is lighter, sounds better acoustically, plays great as well!
 
Re: What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

I had a trans red '93 std that I loved for 10 years. When I had writer's block, that guitar broke me out of it. However, after that 10 years was up, it was up. It sat in the case for a year, so I sold it to buy another Jackson and never looked back.
 
Re: What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

I'd take it a step further and say that the 90's was the best decade for guitar gear period.

All the big companies had access to great wood, and the craftsmanship and design echoed the 50's and 60's, only they had a lot more knowledge about what they were doing. Amps harkened back to the golden era, and so did effects. But the materials and quality in the 90's were THE END of the USA golden era, with a few exceptions.

Now, everything is being cheapened. And we handed our asses to China. The 90's will be remembered as fondly as the 50's and 60's. That ship has now sailed.

In 10 years, if anyone has any money, collector prices will be crazy for classic guitars, boutique amps, and pedals from the 90's. Buy now. It'd be like buying 50's/60's stuff in the 70's.


/thread

The 90s were the time AFTER Norlin and CBS where the US companies (specifically Gibson and Fender) finally got their **** back together again and actively tried to fight being taken over by the far east by producing truly excellent guitars.

They made the huge mistake of trying to compete in price as well permanently cheapening people`s perception of the value re: guitars and essential thereby forcing themselves to jump on the far east bandwagon as well.

There is one basic rule regarding pricing: NEVER, EVER reduce teh price of your hight end products to compete with somebody else`s middle of the road, because you will never, ever get the proper value for your high end product again.

Both Gibson and Fender disregarded that, the final result is that many people think anything more than 1000k for a USA made guitar is extortion, a notion which is laughable at best. For a 1k price point, I won`t even take you seriously as a customer and write down any specs, but will simply assume you`re a professional tire kicker that`s never going to buuy anything , anyway.

Cripes, top quality wood blanks already cost more than a quarter of that, hardware and pickups about a third, and there`s no way in hell I`m doing actual work for 4-5$/Hr.. I`ll burn the wood for heating before I do that. ;)
 
Re: What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

It is neat that both guitars are so different. My burst LP is bright, airy and 3D. The black one is dark, somewhat compressed and thick, sludgy. But it also had a Marshallhead Timbrewolf. I may install something more PAF and brighter.

I hear ya! My 2010 Trad Pro is a tank (about 11lbs) and is dark (but big) sounding accoustically and plugged in. Has Pearly gates in it, but it has a bark. My 2012 2008 model (bout 8 lbs) is bright and almost jangly unplugged and has an open sound plugged up.

A side note: Although its not a Gibby, my 80's Burny LP is a tank at about 15lbs and it sustains for days...
 
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Re: What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

General consensus of 90's era Gibson is excellent. Some day, I want to get a 91' Les Paul Custom (my birth year)

"Oooh I'm gona get a 68 Bassman and a Les Paul Custom from my birth year so I can be just like Xander when I grow up." :smokin:

My LPC is an 87... my SG-X and Les Paul Special are both 98's... all of them are awesome.

Basically any Gibson from not-the-70's is pretty much guaranteed to be good... and some of those 70's ones are actually pretty awesome too.
 
Re: What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

Zerb, you have a point.. (as always...) Im guilty of griping about Gibson prices too. Mine doesnt stem from what you said though. Although maybe in a small way, perhaps since they seem to have jumped leaps and bounds. And I cant see paying $6K for a Les Paul. As I dont see those higher end ones being that much better. (my perception) My beef is with quality. If I had a large budget, Id have a luthier build me a guitar. Many of the new gibsons that I play have visible issues or lack feel. (its been spoken before about guitar center stock too,so maybe thats why.) And the last one I ordered was pretty badly botched and had to be rebuilt. And the new one didnt have the tonepros tightened down and other issues like that. My 2002 explorer (Though I LOVE her) has wavy fretboard edges.
When they are done right, they are incredible, but I dont expect those kind of flaws for the prices they command. But, when you find the right one... yes!!
 
Re: What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

/thread

The 90s were the time AFTER Norlin and CBS where the US companies (specifically Gibson and Fender) finally got their **** back together again and actively tried to fight being taken over by the far east by producing truly excellent guitars.

They made the huge mistake of trying to compete in price as well permanently cheapening people`s perception of the value re: guitars and essential thereby forcing themselves to jump on the far east bandwagon as well.

There is one basic rule regarding pricing: NEVER, EVER reduce teh price of your hight end products to compete with somebody else`s middle of the road, because you will never, ever get the proper value for your high end product again.

Both Gibson and Fender disregarded that, the final result is that many people think anything more than 1000k for a USA made guitar is extortion, a notion which is laughable at best. For a 1k price point, I won`t even take you seriously as a customer and write down any specs, but will simply assume you`re a professional tire kicker that`s never going to buuy anything , anyway.

Cripes, top quality wood blanks already cost more than a quarter of that, hardware and pickups about a third, and there`s no way in hell I`m doing actual work for 4-5$/Hr.. I`ll burn the wood for heating before I do that. ;)

I looked at your website for the stuff you've done. Can I be your apprentice?
 
Re: What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

Regarding the "dead wood tone", I changed the tailpiece on mine to a Gotoh lightweight aluminum tailpiece, and it made the guitar alot louder acoustically. Plugged in it made a slight difference. 90's are good, basically anything after 1986 is good
Funny, i have 1999 Classic with heavy body. The thin neck on my Classic needed more sustain, too.
I found the alu made it worse, thinny and no depth. The cardboard sound need more fundamentals and i went with a brass tailpiece. Its now fuller and growlier. With an Alt8 in the bridge, i am now a happy camper.
 
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Re: What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

90s LPs have always been great for me. I definitely think mid to late 90s was a great time for Gibson QC, because they were working hard to get past the shadow of the Norlin years. However, the one that I stuck with (indeed, sold it off and luckily was able to buy it back 3-4 years later) was a 2003 Classic.
 
Re: What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

I looked at your website for the stuff you've done. Can I be your apprentice?

I do not have a website, hence why I do not have one posted in my profile, and am very proud to NOT be affiliated with the "company" who`s website you likely mean. I don`t need koreans to build my guitars for me using cheap, hardware and pickups.
 
Re: What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

I own two Les Pauls. A standard & a Studio. Both are black(it just worked out that way) My Standard is a 1990 & the Studio is a 2001(I think). The 1990 Standard absolutely kills the studio, but in defense of the studio its completely stock except for pot changes(it had 300K pots I switched them to 500k). The standard about a year ago I changed the pickups to Slash Alnico II pros and she sounds awesome now. It was always a good guitar but now its a great guitar.

attachment.php


After the mods to my Standard
IMG_1578.JPG

I think the neck shape on the standard is more consistent with a real vintage Les Paul then the newer ones. It just feels better in my hands...
 
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Re: What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

Kudos to JOLLY. Clearly, he has spent wisely. :)

If you are gonna boast about your guitars, post pics, sound clips or short videos.

My own experience of Nineties Les Pauls is confined to Studios, Studio Lites, one Studio Lite MIII and a "1960" Heritage Standard. The two Pauls that I own are from the Naughties.
 

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Re: What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

Aren't the Les Paul Traditionals suppose to be made according to the 90s vibe?
 
Re: What do you think of Les Pauls of the 90's?

While I am generally not a fan of "the epoch" of this or that particulalr guitar - all in all I'd say 90's was ovaerall a good year for Gibsons.

That said - any Les Paul is just that - a specific and particulalr LES PAUL. LOVE IT FOR WHAT IT IS, KNOWING THAT THE DECADE MEANS LITTLE WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SOME GENERAL AND NOT NECESSARILY absolute build styles.
 
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