Belated NGD: Lee Malia Les Paul Custom

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empyrean
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Belated NGD: Lee Malia Les Paul Custom

Post by empyrean » Wed Jan 15, 2020 2:50 pm

Didn't know who the band Bring Me the Horizon was (had a listen, cant say I like it), but I saw Lee Malia's line of signature guitars on Anderton's youtube channel.

They were apparently pretty rare here in North America. Happened to become aware of them at a time where I was in the market for a new workhorse guitar, with my eyes set on finally getting an SG, but being deep into a Matt Pike and Sleep hole after seeing them live (one if his guitars is a 70s LP Artisan), I found the pull back to a Les Paul with this one.

I usually dislike signature guitars, hot pickups and gold hardware, so who'd have thunk?

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After owning some Gibson LPs and never being impressed enough, didn't think I'd take the plunge. And having had an Epiphone LP as the first "real" guitar that I had bought, didn't think I'd ever get one again. Wrong on both counts. Anyway, happened to find one for sale on Reverb in Canada, mint, good price. So I took the plunge on this instead of trying my luck with one of those sketchy Greco dealers.

Since the honeymoon period is over, happy to say I love it. It's a real gem. Only letdown was the cheap tuners, everything else is great. Even got along with the hot humbucker which I usually don't, but will probably swap pickups one day to try something else. As is though, great.

I've since put some Gotohs on and cut a new nut for my heavy strings and she's strung up in C standard, holds tune great and it has a chunkier/wider neck profile that I like. Beautiful guitar. 10/10 would recommend.

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Re: Belated NGD: Lee Malia Les Paul Custom

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Wed Jan 15, 2020 10:21 pm

That is GORGEOUS :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :? As an avid lover of the color orange, that is just the most amazing shade, especially on a Les Paul with binding. Not Halloween or Harley Davidson, but more of actual flames and fire. Reminds me a bit of Padouk wood...
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http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=104282&p=1438384#p1438384

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Re: Belated NGD: Lee Malia Les Paul Custom

Post by CorporateDisguise » Fri Jan 17, 2020 4:52 am

While I’ve never been a fan of his bands work. His signature guitars are always on point. I’ve not played any of them, but aesthetically they really work.

Also a bridge humbucker and p90 in the neck is one of my all time favorite pickup combos.

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Re: Belated NGD: Lee Malia Les Paul Custom

Post by RuffiansFC » Fri Jan 17, 2020 6:27 am

Epiphone does a great job with the signature guitars, especially when they aren't cheaper copies of the Gibson sig. If the player uses an Epi in real life, the specs are on point. the Malia is a great example of that. if the pups don't do it for you after a while and you're still on the Pike thing, I recommend his dirty hesher pups.

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Re: Belated NGD: Lee Malia Les Paul Custom

Post by empyrean » Fri Jan 17, 2020 5:14 pm

Thanks guys! Malia and epiphone definitely did a great job with these. Almost went RD when I couldn’t find an LP at first.

Really dig the p-90 and humbucker combo too.

I had a pair of Pike’s lace Dragonauts in my cart over the holidays but didn’t spring for them yet, not sure how they stack up to the heshers - can’t find any solid info on the two. Will probably just end up winding my own Alnico 2 PAFs but will have to see. The Laces are tempting!

I hope epiphone does more stuff like this, give some mid tier artists some interesting unique signature and build something more outside the Gibson Copy realm.

Some of those new Kalamazoo things look promising would be a good platform to have some nicer classics and some new things. Exploring more of the Gibson’s for the 70s age like this would be cool too. Gimme some SG IIs and other Norlin inspired stuff.

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Re: Belated NGD: Lee Malia Les Paul Custom

Post by burpgun » Sun Jan 19, 2020 7:01 am

If Al Cisneros has a Ric custom, I’m surprised PIke doesn’t have a Gibson signature. He’s probably the best known stoner metal guitar player out there. That said, not sure what his sig would be, he seems to have a ton of LPs. I did see him using what I learned was a Bob Weir sig Ibanez a lot in Sleep’s recent shows.

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