Gibson les paul special

Bstatic

Recently thought about buying a new guitar and then got seriously thinking bout a gibson les paul. Ideally would get a standard in ebony but wouldn't/couldn't spend that amount of money on a guitar.

Then the les paul specials caught my eye, basically a no frills affordable les paul. Solid mahogany body without the maple top that other les pauls have and two P-100 pickups.

Gibson unfortunately have discontinued the particular model I'm looking for since 2002
http://www.gibson.com/products/gibson/lespaul/special02.html

I've been searching sround for a similar type guitar or the same but have been hitting a dead end. Walton's don't have one but I'll have to see if they can get one.
Does anyone know where I could pick one up preferrably new?
I'm currently ringing all music shops in Ireland for this.

A guy in dublin on buy and sell has one for sale near mint condition but its in a different colour, I'd really like the black.

Beecher

This thread would probably be better suited in the instruments forum, also guitars that would probably be quite similar to the Les Paul for the price.

Tokai LS80

or cheaper but still nice:

Soapbar2

or maybe

Les Paul Special with humbuckers? Humbuckers can really be your friend, and you can always get a coil tap if you need to (I havnt checked the specs of those pickups so I cant gaurantee those ones can but you can always replace them)

Doc_Savage

the p-90 equiped special is the better of the specials!

as for the tokai? totally droolworthy!! god i'd love one!:)

Beecher

They have this guitar in musican atm



A G&L Asat special...mmmmmmmmm

Beecher

Theres a black Les Paul Special with p-100's here.

Doctor J

Beecher wrote:

This thread would probably be better suited in the instruments forum

Agreed. Yoink.

Doc_Savage

is that g&l in budget?

Bstatic

Yes, the one shown there

http://www.tcgakki.com/tcgakki/inst/guitar/agibson.html

about halfway down the page is perfect the '00 gibson special, it even has mini trapezoid inlays. Have you bought anything from them beecher? Seems risky buying from a japanese site, what if there was a fault with the guitar?

I rang a load of shops today and nobody had one but one guy suggested I get a 2005 special and install the P-100's myself, I might consider doing that but I'd love to get that guitar on the jap site.

carpothepunk

MY GOD MAN!

Get the tokai,i bought one about 3 months back....sweet merciful jesus its a beast

Its the goldtop"Love Rock" with P-90's,much cheaper than an LP,and better IMO

Beecher

Bstatic wrote:

Yes, the one shown there

http://www.tcgakki.com/tcgakki/inst/guitar/agibson.html

about halfway down the page is perfect the '00 gibson special, it even has mini trapezoid inlays. Have you bought anything from them beecher? Seems risky buying from a japanese site, what if there was a fault with the guitar?

I rang a load of shops today and nobody had one but one guy suggested I get a 2005 special and install the P-100's myself, I might consider doing that but I'd love to get that guitar on the jap site.

I havnt bought from that site, but I do plan too. You can e-mail them and get high resolution pictures of the guitar to see what condition the guitar is in. As long as its cosmetically aceptable to you and you get a profile shot of the neck I dont see much of a risk buying second hand from shops. I would presume that the fact that a shop has bought a guitar it has been checked out, and as long as the truss rod is functioning it is possible to fix any playability problems, even the bentest neck can be straightened these days, allthough depending on how bent certain factors may arise like fret problems etc (hence ask for a neck profile shot, im sure if posted on these boards people should be able to adive you). A second hand les paul special with p-100's will set you back a lot less than a new special and p-100's installed, also im not fully 100% sure that p-100's are fully humbucker shaped and that might lead to installation problems.

Beecher

carpothepunk wrote:

MY GOD MAN!

