Advice on buying a Les Paul?

thegom145

Hey guys,

I've decided to take the plunge and finally buy myself a Gibson LP after wanting one for years, and was wondering do any of you have any advice for getting one in Dublin? Shops you'd recommend or avoid?

I really like the look of the customs, and I'm leaning towards something like this: http://www.thomann.de/ie/gibson_lp_custom_eb_ch.htm (although I'm not going to buy a ~3K guitar off the internet without having even played the thing first, hence the desire to get it from a shop and find one I really like).

I was in town last Sunday and was passing by Instrumental (beside bachelors walk between O' Connell st and Liffey st) and noticed they had a lot of second hand LP's in the shop, including a Slash signature one for ~1000 euro - unfortunately they weren't open so I couldn't go in to get a better look, has anyone bought from them before? They seemed to have some good deals, but I prolly won't get a chance to go in and have a look till next saturday as I'm away for the weekend and work Mon-Fri.

Nozebleed

i suggest you go have a look in jimi's music store in ballymount..i drop in every week...today he had 2 custom les pauls..really nice guitars...one black and the other a 25th anniversary sunburst. around the 2k mark. he'll order in any guitar you want.

http://www.jimismusicstore.ie/

Seziertisch

Also keep an eye on Adverts.ie A lot of quite nice stuff turning up there from time to time.

thegom145

Nozebleed wrote: »

i suggest you go have a look in jimi's music store in ballymount..i drop in every week...today he had 2 custom les pauls..really nice guitars...one black and the other a 25th anniversary sunburst. around the 2k mark. he'll order in any guitar you want.

http://www.jimismusicstore.ie/

Thanks Nozebleed, that place is only about a 15 minute cycle from where I live so I'll definitlely be dropping in soon

Grolschevik

Try out a rake of them is the best advice. When I got mine nearly ten years ago, I tried nearly every one in one of the bigger music stores in Dublin, and they were all so poorly set up and grubby that none of them did it for me. I tried studios, smartwoods, standards, and they were all, in my opinion, not fit for sale.

But I went round the corner to another well-known, if smaller place, and found a beauty of a standard, perfectly set up, beautiful finish... for £200 less than the first place.

That said, if mine was stolen and the insurance paid out, I'd now probably go for an SG for its lower weight and better high fret access!

dermo909

Try xmusic out by the red cow also. They had a few les pauls in stock the last time I was in there.

thegom145

dermo909 wrote: »

Try xmusic out by the red cow also. They had a few les pauls in stock the last time I was in there.

I was in xmusic a few weeks ago buying an amp and was asking them about LP customs, one of the lads there said they should be getting some in soon so they are also on my list - I've noticed that they never seem to have a lot of Les Pauls in there though, odd considering they're such a big store.

musicmatty

I have an Epiphone copy. It looks great and cost a fraction of the price of a real one. And it sounds damn good too. Are you sure you need one?

RICARDO1982

I have an Edwards John Sykes les paul and its also a kickass guitar and is better value for money than a Gibson. However some people would prefer the Gibson logo on their axe...

Seany

Before spending the cash and can live without "that badge"...seriously look at the bacchus les pauls.

I picked one up new (after attending a boards.ie instruments meet up) from seller on ebay earlier this year and it is absolutley wonderful. They are hand made in the Japan and the quality is asounding compared to some of the Gibsons I have played.

Mine is a goldtop with stock p90's and is incredible. In my opinion better built, better sounding and more than half the price.

http://www.japanvintageguitars.com/Bacchus%20Guitars.html

-Chris-

My only advice OP is NOT to buy off the internet.

I bought an LP Studio (not the same thing, I know) from Thomann and I'm very disappointed. Thomann are great, and the guitar is fine, but it just doesn't "speak" to me, I don't enjoy playing it.

I wish I had had more budget so I could buy locally and play more examples, I'd either have found one I liked or I'd have bought something else.

I'd worry about the risk of buying something you've been pining over for years and then being underwhelmed every time you pick it up.

thegom145

musicmatty wrote: »

I have an Epiphone copy. It looks great and cost a fraction of the price of a real one. And it sounds damn good too. Are you sure you need one?

Yeah, I've played a good few epi's (have had a nice one for a few months as a lend off a mate too) and I've played a few standards, and tbh I really prefer the standards - theres something in the build quality (when its done right) that I just really like.

RICARDO1982 wrote: »

I have an Edwards John Sykes les paul and its also a kickass guitar and is better value for money than a Gibson. However some people would prefer the Gibson logo on their axe...

Seany wrote: »

Before spending the cash and can live without "that badge"...seriously look at the bacchus les pauls.

I picked one up new (after attending a boards.ie instruments meet up) from seller on ebay earlier this year and it is absolutley wonderful. They are hand made in the Japan and the quality is asounding compared to some of the Gibsons I have played.

