NGD: Vintage V100AFD Paradise

AlanRatcliffe · 2012-05-24T02:30:57+00:00

I've been wanting to pick up an inexpensive Les Paul for a while as, while I don't really regard myself as a LP player, it's nice to have one around to get t...

NGD: Vintage V100AFD Paradise

Alex-B-Broadway

Psean wrote: Cool? Getting a big collection going there I see. Is the paradise higher spec than the one you won?

I'll probably try to get into regular gigging by the end of the year, so I'm trying to get a good collection going ? Honestly I haven't really sat down to compare yet. I'll probably start drawing up comparisons when I have money to spend and consider it more seriously.

Beeg

Very nice ?

Congratulations Alan

AlanRatcliffe

I have to say, I'm still impressed now I've had it a while. It's still not a Gibby or a Tokai, but close enough for a LPhilistine like myself and for the money, quite frankly, is an amazing deal. I'm glad I bought this rather than an Epi or something else in the same price range.

Beeg wrote: Congratulations Alan

Thanks Beeg.

Jayhell wrote: So, how much $ are they?

The retail is R5,595 (R600 more than the V100). Obviously your final cash price depends on your discount, but you can usually count on at least 25%, which would make it about R4,200.

Just thinking again - those specials we had on the V100 (2.5K with shipping) were pretty insane...

selbydoodl

Biggest difference Alan is the Slash has GIBSON written on the headstock.

Nicholas-L

Ahhhh yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looks sick Mr Ratcliffe :goodtimes:

VellaJ

Hey Alan, kinda resurrecting the thread here, but I wanted to find out what it's like after a couple of months? Any electrics/pup changes? At the moment I'm torn between a re-fret of my Strat or getting one of these as my main guitar...

AlanRatcliffe

No changes yet - it's good enough stock that I'm in no huge rush to make changes (which is possibly the highest praise I could give any guitar in this price range). Anyway, I've been horribly busy lately. Still, it was one of the first three guitars out of the case after the move.

lapdawg

Thats good to here, especially as I have a lefty lemondrop arriving shortly. I have actually been aware of the good press the Vintage have been receiving for a while & have been trying to get my hands on one for a while. Great news that they look after lefties. Great news that there is an importer in SA.

Alan - any advice on getting a case? I have lety Marinello custom and the case is a shocking fit. When the guitar sits in the case, the middle is raised. I hav padded a bit, but its not ideal.

What case do you use? Is a standard LP case OK?

AlanRatcliffe

lapdawg wrote: What case do you use? Is a standard LP case OK?

A standard LP case is fine. I'm using an SKB56, which is nice (a bit of overkill for this guitar maybe) - a very snug fit.

I have to say it - I'm still very impressed with this guitar. I was playing it again last night and recently got a chance to compare it to an Epi Standard and it came up trumps. So it's worth hanging on to and doing a few small mods to sort out my minor niggles. The tuning stability isn't great, but a Graph Tech nut and some good tuners should sort that out. Switch, pots and wiring will have to be upgraded to my standards too. I've got some Tonerider A4's waiting for me at at the post office, but that's just to experiment with - I'm still surprisingly happy with the stock pickups.

Norman86

selbydoodl wrote: Biggest difference Alan is the Slash has GIBSON written on the headstock.

i must say, its a pity then that Slash didnt originally play a Gibson, but a Gibson copy! ?

Alex-B-Broadway

Norman86 wrote:
selbydoodl wrote: Biggest difference Alan is the Slash has GIBSON written on the headstock.
i must say, its a pity then that Slash didnt originally play a Gibson, but a Gibson copy! ?

I've had a lot of disagreements with people on this. How dare I suggest that slash didn't play a Gibson! :?

Tokai-SA

Alex B Broadway wrote:
Norman86 wrote:
selbydoodl wrote: Biggest difference Alan is the Slash has GIBSON written on the headstock.
i must say, its a pity then that Slash didnt originally play a Gibson, but a Gibson copy! ?
I've had a lot of disagreements with people on this. How dare I suggest that slash didn't play a Gibson! :?

