Gibson Les Pauls, the insider story

[6stringsamurai]

So, as Morpheus said to Neo: This is your last chance. After this there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.... Remember, all I'm offering is the truth, nothing more.... Follow me....

i love that quote

anyway here's the link, its a long read, but very informative...

http://www.dinosaurrockguitar.com/interviews/MrX.shtml

 

[stars]

one paragraph summary

I saw a disconcertingly wide range of quality on the Les Pauls. I played them from the 50s, I own a 55, I sold you your 54, I played a 58. I played them from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. I played all the signature series Pauls that came out through the mid 90s. And the quality range was just shocking.


hmmz. nothing really new . gibson QC has been falling for years but the read is really interesting ... african mahagony and houndaras mahagony , lower denser heavier or upper lighter and more warmer..

wow... man...

 

[6stringsamurai]

ya man

i've always thought the heavier the les paul, the better the sound

 

[sepultura]

Hmm, it's not just Gibson, I guess there's bound to be QC issues with any company. I had an Epiphone les paul about 8 yrs back. It was a decent guitar but the pickup selector switch broke once and had to be replaced (swee lee did it free of charge since it was less than a month since purchase). The next switch had flaky contacts and needed another replacement. Then the volume control started acting up.

Ultimately I sold it off. That experience put me off Epiphone big time. I am quite surprised, as I see people raving about Epi guitars.

 

[Grain]

k

This is what i believe.
Gibson Guitars if its production is before 1993, its quality still maintain as among the best sounding guitar regardless of any model between those years. As its body aged thru the years, the sound just keeps getting better. Its finishings also were quite good. Not like the current Gibson Guitars production, Thats y till now, i still hunt n prefers older Gibson guitars.

 

[subversion]

guitars sounding better as they age is partly a myth. aged wood doesn't guarantee a better tone. if that's the case, Gibson should make guitars with rotten bodies, full of worm holes.

vintage guitar aficionados will tell you that, they invest in guitars of the 50s/ 60s because they were better built then. it's only when they were produced in the 70s (regardless of any brand names but notably Gibson & Fender) that quality issues began to surface. people made efforts to search for 50s/ 60s guitars & the practice perpetuated till today. this does not mean that today's generation of guitars are of dud quality.

i have no comments about Gibsons because i have ceased to like them when i discovered certain concepts they employed in their guitar construction. they are good guitars nevertheless but they are fast becoming pop icons, whose hype precede their reputation.

 

[stars]

i have ceased to like them when i discovered certain concepts they employed in their guitar construction.

interesting .. could u tell us more about these brother sub ?

 

[subversion]

sorry, i'm obliged to keep it under wraps, but interestingly, some of the unbecoming concepts are revealed in the link provided in the initial post.

if you know who the late Sid Poole (RIP) is, he's one of the proponets who thought that some of the Gibson features should be improved upon to make it more tone-worthy, as oppossed to just propelling visual candy. this is the reason why many players revere his guitars which are mainly Gibson copies but just better.

 

[stars]

ic ..

hmmz the bit about cost cutting methods employed by gibson ? isee... hmmz no wonder heritage guitars from the kalamazoo factory are sellling that well..

 

[berukblue]

I think i know what sub is talking about, it's the same reasons i swore of gibsons...as for the article, i read that about 3yrs ago i think and was the catalyst that lead me to discover some of the stuff sub is talking about

 

[subversion]

no offence to gibson fans of course (i own a gibson anyway), but those of us who are into guitar carftsmanship would probably end up reading about Gibson inside stories & feeling a little sore after knwing certain things...

wish McCarty (RIP) is still around...

 

[JMguitars]

Quoting this passage from a related Gibson thread on the The Gear Page forum.

The context was a discussion on Gibson QC and following changes to their Internet Sales policy, sales are porportedly down 50%; the bulk going to Guitar Centre (USA) and Yamano (Japan).

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/sh...1226df&threadid=90415&perpage=15&pagenumber=2

Quote:
"I worked for Epi from '94-'98 and knew a lot of the Gibson guys and saw a lot of both Custom Shop and regular production Gibsons. All I can say is they were much better then, but even back then there were different quality standards depending on what point of the month it was. I worked side by side with the Gibson final inspection guys for a couple years before Epi moved into its own building, and I remember all too well the month end scramble to get guitars shipped. The Gibson guys went from buffing and actually inspecting every guitar to just giving them a once-over (if that) before shipping them. Plus I seem to remember the Yamano orders always getting more attention than the US dealers' orders.

I worked at a Guitar Center for a brief time in '03 (desparate!), and the quality of the Gibsons I saw had gone way downhill, with the exception of the occasional Custom Shop piece that was sweet. I wandered into a GC last weekend, was looking at SG '61 re-issues, played a couple that were crap...uneven frets, no setup whatsoever, too damn heavy for an SG."

 

[stars]

wow.. gibson is in really tough times now it seems.

 

[Vaiyen]

the beauty of the free market. shape up or ship out.

 

[stars]

agreed. totally.

hmmz... nearly happened to fender under CBS.. fender name was nearly destroyed. post CBS fender had to start from scratch in japan.

 

[audio]

can differentiate sound of wood? let them try differentiate after u record ur music or when playing live..

c'mon when u plug in..the natural tone is already equalized..and u make some changes to the knob..become more coloured..and different amp has different default equalization..

i'll tell u..those ppl can only differentiate the tone of wood if they hold the guitar and play..only you yourself know..the audience doesn't know ..

even if you're player, when u become the audience will you know?

how many ppl in this world are skilled craftmans able to detect bad tone from Gibson guitars and call them dogs?

i will say none..

millions have been sold already making beautiful music u hear everywhere..

trust yourself..be yourself..

 

[Vaiyen]

I agree. Wood type only counts a big deal when you're playing acoustically I feel.

If you're gonna throw in distortion, compression, equalization, after-market pickups or what have you into the signal, even the most premium wood won't count for anything.

All IMO.

 

[ShredCow]

Well, I don't care about what the audience hears. I don't care if they think my tone is bad. I don't care if they say my guitar looks bad.

But I care A LOT when it comes to what I hear.

I can hear the difference a wood makes, plugged in and un-plugged, and thats why I actually thought of stripping my guitar's finish and leaving it at that.

So yeah.. .Trust yourself.. be yourself.

PS. And you don't need to be a skilled person to tell if a guitar (Gibson, Ibanez or whatever) sounds bad.

 

[audio]

im toking bout differentiating the sound of wood between 2 Gibson Les Paul guitars.

thats wat this thread is about anyway

If u can thats good. i realli envy you.

 

[JMguitars]

im toking bout differentiating the sound of wood between 2 Gibson Les Paul guitars.

thats wat this thread is about anyway

If u can thats good. i realli envy you.

I can :lol: