the one i haven't bought yet 😄 owned les pauls in the past but ended up selling them for teles/metal guitars and baritones, i am on the lookout for the mahogany magic again though as a gibson into a marshall is just an epic experience
the greatest guitar of all time. but its not for the learner or beginner, nor Mum & Dad's pocket money to buy one. play one through a hundred watt Marshall and report back. its the sound of rock n roll.
I have 2 Les Pauls, a satin Trad Pro V which is truly a swiss army knife and a reissue Deluxe. The TPV has coil splitting and there are easily reached dip switches in the cavity that you can adjust to choose what the push-pulls on the tone knobs do, including out of phase middle position and choosing inner versus outer coils for the coils splits, also coil splitting vs coil tapping. Can use it for literally any genre from jazz to funk to blues, hard rock, metal. Amazingly umder rated guitar and the satin version is on the low side of the gibson price scale. The Deluxe sounds just like Leon's original and it just does the 70s hard rock sound SO well. Love ripping the Boston More Than A Feeling solos on it.
Great video! I'm a" dyed in the wool" Les Paul guy from very early on in my guitar playing history. It started with buying a new Ibanez Les Paul Custom copy ("lawsuit") when I was 15 years old. I used that guitar for many years as it was and still is a very good guitar. Then going thru a few Gibson USA Les Paul models over the years, I've settled on a total of 6 LP's in my collection which all happen to be Custom Shop/Historic models: a 1998 '56 Historic Gold Top w/P90's, a 2001 Historic '57 Custom, a 2001 Historic '59 Burst, a 2018 R8, a 2020 R9 and a 2020 R0. They're all fantastic guitars and each has its own personality and tonal characteristics. My favorite is probably the 2001 '57 Custom which most likely has something to do with my Ibanez purchase when I was 15. I have a couple SG's, a 335 and a V which are cool too, but they just feel different than a LP. I also have a couple Strats, but to me a Strat is a whole different animal in pretty much every way and they rarely get played.
I've got 3 Les Pauls, one of them in that glorious alpine white. They've always been my preferred instruments as there's nothing else quite like them. The tone, the feel...it's just magic.
I have a custom shop R8, a Traditional Signature T, a Classic and a Tribute. I love all of them but the R8 just has a feel and clarity in the tone that is better than the others.
I like your Premium Plus Standard. It looks and sounds great. I've had an R8, R4 and now the '68 Custom Reissue. The R8 was cool, but the frets were too small for my style. R4 was OK, but I wasn't crazy on the wrap-around, but the oxblood colour was amazing. My '68 RI is a keeper. Love the less steep headstock angle and basically everything else about it.
1979 LPC custom Silverburst is my favorite neck and favorite les pual. (bought it for 4k US before Adam Released his specs) BUUUUUT my 2015 Les Pual Traditional Pro IV with the super 57 pick up (alnico II) is probably my favorite sounding les pual. Its the perfect rock machine at 8.6k rating or so alnico II. And the in and out of phase switch (Like Todd was mentioning Peter Green) is really cool.
I own a white custom Edwards (ebony fretboard, gold hardware, Seymour Duncan pickups, all gohto hardware) under 1k…probably the best les Paul for the money
Took me 5 years of looking for my forever Les Paul. I’d owned a few previously but never gelled with them. Ended up finding a 2021 Standard 60’s in Unburst that does the thing exceptionally well. Had Alex at Whizz wind me a set of Alnico IV PAF clones that took it to the next level. Put some Graphtech Ratio tuners with plastic keystone buttons on it as well. I’m mainly a Fender offset/single coil guy but every well-rounded stable needs a Les Paul. And I found a really good one. Oh it’s also 9 lbs. which in my experience is pretty good for a non-chambered Les Paul.
I too started out on Strats and really didn't like LP's. One day I impulsively bought a studio from Andertons purely because of the sale they had on. It happened to be a really good purchase and paved the way for eventually (This week) buying a Standard 50's (Greeny to be precise) It was instant love at first sight and I am bowled over by it. I paid £2.5K for it and I would only sell it for offers over £10K.
I guess I've never met up with my LP match, but I will certainly take your word for it that it's out there somewhere. PRS is more my thing, and I'd love to see you do an exploration of those.
I had an unexplainable dislike for Les Paul's for a very long time. Every one I played didn't agree with my super Strat mindset. Until I borrowed a friend's mid-70s LP and got an 'oh hell yeah!' moment with it. I was lucky enough to find one that was even nicer to play a few years ago, and it's become my #1 (don't tell my Strats that, though...) 🤘
I think cats whom say there not Les Paul guys, secretly dream of them 😅 I'd love a real one, one day, but it's been fun discovering copy's and alternatives over the years. One that stood out was a Kramer assault with a Floyd Rose I had, it was awesome.
