P90 Gold Top - options? Now with added NGD

McToot

Thanks to @TheMarlin (or ‘that bastard’ as he is now known in my house) I’m really lusting after a P90 equipped guitar, preferably in gold top livery. Now despite how utterly, utterly gorgeous the above-referenced Murphy Lab is, its waaaay out of my league and - now here’s the thing - I’m not 100% sure I’m a Les Paul kinda dude anyway; I’ve had several, including a beautiful Feline, and I’ve moved them all on. I have one now and I love it, but it’s a Special without the carved top - maybe that’s why I like it? 

Yet I still feel that the traditional LP gold top is what I want. 

So the question: if I were to break my no new (or used) guitar rule and get a gold top, what do you rabble suggest? It doesn’t HAVE to be LP-type, but if it were…? MIJ, Vintage, Harley Benton or just man up and get a Gibson? Or others: PRS, Hamer XT, Yamaha Revstar (do they even do a GT?) 

Theres a USA PRS GT soap bar near me for 1500 OBO on eBay which is kinda tempting; it’s a bit shabby but that’s OK by me - so am I. 

Indulge me. Please. 

Edit: budget would be up to £1k in an ideal world but we don’t live in that so… £1.5k absolute top end. 

robgilmo

McToot said:

Thanks to @TheMarlin (or ‘that bastard’ as he is now known in my house) I’m really lusting after a P90 equipped guitar, preferably in gold top livery. Now despite how utterly, utterly gorgeous the above-referenced Murphy Lab is, its waaaay out of my league and - now here’s the thing - I’m not 100% sure I’m a Les Paul kinda dude anyway; I’ve had several, including a beautiful Feline, and I’ve moved them all on. I have one now and I love it, but it’s a Special without the carved top - maybe that’s why I like it? 

Yet I still feel that the traditional LP gold top is what I want. 

So the question: if I were to break my no new (or used) guitar rule and get a gold top, what do you rabble suggest? It doesn’t HAVE to be LP-type, but if it were…? MIJ, Vintage, Harley Benton or just man up and get a Gibson? Or others: PRS, Hamer XT, Yamaha Revstar (do they even do a GT?) 

Theres a USA PRS GT soap bar near me for 1500 OBO on eBay which is kinda tempting; it’s a bit shabby but that’s OK by me - so am I. 

Indulge me. Please. 

Edit: budget would be up to £1k in an ideal world but we don’t live in that so… £1.5k absolute top end. 

epiphone 56 gold top, 2001 Unsung Korea, can be had fairly cheap and are a lot of guitar for the money. 

Rowby1

Maybach Lester Goldrush 90 although you’d have to go used for that budget. If you can find one used you’ll not be disappointed I’m sure.

dazzajl

Maybach Lester Gold Rush 90, without any doubt. If you can find one that is. 

“That Barstard’s” LP is genuinely the nicest guitar I’ve ever played and like you, I’ve never been a Les Paul man. I’ve always wanted to love them but until getting my Gold Rush, it’s always been a case of moving them on as soon as the honeymoon lust started to cool. 

The Murphy is noticeably better than my Maybach but that’s made up of a few percentage points spread across things like the neck profile, pickup sweetness and that greening of the gold paint. 

Gratuitous GAS enabling pics……

TheMarlin

I’ve been called that before. We must be distant relatives!

I may actually be able to help on this quest. 

I actually have another Goldtop that I have never ever played. 

It’s a Gretsch Pro Jet gold top.  Hard tail, no bigsby. 

It’s got Gretsch HS Filtertrons, the by all accounts is very lovely to play, and I can sell it very cheaply. 

It’s currently in a lightly disassembled state, with bridge pickup removed, but the pickup is in the case.  I bought it for an experiment, and never got far with it. 

£200 without HS Filterttons, plus i’ll
throw in a Gretsch hard case for beer money. You can then fit it with Mojo (or other brand) Filtertron sized P90’s (or goldfoils, or staples etc etc), and still be well within budget. 

