The Gibson Les Paul Electric Guitar Blog

Hey
I already have a Fender Telecaster, but I am looking for a new guitar to play in my band.
I enjoy playing Led Zeppelin, ACDC, Guns n Roses, The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Green Day, Neil Young
I am getting one of these guitars because they are not very expensive and are supposed to be great.
Thanks

Go with the Les Paul. Such great riffs have been created and played on Gibson Les Paul’s- just think Sweet Child O’ Mine. Jimmy Page has been known to play them too (you might’ve seen the rockumentary based around Jimmy Page, Jack White and The Edge about the electric guitar- it’s called It Might Get Loud if you haven’t).

I am looking at buying my dad a christmas present this year that he really wants/deserves/needs…. He has an electra right now that is about as old as I am (I am 19) and he loves it but he always talks about Les Pauls. I don’t know how to play a guitar or do I know much about them. I would love to get him a Les Paul (Epiphone) but I don’t want to shell out $1k or more, preferably only $700 or less. I am looking at the ‘56 Goldtop ($499.99 ), The Standard Plus Top ($549.99), Ultra-2 ($699), Black Beauty ($699), and the Custom ($649). That is a wide variety and decent prices (all from Music123). He loves to play, and everyone that hears him play (he plays in a band) talks about how good he is. I REALLY want to get him guitar that will sound better than his Electra and one that looks really good, I love the ‘56 Goldtop, the Standard Plus Top (with the transparent blue and the vintage sunburst), and the Black Beauty… Any suggestions would be great, like I said, I just want to get the best that I can for what little money I can afford to shell out.

I own an Epiphone Les Paul Ultra II and absolutely love it. The chambered body gives it a little more warmth than your normal Les Paul, kinda like a good semi-hollow. It also has the nano-mag pickup that gives you an acoustic sound. You can play the two pickup systems (humbucker and nanomag) separately, or blend them together for a HUGE range of tone. If you’re playing on an amp with a lot of distortion, adding the acoustic pickup to the humbuckers can actually help define notes bettey. Very cool guitar for the price. They cost $799 new now, as opposed to the $699 that I paid a few months ago, but it looks like Music 123 and other online retailers have "closeout" models for $649, that probably just have a slight cosmetic blemish. Obviously, this is the one that I’d suggest.

The Goldtop, Custom, and Standard Plus would also be good guitars to check out. I’d be happy with any of them, myself, and I’m sure your dad would also. Do yourself a favor and check out the Standard Plain top as well. It is the same as the Plus in every way except the finish.

I recommend not getting the Black Beauty. Yes, it looks nice… kinda. 3 humbuckers just looks kinda odd to me. I also don’t like how they sound as well as the standard Les Paul configuration of just 2 humbuckers.

Compare them.
Epiphone: $750
Samick: $600
Gibson: Err… $1199
Strats are good, but just aren’t my thing.

Hi Bender

So I gather you love the fat bluesy rock sound of a Gibson. Gibson have great sustain capability especially the Les Paul Studio Model. I has a maple top, mahogany neck, hand-sanded and with tremendous harmonic and soic capabilities.

The Epiphone Les Paul Custom does not have the real ebony-fingerboard, super slim frets like the real Gibson LP Custom.

The Samick can be purchased for under $500 on E-bay. Having said this, I tried one at my shop and was not impressed. The hardware was very nice but the fingerboard is in no way comparable to Gibson Les Paul Studio nor the Epiphone. But then, the difference in price shows this.

If you could afford the Gibson Studio, go for it because this is aninvestment that will eventually pay off later down the years. The major difference with Epiphone and all the other makes is that Gibson gets better with age. Not so with Epiphone, or any clones on the market.

When you buy an original Fender, Gibson, Jackson, Martin or whatever, the wood used is top-notch and has been aged properly. When you play them, the vibration of the wood penetrates in the wood and in the long run, the sound improves just like a vintage wine gets better and more expensive with time.

anyways i was wondering about the strumming
sumtimes when i i strum i completly miss the string
and when i do make contact wit the string it seems to hit another note
what should i do
does anybody have any practice skills to share with me i have jus started to learn on dvd’s Learning the electric guitar
Help Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wil it get better with practice

This is purely a matter of "practice makes perfect."

Since you are just beginning to learn, I suggest you draw your pick across all six strings; slowly at first so that each string sounds. Once you get this mastered, you need only gain speed until it sounds more like a strummed chord rather than an arpeggio. An arpeggio is nothing more than playing the individual notes of a chord one right after another.

Not to worry!

Kabum

I’m looking for a new guitar around that price range…..which one do you think is a better guitar? Or do you prefer any other guitars around that price range?

Thanks

idk i have a epiphone les paul special II and its awesome and really cheap only around $200

Like, what are the differences in playability, and neck sizes?

A Les Paul custom is going to be a helluva lot more expensive. Most customs are going to have some better pickups, and the necks feel different. It’s been a while since I’ve played a Custom, but it is a little different (but no two guitars are the same). If you are looking at a Les Paul, look at the Traditional. I’ve got one and it’s awesome. It has the best action. All Les Pauls are playable, the only problem is tuning. (And always look the guitar over really well before you buy it, due to Gibson’s astounding lack of quality control).

Hope that helps

Such as Lennon and Frampton, Marley
Yes? Sorry, it wasn’t a yes or no Q. -But rather WHY?

I think it was because of the p90 pickup …its a single coil pick up .
Just about all Gibsons have the same pickups (2 humbuckers) so it plays like a Gibson but it sounds different to all the others.

I was looking for a Gibson Les Paul and saw that there were many different kinds. There is the studio version, vintage mahogany, studio FADED, custom, aged. I’m am just confused! I was thinking of getting a studio because it’s one of the cheapest but I was wondering how that compares in tone, quality, sustain, etc. to all the other Les Pauls. Can anyone explain what each Les Paul is like?

Also, I have a Gibson SG faded. I was wondering what the difference between that and the standard is because there is such a huge price differential. It can just be the finish.

the tone and things like have little to no differences. hardware is different along with colors.

standard has a different pick-up configuration.

I want to get one that’s in a store where i can try it out before buying and hopefully it is cheaper than the ones on the internet.

Your only hope to get a "cheap" copy is to find a blemished guitar. As the name suggests, it’s a limited edition model. They’re going to stop making them at some point if they haven’t already. There’s no incentive for dealers to drop the price on the silverburst model unless it’s flawed.

Original ‘59 Gibson Les Paul, ‘89 Trainwreck Express, ‘68 Marshall 4×12 slant w/G12M 25s. Talking shop with Glen Kuykendall in the recording studio. I’m now also offering ONLINE guitar lessons via a SKYPE connection, more information on my webpage.

http://www.glenkuykendall.com/
http://www.thedrumkey.com

Duration : 0:10:1

Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: 1959, Burst, Dumble, Express, GIBSON, Historic, LES, Liverpool, Marshall, PAUL, R0, r8, R9, Rocket, Sunburst, Trainwreck