I started off as a Gibson player many, many moons ago and only recently gravitated to Strats the last 5 years or so. That said I still have my Les Pauls (four), Jimmy Page, Gary Moore, Neil Young and Snowy White being my main influences. Of yours I think the Deluxe sound the best to my ears, I have a 74 SG Special with the same mini-humbuckers, though with black plastic covers. A much overlooked pickup in my mind. I'm going to have to get back to playing mine a bit more, there are some things that only a Les Paul can really nail.
I have an FM9, and I'm using 2 stereo boxes on out1 and another 2 stereo boxes on out2, the sound of the guitar when I play comes out on the 2 outputs, however the sound from the USB that goes to the PC only comes out on separate out1, out2, how can I do this? Configure the audio on the PC to output out 1 and out 2 simultaneously?
@@LeonTodd Thank you for the reply! Do you think they have enough push to reside in hard rock/metal territory? I will change the custom buckers in my Les Paul custom but not sure if I should go with a 8k-10k / 42awg or a 12-15k / 43awg pickup for the bridge.
Just wanted to mention something about the reference to Les Pauls and their astronomical prices. Under Gibson's current ceo, the market has been flooded with Gibson USA Les Paul standards. You can find them used all day on marketplace for asking prices of $1800. I've heard of them selling for as little as $1500. Now's a great time to buy one if you really want one.
In the 1970's I bought a "used" Les Paul for a few 100 dollars. The finish was stripped and replaced with a clear spray can finish. It still was a great sounding guitar. Eventually, I had it professionally refinished in a sunburst and re fretted. Now it was great sounding guitar that also looked good. Years later, I noticed that it didn't have a serial number. So it turned out that it was a 1952, which was stripped and and the P90's were rerouted for humbuckers. I decided honor this classic with Throbak pickups and their wiring harness. Now, I would not trade it for an original 1959.
I bought a 2015 Anniversary standard with robot tuners for a really good price second hand the neck is really wide but i have big hands and love it my sixties neck LP standard has a slimmer neck which i don't like as much but still love playing it they both sound wonderful. Thanks Leon i really enjoyed this the cult made my day
My only Gibson LP at the moment is a black beauty custom from 2021. As a lefty it seems crazy to own such an unattainable dream guitar to me. It's a fantastic guitar too, the QC is almost perfect (so perfect by Gibson standards lol) and the fretwork is on par with my MIJ ESPs which is saying a lot. It sounds and plays great. My next dream one is an Axcess custom. That being said I'm a massive fan of Eclipses, own an EC1000, a 4 knob Eclipse (insanely rare in lefty) and got an EII Eclipse snow white on order. The Eclipse is such an amazing guitar in all its forms, and much more playable than a Gibson honestly
@@LeonTodd my main guitar is a Fender Meteora with a TOM bridge... i got the SG/Tele deluxe thing kind of sorted out. I'd like you to review not so common 335 alternatives like the Rivolta Regata, the Ibanez Artcore, Guild Starfire,... The Rivolta Regata looks great. It's like a "well done Starcaster". Maybe the inlays are too much, but i'm sure it's fantastic. Made by Danelectro factory in Asia and QC checked by Novo guitars if i'm not mistaken.
aha this is based on when u entered the guitar scene and what was available and common and affordable. My first guitar Hofner committee archtop twice the size of me! Then my main guitar until 1970 was a Burns Trisonic used by the Searchers with 3 pickups. Then a Gibson SG Special which Clapton, Pete Townsend, Jimmy Page, Angus Young all used in their early days. Strats for The Shadows, Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas, Mr Gilmour, but mainly Teles for Liverpool and Manchester bands, Yardbirds etc. I think Mr Page first Les Paul at Bath festival 1970 as LZ, Kosoff Free Alright now same year. So popular guitars developed from the idols who used them.😅😅
I once had an opportunity to buy an ‘85 tobacco sunburst Custom for 1600 USD. Cream toggle switch ring (no pickguard), gold speed knobs, stock Tim Shaw PAFs. Played like buttah. But alas, I was 15 and couldn’t swing it. Huge regret. One of the ones that got away. I’d probably be paying upwards of 3 grand for an ‘85 Custom like that now. And a set of those Tim Shaw pickups will run you around 7 or 800 bucks at least.
My favourite Les Paul is an SG. But I do like “proper” Les Paul’s too. Would like to get a Mick Ronson replica, 1968 Les Paul Custom with unpainted plain maple top.
I'm not a Les Paul guy, I'm a Strat guy, so my experience with Les Pauls has been mixed. I have a 50s Studio Tribute from 2010, which I've never liked. I also have a blue BFG from 2008, which I do like, but it's more like an occasional guitar than an everyday guitar. Still thinking I should someday get an R9. We'll see.