His guitars are built by Kris Derrig. ?

ezietsman

Norman86 wrote:
selbydoodl wrote: Biggest difference Alan is the Slash has GIBSON written on the headstock.
i must say, its a pity then that Slash didnt originally play a Gibson, but a Gibson copy! ?

Why is that a pity?

Norman86

ez wrote:
Norman86 wrote:
selbydoodl wrote: Biggest difference Alan is the Slash has GIBSON written on the headstock.
i must say, its a pity then that Slash didnt originally play a Gibson, but a Gibson copy! ?
Why is that a pity?

pity for Gibson they werent good enough ? ?

shaunf

Wow....

You guys have got to be kidding, right?

singemonkey

shaunf wrote: Wow....

You guys have got to be kidding, right?

'bout what?

Slash's AFD LP was made by Derrig. It's a fake. It's no secret.

But he didn't use them because Gibsons weren't good enough. Just that at the time they didn't have the whole historic line and the only way you could get an LP made like a '50s 'burst was to buy a '50s 'burst (which, while they were a lot cheaper than today were still insanely expensive), buy a Japanese clone (which was really hard to do in the USA), or have one made.

Clearly the dude did a really good job on that guitar.

shaunf

Here's a little history lesson for you, all of which can be corroborated by Reckless Road - Guns n' Roses and the Making of Appetite for Destruction by Marc Canter, Slash's Autobiography, as well as a number of interviews conducted by Slash and his guitar tech Adam Day, if you don't believe me and would like to check it out for yourselves:

Pre Sept 1985- Slash plays a variety of guitars, including BC Rich, Jackson and even a Super Strat of some kind.

28 Sept 1985 - First public appearance of Slash with a Les Paul. Guitar was a '59 Les Paul replica that was bought from Guitar's R Us. The guitar previously belonged to Steve Hunter of Alice Cooper. Slash couldn't afford the guitar which was fitted with genuine Gibson '59 parts and so the guitar was stripped of its vintage pickups and hardware by the guitar store, and fitted with new, aftermarket parts including Seymour Duncan JB pups, before Slash received it.

Sometime between 11 July 1986 and 23 August 23 1986- the "Hunter Burst" is pawned by Slash for drug money, and he returns to using his BC Rich and Jackson guitars live. In 2009 the Hunter Burst was confirmed as being a Derrig built replica. This guitar was not used by Slash for any recording, apart from some early demos.

Early 1987 - GnR begin recording Appetite for Destruction. During the recording of the first few tracks, Slash is dissappointed in the recorded tone of his BC Rich and Jackson guitars and wants another Les Paul. GnR Manager, Alan Niven visits a music store called Music Works, in Redondo Beach, where he finds a Les Paul copy made by luthier Kriss Derrig, who built replica guitars in the workshop in the back, for sale. Guitar is fitted with Seymour Duncan Alnico II's and Alan returns to the studio and presents the guitar to Slash, who proceeds to rerecord the his already recorded tracks, and the rest of the AFD album is recorded with this guitar.

The Derrig is used live for some time until it starts getting quite beat up. Slash decides to ask Gibson for some guitars, who then provide him with 3 1987 Les Paul Standards. These 3 guitars are then used live from this point on, with the Derrig being retired from live performance. Slash takes a particular affinity to one of these LP Standards, a 3 piece plain top, and this becomes his main guitar, both live and in studio in the studio, in conjunction with the Derrig.

The '87 Gibson LP Standard continues to be Slash's main guitar from the Use Your Illusions albums right up until the first Velvet Revolver album, where after having already being resurrected from several major breaks and repaired, Slash decides its too valuable to him to continue playing live with and retires it from live performance, and only use it only for recording.

During the VR era, Slash gets his second Signature model Les Paul, a tobacco burst with SD Pickups and Tonepro piezo-equipped bridge etc.

