@bill_graham Amp sounds good in my headphones but I'd want to hear it on stage cranked up some.
I was surprised Ibanez wasn't in the top 5. They as well as some other makers market was they call at the big music store here, Super Strats. Apparently that is a guitar that feels and plays similarly to a Fender Stratocaster but is souped up with powerful pickups etc. I understand Ibanez sells the most and they are very popular with hard rock and heavy metal players.
But today Fender Stratocasters available new made in different countries for different prices including the Squire Bullet Stratocaster by Fender which usually sells for $180.00 to $300.00 dollars depending on where it was made. Jack Pearson buys them but replaces the switches and volume knobs but that is about it.
Also the Fender Stratocaster today is a guitar that has so many factory built varieties. Different neck shapes, sizes, lots of different colors and bodies and electronics. Order a rosewood neck or maple. Years ago they were made with the famous single coil pickups but now all kinds of pickups are offered. Including two big Humbuckers. Jimmy Herring has a couple he ordered from the Fender factory. It looks odd to me to see a Strat with just two pickups that look like what we see on a Les Paul.
The Les Paul is a Les Paul. They are all so similar and sound similar with big fat Humbucker tone.
I like a lot of different guitars and Strats and Teles are great on certain songs especially when it's a great player.
But the top dog to me is a Les Paul. If Dickey's solo on One Way Out from Eat A Peach was the only Les Paul tone and solo I'd ever heard, the Les Paul would be my favorite. Jimmy Herring once singled out that solo as being one of his favorite solos and commented on how hot the tone Dickey gets on that is.
Who would you give credit for the creation of the great electric guitar to? Gibson or Les Paul or both. To me in the beginning it's Les Paul the man. Gibson agreed to build Les Paul's creation and ideas.
I should add it's amusing that Keith Richards who owns 3,000 guitars...asked Les Paul for a pick!!
@robertdee I give Les the credit as it was his idea and he was adviser during the design. I don't think he gets enough credit for his part in the creation of the Les Paul.
I agree with you about the LP. I love the sound they produce and I ended up buying one. Fenders are great guitars but I prefer the sound of a Les Paul with Humbuckers
Really good article on the Guitar Trader 1959 Les Paul reissue
https://lespaulforum.com/homesite/slubarticle/vgarticle.html
@bill_graham I wish I had about $25K in 1950's currency and a way-back machine!
I read an interview ... some guitarist (can't remember) - said that back in the day (1970s?) "old guitars were old guitars - nobody wanted one!" I know they don't build 'em like they used to (an old timer once pointed out, "they never did build 'em like they used to!"), but is an old guitar really tens of thousands of dollars better than a recent counterpart?
Yeah back in the 1970's early 80's those classic guitars were just considered used equipment and sold for less than new stuff.
I read an interview with Leslie West asking him why he started playing Les Paul Juniors. I expected him to say it had something to do with the special tone. Instead he said he played them because if one broke or got stolen he could walk into any music store back in the early 1970's and buy a used one for less than $100 so all he cared about was they were plentiful and cheap.
I was looking at an earlier Guitar Trader biweekly flyer last night and in 1978 a 1959 Les Paul was going for $3500 so they doubled in price from 1978 to 1982. You probably could get one for half that in the early 1970s but then again it is all relative as that was a good chunk of change back then for the average person as I was making $1.80/hr back in 1973.
The crazy prices for vintage gear is probably not worth it to me as I am a bedroom hack but I think the really talented musicians that have been playing a long time, Betts, Haynes, Trucks, etc can tell the difference in the vintage equipment.
Now whether a 1959 Les Paul is worth $250K is a different matter all together.
@bill_graham In 1974 - my best friend and co-picker in our short-lived high school rock band bought a brand-spankin' new Gibson Les Paul Custom for the whopping sum of $500. I had an older (1963?) Gibson Melody Maker - an expensive collectable these days, but not a real good guitar for gigging. Of course, $500 was a lot of money in 1974. LP Customs from that period are going for anywhere from $3K to $4k (=/-). Those Melody Makers - anywhere from $2k - $3K. The Melody Makers were primarily "student guitars". You see some people playing them (Joan Jett) but usually, they've routed the bodies and added humbuckers. If you are a licensed and bona-fide rock star, you can do this. Otherwise, you're ruining a collectable piece.
@rusty You are right. If average Joe Blow in the ABC band routed out a Les Paul and make modifications, it would destroy the value of the guitar.
If Jeff Beck or Eric Clapton did it, it would be a special unique Les Paul similar to Peter Greene's Les Paul Goldtop and would fetch more money.