0:46 - the best Les Paul I have played so far is my PRS SE 245. :/ I rewired it for master volume and tone, with individual pickup volumes using reverse taper pots for smooooooove blending. Also has a phase switch to go Green....
Love my Les Paul! Would have been nice to hear this demo through a Marshall or any tube head instead of digital though. It's like gagging an opera singer. Good idea but just doesn't sound right. Thanks for the review man. Love em all.
It's like a religious experience. At ear splitting volume, through a Mesa Mark V 90 I swear with the pickup/amplifier feedback loop it almost plays itself.
I've played a few different LPs over the years, nothing incredibly special though, I have a 2002 Zakk Wylde Epiphone that I've replaced the pickups in with a proper EMG ZWK set, also gave it a birthday and all new hardware, I love how it plays now, its extremely FAT sounding. BUT the McCarty 594 single cut craps all over it for tone and the play-ability is just the best I haven't changed a thing on that. I know that's apples to oranges but they're the only 2 LP Body style guitars I own.
Totally agree with you about the 594. I have a double cut and the pickups, the insanely comfortable neck, the fact that you can literally do anything to it and it never goes out of tune makes it in my opinion possibly the best guitar ever made.
@@LeonTodd 2005 white with ebony fretboard. Almost 20 years old already. Not one day since then I didn't played it. It is more yellow than white today.
Currently my PRS Singlecut is doing the LP thing for me and it's excellent! I know the scale is slightly different and I've thought about getting another proper les Paul when money is a bit more loose and I find the right one. Right now I'm thinking I'd want a lighter model, maybe a Jr or something without the maple cap.
Curious if you’ve played a kahler trem or a kahler trem on an LP ? I remember the guys from Warrant had kahler’s……I’ve played an LP with a Floyd, was always curious on the kahler…..🤘🏼
Mr. Leon, has there ever been a guitar you've never gelled with? You have so many great specimens in your collection or have indirectly had access to them. I don't remember your saying anything negative about any particular brand/model. You seem to find positives in anything and that's really admirable. If I were to venture a guess I'd say you might less prefer something black and pointy from the mid 80s, mainly due to neck drop (looking at you, BC Rich). One shouldn't have to fight one's guitar and perform at the same time. I never got into the Dime Dean MLs for that reason. I'm still looking for an old school 80s Kramer Voyager with the huge points. The current Kramer Tracii Guns reissues are more Gibson-ish and rounded. Such massive, pointy guitars look great on stage but aren't very ergonomic, and it's heartbreaking when their beautiful, glossy black paint inevitably chips at the corners.
@@LeonTodd Fender made a mistake cutting the Hamer brand I think, although I hear they have restarted limited production. I have a cheap set neck Hamer Scarab (Gibson 498t/57 Classic Plus) made toward the end of the Hamer run in 2008. Solid for a set neck, tune-o-matic Chinese made guitar. I use it for quick detuning and chuggy things. It's one of my main guitars for rhythm tracking. The only issue was the factory plastic nut was poorly slotted, so if you went to a heavier string gauge, even from 9 to 10 in standard on a 24.75", you would get buzzing. I had to get a new nut put on. Fret and nut work are things I don't do. I had the privilege of a brief email exchange with Hamer co-founder Jol Dantzig. I told him I thought Hamer were a really solid alternative to Gibson. Would love to have some 80s specimens of those as well. I usually see 80s Hamers with Kahlers instead of Floyds. Thanks as always for your replies sir! Always a pleasure to talk shop with you.
Love me a Les Paul, gigged them forever and nothing sounds or feels like a good one. The stereotypical comments of course that the haters will roll out, they're too heavy and have weak necks, both not necessarily true of course. A lot of Gibson LP's are weight reduced now so pick the one that you prefer, heavy, light or somewhere in between. I would imagine Gibson would love to manufacture their necks with a scarf joint as a lot of builders do but the backlash from traditionalists would be scathing. On a side note, as a professional guitar tech of 25 plus years, acoustic guitars of various brands are the guitars I see the most with headstock breaks, Gibsons do come through but rarely. Oh and the G string tuning stability is not an issue if your tech nows how to setup a LP correctly.
I used to detest Les Pauls but I have now come to appreciate them - it took a long time. They're still not my favourite guitar but now there is no hate, only appreciation.
I want to go to Japan and buy some vintage lawsuit Tokai/Greco/Burney/Ibanez copies you can't get in the US...for the cool factor and because screw Gibson 😅
Leon, so you buy a Les Paul at a premium price, then you replace everything except for the wood. And then you finally have a proper guitar. Sorry man, that is just ridiculous. Love your channel.
