Can someone school me on Les Paul's?

[Jind]

Might not be in the same class as some of the Les Paul clones out there, but I love my Ibanez ART series guitar. Mahogany Body with Maple Cap and set Mahogany Neck. All come with Ibanez active pickups that originally I thought would get replaced, but I've been pleased with the tone and have not felt the need to replace them yet. For the price, it is a great guitar and they even have a newer ART600 which looks to be a nice guitar as well.

 

[greyskull]

the les paul traditional sounds killer.
other than that buy an old one.

 

[drew_drummer]

I have a 1991 Orville Les Paul. Made in Japan, and fucking slays.

 

[pipaguapique]

get and old one...mine is a 1981 Les Paul Custom and i love it! and when i say it's heavy...believe me...IT'S HEAVY!!

I have always like the feel of ebony fingerboard, and mahogany body's are great.

 

[D.Vial]

My vote goes for vintage. My old '78 Standard and '79 Custom were not only the two best Les Pauls I've ever owned....they were the two best I've ever played. When Gibson was owned by Norlin they had some unfavorable 3 piece tops and some had sandwiched bodies, but they also made a slew with maple necks. To me, a Les Paul with a maple neck is the biggest sounding, most balanced sounding guitar you can find. They have all of the warmth, chunk, and muscle of a LP....but with more clarity and 'snap' thanks to the maple neck.

My old babies

As far as ESP Eclipse's go, they get a big 'meh' from me. They sort of look like LP's....but that's about it. They're super thin and sound absolutely nothing like a Les Paul. Even the full thickness Eclipses are lacking in the roundness tonally of a LP. I was super excited when the Vintage Black Eclipse II's came out and worked at a music store that was an ESP dealer. I ordered one having never played one before.....and was completely bummed out by what I got. I sold it almost immediately. If you want a guitar that looks like a LP but sounds and feels like an SG they're great. But if you're after a chunky guitar with a huge sound....the EC's come up lacking.

I didn't keep this one for long

I did have an Edwards, but I got a dud. All I've read are rave reviews....but mine had a twisted neck, the neck angle was off, the fretwork was terrible, and it sounded like poo. But, like I said, a lot of other people have had great luck so I must've had a dud.

Interesting thing, I have never tried a Norlin post 76' with maple neck, I always thought that this was a "bad feature", but your words really make sense. After all Zakk Wylde Custom has maple neck.

 

[kaomao]

Burny les paul from the 80's: with 400 Euros you got a les paul that sounds and look like a real lespaul.
I bought mine months ago and I am so happy.
You can't tune it lower than C standard with more than a .54 string on the low E though (problems with intonation, basically you reach the end on the saddle too early).
This sucks but as long as you're not hitting the strings really hard this is not an issue.

 

[egan.]

Les Pauls made by Gibson have an unequal division of the scale length from the nut to 12th fret/12th fret to bridge. The length is actually shorter from the 12th fret back to the nut, meaning that no Les Paul ever made by Gibson will intonate anywhere near as accurately as it should.

whoa. That's insane. Why on earth would they do that (and not change it).

 

[korpse pop]

Les Pauls made by Gibson have an unequal division of the scale length from the nut to 12th fret/12th fret to bridge. The length is actually shorter from the 12th fret back to the nut, meaning that no Les Paul ever made by Gibson will intonate anywhere near as accurately as it should.

Can't you correct it by replacing the nut?

 

[Nitrobattery]

Interesting thing, I have never tried a Norlin post 76' with maple neck, I always thought that this was a "bad feature", but your words really make sense. After all Zakk Wylde Custom has maple neck.

The Norlins get slammed a lot, but they're my favorite era of Les Pauls. I absolutely love maple necks on LP's and kick myself almost daily for ever selling the two that I had. I bough my '78 standard in 2006 for $1,100...and now you can't touch one for under 2k.

My standard was pretty beat up and had a pretty massive layer of nitrocellulose on the neck, so after a long conversation with my old guitar teacher who is also a tech, I pulled a Zakk Wylde on the neck and then tung oiled. It came out absolutely awesome. Did I mention that I'm an idiot for selling it? haha

When I got my '79 Custom I wanted to do the same thing, but it was damn near mint and I just didn't have the heart to sand the finish off. Luckily though after a summer of playing a ton of shows, the last layers of nitro started coming off and I got my raw neck naturally...which made me a happy guy.

 

[drew_drummer]

That looks absolutely gash!

 

[guitarguru777]

Its on the back of the guitar man, who give a shit what it looks like as long as it sounds like GOD taking a crap in the rain forest on easter sunday!!!!

What are you in one of those "80s Hair metal" bands?

 

[Nitrobattery]

I was terrified doing it to the Standard, but I used super fine sandpaper and even finer steel wool and did it very slowly. The end result was incredible though.

 

[drew_drummer]

Its on the back of the guitar man, who give a shit what it looks like as long as it sounds like GOD taking a crap in the rain forest on easter sunday!!!!

What are you in one of those "80s Hair metal" bands?

I'd be using a flying V if I were! uke:

 

[Kølabrennern]

I don't post a whole lot, but since this is about Les Pauls and that's my one big interest and passion above everything else, I'll have a go.

Don't buy USA production line Gibson. Just don't, the quality control lacks and there are far more duds than good ones out there. If you're set on Gibson, then the Historic line from the Custom Shop is where it's at, and those are really great. They're not chambered or weight relieved, but the weight is still decent as they use good grade tonewoods. I don't know if you're after a Standard or Custom or what, but there are some abbreviations you need to understand with the Historic line: For example R0 stands or 1960 Reissue whereas R9 stands for 1959 Reissue, B7 is a 1957 Reissue Custom etc. There's also a Guitar Center exclusive 1960 Reissue called G0, the only difference from the regular R0 being the flamed vs. plain maple top. These are expensive guitars, depending on if it's a plain top or flametop the prices average from $2500 - $5000 used. The Reissues generally have some pretty fat necks on them, but the 1960 Reissues are slimmer, if that's what you're looking for. Certainly no wizard neck-madness going on, but very, very comfortable once you get into them.

Others have stated that you get the most value out of Japanese Les Pauls, and I concur. Especially the ones from the 80s, Burny being particularly fantastic in terms of attention to detail (fret edge binding, for example). I own an Edwards myself, and those are great guitars though not truly made in Japan, they are built and painted in ESP's Chinese factory using woods supplied from Japan, and then finished and set up at their Japanese factory. Regardless, they are great guitars and I prefer mine above my 1990 Gibson Les Paul Classic ('90-92 Classics were something quite special and different from other Gibsons at the time) as it plays wonderfully and sounds even better. I still keep my Gibson solely because it has the thinnest neck you'll ever find on any Les Paul, but right now I'm having one custom built for me by a luthier in Canada with a similarly thin neck and other features to my personal specifications, so I'm pretty sure the Gibson will eventually be obsolete as well.

To sum it up, if you've got loads of cash, go for the Gibson Historic line. If not, then look for MIJs on ebay and perhaps Rinkya (bidding engine for us overseas folk that want to buy stuff from Yahoo Japan auctions). I would also like to add that the 70s Norlin era Gibson Les Pauls are certainly not for everyone, with their maple necks and 13 pound bodies, amongst other strange features. Try a few, but don't go and buy one unplayed!

Edit: Gibsons Plek system ain't worth shit, as they have it set up wrong from the get-go. A good plek involves doing it with simulated string tension (set up to play), and adding a whole other list of variables that Gibson just doesn't do. Some turn out good, some are pretty much unplayable, it's all luck of the draw with modern day Gibson USA guitars.