Dickey Betts went through several Les Pauls after Dickey decided he wanted one because of the tone Duane was getting. According to Red Dog, Dickey got so angry at a Les Paul for going out of tune so much he threw it across the stage and the next day beat it into the stage so forcefully the neck snapped and Red Dog later put it in a dumpster. But Dickey also found some Les Pauls he really liked such as Goldie. The 1957 Goldtop was/is a great guitar with incredible tone and it was Dickey's number one stage guitar for over 20 years. Dickey himself said the Les Pauls made in the late 1950's are the best. Dickey said he thought it was the wood. But he added the wood is different in each one so there are differences from one to the other so always play it without an amp and it if rings and has good sustain then it's one of the good ones.
Here is Dickey's Goldie!! Probably my favorite Les Paul!
Yes there are many factors that contribute to the tone of a vintage guitar and not every 1950's Les Paul was a tone monster. The wood used, in the case of the LP the Mahogany body, has a big influence in the tone. I read a great article once that back in the !950's Gibson was able to get better quality, and lighter, Mahogany for the LP bodies than they source today. Most of those vintage Les Paul's weighed under 10lbs and in many case less than 9lbs. Many believe the lighter wood is more resonant and has better sustain.
Even the PAF pickups from the 50's vary in sound as they were hand made and hand wound based on timing rather than the number of turns of magnet wire like they are today. This resulted in the impedances varying all over the place in those old PAF's. Some believe that the PAF's with fewer turns of magnet wire and therefore a lower impedance and weaker output sound the best.
Today most pickups are would by programmable winders and you can get fairly consistent impedance and tone from pickup to pickup. Even the magnet wire impacts tone and back in the day that could vary in thickness for wire in the same reel. Also the type of Alnico magnet used in the PAF's varied depending on what Gibson could get at the time so this impacts tone as well.
Variables in pickups tone is why Duane had the PAF pickups from the 1957 Goldtop LP swapped out into the 1959 Cherry Top Les Paul when he traded guitars.
Modern pickup makers have been trying forever to crack the code on why those old PAF humbuckers sounded so good. Here is an interesting article for gear geeks with interviews with five of the more popular modern humbuckers makers and the length they go to to try to replicate the magic of the old 1950's PAF Humbuckers.
https://fliphtml5.com/insu/uiyu/basic
it can be a little tough to read on that website so you can download a PDF copy here if interested. You may have to save it first to download the PDF
https://pdf4pro.com/cdn/inside-the-the-tonequest-report-8d5d0.pdf
@bill_graham Thank you Bill for the links. Very informative and interesting.
Peter Greene's Les Paul dubbed Greenie had a pickup up wound backward or some flaw apparently from the factory and of course gave it a crazy tone I think with both pickups on which is the center position on the three way toggle switch.
Peter apparently gave the guitar to Gary Moore who wanted it so badly Peter just handed it over. Very nice of Peter I suppose. Gary hurt his hand and failed to do a tour and was sued which resulted in Gary selling the guitar to a collector to raise money. The collector sold it to Kirk Hammett, the lead guitarist for Metallica for two million dollars.
Hammett who usually plays guitars favored by metal players and Hammett has about 10 EPS guitars and occasionally plays a Jackson Randy Rhoades and an Ibanez super Strat. Hammett actually uses the Les Paul on a couple of songs and in the studio with Metallica. So it's good the Les Paul is being played rather than sitting in someone's collection.
Here is Peter playing it!
@bill_graham Bill have you seen the LICK Keith Richards plays at the 1:15 mark into this song. Old Keith really hit one!!
@robertdee Yeah there are a lot of stories about the Peter Green Guitar.
In this interview with Moore he said he paid about 100 British pounds for it at Green's insistence
https://www.guitarworld.com/features/how-gary-moore-came-to-own-peter-greens-iconic-les-paul-greeny
Here is the story how Kirk Hammett came to own the guitar. The owner wanted $2 Million for it but Hammett paid less and says it is a bargain! Now that is some value appreciation!
https://www.guitarworld.com/gear/kirk-hammett-jimmy-page-told-me-buy-peter-greens-les-paul
Kirk playing the guitar on Green Manalishi with Mick Fleetwood and Friends
Green Fleetwood Mac in action. Man what a great band!
Full Gary Moore "Blues for Greeny" Tribute conocert
@bill_graham I've been out shopping. But just finished all the links and videos. Thank you so much. The info straightened out the stories I read earlier this year about Greenie the Les Paul. My information was generally correct but mistaken on several particulars. Gary Moore wasn't exactly given the guitar by Peter Greene but Gary did get the Les Paul at a bargain basement price.
