Some Les Pauls for consideration

mikeyb · 2010-08-25T08:01:44+00:00

Hey guys and Gals, I decided to make a quick stop into the new Marshall Music in Hillcrest in the Richdens Spar complex. Havn't seen the new shop and was eager to see what was on show. Up front, I must say I was a little disappointed with their range, they don’t have a great selection. It is a smallish shop though, so Nevertheless, that did not stop me from trying out a few of their little delights. First up there was a nice surprise in the window, I just held it in my hands and admired the beautiful craftmsmanship that is the R36 000, Gibson les paul, traditional (that is the model name). It is basically a Les Paul standard with traditional embossed on the truss rod cover. Very nice, WEIGHTY ??? guitar though. It was beautiful in a vintage sunburst with neck and body binding, and I am sure will someday make someone a very proud owner. I then picked up an Epiphone Les Paul Custom, white, with gold hardware. The white on it looked a little more aged than say your standard arctic white. It was more an antique white. I played that for a bit, and it had a really nice sound and playablility clean and distorted. Nice and thick tones. The change of tones from the neck to the middle to the bridge pickups would please most. It too was super heavy though and a little bit too PRONO with the all gold hardware. I think I could make do with that, if it had chrome hardware. Gold is too GLAM for me. That was retailing for R5995. Overall really nice. Then I think I picked up a gem. It is an ESP or rather the budget range LTD series. The EC-256 which is the Eclipse (read Les Paul shape) in an aged honey burst. It really has a great weight and balance to it, despite being what I think is a mahogany body with set neck. It has standard nickel plated factory ESP humbuckers with a coil tap.Yikes…. This guitar felt, played and sounded silky. Instantly, audibly different and I might say, superior to the Epiphone. The neck was I think a little thinner and quicker than the Epi too and sat a little more comfortably against the body. Very, very nice guitar, and for R5895, it in my mind, has cleared a little bit of space ahead of the Epiphone. So there we have it dudes and dudettes. My weekly round up of guitars I will never be able to buy….. but would like to. They also had a PRS SE Custom and a Tokai model. I know how many out their simply love the tokai’s, so if you are in Durban near hillcrest pop in and ask Ian to try it out. The dude is very helpful and super friendly. Cheers

Banditman

vic wrote It depends a lot on the model you buy...also never buy new. I reckon R36000 for that LP Trad above is way too much. (there are currently a few Std's on the market for around R20k)

I think that those are the key points.

Get the right model, and don't buy new (rather like cars & bikes - let someone else take the depreciation hit). For example, the Classic was often a much maligned model more for its pickups & the colour of the inlays than anything else. But one Classic's not another Classic, the case in point being the early '90s examples that were a lot more like the later '59 reissues in spec. Prices on those have shot up very nicely.

The same thing's true of CBS era Strats compared to pre '65s.

Just about any decent guitar bought for a good price, if looked after, should realise a certain return if you're prepared to wait a while until prices have - inevitably - gone up.

The name on the headstock will continue to add investment kudos (though not everyone will make a fortune from their LP). Perhaps we should simply draw a line in the sand for people who will be buying with an eye on future sale, and people who're buying to play & couldn't give a monkeys.

vic

Tokai SA wrote I think the "investment" story is what we tell our wives when she complains about another guitar we bought...if I want to make an investment I'll head on down to Cape Town and buy an apartment in Camps Bay or Clifton. ?

With respect.
In that 10 years you hang onto the guitar to make a few thousand Rand, how many times did you pay for setups, new pickups, strings, etc, etc...add that all up and it wasn't much of an investment....besides, the name on the headstock is slowly becoming less and less relevant as the Asians take over the worlds guitar production.
Unfortunately that's all I can say without breaking the rules, so I'll watch the rugby now...don't worry, we'll win it. ?

.....was just illustrating that you don't have to lose money on, say, Gibsons. The problem for a private seller trying to sell a newish 2nd hand Gibson or Tokai or any other new guitar at a decent price, is that very few of them accept credit cards ?
...the name on the headstock (Gibson, Fender, Martin, PRS, D'Angelico....) will always remain relevant to some players imho....and I'm not implying that Asian guitars do not have an "investment" potential. Some of the early Tokai LP's also sell for decent money nowadays. Point is ..if you buy a new LP Std for R36000 and try and sell again next year, you will lose money no doubt. Our SA prices are much inflated mainly as a result of the lower Rand value compared to 20 years ago.
Also Gibson, Fender, et al are producing just too many guitars, and that would include their custom shop models too.

Tokai you were right about one thing...the Boks did win ! ?

Gearhead

I have a hunch that the maintenance on Camps Bay properties is also not so cheap ?

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