New Guitar Day: The ultimate Gibson Les Paul
You may remember this post from last week, where I pondered the need for a Les Paul for work-related purposes. I’ve always felt a little bit uncomfortable with not having a Les Paul when writing reviews: the LP is a standard (pardon the pun) and it just didn’t feel right reviewing amps without being able to explore what they sounded like with a chunk of mahogany, a slab of maple and a pair of humbuckers. And it would certainly help in pickup reviews, lesson articles for Gibson.com and my column in Mixdown to have a nice LP on hand. So yesterday I visited Sky Music here in Melbourne and tried out a whole bunch of Les Pauls to find The One.
What Les Paul would you recommend?
Hey folks. I think it’s time I got myself a Les Paul for work purposes (pickup reviews and demos, pics for my Gibson.com articles and Mixdown magazine column, stuff like that). And I thought I might throw it open to see if you can recommend a particular model to me. I can’t afford a super-mega expensive top shelf model right now (unless someone buys a whole bunch of ads), but I think that for my particular requirements I need a traditional-sounding mahogany body/maple top Les Paul with two full-sized humbuckers and traditional Les Paul ‘two volumes, two tones and a toggle switch’ wiring. Although I play a lot of Ibanez guitars with very thin necks, I quite like thick guitar necks too.
Here are a few I’m thinking of, each of which meets my requirements in terms of body woods and electronics configurations. Can you suggest any others or offer your opinion? Leave a comment below or here on the I Heart Guitar Facebook page.
Les Paul Studio 50s Tribute Humbucker
I’ve really liked the other Tribute models I’ve played, and Satin Honeybust looks pretty tasty.
Seymour Duncan: Wolf Tones, plus Jimmy Page wiring!
So here’s something I’m really proud of: Seymour Duncan has just made me their Assistant Social Media Coordinator. As part of the job, I get to write cool blog posts like this one about the problem of ‘wolf tones.’ You might also dig this Tone Fiend article by Joe Gore about the versatile and mysterious Jimmy Page-style Les Paul wiring. If you’ve got a Les Paul or similar, give it a try! I know I will when I eventually buy a Les Paul (like this Les Paul Traditional in Iced Tea).
By the way, the pickups in the photo above are the Gus G FIRE Blackouts in my battered old Ibanez RG370. I really dig how these pickups have given the guitar a new lease on life (along with a killer fret job from Soxy Music). See my review of them here.
Mary Ford’s Gibson Les Paul on eBay
Wow, how’s this for a piece of music history? The actual 1961 Gibson Les Paul (before this shape was renamed the SG) owned and played by Mary Ford, Les Paul’s wife. This guitar was recently featured on the History Channel’s Pawn Stars program. The back of the guitar still has the remains of an old setlist taped to it. The buyer will also get Mary’s guitar strap, the original hard shell case, photos of Les and Mary, personal letters including correspondence with personal assistants, doctors, record companies etc, and even – get this a letter where Les Paul is told not to sign a contract with Gibson.
If you’d like to take home this piece of music history, the Buy It Now price is a cool $250,000.
Peter Frampton’s legendary Les Paul returns after 32 years
Whoa! Okay, so in 1980 a cargo plane crashed, with Peter Frampton’s legendary three-pickup Gibson Les Paul on board. The guitar was presumed lost forever.
Well…
Frampton says: “I am still in a state of shock, first off, that the guitar even exists let alone, that it has been returned to me. I know I have my guitar back, but I will never forget the lives that were lost in this crash. I am so thankful for the efforts of those who made this possible… and now that it is back I am going insure it for 2 million dollars and it’s never going out of my sight again! It was always my #1 guitar and it will be reinstated there as soon as possible – some minor repairs are needed. And, I just can’t wait to get Mark Mariana on the phone.”
More info here!
Hi! I'm Peter Hodgson. I write for Gibson.com, Australian Guitar, Australian Musician, Mixdown Magazine (including my instructional column, 'Unleash Your Inner Rock God,' which has been running since 2007), guitarworld.com, Tone Deaf, Beat (including their weekly hard rock/metal column Crunch) and The Brag. And I'm Assistant Social Coordinator with Seymour Duncan.
I've been playing guitar since I was 8 years old, and I've been writing for magazines since I was 18. I've also worked as a guitar teacher (up to 50 students a week), a setup tech, a newspaper editor, and I've also dabbled in radio a little bit. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and my hobbies include drinking way too much coffee, and eating way too much Mexican food.
You can check out my guitar playing at Reverbnation or on YouTube, and feel free to email me at iheartguitarblog@gmail.com