@dazzajl played of last in fully assembled state, and he spoke very highly of it. 

This could be a cheap way to get the look, without breaking the bank. 

Just a thought….

Basher

Many years ago I played a Godin gold top guitar with nice sounding P90s. It was a single cut shape but iirc had a bolt on neck. The feel was much more Fender to me because it had a bridge that sat much lower than a typical tuneomatic so the geometry of the thing was very different to a Gibson. Think it was quite light too.

Probably not much help as I can't remember the model and they weren't exactly commonplace when they made them.

I'd be quite tempted by the guitar owned by  @TheMarlin though. I am in fact tempted even though the GAS tank is empty due to buying a Gretsch and an Eastman at the tail end of last year. 

McToot

TheMarlin 

I’ve been called that before. We must be distant relatives!

I may actually be able to help on this quest. 

I actually have another Goldtop that I have never ever played. 

It’s a Gretsch Pro Jet gold top.  Hard tail, no bigsby. 

It’s got Gretsch HS Filtertrons, the by all accounts is very lovely to play, and I can sell it very cheaply. 

It’s currently in a lightly disassembled state, with bridge pickup removed, but the pickup is in the case.  I bought it for an experiment, and never got far with it. 

£200 without HS Filterttons, plus i’ll
throw in a Gretsch hard case for beer money. You can then fit it with Mojo (or other brand) Filtertron sized P90’s (or goldfoils, or staples etc etc), and still be well within budget. 

@dazzajl played of last in fully assembled state, and he spoke very highly of it. 

This could be a cheap way to get the look, without breaking the bank. 

Just a thought….

I thought that I will be thunking, especially over the soon to be poured rum n ginge. Cheers. 

McToot

Love the look of the Maybach too.

lovestrat74

I've owned 2 MIC Epi 56 Pro guitars and I have to say they are excellent quality. The first one was ebony. It was mint and although it was a great guitar I still wanted to change stuff, but it was too nice to "ruin".

Then I got a GT in a trade for an old acoustic. For some reason I thought this was one I could get to work on.

They have great necks and nice dark rosewood boards. The stock pickups are decent too.

I wasn't a fan of the finish so I stripped it, changed the pickups (twice), reshaped the headstock and added CTS pots... but honestly they are great stock. I just have this disorder to change everything!

Kittyfrisk

Basher said:

Many years ago I played a Godin gold top guitar with nice sounding P90s. It was a single cut shape but iirc had a bolt on neck. The feel was much more Fender to me because it had a bridge that sat much lower than a typical tuneomatic so the geometry of the thing was very different to a Gibson. Think it was quite light too.

Probably not much help as I can't remember the model and they weren't exactly commonplace when they made them.

I'd be quite tempted by the guitar owned by  @TheMarlin though. I am in fact tempted even though the GAS tank is empty due to buying a Gretsch and an Eastman at the tail end of last year. 

Thinking that you might possibly be referring to the Godin LG P90?
I have one (not for sale, so not bigging it up) it has Seymour Duncan P-90's & it sounds simply glorious.
No pics to hand, but looks like this  https://reverb.com/item/67105416-godin-lg-p90-gold-2003-gold

McToot

As good as the Godin probably is I could never get over the looks. They always reminded me of a hump head Napoleon wrasse…

Kittyfrisk

^ I'll shed no tears over your choice (unless whilst laughing) :-D

SlopeSoarer

Vintage do V100 P90 Gold Top probably a bargain used!

dazzajl

A Vintage V100 would be a nice choice, this one seems quite good value….

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/156040152724?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=6eggpscVQGW&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=Agi8rxNMQ9W&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Barstard’s Gretsch is also every bit as nice as he says, if a slightly different vibe. It’s one of these

McToot

dazzajl

A Vintage V100 would be a nice choice, this one seems quite good value….

