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Hatsubai « Cheaper yet with better features »
Published on 06/25/11 at 18:53These are very similar to the normal Traditional guitars, but they have three unique features - locking tuners, coil split and uncovered pickups. The guitar has a mahogany body with a maple top, mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard, Tune-o-matic bridge, 22 frets, block/trapezoid inlays, a pickguard, two humbucker pickups, two volumes, two tones and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
The Traditional Pro has a few improvements over the normal Traditional, in my opinion. For one, it has locking tuners. These are something every single Les Paul should have. Not only do they prevent the string from binding in the tuners, but it also allows you to change strings way faster. The next option that I love is the back. It's one of those dark back ones with the satin finish. These feel way better than the standard glossy finish, and I think they look cooler, too. The fretwork on these model is usually pretty awesome thanks to them being PLEK'd from the factory. Still, watch out for improperly cut nuts as they'll be the biggest issues on these guitars.
SOUNDS
The guitar sounds pretty good, but they're stock Gibson pickups. I'm not totally crazy about these. The sound average, in my opinion. The bridge is medium output, and it sounds fat. However, it doesn't overdrive the amp like I like my pickups to. The neck is a bit too bright for my tastes, but you can calm it down with the tone pot. The coolest thing is the coil split feature. This allows you to split the pickups to get that almost single coil sound. It makes this guitar crazy versatile.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for the best LP on the market for the price, this is the one. They sound great, have all the features a modern day guitar should have, look really good and are put together better than most of the other Les Pauls. On top of that, they're also not chambered like the Standards (although they are still weight relieved).
UTILIZATION
The Traditional Pro has a few improvements over the normal Traditional, in my opinion. For one, it has locking tuners. These are something every single Les Paul should have. Not only do they prevent the string from binding in the tuners, but it also allows you to change strings way faster. The next option that I love is the back. It's one of those dark back ones with the satin finish. These feel way better than the standard glossy finish, and I think they look cooler, too. The fretwork on these model is usually pretty awesome thanks to them being PLEK'd from the factory. Still, watch out for improperly cut nuts as they'll be the biggest issues on these guitars.
SOUNDS
The guitar sounds pretty good, but they're stock Gibson pickups. I'm not totally crazy about these. The sound average, in my opinion. The bridge is medium output, and it sounds fat. However, it doesn't overdrive the amp like I like my pickups to. The neck is a bit too bright for my tastes, but you can calm it down with the tone pot. The coolest thing is the coil split feature. This allows you to split the pickups to get that almost single coil sound. It makes this guitar crazy versatile.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for the best LP on the market for the price, this is the one. They sound great, have all the features a modern day guitar should have, look really good and are put together better than most of the other Les Pauls. On top of that, they're also not chambered like the Standards (although they are still weight relieved).