thodrik Posted May 29, 2020 Share Posted May 29, 2020 Definitely a Gibson for me even though I hate the direction and Gibson's consistent ability to score consistent public relations own goals ('Play Authentic' ugh). I spent almost a year trying out 2016 and 2017 series of Les Pauls (Traditional, Classic, Standard). Most of the guitars I tried in the shops however needed a decent set up. I also tried a Les Paul Tribute and I thought it was a really good guitar for £1000. I didn't end up buying it because I had my heart set on a full fat 'proper' Les Paul. At the £1000 price point I would also consider an SG which has essentially the same electronics and pickups as a Les Paul, but is lighter and has better upper fret access. My brother already had an SG though so I 'had' to buy a Les Paul to be different. I ended up buying a second hand 2008 Les Paul Standard faded (so basically a Les Paul Standard with a satin finish) in 2017. The looks of the guitar are 'so so' compared to the new Les Paul Standards but in terms of playability this guitar covers everything I need. In terms of buying 'new', I think that the new Standard 50s and 60s series are a big improvement on the previous Traditional and Standard series. At £2000 they are pretty big investments, however of any guitar model out there, a Gibson Les Paul is likely to hold its value better than a lot of other models at the price point. The Les Paul Classic is about £1500 and has coil tapping features that the 50s and 60s Standards don't, so that may be worth investigating too. Irrespective of my love of GIbson guitars, the quality of a PRS S2 will be more consistent than Gibson from guitar to guitar. The SE and S2 series are really good guitars period, let alone being good guitars for their price point. However, for me the sound of a Gibson is what I prefer so I will generally buy a Gibson irrespective of the fact that a PRS guitar will probably hold its tune better, be easier to play, have more tonal variation (coil splitting options etc) and have consistent QC from instrument to instrument. In terms of you think you would prefer, outside of playing them I would recommend watching a few Youtube videos of reviews of the models you are looking at. Its a crap time to be shopping for a new guitar so my best wishes to the OP in their quest! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Japhet Posted May 29, 2020 Share Posted May 29, 2020 Greco Les Pauls are very good. Worth a serious look if you can find one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tall_martin Posted May 30, 2020 Author Share Posted May 30, 2020 Thanks for all the advise! I’m supposed to be picking up my new guitar tomorrow. I say supposed as the seller still has it advertised on eBay for more than our agreed price. So hopefully a new guitar day tomorrow 😀 If not I’m going to wait until the music shops are open again and play some in my local pmt. Its that or start going mad by looking at too many options on eBay 🙄 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tall_martin Posted June 4, 2020 Author Share Posted June 4, 2020 In the end I went for a PRS. I went to a shop in 2004, saw a display of them thought they looked cool at £300 odd, looked a bit closer and saw the price tag was £3000 odd. So that and some money I inherited from my grandma have got me exactly what I wanted. Fixed bridge, flame top and birds 😀. I’d have preferred one with some damage and wear, for less, but this one looked the best. 10 years old and not a mark on it. I very much doubt it will look like that after 10 years in my clumsy ownership 😐 On it’s own the guitar isn’t going to make me any better so I’ve got some lessons starting Monday. If I bought a prs se, s2 or a ce i’d Probably end up with a nagging feeling of doubt- is this the right one, should I have bought... No doubt, no buyers remorse, no GAS and a beautiful instrument to get on with improving on. Thanks for all the suggestions and tips, especially that purple prs pic- helped me to decide that I should just go for what I wanted 😀 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamg67 Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 Lovely. A PRS really can cure GAS. I occasionally think I might trade the S2 up for a "core" for the arch top and a more dramatic finish, but every time i think about it I find myself liking the understated effect. Another PRS is the only thing that would make me trade it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tall_martin Posted June 4, 2020 Author Share Posted June 4, 2020 I got out bid on an s2 Mira. I’m pretty sure that would also have been the answer to my what guitar question 😀 There was a bid 1 