Like any rock and roller, my dream guitar is a Les paul. But Gibson has been making "Les pauls" for a few years now which IMO is not les paul as it should be (I'm sure many of you know this.) A les paul is a big fat slab of SOLID mahogany. Thats where the low ends balls and rich sustain come from. These "weight relieved" and "chambered" travesties dont even even deserve to be called a solid body electric guitar, let alone a Les paul. I know this is old news, but you know, it really bothers me. A guitar is supposed is be heavy. If players can't handle the 9 pounds of sex over their shoulder, let them get a PRS or strat with humbuckers. I dont even see the point of saving up for a les paul because not only are they over priced, but the classic les paul just doesn't exist anymore. Even the "traditional" lp's are weight relieved. When they clear up their legal issues, I'm going to start bombarding them with emails to petition that they reissue a real 1959 LP. If my back hurts, I'll sit down dammit! /end rant tl;dr: Gibson should stop drilling holes in Les pauls and make em heavy and sexy again.
uh, most 50-60 Les Pauls weigh under 10lbs. the only reason they swiss cheese them now, is light weight lumber is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$/hard to come by
well from what I hear weight relief doesn't affect the tone so much, but chambering does. Takes away the low end chunk. I really don't understand why they do that. It's like they're intentionally trying to piss us off.
is that why there doing this? cause people saying they are too heavy? i own a strat but i've played my far share of les pauls.. and they aren't much heavier than my strat..
OP, im guessing you will have more luck getting the sound you want if you build your own guitar. or assemble it, rather, lol
They started with weight relief years ago, which I'm guessing doesn't affect tone as much. now theyre doing this weird chambering thing, which according to Gibson ensures "perfect tone, balance, and weight." I just don't get it.
Almost all les paul's except a few from way back in the day are all weight relieved. I've got a 2000 model classic that weighs about 11lbs though. But that's w/ the maple top. I've got another one, a 2000 model special which has no mahogany top, and no arching on the mahogany, and it's a bit lighter, but still has plenty of low end and sustain. It would probably benefit from better pickups. I think if you're shopping for a les paul, you want to make sure not to skimp on a couple of things. For one, you absolutely must get one w/ a maple top. None of this studio vintage mahogany crap. No specials, no melody makers, and no studios that don't have maple tops. That maple top is the reason your paul will cut through the bass and drums. Without it you'll run into issues of it sounding too muddy, even w/ the mids and highs boosted up on the amp. Secondly, the pickups. I've played almost every gibson pickup there is, and to be honest, the reason I bought the classic instead of the standard was for the 496r and 500t. You can roll back the volume know and get good clean tone, or turn it back up and overdrive a tube amp. Fuck burstbuckers, fuck PAFs (unless you just wanna sound like the 1950s). Get the ones w/ the good pickups. The other thing that's really important is that you don't expect to get the les paul sound from modeling, or solid state amplifiers. It's just not gonna happen.
I want the traditional. Maple top all the way. It has 57 classics but I like the vintage sound. (Not the 50s, the 70s.)
Yes that would be bad ass. It's basically a standard w/ out the burstbuckers right? 57 classics are very good all around. If I didn't have the 498r and 500t, that's what I'd want. I might not have to roll back my volume to get it to clean up so much w/ those 57 classics.
yea, and its also not chambered, just weight relieved. thats a beauty. I love the look of uncovered pickups.
Can't speak about the chambered debate, but I will say that amp choice affects your tone far more then pickup choice. You can do full-on modern metal on PAFs if you use enough amp gain. That said, the 496/500 set is probably the best stock pickup set manufactured by the guitar company itself.
Right now I'm just running a little jcm2000 tsl601 combo. 60 watts, 3 channels, all tube. It's a screamer.