And Peter Green was responsible for the pickup getting installed wrong while trying to duplicate Eric Clapton's tone in the Bluesbreakers. And indeed Clapton did play a Les Paul in that band.
Kirk Hammett apparently didn't pay $2 million for the guitar.
It was good to get that stuff straighten out.
Peter Greene seemed to be running away from the spotlight and fame when he left Fleetwood Mac and let his even then famous Les Paul go. I'm not sure I understand what was happening with Peter.
Here is Peter toward the end of his life. Reserve and Laidback and without his famous Greenie Les Paul but there is yet something moving and beautiful about the way he played an electric guitar.
Peter Greene's guitar collection part 1.
He seemed to be a nice man. But should have kept his iconic Les Paul!!!!
Part 2
More interesting dope on Peter Green's Les Paul.
Joe Bonamassa rig rundown
https://www.premierguitar.com/videos/rig-rundowns/joe-bonamassa
@bill_graham Joe has one of the largest and most valuable guitar and amp collection in the world. Joe Bonamassa has made a lot of money in recent years and plowed a chunk of it into guitars and amps.
A number of Joe's pieces are very valuable.
@bill_graham Gary's 1961 Fiesta Red Stratocaster once was stolen. Some days later they got word the guitar would be left in a field or park ( can't remember which) and Gary went there and there it was in the grass and mud so Gary got it back.
Gary Moore played it almost as much as his favorite Goldtop Les Paul guitars.
While the Strat was stolen, a nice size scratch appeared on the upper body close to the pickguard.
You can see the scratch here on this wild guitar ride.
I wish I could go on stage and play an electric guitar like that!
Warren Haynes plays Duane's Goldtop
Les Paul's #1 Goldtop going to auction
https://www.christies.com/about-us/press-archive/details?PressReleaseID=10168&lid=1
Duane's inspiration to learn slide guitar
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-two-songs-inspired-duane-allman-slide-guitar/
Slash's guitars
https://www.guitarworld.com/news/slash-guitar-collection-gibson-tv
@bill_graham Joe has one of the largest and most valuable guitar and amp collection in the world. Joe Bonamassa has made a lot of money in recent years and plowed a chunk of it into guitars and amps.
A number of Joe's pieces are very valuable.
Yeah I really enjoyed watching those YouTube videos where Joe gives us a tour of part of his massive gear collection.
He is a real connoisseur of vintage gear and has an amazing collection.
Life is short so I love the fact that he is spending his hard-earned money on stuff that brings him pleasure and joy. It is an added bonus that his collection just happens to be the tools of his trade.
@bill_graham Slash owns 400 guitars. And he is almost exclusively a Les Paul man. Guns and Roses albums have sold exceptionally well. Well over 15 million copies each in America alone. Almost as well as the Eagles who have sold more albums and concert tickets than any American band.
Do you know the well known character actor Strother Martin appears on a Guns and Roses albums? Old Strother on an album that's sold over 20 million copies.
Old Strother Martin!
@bill_graham Chris Buck checks out the Les Paul!!
One item that is interesting in Chris Buck's overview of how the Les Paul became such an iconic solid body electric guitar are three famous guitar players who were using Les Paul guitars when they became famous thus in a big way out the Les Paul on the map. Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Keith Richards. Buck has pictures of Clapton, Beck and Richards all on stage playing Les Pauls. But it's odd to think about those three. They don't play Les Paul guitars today. Clapton and Beck play Strats and Richards plays everything but more often is said to be a Tele player.
@bill_graham Here is Les Paul in 2000 and he has Carol Kaye on bass guitar. I saw her on David Letterman years ago and had never heard the name but discovered she has played bass on more hit records than just about anybody.
This video proves YOU HAVE HEARD CAROL KAYE PLAY BASS GUITAR BEFORE!!! WE ALL HAVE!
The folks at Planet Rock voted this the all-time best rock guitar solo!!!
Hasn't Warren or Derek or Jack played one this majestic and powerful? Is Gilmore really that good?
Duane Allman isolated Layla solo. As an added bonus there is also a Black Sabbath live 1970 video embeded in the article of them playing War Pigs
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/duane-allman-isolated-guitar-eric-clapton-layla/
@bill_graham Here is Les Paul in 2000 and he has Carol Kaye on bass guitar. I saw her on David Letterman years ago and had never heard the name but discovered she has played bass on more hit records than just about anybody.
This video proves YOU HAVE HEARD CAROL KAYE PLAY BASS GUITAR BEFORE!!! WE ALL HAVE!
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
