singemonkey wrote
Reinhard wrote
Well a quick look on ebay and you can get a Les Paul for pretty close to that in used/great condition. Buying an Epi 2nd hand here would prob run you 3K?
I told myself with my Epi LP that with a pickup change it will be as good as a Std and it is a way better idea than buying an over priced Gibson. I eventually ended up with a Std anyway. You buy into the hype.
Second hand wasn't what I was talking about ? A good guitar should maintain a lot of its value anyway. The fact that LP standards sell for so much less second hand maybe says a bit about them. ? As for Epiphones, my daily trawling of gumtree has me estimating the average asking price as R5,000.
It's not a case of buying into hype. If you have no choice, then a Gibson is so much better than an Epiphone - so you suck it up and pay. In fact, when I bought mine, there were so few serious Les Paul copies circulating, that a Gibson was about the only option for a Les Paul.
Sounding the same through enough effects? I dare say a '59 Les Paul and a Hondo II begin to sound similar when running through enough effects. But what does each sound like when plugged straight into a tube amp? And then there's the playability.
But luckily Gibson has done us the favour of fleeing the country, opening the doors to their competitors. I knew a guy who played in a Zeppelin clone band in Cape Town in the early nineties. He had this
amazing Les Paul. But it had nothing on the headstock. Just blank. Many years after, this skilled guitarist who'd played a lot of guitars in his time, became so convinced it was a Gibson that he sanded down the end of the headstock to reveal the logo. "Burny." (The same guy also had an Ibanez copy of the Gibson 6/12 doubleneck. That was a very serious instrument 8)).
I think that we've got a great opportunity now that Gibson's gone to get those classic instruments at better prices and better quality than Gibson's contemptuous offerings.
A gibson into a valve amp is a thing of beauty, but for other styles of music I feel the guitar makes less of a difference. The knock a Gibson takes on resale is perhaps a bigger issue if you buy it in SA, seeing as we basically pay a boat load more over here. The saving you get on used guitars on say Ebay, makes it worth it for us to import one at a decent price. The fact that Gibson left SA doesn't make a difference, as I'd rather import one myself than get ripped off locally. I made the mistake once of buying a les paul locally and it cost me the same my 59 reissue cost me a little later on. Then again checking the prices of any guitars available locally and comparing it to say the US prices is sickening. Does it make it worth it to import and Epi, definitely not, but importing say Fender, Gibson, Gretsch, etc. is worth it.
A great guitarist can make most guitars sound good, and there is no reason that Burny was not an incredible instrument, but a lot of people feel tone is in the hands. The fact that Slash made some memorable recordings on a LP copy, it should be said that the builder of the guitar made it as a replica of a 50's les paul, and the Max and Derrig (I think Slash's LP was a Derrig) replicas are held in very high regard. Yet Slash has an insane collection of gibsons, spanning modern and vintage LP's.
There are lots of comments on shoddy quality control, then I guess I have been lucky, because the 5 Gibsons I have had spanned from 1965, 1997, 2003, 2006 and 1999 and not a single one has had issues. Fortunately no one can hold a gun to your head and force you to buy a guitar with a warped neck. Should a guitar that expensive have issues like that? Definitely not, but it happens from what I have read. And going through any brand I am sure you'll find some f'd up instruments along the way, although you would expect better QC from high end instruments.
Even with all the negative feelings about these guitars, no other brand evokes the same effect in me. If I had my way I'd end up with a LP, SG, 335, V, Explorer, Firebird, 330, 345 and maybe an L5.