@@LeonTodd@LeonTodd That's great, but that doesn't change the fact that Gibsons need a lot of work to bring them to the standards they should have adhered to from the factory, certainly at that price level.
Sigh, I thought I’d found someone perfect with regard to gear but of course no one is. Still, my Dad said according to legend there was only one perfect person and look what they did to him. GLP’s should have been the Stradivarius of electric guitar but they fucked that with R&D after the factory moved. Being a ‘71 model myself I grew up and started learning to play during their darkest times and have therefore never even touched a GLP and never will I. Piss poor instruments and overpriced. I’d prefer a SE 594 over any except Greeny. But she was before the dark times came. A core 594 would be a better instrument mind you. So I’ll do a short review, if you have five years to find one and £100k to pay for it you may find yourself a cracking instrument but for £3.7k you can get better new and for £900 an SE will smoke 95% of all GLP’s made ever. Hate that Les Paul and Ted McCarty poured their lives into this instrument and new Gibson ruined them.
Do you find these days that with digital modellers that it doesn’t matter what guitar you use? I think you could record with a 100 dollar guitar and a 3K dollar guitar and we wouldn’t have a clue. The processing on the fractals etc would manipulate it to a great sound. I think for me, as long as it’s easy to play it’s fine to use.
I've had an LP and an SG. I liked them OK, but they each had their own issues, in addtion to the LP being like 10.5 lbs, so they weren't around $5k cool. I personally don't subscribe to the 'nothing else sounds like a Les Paul' stuff, or that in the 1950s Leprechauns and Fairies made them with some magic dust.
What's your favourite Les Paul?
the one i haven't bought yet 😄 owned les pauls in the past but ended up selling them for teles/metal guitars and baritones, i am on the lookout for the mahogany magic again though as a gibson into a marshall is just an epic experience
The Deluxe, but that could change if I ever get that 59 burst I've been dreaming of........who am I kidding, I couldn't enjoy anything that expensive
mine: a '13 Trad with ReWind pickups & Faber hardware. a '59 harness with Sprague 'bees and Centralab pots. I'm home.
I choose the Les Paul Artist but with the Green River vibes of the first Les Paul.
my custom... love the custom 😁
I bought a Gibson Adam Jones Signature Les Paul Standard as a retirement present to myself. Love it.
Solid choice! I love that they went with Ebony on a Standard for that one.
I did the same. I went through a few Gibby LP Standards and then landed on the AJ. The finish grabbed my attention and the sound is amazing. Heavy.
the AJ standard is n awesome guitar
the greatest guitar of all time. but its not for the learner or beginner, nor Mum & Dad's pocket money to buy one. play one through a hundred watt Marshall and report back. its the sound of rock n roll.
Nothing else like it!
@@LeonTodd unpotted PAF's. sorts the men out from the boys
I have 2 Les Pauls, a satin Trad Pro V which is truly a swiss army knife and a reissue Deluxe. The TPV has coil splitting and there are easily reached dip switches in the cavity that you can adjust to choose what the push-pulls on the tone knobs do, including out of phase middle position and choosing inner versus outer coils for the coils splits, also coil splitting vs coil tapping. Can use it for literally any genre from jazz to funk to blues, hard rock, metal. Amazingly umder rated guitar and the satin version is on the low side of the gibson price scale. The Deluxe sounds just like Leon's original and it just does the 70s hard rock sound SO well. Love ripping the Boston More Than A Feeling solos on it.
I've got three Les Pauls, one of them weighs half a planet
Between the three they weigh one whole planet :p
Great video! I'm a" dyed in the wool" Les Paul guy from very early on in my guitar playing history. It started with buying a new Ibanez Les Paul Custom copy ("lawsuit") when I was 15 years old. I used that guitar for many years as it was and still is a very good guitar. Then going thru a few Gibson USA Les Paul models over the years, I've settled on a total of 6 LP's in my collection which all happen to be Custom Shop/Historic models: a 1998 '56 Historic Gold Top w/P90's, a 2001 Historic '57 Custom, a 2001 Historic '59 Burst, a 2018 R8, a 2020 R9 and a 2020 R0. They're all fantastic guitars and each has its own personality and tonal characteristics. My favorite is probably the 2001 '57 Custom which most likely has something to do with my Ibanez purchase when I was 15. I have a couple SG's, a 335 and a V which are cool too, but they just feel different than a LP. I also have a couple Strats, but to me a Strat is a whole different animal in pretty much every way and they rarely get played.
I've got 3 Les Pauls, one of them in that glorious alpine white. They've always been my preferred instruments as there's nothing else quite like them. The tone, the feel...it's just magic.
I have a custom shop R8, a Traditional Signature T, a Classic and a Tribute. I love all of them but the R8 just has a feel and clarity in the tone that is better than the others.
