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tjon901 « An expensive Les Paul Classic »
Published on 09/04/11 at 10:16There is no reason this should be a Custom Shop model. The normal model is perfectly fine and the Custom Shop model does not really bring anything to the table. I dont expect this guitar to sell in my shop and I wouldnt really recommend anyone buy it because it is just an overpriced Les Paul Classic. You dont get anything special with this guitar. You get the standard mahogany body with a maple top. The neck is a mahogany set neck with the 60s profile. The fretboard is the dryest rosewood ive ever seen with some ugly green "aged" inlays. The guitar is pretty standard. 6 non locking tuners up top with a non locking bridge. It has a set of 57 Classics which makes it sound a lot better than the normal one but it isnt worth the extra they are charging.
UTILIZATION
This guitar plays pretty decently with the 60s neck. The 60s neck is a bit thinner than the 50s neck so it is easier to play for most people. Other than this it is pretty much your standard Les paul. Non locking tuners like the 1950s up top. The tune-o-matic bridge is non locking which is pretty silly when every Epiphone now comes with a locking tune-o-matic. The non locking bridge means everything is held on just by string tension so when changing strings or working on your guitar everything can fall off and mess up your intonation. The fretwork is good like on all high end Gibsons due to their use of the Plek machine. This machine levels the frets on the guitar better than any human could so out of the box your frets should be perfectly level. On this example this was true.
SOUNDS
The sound on this guitar is slightly better than on the normal model due to the 57 Classics they include on this guitar. The natural tone of this guitar is pretty thick with the big mahogany body. The maple top adds some high end clarity to the sound but the base of the sound is the mahogany lump. With the Classic 57 PAF style pickups this guitar is a blues and rock machine. The 57's have just the right amount of sag in the tone so you can really work the dynamics like you would with a set of real vintage pickups. The neck pickup is super smooth and when you throw in some tone knob you can get that sour tone like you have a parked wah on. The bridge pickup has a little more bite and spank to it. With some gain you can get good classic rock tones from the bridge pickup. These pickups can handle more gain than a set of PAF's could. Because of their modern design they retain their composure longer than a set of old pickups could.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar is pretty strange. I dont know why Gibson decided to put it out. Its not like they needed to build this guitar in their Custom Shop anyway. Its just a Les Paul Classic with different pickups and they are charging like twice as much. You can get a normal Les Paul Classic for like 1300 bucks and a pickup swap is only like 100 dollars. That is a much better deal than this guitar. I would recommend doing that over buying this guitar.
UTILIZATION
This guitar plays pretty decently with the 60s neck. The 60s neck is a bit thinner than the 50s neck so it is easier to play for most people. Other than this it is pretty much your standard Les paul. Non locking tuners like the 1950s up top. The tune-o-matic bridge is non locking which is pretty silly when every Epiphone now comes with a locking tune-o-matic. The non locking bridge means everything is held on just by string tension so when changing strings or working on your guitar everything can fall off and mess up your intonation. The fretwork is good like on all high end Gibsons due to their use of the Plek machine. This machine levels the frets on the guitar better than any human could so out of the box your frets should be perfectly level. On this example this was true.
SOUNDS
The sound on this guitar is slightly better than on the normal model due to the 57 Classics they include on this guitar. The natural tone of this guitar is pretty thick with the big mahogany body. The maple top adds some high end clarity to the sound but the base of the sound is the mahogany lump. With the Classic 57 PAF style pickups this guitar is a blues and rock machine. The 57's have just the right amount of sag in the tone so you can really work the dynamics like you would with a set of real vintage pickups. The neck pickup is super smooth and when you throw in some tone knob you can get that sour tone like you have a parked wah on. The bridge pickup has a little more bite and spank to it. With some gain you can get good classic rock tones from the bridge pickup. These pickups can handle more gain than a set of PAF's could. Because of their modern design they retain their composure longer than a set of old pickups could.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar is pretty strange. I dont know why Gibson decided to put it out. Its not like they needed to build this guitar in their Custom Shop anyway. Its just a Les Paul Classic with different pickups and they are charging like twice as much. You can get a normal Les Paul Classic for like 1300 bucks and a pickup swap is only like 100 dollars. That is a much better deal than this guitar. I would recommend doing that over buying this guitar.