NGD! My Les Paul Traditional! (Lefty content)

Cleric

After what feels like years of trying to find just the right Gibson for me, I found this beauty from keymusic.com in Belgium and had her delivered to the UK for me. Had the chance to give her a bit of a run-around yesterday, and hell is she a player. It has a 50s neck, which is chunkier than I'm used to, but encourages a bit more patience and really working the notes instead of flying up and down the fretboard with little consideration for melody.

And some amazing tone as well. A lot of clarity, and a rich midrange. Perhaps a touch less bass than I expected, but I'm sure I'll sort that out with getting the amp and pedal settings right.

I've had some issues with tuning stability though, particularly when really getting into some heavy bending on the G. My tech has recommended changing the saddle and nut, but I'll wait a few months before considering any tinkering I think.

The pics I have are a bit too big, so I'll stick the links in for now:
http://postimg.org/image/56s77c9kr/
http://postimg.org/image/5hg8sisx3/
http://postimg.org/image/evtwcp19n/
http://postimg.org/image/4fannpzhj/
http://postimg.org/image/4fannpzhj/

Reinhard

Great stuff man, congrats!

Before messing with the nut/saddle: Next time you string it up, try a few more windings around the G-string post (I do this with all the unwound strings). You can even use the technique where you lock the string on itself. Then just stretch the string thoroughly.

If you have a case where you hear a "ping" and that is affecting tuning, you can just have the nut slot checked, or put a little graphite/nut sauce in the slot.

IceCreamMan

It's a beauty....wow....

Airlines give u hassle?

Edit: why Belgian site, are you Belgian?

Cleric

Nice empty flight, so there was space for her. I had her wrapped up before check in, which was the only reason they let me take her on, because apparently they are afraid that you could use one of the strings to strangle someone. No jokes!

Thanks for the advice Reinhard. Will try winding that way. No "ping", but it's probably worth putting a touch of graphite in anyway.

StefStoep

Congrats on an awesome axe!

I just love that colour, wine red or is my eyes deceiving me.

Enjoy!

aubs1

Congratulations, that is one awesome colour .... :applause:

coynegfsa

She's gorgeous, enjoy her! It's a great feeling getting a new guitar and being the first one to take the stickers off. ?

Tokai-SA

Cleric wrote:
I've had some issues with tuning stability though, particularly when really getting into some heavy bending on the G. My tech has recommended changing the saddle and nut, but I'll wait a few months before considering any tinkering I think.

How you going to play the guitar if you wait months to have the nut fixed? ?

Before you change the nut on a brand new guitar, get a highly qualified and skilled guitar tech to file the nut slots correctly.
Filing the nut slots is an art, not any guitar tech can do it, once it's done (correctly) the guitar should stay in tune.

Cleric

It's really not too bad, just after extended lead playing ? I can play normally for ages. In fact, I'm about to spend several hours getting intimate with her ?

AlanRatcliffe

Tokai SA wrote: Before you change the nut on a brand new guitar, get a highly qualified and skilled guitar tech to file the nut slots correctly.
Filing the nut slots is an art, not any guitar tech can do it, once it's done (correctly) the guitar should stay in tune.

+1.

singemonkey

Great looking guitar. Congrats. Which year is it?

Les Paul Traditionals get my vote as the best Gibson USA Les Paul currently available.

Cleric

Thanks! She's a 2012.

Spent a lot of time playing last night. First time in my life that I've understood the need for tone controls. I'm so used to playing with vol and tone at full all the time, but with the Gibson you can really dial in the perfect sound with a bit of tinkering.

domhatch

Cleric wrote: Thanks! She's a 2012.

Spent a lot of time playing last night. First time in my life that I've understood the need for tone controls. I'm so used to playing with vol and tone at full all the time, but with the Gibson you can really dial in the perfect sound with a bit of tinkering.

firstly, congrats, she is a beaut! and a great colour choice. and i'm not starting a tokai versus gibson thing here, but...

since picking up my lp (also wine red) on tokaisa's easter clearance, i have found exactly the same thing. came as a bit of a revelation. i have a goldtop with p-90s and an sg (both tokais), but i haven't really spent the time with either of them that i have with the lp, playing with the tonal range. since doing so, i've gone back to both my other guitars and, boy, have my eyes been opened. especially with the goldtop.

so have a ball! you have an excellent guitar by the look of things. despite it being a lefty... ?
dh|

Cleric

So when playing "unplugged" last night, I discovered that somehow the excitement had blinded me to the fact that my E and A strings have pretty noticeable buzzes when played hard. I imagine I'll need to get her setup sooner than I was planning.

Cleric

Just a quick little jam I put together and recorded on my phone to give a sense of her sound:

StefStoep

Nice, very surprized how good the quality is for a "phone recording". Usually when i record something on my phone it sounds uber crap!

Where you using a looper pedal? What brand? I'm currently looking at getting one.

Cleric

Thanks! Yeah, the iPhone 5's memo recorder seems to do pretty well.

It's a Flashback X4, some great delay sounds, and while the looping function is pretty simple, it does the job for basic 1 or 2 loops, which is all I need.