spawn802":3vwskv52 said:
fretout":3vwskv52 said:
Shouldn't be much of a surprise, but I'd vote for the LPC, but I would encourage you to commit to playing quite a few and find the one that has the qualities you like the most of the bunch.
While I agree that Gibson has abysmal quality control, but that doesn't mean they don't make great guitars. When you find a good one, the quality is top notch, but because Gibson makes so many duds, they get a reputation of putting out lower-quality guitars, but when they do make a flawless guitar, it can stand up against other custom shops. I completed a full comparison/contrast between (what is now) my LPC and other high-end guitars, and walked away with the LPC.
It looks like you have a ton of Les Paul Customs, any particular years I should look for? I know some have the richlite instead of Ebony. Does anyone notice that much of a difference with the richlite?
I appreciate all the advice from the forum members here. I am going to try as many LPC's as I can find around town today and see how I bond with them compared to my Studio.
After I played a 1968 Reissue, I was pretty much hooked on that particular model. If you can find one, they're my absolute favorite, and they seem to be made better...more consistently than other Customs.
As for which years to look for, I prefer any of the 2001 to 2005 variety, and the early 90s are all really well made. If you look for a LPC made after 2005, they made some good ones, but you really REALLY have to inspect them to make sure they have the right specs and they have the attention to detail you'll be happy with.
As for the Ebony vs. Richlite, I prefer Ebony...even opposed to Brazillian Rosewood, so my personal choice is to score an LPC that has Ebony. If you don't feel/hear much of a difference between Ebony/Rosewood/Richlite/Bakelite/Ect., then you can buy a Custom that has a fretboard made of Richlite/Other and use that as a way to negotiate the price down. In my personal opinion, it makes a little difference in the tone, but the feel is like night and day to me. Without getting flamed for my personal opinion, I'd tell my brother to buy a Custom with an Ebony fretboard and pass on the rest, but that's just me.
I've owned around 12 Customs at this point, so yeah, I have more experience with them than I would have liked. My first Custom had developed a twisted neck and it was sent to Gibson to fix. They sent another 7 guitars to me. That really allowed me to see the quality they were putting out. Not good. They final guitar they sent me came out perfect, and I mean perfect. I could bottom out the strings with no buzzing or intonation problems.
If you have any questions about the Customs, I'll do my best to help you out!
EDIT: And just to add some experiences to this thread, all of my guitars sound different than the next. I have one that has a TON of treble bite, and I have one that has such deep tone to it, I thought it was chambered, but after an x-ray, it confirmed it was completely solid.