Mine is a goldtop with stock p90's and is incredible. In my opinion better built, better sounding and more than half the price.

http://www.japanvintageguitars.com/Bacchus%20Guitars.html

Its not so much about "having to have that Gibson logo on the headstock" so much as I just really, really like Gibson Les Pauls - if I can find either a bachus or an edwards to play I'll definitely check them out, I'd never heard of the Edwards ones before, they're made by ESP japan yeah? I like ESP's, my current ax is an old ltd MH-100 super strat model I've had for about ten years and its been thru wars, its not the greatest guitar ever made but it was a good buy at the time. Are Edwards or Bacchus guitars hard to find outside of Japan?

-Chris- wrote: »

My only advice OP is NOT to buy off the internet.

I bought an LP Studio (not the same thing, I know) from Thomann and I'm very disappointed. Thomann are great, and the guitar is fine, but it just doesn't "speak" to me, I don't enjoy playing it.

I wish I had had more budget so I could buy locally and play more examples, I'd either have found one I liked or I'd have bought something else.

I'd worry about the risk of buying something you've been pining over for years and then being underwhelmed every time you pick it up.

No worries there man, I want to go into the shop and make damned sure the guitar feels and sounds exactly the way I want it to before I spend money on it.

Cheers for all the advice guys, its greatly appreciated.

Seziertisch

If you do decide on going the Gibson route, definitely try before you buy. They are such fickle creatures. Otherwise, the higher end Japanese guitars (Tokai, Bacchus etc.) are much more uniform quality wise in my experience.

RICARDO1982

The edwards LP is made by esp japan its well worth consideration.
If you keep your eye out they sometimes come up in the ads. They are great guitars
I like the Tokai and hope to get to grips with a Bacchus at some stage they have some rep here

ArthurGuinness

I would buy one of these
http://www.thomann.de/ie/gibson_les_paul_57_vos_gold_top.htm

Great value I paid €2750 for mine from thomann a few yrs back

or one of these (bargain price)
http://www.guitarvillage.co.uk/product-detail.asp?id=7517&catid=78&manid=119&quantity=1&product=Gibson+Les+Paul+58+Plain+Top+VOS+(HB015C),+Sunrise+Teaburst,+New,+Inc.+Case

Guitar village are great to deal with don't buy online give em a call they usually give a 10% discount on Gibson stuff I deal with them a bit.They told me they cant advertise Gibson's at lower prices as Gibson makes all the dealers keep the prices pretty much the same but if you call em they can knock a good whack off.

Their list price with the custom is £2499 less 10% £2271.81 which at todays rate is €2450 I don't think you will find one cheaper than that

http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi?Amount=2,271.00&From=GBP&To=EUR&x=86&y=11

seamus-2k7

I'm looking to get a les paul myself and I know a guy selling gibsons cheap. They're so cheap I want to know if there's anyway of telling if its fake or stolen or whatever before i buy it. Any tell tail signs if its a fake copy?

Alanstrainor

seamus-2k7 wrote: »

I'm looking to get a les paul myself and I know a guy selling gibsons cheap. They're so cheap I want to know if there's anyway of telling if its fake or stolen or whatever before i buy it. Any tell tail signs if its a fake copy?

How cheap? There's a lot of fakes doing the rounds, generally the logos look off, and everything is ****e about them. Be wary of gibsons for €150!

artvandulet

Real Les Pauls have truss rod covers with 2 holes. Most Fakes have 3.
Also, no real Les Paul says Gibson on the truss rod cover, many of the fakes do.
There's several other ways of telling I'm sure you'll hear.
If its too good to be true, thats usually because it is!

ArthurGuinness

Be wary about the 3 screw truss rod thing alot of the newer fakes now have only the 2. The fakes are getting harder to spot so be wary I have noticed that alot of the fakes have a big dirty Gibson sticker on the back and stickers with Gibson usa on the pick-ups. I have never seen a real one with these as of yet.

Heres a video to tell you what to look out for but like I said this is getting fairly old and the fakes are harder to spot. Another to to be wary of dont buy one from a a lad on ebay selling well below value with low feedback or a newish user with a feedback of 5 or so, even if its a picture of a real Gibson in the picture the one you recieve will more than likely be fake.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvKo9Y52CEU

brendansmith

ArthurGuinness wrote: »

Be wary about the 3 screw truss rod thing alot of the newer fakes now have only the 2.

Was only a matter of time i guess.

eigenboggle

OP you seem to have your head screwed on anyway. I was in a similar position a few years ago. I went around to all the stores playing epiphone and gibson etc. but couldn't find 'the one'. I'd played a les paul standard in a studio once and fell in love and none of these seemed to live up to the memory. I eventually found an alpine white studio in the buy and sell. I knew instantly when I picked it up. Didn't even need to plug it in

Not sure if its just me or if there is actually an inconsistency in quality / playability / feel even within models? Always thought the point of going for a bigger name was consistent quality and reliability.

On another note, just from my experience, Instrumental / Musician Inc. / X-music are all great to deal with.

...its 04.30am :eek: