Ultimate Rhoads

I know almost nothing about Gibson axes. Please, teach me about Les Paul ones away from 1969-1982 Nelson Era. I'm looking for a good LP's yet I don't wanna get a routed-holes one, or a one w/ chambered zones inside or a "pancake" body. I'm looking for a full-mahogany-body one which weight like a tank (over 4 kilograms and more). which one may I get for $2-3-4,000 for example? And also what difference is there among Custom ones and Standard? Thxs so much you all

Nelson? You mean Norlin?

anyway, if you've got up to $4k to spend, why not go custom?
worked for Slash

Rumor has it that Slash actually had some of his Les Pauls made by ghost builders. Apparently several companies subcontract to ghost builders, and even luthiers are known to ghost build for other luthiers. Ed Roman has an interesting article at his site:

http://www.edroman.com/rants/ghost.htm

Premiere Guitar has an in-depth article on the subject concerning Slash's guitars:

http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/I ... _Paul.aspx

westernbacon wrote:I'm looking for a full-mahogany-body one which weight like a tank (over 4 kilograms and more). which one may I get for $2-3-4,000 for example? And also what difference is there among Custom ones and Standard? Thxs so much you all

The faded cherry Les Paul Studio is all mahogany and sounds great... you mention Customs and Standards, it that because of the look? The Studio is the same axe without the binding and the faded cherry has a mahogany top instead of the maple top of most Les Pauls...

I've never heard of Gibson routing chambers in their Les Paul models and I'm not sure what you mean by 'pancake', but if you are more concerned with a good playing, great sounding guitar, the Faded Studio is just that.

Here is more info.

a pancake body is when the mahogany is in 2 pieces, sort of like the maple caps. It's not uncommon to see the glue line right through the middle of the body (on the edge/side) when they age. The "new" ace frehley budokan guitar shows this well chambering is also very common with gibsons....

OP what do you mean but a "routed holes" guitar??

sytharnia wrote:OP what do you mean but a "routed holes" guitar??

"routed holes" is what Gibson does to their guitars for weight relief.
Not visible on the outside though.

...and speaking of pancake bodies. It's that it's 2 pieces of mahogany, BUT,
there's also a thin layer of maple in between, butall that aside, great music
has been made by pancakebodied Les Paul

Stiltzkin wrote:

sytharnia wrote:OP what do you mean but a "routed holes" guitar??

"routed holes" is what Gibson does to their guitars for weight relief.
Not visible on the outside though.

...and speaking of pancake bodies. It's that it's 2 pieces of mahogany, BUT,
there's also a thin layer of maple in between, butall that aside, great music
has been made by pancakebodied Les Paul

oh didn't know about the maple in the middle...nice

isn't the "routing" just chambering though???

sytharnia wrote:isn't the "routing" just chambering though???

Yup

Current Les Paul customs are a 1 piece mahogany body and 2 piece maple top. Pretty much any les paul custom built in the last 20 years will be one piece mahogany body and 2 piece maple top.

The difference in a custom and a standard are mainly cosmetic. But there are a few other differences. Customs have ebony fret board instead of Rosewood. Out side of that there is not much different as far as wood is concerned. Custom's have a lot more binding and pearl inlays than a standard. Most standards these days have locking tuners and also have chambered bodies. That changed in about 2008 when they used to use an ivroid tulip tuner and non chambered bodies. I forget what they called the tuners. Customs have used grover tuners for years. I prefer those.

I would suggest that a pancake style body is not bad. The RR custom les paul that was released a few years back was a pancake body. And (I am not saying this because it was a RR sig model) but that guitar was great sounding.Also, I am not aware of any regular production les paul customs that are chambered.

Whipper wrote:Rumor has it that Slash actually had some of his Les Pauls made by ghost builders. Apparently several companies subcontract to ghost builders, and even luthiers are known to ghost build for other luthiers. Ed Roman has an interesting article at his site:

I read an article years ago that went over Slash's original Les Paul. If I remember correctly Slash used Jacksons exclusively, but while in the studio recording Appetite they were having tone problems and the Jacksons were not delivering. Slash was adamant that he didn't like Gibson, but someone in GnR management found a luthier to make a Les Paul copy. Slash apparently fell in love with this guitar and recorded the whole album with it, stating that it was much better than anything Gibson make.

After reading that article I was surprised, not only by the news that the iconic Les Paul was not a Gibson, but I did wonder about Slash's deal with Gibson. Anyone know how long he's played "Gibson" guitars? Furthermore when did he decide they weren't shit? I guess money talks Wouldn't surprise me if some ghost building was involved in some of his guitars!

I'll have to check out those articles.

Rob

rice_pudding wrote:

Whipper wrote:Rumor has it that Slash actually had some of his Les Pauls made by ghost builders. Apparently several companies subcontract to ghost builders, and even luthiers are known to ghost build for other luthiers. Ed Roman has an interesting article at his site:

I read an article years ago that went over Slash's original Les Paul. If I remember correctly Slash used Jacksons exclusively, but while in the studio recording Appetite they were having tone problems and the Jacksons were not delivering. Slash was adamant that he didn't like Gibson, but someone in GnR management found a luthier to make a Les Paul copy. Slash apparently fell in love with this guitar and recorded the whole album with it, stating that it was much better than anything Gibson make.

After reading that article I was surprised, not only by the news that the iconic Les Paul was not a Gibson, but I did wonder about Slash's deal with Gibson. Anyone know how long he's played "Gibson" guitars? Furthermore when did he decide they weren't shit? I guess money talks Wouldn't surprise me if some ghost building was involved in some of his guitars!

I'll have to check out those articles.

Rob

Funny,
The "Appetite for Destruction" Les paul was the one that was a copy built by a luthier in Cali. Slash claimed that he had 2 les pauls built for him by Gibson in '87. They (Gibson Custom) released one a few years back. It kind of had an orange redish color. With a 3 piece maple top. IT was a nice guitar. Good times.

rice_pudding wrote:If I remember correctly Slash used Jacksons exclusively

welll, he didn't
'twas BC Riches just like his childhood idol Joe Perry

I believe that the mockingbird was supposed to be a slash signature model however BC Rich and Slash could not reach an agreement. I might be wrong about that though.

I you're wanting a Gibby without any chambering or weight relief today, you have to go with one of the reissue type guitars. Those guitars are built pretty much to original specs, including non weight relieved bodies. Pretty much everything from the mid 80's to present day have some type wood missing. In the early days of this, it was the "swiss cheese" method, which I think is an abomination on these guitars. I think they go for a more chambered approach today. And yes, even the new Les Paul Customs are weight relieved (not counting Customs that are reissues).