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Of course you should do it. There are good Greco goldtops out there that will make you happy at a reasonable price. There are a million Gibsons, too, if you can find the right one...

100% honest time, i'm really not a gibson/les paul guy. but there has been the odd ones i've liked.

1. burny blc 85. my friend had one and it's honestly the best lessie i've ever played. semi-hollow, good pickups, bigsby trem and comes in pink.
2. les paul special double cut. i really like a lot of the 90's and 00's special dc's. i always wanted to stick a bigsby or a jm trem on one though.
3. 00's gibson les paul jr's. while im a neck pickup guy. i always remember these guitars kinda being my cheap thrill for a long time.
4. lawsuit les pauls. i've played a good number of them and usually good quality. my major issue is the pickups can let them down.

If you're gonna get one, go full humbucker. P90s on a Les Paul sound great but like.... let's face it the humbuckers is the tone most of us are thinking of.

I really think you should get one

stevejamsecono wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 07, 2018 5:05 am

If you're gonna get one, go full humbucker. P90s on a Les Paul sound great but like.... let's face it the humbuckers is the tone most of us are thinking of.

Right, I'm not super into the Les Paul/PAF type humbucker sound, but I like to keep it around in case I want it. I have a pretty nice Studio from the early 90s, it's heavy as hell and sounds great. I don't play it a lot.

I guess I'd like to get a Standard or something, and I actually have a second Studio in my apartment right now from 2007, that one is a Christmas gift to my father-in-law. It does have the weight relief, and I like that better.

But I'm not really all that concerned about it. Like so many of us here, I tend to prefer more "alternative" guitars, but from time to time, if you want that sustain heavy, creamy, classic rock sound then it's easiest to just get it where everyone else got it. My Studio sounds surprisingly good clean, actually, and when it is distorted it sounds powerful and heavenly.

Well, this is a throwaway nothing of my having fun with my Les Paul and distortion. It's not a "song" or anything, I was just having fun with that big, powerful throb that a Les Paul can give you.

stevejamsecono wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 07, 2018 5:05 am

If you're gonna get one, go full humbucker. P90s on a Les Paul sound great but like.... let's face it the humbuckers is the tone most of us are thinking of.

One of the most iconic solos ever was a P90’d LP, but I get your point.

eskmsaul wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 06, 2018 8:43 pm

My old Greco almost convinced me I was a Les Paul person. Heck, now that I sold it, I'm remembering all the good stuff I liked about it! I hated lugging it around but it sounded amazing. I def couldn't have one as my only guitar, but I'm not counting one out in my future!

OMG, I LOVE that one!

So, I used to have an Epi Elitist LP goldtop, but I never bonded with it and the Epi headstock drove me crazy.


Les Paul and Rainsong, February, 2006 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

It didn't help that it was just shy of 13lbs., either.

Hard to talk you out of it. I have a really nice Standard and been gasing for another one. A few weeks ago I found this gorgeous Classic '60s plain top with a beautiful faded burst priced at $1200, and let it go just because it was too heavy (north of 11 lb). This one here is a bit under 9 lb, plays and feels amazing. Anyway, hope this helps your gas.

Telliot wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 07, 2018 8:44 am

stevejamsecono wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 07, 2018 5:05 am

If you're gonna get one, go full humbucker. P90s on a Les Paul sound great but like.... let's face it the humbuckers is the tone most of us are thinking of.

One of the most iconic solos ever was a P90’d LP, but I get your point.

Quite right sir, and hey, some of my favorite LP Stuff is with Mini-Hums (The Who, Thin Lizzy, etc.), but like... for me when I finally got ahold of a good one there was a like "Ohhhhhhhhh....." from sticking to the classic formula.

Maggieo wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 07, 2018 10:28 am

So, I used to have an Epi Elitist LP goldtop, but I never bonded with it and the Epi headstock drove me crazy.


Les Paul and Rainsong, February, 2006 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

It didn't help that it was just shy of 13lbs., either.

Yeah, I'm the same way. The Yamaha headstock reminds me of the big 70s Gibson headstocks though, so I could deal with that.

And honestly, I've played some of the LP Classics and weight-relieved models and they can be pretty ok on the back. Keep lookin'!

There is something lovely about gold top Standards.

I've had a few LPs over the years - the first of which was a 2004 (or so) Standard gold top with a '50s shape neck. I have to admit that looking back on it ... that was a pretty great guitar. I traded it with a lot of other stuff to get a vintage guitar years ago and to be honest I never really missed it...

I'd always want an ES before I'd want a Les Paul - that's pretty much what I've discovered after (iirc) owning four of them (a '71 black custom, a '88 sunburst custom, a '58 reissue and the gold top). I like the sound (I really liked the sound of that '71 - it was a pretty bright guitar for a LP), but I find that ES guitars can do most of what I like about Les Pauls ... as well as things that LPs don't do so well.

From a practical point of view ES guitars are a lot easier to play too - at least for me. And they sound better unplugged when you're playing late at night and you don't want to keep everyone awake (which is, for me, at least every other night).

SGs are the 'right' Les Paul for me - the other issue that I have with LPs is generally weight. SGs are lighter, brighter and a hell of a lot easier to play (especially for me coming from ES guitars - I know for others who are used to Teles or Les Pauls the SG neck can feel 'long' - but it's similar to the ES in feel ... though a lot lighter on a strap of course).

I recently picked up an Edwards goldtop with P-90s. this thing-



and yeah, you need a Les Paul. it's heavy, but I really like the way the weight is distributed.
with my other guitars, I'm so used to a little neck dive I don't even notice that I'm compensating for it,
until I play this and don't have to anymore.

the only issue is now I wonder how much better a "real" LP would be.

Those Edwards are pretty nice guitars - I don't think you'd notice a terrible difference between this and a Gibson LP (at least based on the two Edwards LPs I've played compared to Standards for sale in the same store).

A friend of mine owns a Yamaha version of the Les Paul (a '70s lawsuit model). It's actually a nicer guitar than a lot of modern Gibsons I've tried - but he has also put a lot of work into it (he's replaced the pickups, added a Bigsby, changed the bridge etc etc). I usually try to wrangle to play that guitar whenever we're playing together (which is fine - he usually tries to get to use whatever ES I have with me).

I am not a LP person (there are only few LPs I actually like soundwise + I can't make that body shape work), but Edwards are generally very nice and their QC is super tight - generally they seem to be very consistent across the series. I got to play about 8 of them and all were great for the money.

I'm not much of a Les Paul beyond Les Paul Juniors and P90 Goldtops with Bigsbys, but ask yourself why you need one. First, do you have the money for it? If the answer to that is yes, then ask yourself the following... Is it for recording? Would it help you write songs? Is it to play pretend? Is it for nailing sounds on covers? If the answer to any one of these is yes then go for it. Life is short. Have some fun. You already have a gaggle of beautiful guitars, that is true, but also Les Pauls are pretty and you have great taste. You'll find the right one eventually. And if you don't end up liking it, pass it along to someone who will.