Gibson....the good, the bad and the ugly

vic · 2009-08-06T15:13:49+00:00

Hi Guys....thought I should start a thread on Gibson guitars. I discovered that many on this forum just love them while others simply love to hate 'em (especially the Les Paul lines) And one finds this on a worldwide scale. I simply love Gibson guitars and especially Les Pauls. Why?.....Tone, action and playability. Some USA players refer to all these as the "Les Paul Mojo". Any downsides ?...perhaps the weight and price ? Value for money?...yes perhaps, if one considers re-sale value after say 5 years or so. Just my few cents... And how about SG's and ES175's and 335's....??

Dirk

I like the look of the LP, but prefer the stat by far. Also, the LP is quite heavy and after a three hour gig, you need to book yourself into a spa.

The tone is debatable, cause you get quite a fat sound out of it which is cool for the heavier stuff and the short scale is more comfy than the strat.

But I think I'm with MikeM on this one, single coil for me thanx

AlanRatcliffe

needleshy wrote i don't know if this is just on the new Gibsons but a source has pointed out to me that the fret board wood on a LP is shockingly dry and it doesn't take the fretboard oil nicely

If that's all he found on a new Gibby, he's lucky. ? Although, not surprising if he's using the commercially available lemon "oils" - which are more naphtha and lemon scent than oil. Tell him to invest in the Fret Doctor oil from www.beafifer.com - he'll never look back.

BTW, has anyone ever compared the tone of the chambered gibsons to the non chambered and compared tone before?

Don't have to, I know what small chambers do to a guitar (aside from make it lighter) - it will have a slightly warmer, more lively tone with smoother highs but slightly mushier low end. Pretty much like using a lighter piece of mahogany in the first place.

Banditman

@ Alan - I've had my rant already, mate. ? I can live and let (relics) live.

Just thinking about necks - it's always worth double checking what you're playing in the shop unless you're in Alan's profession or level of knowledge. I remember playing a Tele when I was starting out and judged all Teles for several years afterwards on it. I hated the neck feel, but later realised it'd been a fat vintage U profile which just didn't suit me. I know of at least 3 basic Fender neck profiles excluding the custom shop stuff, and Gibson themselves use what they term '50s (fat) and '60s (thinner) necks. I've found that in reality their '50s necks aren't really that fat, and actually quite liked it on a friend's reissue '57 Goldtop.

Play as many examples of each breed as you can and compare them in feel until you get the profile you're comfortable with. I think it's a waste of time and money to insist on buying a particular guitar because of what it is, if it doesn't suit your size or playing, unless you're collecting to have & not play. I'm not Eric Clapton - much as I like his work - and his signature neck profile I just don't like much. The same holds true for ANY signature guitar or vintage reissue. You might want to play a Nocaster reissue, but you won't know if you like the feel of it until you get one. Same thing with Gibsons and the old Les Paul weight issue.

We're spoilt for choice - Fender and Gibson along with their subsidiaries make a plethora of models that can "look" or be made to look like a specific model if the appearance is what we want, but that suit us better than the look we're imitating. Any Tele with a natural or butterscotch finish and black scratchplate will look vintage. If I swap the tortoiseshell scratchplate for a plain black one then hey presto - instant Dave Gilmour black Strat lookalike for me.

Get the guitar that suits your hands and ears, and forget the label or model number.

MikeM

If anyone buys some of that fret doctor stuff, please let me know. I'd like a bottle as well.

Reinhard

I can understand guys liking the clarity of a strat, my strat sounds fantastic clean, I just can't handle the overdriven tone. Finding a nice fat tone with single coils without playing at insane volumes or with a load of effects is tough. But lately, the tones I have heard from P90 guitars have really been growing on me. Aside from playing metal, I'd say a P90 is probably the perfect pickup.

If you want to hear some of the sweetest guitar tone on a Les Paul check out this guy.

He goes under the name Greg's guitars on youtube. He demos loads of guitar, always with incredible tone. http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=GregsGuitars&view=videos

The only single coil tone that gets close for me is The Rev Gibbons on Blue jean blues.

aubs1

Must admit I was very pro-Strat, but also loved the Les paul, so I got both.......problem solved!!!!!
I get really fantastic cleans from my LP, and my Strat, it's quite nice to get the "best of both worlds".......the Strat has always been my 1st love, but geez, the LP has a character of it's own...
Love both. Thought many times of getting an ES335, but could'nt find a good enough reason to......... ?

Slight diversion......my PRSs does basically what both do.......but.....like someone said here, the feel of the Strat is almost unmatched!!! I really don't mind the weight of the LP.......but I can fully understand the price factor.........

Glad to see that this thread has become Positive, Constructive and Informative........ (I apologise for the negative input previously)........

Alan Ratcliffe wrote At risk of angering the anti-relic crowd, how about a Murphy aged Bloomfield LP? $8,800 + shipping if you are interested.

Now that is one stunning LP.......

[deleted]

Aubs, I'm afraid that means you'll have to bring both (and the JEM) to the Joburg get-together.

vic

Yes...thanks for keeping the thread constructive and informative. There are also very good posts re. LP's within the "Epiphone" thread.

singemonkey

I absolutely love the Les Paul. While I have a yen sometime for other Gibson models, none of them have that all-round tone clarity. The SG sounds great, but it also sounds a bit like an LP with the tone turned down. The ES335 is also great, but the hollow chambers make it sound a little flaccid compared to the Les Paul.

I do think that they don't sound as good clean as a strat in some ways. The lack of twang. However, add the tiniest hint of grit, and it's spine-shivering time. But then I don't really like super-clean electrics, and tend to put a little overdrive even on clean stuff.