second after the auction ended that out bid me. I guess it was a sniper programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 3 hours ago, tall_martin said: In the end I went for a PRS. I went to a shop in 2004, saw a display of them thought they looked cool at £300 odd, looked a bit closer and saw the price tag was £3000 odd. So that and some money I inherited from my grandma have got me exactly what I wanted. Fixed bridge, flame top and birds 😀. I’d have preferred one with some damage and wear, for less, but this one looked the best. 10 years old and not a mark on it. I very much doubt it will look like that after 10 years in my clumsy ownership 😐 On it’s own the guitar isn’t going to make me any better so I’ve got some lessons starting Monday. If I bought a prs se, s2 or a ce i’d Probably end up with a nagging feeling of doubt- is this the right one, should I have bought... No doubt, no buyers remorse, no GAS and a beautiful instrument to get on with improving on. Thanks for all the suggestions and tips, especially that purple prs pic- helped me to decide that I should just go for what I wanted 😀 Classy! Well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeJayW Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 Nice, congrats on finding 'your' guitar. Enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 Good score! I'm really gassing for a classic Custom 22 in amber violin stain, just like in the ads in mid 80's guitar player magazine. And a 509 in an outrageous hue for coil tapping fun. And a 305 for strat tastic sounds. Sigh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tall_martin Posted June 4, 2020 Author Share Posted June 4, 2020 7 hours ago, Kiwi said: Good score! I'm really gassing for a classic Custom 22 in amber violin stain, just like in the ads in mid 80's guitar player magazine. And a 509 in an outrageous hue for coil tapping fun. And a 305 for strat tastic sounds. Sigh. That is an expensive gas list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 4 hours ago, tall_martin said: That is an expensive gas list! Dreams are free...lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skybone Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 If I were in the market for a new guitar, I'd definitely look at an Epiphone LP, and budget for new pickups, or find a PRS SE Singlecut. Out of the two, of probably lean towards the PRS, but I'd have to try out a few Epi's. I owned a few MIJ Tokai Love Rocks in the past, and they were LP beaters. I've also owned a few late 70's Ibanez Artist double cuts. Ibanez reissued the Artist not too long back, which featured the 'Tri-sound' switching like the 70's ones, which offers sound options to the classic LP sounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeJayW Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 11 minutes ago, Skybone said: If I were in the market for a new guitar, I'd definitely look at an Epiphone LP, and budget for new pickups, or find a PRS SE Singlecut. Out of the two, of probably lean towards the PRS, but I'd have to try out a few Epi's. I owned a few MIJ Tokai Love Rocks in the past, and they were LP beaters. I've also owned a few late 70's Ibanez Artist double cuts. Ibanez reissued the Artist not too long back, which featured the 'Tri-sound' switching like the 70's ones, which offers sound options to the classic LP sounds. The current Epi Les Pauls seem to to have a D shaped neck profile. This would put me off buying one, but you might like it. The one I had twenty-years ago had more of a Gibson 60's neck profile which felt better to me, though I've since got used to and prefer the 50's neck profile on my Gibson Les Paul Standard. The wide-fat neck on PRS SE guitars would be on my list to try one out. Tokai make some nice LP style guitars as do Fernandes. The PRS that the OP has picked up already, looks like a very nice guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tall_martin Posted June 17, 2020 Author Share Posted June 17, 2020 Thanks Gee! 😀 two weeks in and I’m still delighted with it! shops are open now, I’d still be a bit wary of going in and trying a load in the city center. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 I had an early run McCarty once. Without doubt, the best sounding humbucker equipped guitar I’d ever heard (even with me playing it). However, I ultimately didn’t get on with the ergonomics and it went in part-ex for my first quality bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeJayW Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 (edited) 15 hours ago, ezbass said: I had an early run McCarty once. Without doubt, the best sounding humbucker equipped guitar I’d ever heard (even with me playing it). However, I ultimately didn’t get on with the ergonomics and it went in part-ex for my first quality bass. Nice guitars. I remember being in Sounds Great, Heald Green one morning (an excellent place to spend some time while the other half is shopping in John Lewis or Sainsbury's just up the road BTW). A guy had been playing a McCarty for quite a while before I popped upstairs to 'drool' at some of the acoustics. As I got back downstairs, the chap was just putting his wallet in his pocket as the guys were putting his shiny new guitar in its hard case. He had the biggest grin walking out the door, one I could only hope he still had when he got home and said to the missus.... No doubt her words were: "Ow much!!"? Edited June 18, 2020 by GeeJayW 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 48 minutes ago, GeeJayW said: Nice guitars. I remember being in Sounds Great, Heald Green one morning (an excellent place to spend some time while the other half is shopping in John Lewis or Sainsbury's just up the road BTW). A guy had been playing a McCarty for quite a while before I popped upstairs to 'drool' at some of the acoustics. As I got back downstairs, the chap was just putting his wallet in his pocket as the guys were putting his shiny new guitar in its hard case. He had the biggest grin walking out the door, one I could only hope he still had when he got home and said to the missus.... No doubt her words were: "Ow much!!"? Mine was still expensive second hand. However, because of that, I didn't lose much when I moved it on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
police squad Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 (edited) On 04/06/2020 at 08:25, tall_martin said: I found out a bit about these. Very limited production run of 50. Nice score pecial “2010 Dallas International Guitar Festival” inscription on headstock. Dallas 2010 “Shoot Out” McCarty Limited Run Specs: Top - Private Stock grade quilted maple Back - Lightweight Mahogany Neck - Mahogany Fretboard - Select East Indian rosewood Inlay - Green Heart Abalone “Original” Birds Neck Shape - Wide fat Scale Length - 25” Frets - 22 Fretboard Radius -10” Side dots - White Corian Fret wire - DGT/Santana Bridge - PRS Stoptail Tuning Pegs - Vintage style Color - Sunset Burst Finish - Ultra-thin polyester basecoat & Nitro-Cellulose topcoat Pickups: 57/08 w/ brushed covers Electronics: Volume, push-pull tone, 3-way toggle Hardware: Nickel String Gauge: 10- 46 Case: Modern Eagle paisley Back of headstock: "2010 Dallas International Guitar Festival" Each guitar is numbered out of 50 Edited June 18, 2020 by police squad 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tall_martin Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 Thanks! 😀 @ezbass that looks like mines twin! @police squad I’ve not seen that list of the spec before. How did you find it? I’ve got a Harley Benton copy of the 24 fret custom. The actual prs is much lighter. Must be the light weight mahogany. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
binky_bass Posted June 26, 2020 Share Posted June 26, 2020 Bought me a PRS Custom 22 last week. Fantabulous geeeetars. Kills a Les Paul dead in my humble opinion. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted June 26, 2020 Share Posted June 26, 2020 35 minutes ago, binky_bass said: Bought me a PRS Custom 22 last week. Fantabulous geeeetars. Kills a Les Paul dead in my humble opinion. and a whammy bar! oh yes That's beautiful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tall_martin Posted June 28, 2020 Author Share Posted June 28, 2020 Only 6 strings? I thought with your love of multi scale basses any guitar you would have would be 8 string+ 😂 It looks lovely! Is it new? I’ve seen lots of prs that are 10 years old and still immaculate! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
binky_bass Posted June 28, 2020 Share Posted June 28, 2020 It's a 2008 model, pretty much mint condition bar a tiny tiny ding on the back of the neck, literally a spec though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tall_martin Posted June 28, 2020 Author Share Posted June 28, 2020 Nice😀 Do you think it will get played live and pick up any dings with you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
binky_bass Posted June 28, 2020 Share Posted June 28, 2020 3 minutes ago, tall_martin said: Nice😀 Do you think it will get played live and pick up any dings with you? Unlikely, it'll just be used as my 'studio guitar', so should remain in it's current condition for a few years yet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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