Get the tokai,i bought one about 3 months back....sweet merciful jesus its a beast

Its the goldtop"Love Rock" with P-90's,much cheaper than an LP,and better IMO

Qouted for being right. :v:

carpothepunk

thanks

Have a pacman:v:

The Freeman

i agree with beecher,i've got a tokai ls80 in the post from japan at the moment,i had my heart set on a gibson les paul because currently have a gibson sg but the guys on here changed my mind quickly,i was shocked at some of the reviews i read on the net and i'm talking about guys that have been playing gibson lp's for decades actually preffered a tokai one,i'm paying 800e for mine delivered to the door,you'll pay well more than double that for a gibson dude.

Bstatic

I emailed that japanese site for details, it'll prob take about a week for them to reply it said so I'll see what its like, meanwhile I'll keep ringing around shops myself.

Have been reading about the tokai's and I may be swayed, they're pretty much the same as a gibson. Maybe they're better seeing as gibson are getting a bad rap lately, they seem to be relying on their name and not their quality as much. My local guitar shop has a tokai in there I'll have to try it out.

I was talking to a guy today and he recommended a used guitar shop in portobello just over the bridge from rathmines. He said its really small from the outside but the owner will buzz you inside and he's got a great range of stuff. Anybody know about this place?

Beecher

Bstatic wrote:

Have been reading about the tokai's and I may be swayed, they're pretty much the same as a gibson. Maybe they're better seeing as gibson are getting a bad rap lately, they seem to be relying on their name and not their quality as much. My local guitar shop has a tokai in there I'll have to try it out.

Check if its Korean or Japanese, i've played ones from both and they were all fantastic but a lot of people really swear by the Japanese ones.

Bstatic wrote:

I was talking to a guy today and he recommended a used guitar shop in portobello just over the bridge from rathmines. He said its really small from the outside but the owner will buzz you inside and he's got a great range of stuff. Anybody know about this place?

Yeah been in their once or twice, cant think of the name of the shop at the moment, but they did have some very nice stuff.

Doctor J

Beecher wrote:

Check if its Korean or Japanese, i've played ones from both and they were all fantastic but a lot of people really swear by the Japanese ones.

The Korean Tokais aren't the best tbh. Build quality can be a bit askew and, in keeping with a lot of Korean guitars, the electrics in particular are made of piss. Don't expect a fantastic Les Paul, cos they're built in Korea to save money on building materials, not just labour. They're fine, but they're not top of the line by a long way.

Quattroste

Was in Musician Inc on Sunday and a rep was talking to the owner infront of the Tokai's. I was having a look at the Tokais and overheard the rep saying that word on the Tokai's is spreading fast and they are really starting to take off over here.

sei046

i have my Tokai ls85q for a while now and trust me its a beast.

Bstatic

Well the les paul special on the tcgakki.com site has been sold unfortunately.
I'll keep looking however!
Don't know bout the tokai until I play one.
Found a great guitar review site http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data4/00all.html
Its a good resource, has loads of reviews on all types of models.
The tokai guitars got okay reviews mostly good but some awful ones (could've been korean models?), although the gibsons all got great reviews overall with the minor exception.
Like I said I'll just have to play a tokai myself to see what its like.

Beecher

I really wouldnt trust Harmony Central too much, there tends to be a lot of fanboyism towards the larger brands. Go and tryout both a Tokai and a Gibson and go with what you feel personally, you'll get a fine guitar eitherway but you might stand to save some money.

Kenny_D

Check out the tokai REBORN reviews on harmony central and in my sig

http://www.flyingvintage.com/gcmag/reborn.html

http://japanguitars.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/page1.html

Reborns are most notably the best Les Paul replicas. Then reborn olds and early 80's love rocks are next in line. I'd be looking at a nice vintage tokai before looking at a new one

Maccattack

Bstatic wrote:

I was talking to a guy today and he recommended a used guitar shop in portobello just over the bridge from rathmines. He said its really small from the outside but the owner will buzz you inside and he's got a great range of stuff. Anybody know about this place?

that's SOUND GEAR. check out the way the old guy looks at you after he buzzes you in. He has to stop reading his paper and its clear youre wasting his time.

they sell mainly new stuff though.