I’ve owned about 6 Gibson Les Pauls from early 2000s to the last one was a 2022 Slash Les Paul but I always keep coming back to my Strats.
I like your Premium Plus Standard. It looks and sounds great.
I've had an R8, R4 and now the '68 Custom Reissue. The R8 was cool, but the frets were too small for my style. R4 was OK, but I wasn't crazy on the wrap-around, but the oxblood colour was amazing. My '68 RI is a keeper. Love the less steep headstock angle and basically everything else about it.
1979 LPC custom Silverburst is my favorite neck and favorite les pual. (bought it for 4k US before Adam Released his specs) BUUUUUT my 2015 Les Pual Traditional Pro IV with the super 57 pick up (alnico II) is probably my favorite sounding les pual. Its the perfect rock machine at 8.6k rating or so alnico II. And the in and out of phase switch (Like Todd was mentioning Peter Green) is really cool.
The Traditionals seem like such solid guitars.
I had a norlin wine red custom, great guitar but very heavy. In 2013 i splashed on a custom shop R8, i play it every day! Great vid Leon...
Plain top R8's are the ultimate players guitars IMO
I own a white custom Edwards (ebony fretboard, gold hardware, Seymour Duncan pickups, all gohto hardware) under 1k…probably the best les Paul for the money
Love my Les Paul’s. Slash and jimmy Page were huge influences when I started playing and still are. It’s such an iconic instrument.
Took me 5 years of looking for my forever Les Paul. I’d owned a few previously but never gelled with them. Ended up finding a 2021 Standard 60’s in Unburst that does the thing exceptionally well. Had Alex at Whizz wind me a set of Alnico IV PAF clones that took it to the next level. Put some Graphtech Ratio tuners with plastic keystone buttons on it as well. I’m mainly a Fender offset/single coil guy but every well-rounded stable needs a Les Paul. And I found a really good one. Oh it’s also 9 lbs. which in my experience is pretty good for a non-chambered Les Paul.
Winning all around there.
@@LeonTodd😁
I too started out on Strats and really didn't like LP's. One day I impulsively bought a studio from Andertons purely because of the sale they had on. It happened to be a really good purchase and paved the way for eventually (This week) buying a Standard 50's (Greeny to be precise) It was instant love at first sight and I am bowled over by it. I paid £2.5K for it and I would only sell it for offers over £10K.
I guess I've never met up with my LP match, but I will certainly take your word for it that it's out there somewhere. PRS is more my thing, and I'd love to see you do an exploration of those.
Soon ;)
LED lights behind the holes with translucent gems or eyes glued onto the surface.
If you have a Les Paul you sure are Armed and Ready 😎🤘
I had an unexplainable dislike for Les Paul's for a very long time. Every one I played didn't agree with my super Strat mindset. Until I borrowed a friend's mid-70s LP and got an 'oh hell yeah!' moment with it. I was lucky enough to find one that was even nicer to play a few years ago, and it's become my #1 (don't tell my Strats that, though...) 🤘
😍
I think cats whom say there not Les Paul guys, secretly dream of them 😅 I'd love a real one, one day, but it's been fun discovering copy's and alternatives over the years. One that stood out was a Kramer assault with a Floyd Rose I had, it was awesome.
Those look like an LP with an explorer headstock! I really like the Bonamassa LP with the firebird kneck too
I started off as a Gibson player many, many moons ago and only recently gravitated to Strats the last 5 years or so. That said I still have my Les Pauls (four), Jimmy Page, Gary Moore, Neil Young and Snowy White being my main influences. Of yours I think the Deluxe sound the best to my ears, I have a 74 SG Special with the same mini-humbuckers, though with black plastic covers. A much overlooked pickup in my mind. I'm going to have to get back to playing mine a bit more, there are some things that only a Les Paul can really nail.
Snowy is an under appreciated player. Love his playing.
@@LeonTodd Totally agree, he deserves more recognition. He's why I have a 57 Reissue Goldtop in my collection.
As you know, you'll get no argument from me about the magnificence that is the Les Paul.
You could put a Fernandes sustainer system in those holes
I miss the "Play Authentic-era" gaffer tape on the Standard Premium Plus.
I’ve got 4 of the suckers from the custom shop. Love me a Paul.
What ones?
@@LeonTodd 16’ R8, 20’ Custom in alpine white, 22’ R7 dark back Murphy lab, 22’ 68 custom Murphy lab!
I have an FM9, and I'm using 2 stereo boxes on out1 and another 2 stereo boxes on out2, the sound of the guitar when I play comes out on the 2 outputs, however the sound from the USB that goes to the PC only comes out on separate out1, out2, how can I do this? Configure the audio on the PC to output out 1 and out 2 simultaneously?
Great video! Are the pups in Standard the 'vintage' by Martin A Smith?
That's it!
@@LeonTodd Thank you for the reply! Do you think they have enough push to reside in hard rock/metal territory? I will change the custom buckers in my Les Paul custom but not sure if I should go with a 8k-10k / 42awg or a 12-15k / 43awg pickup for the bridge.
Just wanted to mention something about the reference to Les Pauls and their astronomical prices. Under Gibson's current ceo, the market has been flooded with Gibson USA Les Paul standards. You can find them used all day on marketplace for asking prices of $1800. I've heard of them selling for as little as $1500. Now's a great time to buy one if you really want one.
What do you think of the PRS Mccarty 594 compared to other LP style guitars?
BTW - that neck pick up on the Artist sounds f***ing brilliant!
That's a keeper hey!
@@LeonTodd Too bloddy right!
In the 1970's I bought a "used" Les Paul for a few 100 dollars. The finish was stripped and replaced with a clear spray can finish. It still was a great sounding guitar. Eventually, I had it professionally refinished in a sunburst and re fretted. Now it was great sounding guitar that also looked good. Years later, I noticed that it didn't have a serial number. So it turned out that it was a 1952, which was stripped and and the P90's were rerouted for humbuckers. I decided honor this classic with Throbak pickups and their wiring harness. Now, I would not trade it for an original 1959.
😱😱😱
I bought a 2015 Anniversary standard with robot tuners for a really good price second hand the neck is really wide but i have big hands and love it my sixties neck LP standard has a slimmer neck which i don't like as much but still love playing it they both sound wonderful. Thanks Leon i really enjoyed this the cult made my day
Those 2015's strandards are so different to anything else they've done!
My only Gibson LP at the moment is a black beauty custom from 2021. As a lefty it seems crazy to own such an unattainable dream guitar to me. It's a fantastic guitar too, the QC is almost perfect (so perfect by Gibson standards lol) and the fretwork is on par with my MIJ ESPs which is saying a lot. It sounds and plays great. My next dream one is an Axcess custom. That being said I'm a massive fan of Eclipses, own an EC1000, a 4 knob Eclipse (insanely rare in lefty) and got an EII Eclipse snow white on order. The Eclipse is such an amazing guitar in all its forms, and much more playable than a Gibson honestly
Nice to hear a good lefty AND a good Gibson story :)
Great Video.. just found your Channel.- looking forward to your teles, prs, SGs, RGs, hollowbodys etc.. going to watch your strat vid now :D
Welcome aboard!
Your father's Deluxe is my favourite here. Never owned a Les Paul... i see myself buying an SG or a 335 first 🙂
Best from Barcelona!
335 for the win!
@@LeonTodd my main guitar is a Fender Meteora with a TOM bridge... i got the SG/Tele deluxe thing kind of sorted out.
I'd like you to review not so common 335 alternatives like the Rivolta Regata, the Ibanez Artcore, Guild Starfire,...
The Rivolta Regata looks great. It's like a "well done Starcaster". Maybe the inlays are too much, but i'm sure it's fantastic.
Made by Danelectro factory in Asia and QC checked by Novo guitars if i'm not mistaken.
aha this is based on when u entered the guitar scene and what was available and common and affordable. My first guitar Hofner committee archtop twice the size of me! Then my main guitar until 1970 was a Burns Trisonic used by the Searchers with 3 pickups. Then a Gibson SG Special which Clapton, Pete Townsend, Jimmy Page, Angus Young all used in their early days. Strats for The Shadows, Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas, Mr Gilmour, but mainly Teles for Liverpool and Manchester bands, Yardbirds etc. I think Mr Page first Les Paul at Bath festival 1970 as LZ, Kosoff Free Alright now same year. So popular guitars developed from the idols who used them.😅😅
My experience with Gibson was far from great. But my US Washburn Idol? Oooohhh boy ♥️
I once had an opportunity to buy an ‘85 tobacco sunburst Custom for 1600 USD. Cream toggle switch ring (no pickguard), gold speed knobs, stock Tim Shaw PAFs. Played like buttah. But alas, I was 15 and couldn’t swing it.
Huge regret. One of the ones that got away. I’d probably be paying upwards of 3 grand for an ‘85 Custom like that now. And a set of those Tim Shaw pickups will run you around 7 or 800 bucks at least.
My favourite Les Paul is an SG.
But I do like “proper” Les Paul’s too. Would like to get a Mick Ronson replica, 1968 Les Paul Custom with unpainted plain maple top.
There's a 61 reissue for sale locally that is mighty tempting!