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/156040152724?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=6eggpscVQGW&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=Agi8rxNMQ9W&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Barstard’s Gretsch is also every bit as nice as he says, if a slightly different vibe. It’s one of these

Now then. That is a bit interesting. All depends whether I could get some boner (sic) fide P90s to shove into them holes…. @OilCityPickups will be getting a dm 

Funkfingers

Sire L7V.

Basher

Kittyfrisk said:

Basher said:

Many years ago I played a Godin gold top guitar with nice sounding P90s. It was a single cut shape but iirc had a bolt on neck. The feel was much more Fender to me because it had a bridge that sat much lower than a typical tuneomatic so the geometry of the thing was very different to a Gibson. Think it was quite light too.

Probably not much help as I can't remember the model and they weren't exactly commonplace when they made them.

I'd be quite tempted by the guitar owned by  @TheMarlin though. I am in fact tempted even though the GAS tank is empty due to buying a Gretsch and an Eastman at the tail end of last year. 

Thinking that you might possibly be referring to the Godin LG P90?
I have one (not for sale, so not bigging it up) it has Seymour Duncan P-90's & it sounds simply glorious.
No pics to hand, but looks like this  https://reverb.com/item/67105416-godin-lg-p90-gold-2003-gold

That was it exactly!!!!

I didn't remember who made the P90s but I do remember them sounding great. The fact that they're Seymour Duncans would probably explain it!

Lovely looking and playing thing. Can't remember why I didn't buy it but I probably foolishly assumed they'd be around for a few years. That was the last time I saw one. 

McToot

Funkfingers said:

Sire L7V.

Thanks - good shout that. 

Musical_Mystery_Tour

Well, if you don't mind hot rodding an inexpensive LP copy with some better hardware, you could go absolutely mental and spend 139 quid on a Fazley Midas from Bax Music (currently reduced from its 197 quid rrp). Now of course nobody is going to expect a guitar that cheap is going to rival a genuine Gibson Gold Top in terms of hardware, but I was curious about them and had seen some decent reviews, so I bought one.

Rather surprisingly, it's better than anyone has a right to imagine, especially for the price; it certainly sounds good and following a decent set up, it plays well too. It is interesting to note that some Fazley models are identical to Jet models apart from the headstock shape; not suprising then to learn that Jet and Fazleys are both made in the same factory, but Jet's JL-500 (which is their Gold Top but with humbuckers as opposed to P90s), has an rrp of 460 Euros. So I think that Fazley is quite a lot of bang for its meagre bucks given that production is carried out at the same place. Anyway, I reviewed that Midas here on the fretboard forum last week and if anyone is not snobbish about logos, I genuinely do think it is worth considering for some inexpensive Gold Top shenanigans.

Things to note are that although it as a carved top, it's not a maple cap; the entire body is mahogany, as is the neck, but the fretboard is poplar rather than rosewood, although it is nice for all that. As everyone knows, CNC manufacturing these days means most inexpensive guitars are, from a body and neck standpoint at least, cut and fitted as well as anything else and this one is no exception. The hardware is okay, but anyone hoping to get serious mileage out of one of these would definitely want to look at upgrading these bits, and possibly the pots and wires too, but as noted on my review, the P90 pickups themselves sound pretty damn good, thus I've no intention nor desire to replace those, but will probably stick some gold Grovers on it at some point. You'd better really want a gold guitar though, because literally everything, apart from the front face of the headstock, is either painted gold or plated with gold. They didn't call it the Midas for nothing.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

For on a really tight budget the Vintage V100 would be the go-to choice for me.

Given you seem to have a bit of wiggle room with budget, I've heard nothing but good things about FGN Guitars and they do a lovely looking Gold Top. Probably be tough to find one used, but even new they're under your max budget:

https://www.coda-music.com/fgn-nls11rmp-neo-classic-p90-goldtop-a230844.html

Teyeplayer

We are on the wrong track here. This is the fretboard, so you always do the opposite. You said you want p90s and a gold top, what you therefore need is a honeyburst flame top with humbuckers.