LP Custom Specs

stickyfiddle

Righto, fairly sure I'm going to swap my ES330 for a Les Paul, either an R7 or a Custom of some sort. I'm reasonably confident on specs for R7s - better gold colour after 2013, smaller frets on 2018, etc. But Customs and Custom reissues I'm not so hot on.

I know the 56/57 reissues are all mahogany, while modern LPCs and '68 RI are maple+hog. Ebony boards are par for the course except post-2012 non-reissue LPCs, right?

But what about neck sizes? I played a 56 reissue in the states in the spring, and that was a nice handful without being huge. Are the 57's the same? Have they always been the same? 

I'm no so worried about pickups. I know the modern ones have 498t/490R which are dull, and I guess reissues would have 57 Classics or Burstbucker 1/2 or Custombuckers depending on age.

Gibson's own website is as useless as you'd expect.

Any pointers?

marantz1300

I had a 57 VOS Custom. I think it was a 2002. The neck was massive. Biggest neck I have had on any guitar.

It was lovely, another I wish I still had.

stickyfiddle

marantz1300 said:

I had a 57 VOS Custom. I think it was a 2002. The neck was massive. Biggest neck I have had on any guitar.

It was lovely, another I wish I still had.

@marantz1300 ; Good to know. How were the frets? I'm not too fussy, just don't want the "fretless wonder" thing - a decent bit of height is always good.

kluson

Forget all the specs, just find the guitar which speaks to you, try a number and see which feels right to you. They will all have their differences, good luck with your search.

stickyfiddle

kluson said:

Forget all the specs, just find the guitar which speaks to you, try a number and see which feels right to you. They will all have their differences, good luck with your search.

Completely agree normally.

Sadly it’s not an option for me - I’m in the UAE so it’s reverb.com and big dealers or nothing. 

Hence wanting to confirm which guiyars have what specs to help narrow the search a bit. 

kluson

Oh No, that makes it a little tougher.

Good luck with that one. I ahve a 2003 GTR7 Brazilian which has a nice comfy neck, erring on larger , plays realy nicely. frankly I like the bigger necks, I have a 58 335 which has the biggest neck I've ever seen.

Your quest is going to be a tough one,

Have a good New Year Guitar search

stickyfiddle

Yeah, it's a little interesting but I'm well used to it after several years. We only have one local dealer - they're very expensive and don't carry much stock of anything above the Tribute/Studio sort of level. 

Thankfully there are loads of US dealers on Reverb with various things around the $3k mark which look good. Trouble is I don't know at this stage whether a regular Custom or a '57 or '68 or something like the CME Custom would best suit. 

Brize

stickyfiddle said:

I'm reasonably confident on specs for R7s - better gold colour after 2013

That's subjective. The greenier gold in 2013 was pretty harsh and was quietly toned down in future years.

kluson

stickyfiddle said:

Yeah, it's a little interesting but I'm well used to it after several years. We only have one local dealer - they're very expensive and don't carry much stock of anything above the Tribute/Studio sort of level. 

Thankfully there are loads of US dealers on Reverb with various things around the $3k mark which look good. Trouble is I don't know at this stage whether a regular Custom or a '57 or '68 or something like the CME Custom would best suit. 

just a thought, Have a word with Steve Mesple at Wildwood, he's very knowledgable about Gibson's CS products and will sureley advise you, they also usually have a good choice.

Failing that, have a holiday in Japan :-)  they have some amazing shops there! a whole floor of Les Pauls!

Good luck and have a great new year

stickyfiddle

I actually was in Japan in October. It’s great for guitar shopping but we were touring in an MX5 so not an option. Always worth keeping an eye on Ishibashi though

In the meantime I’m hoping for great new things from NAMM, preferably including price cuts on new ones  

gringopig

.

stickyfiddle

gringopig said:

2015 '68 re-issue has a big neck, regular frets and custom '68 pickups which are anything but dull.

That’s all music to my ears, I think. 

Im not actually sure how the 57 and 68 are theoretically different, aside from the maple cap? The necks are both mahogany right?

Brize

stickyfiddle said:

gringopig said:

2015 '68 re-issue has a big neck, regular frets and custom '68 pickups which are anything but dull.

That’s all music to my ears, I think. 

Im not actually sure how the 57 and 68 are theoretically different, aside from the maple cap? The necks are both mahogany right?

Yep, it's just the maple cap and a few cosmetic differences. Historically, the other main difference between the '57 spec and '68 spec was that the latter only had two pickups compared to the former's three. Original 50s Les Paul Customs with only two humbuckers are very rare, but the reissues are more commonly seen with this configuration.

stickyfiddle

Google tells me the 68 also has the shallow 14-degree headstock angle, as if anyone normal cares.

Brize

stickyfiddle said:

Google tells me the 68 also has the shallow 14-degree headstock angle, as if anyone normal cares.

Yep, I think the later reissues replicate that detail, but I'm not sure the pre-2012 models do. I may be wrong, though.

clarkefan

For what it's worth, IMO if it doesn't have an ebony fretboard it's not a Les Paul Custom.

The first proper Les Paul I had was a Custom.  I've had numerous Les Pauls since, but no Customs, none felt like that Custom under the fingers, it's a thing.

stickyfiddle

clarkefan said:

For what it's worth, IMO if it doesn't have an ebony fretboard it's not a Les Paul Custom.

The first proper Les Paul I had was a Custom.  I've had numerous Les Pauls since, but no Customs, none felt like that Custom under the fingers, it's a thing.

Yeah, I can see that. I haven't tried a richlite one, but the ebony thing is fairly important tbh, cos it's *lovely*

Kylef

I’ve had a 2014 R7 and a 2016 R7. Both outstanding guitars. The ‘14 had the ‘light bsck’, however they aren’t that light anymore compared to the real orange tan looking colour from earlier years. They’ve changed to a more brown colour that looks far classier. 

The ‘16 which I still have has the dark back. It’s ever so slightly translucent, with a dark red/purple tinge to it. 

Both have big necks which I find very comfortable. 

The ‘14:

https://instagram.com/p/Bb9ryqCDawW/

The ‘16:

https://instagram.com/p/Bfs59S9jtaL/

stickyfiddle

Just seen this on Wildwood. '57 reissue in old-looking white. All mahogany, completely amazing, just needs the pickups covers taking off. 

"Only" $7699...



And of course Gregory Kochery makes it sound spectacular

stickyfiddle

Question on frets...

does anyone know what frets would have been on a 2001 ‘57 RI (ie big tall ones or fretless wonder types?) 

ive seen one that looked perfect on reverb but not 100% sure of fret size - they look fairly flat-topped in a standard Gibson sort of way, but you can’t easily tell height from pictures

stickyfiddle

Bump for the evening crowd... Any ideas?