The problem with Gibson-made Les Pauls is two-fold: They're overpriced. The production standards are shocking.

To check on the latter I had a browse through the Harmony Central reviews for the LP standard. It was way worse than I thought. The number of people referring to "file marks on the fretboard," "inlays coming loose," "string buzz," "badly glued binding," was astonishing for such expensive guitars. One person even said that a chip of some kind had been rattling around inside one of the weight relief holes and he had to extract it through the strap button screw-hole.

Let me say again. This is too much to pay for a truly mass-produced instrument. It's no good saying, "they only have a few minutes to check each." If it's so mass produced that they have no time for quality control, it should be a cheap guitar.

Clearly I'm not saying they're all bad. Just that their lack of consistency is not reflected in their price.

To get the fifties Les Pauls that turned most of us on in the first place, made to the same specs as the fifties originals, you have pay a heck of a lot more. The original fifties Les Paul is now a "special" item. That's a flat out admission that their standards have dropped.

This is why I'm so sold on - and advocating - Tokai replicas of Gibson's early electrics. Their quality control is exceptional. It's tough to find a single bad experience among owners of any of the made-in-japan models. They try to bring you as much vintage goodness as they can for the money - until you get to the higher end ones which are true replicas (they don't tell you that you have to have weight relief or chambering no matter what you feel personally). And they've been making replicas of 50's Gibsons for a lot longer than Gibson's reissues (which were replicated in the same way - by reverse engineering 50's guitars. Gibson couldn't just restart the production line and reproduce the originals. They had to re-create them, same as the Japanese). So they're not "inferior" replicas.

Btw - Tokai no longer makes Fender replicas. Because Fender, who've avoided Gibson's quality control issues, contracted them to make a proportion of their Japanese Fenders.

So don't get me wrong. I love Gibson's guitars. I just don't think I want to buy another Gibson guitar that's made by Gibson.

needleshy

apparently gibsons are like fine wines, there are good production years and bad, now, does anyone have the info of the good production years and a bit of info for me to see year to look out for if i do eventually decide to buy one?

i heard that the early 80's models are really good and are slash's flavourate to play.

AlanRatcliffe

Ironically, all of Slash's best work was recorded using a fake "Les Paul". Frank Zappa's "SG" was a fake too. ?

[deleted]

Alan Ratcliffe wrote Ironically, all of Slash's best work was recorded using a fake "Les Paul". Frank Zappa's "SG" was a fake too. ?

Not exactly Gibsons greatest moment...

I wonder if they are aware of what people think of their guitars?

SURELY they have a plan to implement better quality control if a majority of owners are not happy?

I really cant understand...

Fender have noticably taken a step up in their quality control for ALL their instruments for the 2009 range. The new Americans ans Mexicans are Beauts...

Gibson just tag along and hope for the best it seems... ay

My business mind can't understand ☹

//edit: AND I REALLY WANT TO OWN A GIBSON ES-335!!!

Vintage-Guitar

needleshy wrote apparently gibsons are like fine wines, there are good production years and bad, now, does anyone have the info of the good production years and a bit of info for me to see year to look out for if i do eventually decide to buy one?

Gibsons best years are 1957,58,59,60 . Greatly due to the PAF pickups fitted during this period.
I have always been a strat man but have been tempted by a few 50's Les Pauls recently.

[deleted]

Vintage Guitar wrote Gibsons best years are 1957,58,59,60 . Greatly due to the PAF pickups fitted during this period.
I have always been a strat man but have been tempted by a few 50's Les Pauls recently.

Pity that those '57,58,59,60 LP are so pricey and not in all of out price ranges ?

suppose I am only 24, Gonna have to start saving for one of those... I have to start a seperate business just to finance my GAS I think... ?

[deleted]

I held in my hands a 59 LP GT in mint condition at Hughs the other day... If I'm not mistaken its up for R500k?

crazy talk that

AlanRatcliffe

Brentcgp wrote SURELY they have a plan to implement better quality control if a majority of owners are not happy?
I really cant understand...

They don't care - people still buy them because of their iconic status and they are marketing themselves more as a lifestyle brand than they are as a musical instrument company - doctors and lawyers have more money than musicians and are not as fussy about playability and tone and all that stuff that eats into profit margins.

That's my take on it anyway. No offense to the sharks and quacks amongst us. ?

Vintage-Guitar

I keep telling myself it is a buyers market.
I almost pulled the trigger on this 1960 a little while back but it meant me selling two great strats ?

Vintage-Guitar

Brentcgp wrote I held in my hands a 59 LP GT in mint condition at Hughs the other day... If I'm not mistaken its up for R500k?

crazy talk that

Tell me more...
Was it a Gold Top or a BURST?

vic

Alan Ratcliffe wrote
Brentcgp wrote
They don't care - people still buy them because of their iconic status and they are marketing themselves more as a lifestyle brand than they are as a musical instrument company - doctors and lawyers have more money than musicians and are not as fussy about playability and tone and all that stuff that eats into profit margins.

That's my take on it anyway. No offense to the sharks and quacks amongst us. ?

That's not fair.. :'(:'(surely there are many topclass musos (maybe some on this forum) who have bought and use LP's (modern and vintage alike) for their tone, etc., in addition to their iconic status.

bENDER

I have to honest, never played a real Gibson or a Fender.....my Crafter looks like a Fender so I suppose I am closer to playing a real Fender than a real Gibson. Maby it is one of those cases where when you don't know what your missing you don't miss it.....

Many of my Guitar Hero's [mind the pun ?] play Fender and Gibson AXe's....that is the only reason at this moment why I would like one of each....in the WHOLE RANGE hehehe.

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