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Les Paul vs Les Paul vs Les Paul vs Les Paul vs...


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Finally pulled the trigger today on a VOS 59 Les Paul. Will have it home in about 2 weeks - waiting for the $$$.

 

Man this was too much like work. I had two 59's which I put up against other high end Les Pauls. The Les that finally won me over prettty much ran over every other guitar in the group in a head to head, so I suppose I was lucky to have so many available for comparison. Here's the results in order of TONE. All were non-chambered with the exception of the Supreme.

 

#1 - 59 VOS Les Paul - medium figuring, highly figured rosewood fingerboard that had the Brazilian look to it - lowest serial number in the bunch. Lightest weight. This one was a tone monster simply slaughtering all the other guitars I sampled.

 

#2. - 59 LP VOS - very intense figuring, plain dark brown fingerboard highest serial # in the bunch. Great tone, but just slightly muddy - good enough for 2nd place. Also very light.

 

#3. - 57 LP VOS - Brighter tone - heavy, slight lack of depth - but very good nonetheless. Almost beat # 2.

 

#4. - 60 LP VOS excellent guitar - again - heavy - almost as nice as # 3 - the thinner neck may have influenced me to place it 4th.

 

#5. - 58 VOS LP - plain top - heavy and nice tone, but tone was only "nice", best looking guitar (IMO) of the bunch.

 

#6. 58 VOS LP - plain top - heavy - same as # 5, flaws in the wood - ugliest guitar of the bunch.

 

# 7. 07 LP Supreme - poor tone (probably because of the chambering), played poorly, 5th string kept popping out of the nut. Didn't seem like a $3,000.00 guitar. Perhaps the prettiest/gaudiest looking guitar of all.

 

My conclusion is that the lighter Mahogany used in the 59's does indeed make a substantial difference in the tone.

 

The playability on all the VOS guitars were very close, the only difference being neck/fret size - this probably has a lot to do with the plec job these guitars receive.

 

So there you go - three weeks of my life dedicated to the search for the best LP tone. Keep in mind I'm not looking for a shredder. I play Blues, Classic and 70's Punk. Freddie King - Mountain - Stooges - would be a good cross section.

 

I should be able to post pics in a couple of weeks.

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When you consider Gibson serial numbers, check out the first 5 digits. They will tell you the exact date of manufacture.


My LP VM begins with 03247 - meaning it was made on the 324th day of '07.


~Blackbelt

 

 

I'm pretty certain that for Gibson VOS guitars, there is a different serial number scheme than the one you are referenceing.

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Yeah, it's tough buying a guitar anymore it seems. There's a good selection at Guitar Centers or other big box stores, but the guitars are so poorly maintained, that you can't tell if they're good or not. Old strings, laughable set up, snot on the guitar, missing switch tips etc. On the other hand, a smaller personalized store may not have the selection, so you have to chose from 1 or 2 guitars. My buddy and I went Strat shopping for a friend (who's been sorta playing for a year), and we tried 20 strats and couldn't buy any of them with a clear conscience, came home empty handed.

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Ask Guitar Center for their custom shop exclusive LP Standards.

I bought a GC/CS 1960 VOS aged plaintop (G0/R0) that plays and sounds fantastic. The custom shop has been making them for GC since 2001.

If you inquire, GC may have one in a warehouse or another store that can be shipped for an audition.

There is a vintage guitar store near me. I took the '60 VOS there and asked to compare it to a real vintage '59 (they had three of them there). The VOS was awful damn close to feel and sound.

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Thanks for the info.


From the sound of things the supreme may have had other issues (strings should never pop out of the nut while playing) and it is coincidental that the body is hollow.


Congrats on finding a 'Paul you like.

 

 

Thanks.

 

You're probably right about the Supreme. I just prefer the non-chambered breed.

 

I neglected to mention that I also included numerous other modern LP's, none of them (IMO) offered the same level of playability of the VOS guitars. Tone on the modern ones was different, not necessarily bad, just not what I was searching for.

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