In 2010, Slash and Gibson decide to commemorate the AFD album by creating a new signature model, inspired by the Derrig guitar used to record the album. Slash receives a number of prototypes of the AFD guitar and uses them during the touring of his self titled solo album. Slash's latest album, Apocalyptic Love, is recorded exclusively with one of these prototypes.

So in summary, Slash didn't consciously choose to buy the Derrig guitar during the recording of AFD. His asked for a Les Paul guitar and his manager, Alan Niven bought the guitar for him. Subsequently, in 1996 Slash acquired another Derrig for his collection, since these replicas are rather valuable in their own right. He also owns another replica LP by Peter "Max" Baranet.

All other guitars, besides the original Derrig, have been a bonafide Gibson guitars, and apart from his AFD prototypes, which were made by the Gibson Custom Shop, all the other guitars that have featured in his career up till now have all been USA models.

Here endith today's lesson. Let the utter nonsense and half-truths continue... 8)

singemonkey

Half-truths?

singemonkey wrote:
Slash's AFD LP was made by Derrig. It's a fake. It's no secret.

He started playing on replicas. AFD was recorded on a replica (the famous Slash-tone that the G 'n R fans are after)

Early 1987 - GnR begin recording Appetite for Destruction. During the recording of the first few tracks, Slash is dissappointed in the recorded tone of his BC Rich and Jackson guitars and wants another Les Paul. GnR Manager, Alan Niven visits a music store called Music Works, in Redondo Beach, where he finds a Les Paul copy made by luthier Kriss Derrig, who built replica guitars in the workshop in the back, for sale. Guitar is fitted with Seymour Duncan Alnico II's and Alan returns to the studio and presents the guitar to Slash, who proceeds to rerecord the his already recorded tracks, and the rest of the AFD album is recorded with this guitar.

Obviously he gave it up after taking an endorsement deal with Gibson. I'm sure he was more than happy with the guitars they gave him, but he would not have been allowed to play the replica in terms of that deal unless the people at Gibson were morons.

shaunf

singemonkey wrote: Half-truths?

singemonkey wrote:
Slash's AFD LP was made by Derrig. It's a fake. It's no secret.

He started playing on replicas. AFD was recorded on a replica (the famous Slash-tone that the G 'n R fans are after)

Early 1987 - GnR begin recording Appetite for Destruction. During the recording of the first few tracks, Slash is dissappointed in the recorded tone of his BC Rich and Jackson guitars and wants another Les Paul. GnR Manager, Alan Niven visits a music store called Music Works, in Redondo Beach, where he finds a Les Paul copy made by luthier Kriss Derrig, who built replica guitars in the workshop in the back, for sale. Guitar is fitted with Seymour Duncan Alnico II's and Alan returns to the studio and presents the guitar to Slash, who proceeds to rerecord the his already recorded tracks, and the rest of the AFD album is recorded with this guitar.
Obviously he gave it up after taking an endorsement deal with Gibson. I'm sure he was more than happy with the guitars they gave him, but he would not have been allowed to play the replica in terms of that deal unless the people at Gibson were morons.

Read some of the posts before yours. I never quoted you therefore I wasn't responding to you when I made reference to nonsense.

The point I was trying to make with the history lesson was that it was only AFD that was recorded exclusively with the Derrig. The Derrig has also been used on newer albums, but in conjunction with other Gibson Les Pauls. Can you or anyone else tell which songs on which albums were recorded with the Derrig and which with his '87 LP standard? No? Didn't think so.

As far as I am concerned, Slashs distinctive AFD tone on that album was far more as a result of the amp used on that album rather than a particular guitar.

Oh, and although not used live for quite some time (Slashs decision, it appears, rather than Gibsons), the Derrig has made many many public appearances with Slash, in photo shoots, videos etc. if Gibson had some embargo on this guitar, I highly doubt this would be the case.

aubs1

Congratulations Alan, you see, sooner or later everyone must have a Les Paul! ?