Les Paul 1999 Purchase.. a little help

NCo

Everytime I had a Gibson LP I replaced the stock 300 pots and saw a massive improvement. Likewise, Every 490/498 pickup set I had ended up being replaced, and I always disliked that set on every guitar I tried.

Therefore, personally, in this case (and all other caveats), if I were buying this guitar I would already know that the pots and pickups will be replaced on sight.

OilCityPickups

NCo said:

Everytime I had a Gibson LP I replaced the stock 300 pots and saw a massive improvement. Likewise, Every 490/498 pickup set I had ended up being replaced, and I always disliked that set on every guitar I tried.

Therefore, personally, in this case (and all other caveats), if I were buying this guitar I would already know that the pots and pickups will be replaced on sight.

 ... but that is totally subjective. 

guitars4you

NCo said:

Everytime I had a Gibson LP I replaced the stock 300 pots and saw a massive improvement. Likewise, Every 490/498 pickup set I had ended up being replaced, and I always disliked that set on every guitar I tried.

Therefore, personally, in this case (and all other caveats), if I were buying this guitar I would already know that the pots and pickups will be replaced on sight.

I'd certainly say yes to the pot change first with a new set of 500K pots - Then I'd leave it again and listen to what is on offer and appraise accordingly - Depends on your style of music of course - A die hard metal fan may well favour EMG's, but I'd rather listen and take it in for a couple of weeks first - The pots are a major factor as I want the controls to function effectively from 5-10 as that is where the emotion, soul, is 

NCo

OilCityPickups said:

NCo said:

Everytime I had a Gibson LP I replaced the stock 300 pots and saw a massive improvement. Likewise, Every 490/498 pickup set I had ended up being replaced, and I always disliked that set on every guitar I tried.

Therefore, personally, in this case (and all other caveats), if I were buying this guitar I would already know that the pots and pickups will be replaced on sight.

 ... but that is totally subjective. 

Yes, tone is subjective, which is why I said "personally". I just offered a counter to some posts speaking in absolutes, such as this:

OilCityPickups said:

My advice ALWAYS as a pickup manufacturer is live with your existing pickups on any new purchase for long enough to make a proper decision. If you like them great you've saved some money. If not you will have a better idea of where your existing pickups are falling short of your expectations.

To summarise, in some cases it is a perfectly reasonable approach to buy a guitar knowing you will change pickups and the loom, or just simply replacing it straight away.

robgilmo

For that kind of money I would be enjoying it as it is and not filling myself with notions that the pickups and wires werent good enough, as they say, a good tradesman never blames his tools. 

But then again I couldnt tell the difference in a blind test between a gibbo and any other guitar anyway never mind pickups or wires.

timmypix

For £1500, if you're getting the chance to play it and you like it, I'd snap that up in a heartbeat and worry about the details later.

If there's anything you don't like and you decide to move it on later, you won't make a loss and may even profit, so it's a no brainer at that price.

TeleMaster

richardhomer said:

Can you get to play it? I had one from that period - massively heavy and generally not great. Post 2002 models were significantly better.

90's Les Paul's are great, they can be heavy but they all can. I've had a few and I miss them all.

tone1

My 2000 Les Paul Standard is pretty heavy (coming from a 7lb Strat) but it sounds glorious….and I haven’t tried a lightweight Les Paul to compare.

edit….when I bought it, I asked how heavy it was? The seller said…..how heavy do you want it to be? 

sloan1874

I've had a word with the guy, he's a top bloke with loads of experience with instruments, live music etc, and we're going to sit down and have a play and see how it feels. I've only ever owned Fenders with slim c-shaped necks, so it'll be interesting to see how the thicker type feels. I will report back on what happens!