I'm not a Les Paul guy, I'm a Strat guy, so my experience with Les Pauls has been mixed. I have a 50s Studio Tribute from 2010, which I've never liked. I also have a blue BFG from 2008, which I do like, but it's more like an occasional guitar than an everyday guitar. Still thinking I should someday get an R9. We'll see.
I've got a 2022 classic that I'm about to drop Super Distortions in and a 2005 Deluxe. I love the mini humbuckers.
Love the classics!
The Artist looks like one of those early Ibanez guitar synth models. I believe the first one was actually a Les Paul copy, anyhow.
Only 4 les pauls? those are rookie numbers :D
I didn’t feel like I was a big boy guitar player until I got my LP 😅 Awesome comp 🤘
0:46 - the best Les Paul I have played so far is my PRS SE 245. :/
I rewired it for master volume and tone, with individual pickup volumes using reverse taper pots for smooooooove blending. Also has a phase switch to go Green....
7:42 - how is that Stetsbar? My SG Special could probably fit one....
12:00 - spanky!
13:37 - sounds perfect for that....
20:15 - a '54 Custom with Staple P90 neck pickup and regular P90 bridge pickup is on my bucket list....
The Deluxe 70" my Favorite 🖐👍 Thanks
Love my Les Paul! Would have been nice to hear this demo through a Marshall or any tube head instead of digital though. It's like gagging an opera singer. Good idea but just doesn't sound right.
Thanks for the review man. Love em all.
It's like a religious experience. At ear splitting volume, through a Mesa Mark V 90 I swear with the pickup/amplifier feedback loop it almost plays itself.
I've played a few different LPs over the years, nothing incredibly special though, I have a 2002 Zakk Wylde Epiphone that I've replaced the pickups in with a proper EMG ZWK set, also gave it a birthday and all new hardware, I love how it plays now, its extremely FAT sounding. BUT the McCarty 594 single cut craps all over it for tone and the play-ability is just the best I haven't changed a thing on that. I know that's apples to oranges but they're the only 2 LP Body style guitars I own.
Totally agree with you about the 594. I have a double cut and the pickups, the insanely comfortable neck, the fact that you can literally do anything to it and it never goes out of tune makes it in my opinion possibly the best guitar ever made.
Do you know if the neck on your dad’s deluxe is Maple? Its my understanding the Viv’s black lp (which is a converted deluxe), has a maple neck.
just had a look - it's multiple pieces and the outer pieces look like mahogany. the rest could be anything!
@@LeonTodd Ha! True to form for the Norlin era!
I love the look of the Deluxe, mini Humbuckers and Gold Top.
Well, I love my V more but maybe that's just me.
What year is the V :D ?
@@LeonTodd 2005 white with ebony fretboard. Almost 20 years old already. Not one day since then I didn't played it. It is more yellow than white today.
Currently my PRS Singlecut is doing the LP thing for me and it's excellent! I know the scale is slightly different and I've thought about getting another proper les Paul when money is a bit more loose and I find the right one. Right now I'm thinking I'd want a lighter model, maybe a Jr or something without the maple cap.
Immaculate instruments! Love my SC245
@@LeonTodd oh yeah, I'd love another PRS of that style if the price was right, they sound incredible and necks are amazingly comfortable
I have Gibson wildwood specs standart 50’s! Is awesome!!🎉
😍
Curious if you’ve played a kahler trem or a kahler trem on an LP ? I remember the guys from Warrant had kahler’s……I’ve played an LP with a Floyd, was always curious on the kahler…..🤘🏼
Yeah the Artist had one. Didn't love it.
Mr. Leon, has there ever been a guitar you've never gelled with?
You have so many great specimens in your collection or have indirectly had access to them. I don't remember your saying anything negative about any particular brand/model. You seem to find positives in anything and that's really admirable.
If I were to venture a guess I'd say you might less prefer something black and pointy from the mid 80s, mainly due to neck drop (looking at you, BC Rich). One shouldn't have to fight one's guitar and perform at the same time. I never got into the Dime Dean MLs for that reason.
I'm still looking for an old school 80s Kramer Voyager with the huge points. The current Kramer Tracii Guns reissues are more Gibson-ish and rounded.
Such massive, pointy guitars look great on stage but aren't very ergonomic, and it's heartbreaking when their beautiful, glossy black paint inevitably chips at the corners.
Played many a turd over the years 🤣 my favourite superstrat is my black Hamer Californian though.
@@LeonTodd Fender made a mistake cutting the Hamer brand I think, although I hear they have restarted limited production.
I have a cheap set neck Hamer Scarab (Gibson 498t/57 Classic Plus) made toward the end of the Hamer run in 2008.
Solid for a set neck, tune-o-matic Chinese made guitar. I use it for quick detuning and chuggy things. It's one of my main guitars for rhythm tracking.
The only issue was the factory plastic nut was poorly slotted, so if you went to a heavier string gauge, even from 9 to 10 in standard on a 24.75", you would get buzzing. I had to get a new nut put on. Fret and nut work are things I don't do.
I had the privilege of a brief email exchange with Hamer co-founder Jol Dantzig. I told him I thought Hamer were a really solid alternative to Gibson. Would love to have some 80s specimens of those as well. I usually see 80s Hamers with Kahlers instead of Floyds.
Thanks as always for your replies sir! Always a pleasure to talk shop with you.
That Deluxe is doing it for me mate!....if you ever sell it, I'll be here!😊
Mini hums ftw!
Nice one Leon!! Now we need a video titled SUPERSTRATS
Soon :p
In the meantime there's this ua-cam.com/video/K7SA0K9tQ-U/v-deo.html
9:50 the two holes would be perfect for the controls of a sustainer pickup! The ultimate anti-LP mod? ;)
wheres the Greco custom dude ?? that thing sounds killer
Missing a strong at the moment 🤣
@@LeonTodd 😅
Love me a Les Paul, gigged them forever and nothing sounds or feels like a good one. The stereotypical comments of course that the haters will roll out, they're too heavy and have weak necks, both not necessarily true of course. A lot of Gibson LP's are weight reduced now so pick the one that you prefer, heavy, light or somewhere in between. I would imagine Gibson would love to manufacture their necks with a scarf joint as a lot of builders do but the backlash from traditionalists would be scathing. On a side note, as a professional guitar tech of 25 plus years, acoustic guitars of various brands are the guitars I see the most with headstock breaks, Gibsons do come through but rarely. Oh and the G string tuning stability is not an issue if your tech nows how to setup a LP correctly.
I wanna know how do you keep all the headstocks on ? 😂
I don't even look at them too long :p
I always thought the artist should have a sustainac in it.
I used to detest Les Pauls but I have now come to appreciate them - it took a long time. They're still not my favourite guitar but now there is no hate, only appreciation.
I want to go to Japan and buy some vintage lawsuit Tokai/Greco/Burney/Ibanez copies you can't get in the US...for the cool factor and because screw Gibson 😅
Yes, a semi-hollow body video!
Soon!
Eu amo Les Paul, clássica, som único, tenho 4…sou grande fã de vcs Leon Todd, grande abraço e felicidades ao Ragdoll 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🤘🏻
What do you have?
@@LeonTodd 1 Standard 50’s Cherry Sunburst, 1 Traditional Iced Tea, 1 Slash november burst, 1 Classic ebony
Grande abraço Leon! 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
Come to Brazil
🍆
😄😄😄
Leon, so you buy a Les Paul at a premium price, then you replace everything except for the wood. And then you finally have a proper guitar. Sorry man, that is just ridiculous. Love your channel.
I actually bought it second hand and it was pretty beaten up, hence the changes. It was a gradual set of "upgrades"
@@LeonTodd@LeonTodd That's great, but that doesn't change the fact that Gibsons need a lot of work to bring them to the standards they should have adhered to from the factory, certainly at that price level.
335/339 comparison :)
Sigh, I thought I’d found someone perfect with regard to gear but of course no one is. Still, my Dad said according to legend there was only one perfect person and look what they did to him. GLP’s should have been the Stradivarius of electric guitar but they fucked that with R&D after the factory moved. Being a ‘71 model myself I grew up and started learning to play during their darkest times and have therefore never even touched a GLP and never will I. Piss poor instruments and overpriced. I’d prefer a SE 594 over any except Greeny. But she was before the dark times came. A core 594 would be a better instrument mind you. So I’ll do a short review, if you have five years to find one and £100k to pay for it you may find yourself a cracking instrument but for £3.7k you can get better new and for £900 an SE will smoke 95% of all GLP’s made ever. Hate that Les Paul and Ted McCarty poured their lives into this instrument and new Gibson ruined them.
Do you find these days that with digital modellers that it doesn’t matter what guitar you use? I think you could record with a 100 dollar guitar and a 3K dollar guitar and we wouldn’t have a clue. The processing on the fractals etc would manipulate it to a great sound. I think for me, as long as it’s easy to play it’s fine to use.
As long as you vibe with the guitar you can probably make it work!
I've had an LP and an SG. I liked them OK, but they each had their own issues, in addtion to the LP being like 10.5 lbs, so they weren't around $5k cool.
I personally don't subscribe to the 'nothing else sounds like a Les Paul' stuff, or that in the 1950s Leprechauns and Fairies made them with some magic dust.
One way to instantly look like a boomer LP player is to install the pickguard, haha. I think LPs look WAY better without them.
LP is too damn heavy. And that head stock angle is a stupid design and far too easy to break.
Fair enough, we'll count you out of the fun then.