Anyone here purchase the new Les Paul Recording II

I took some gut shots this evening. I thought some of you guys might be interested in seeing whats under the hood of these things. Instead of attaching all the pics I've just uploaded them to flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rdonahue/sets/72157639836150523/



Here are a few of the ideas I have cooking up:

* Move coil drops and out of phase switch to vol/tone pots
* Unused switches control OBEL and buffer (Wald preamp, CAE CB1/2, etc...)
* Convert hi/low impedance to effects send/return
* Convert knobs from vol/tone + vol/tone to master volume + high/mid/low

stratking said:

gibson-r8, what's the weight on yours? I like the looks on that top a lot. I also like the standard position for the pickup selector switch. On mine it is pretty far back to change pickups quickly.

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Mine is close to 12 lbs and actually a walnut stain top rather than a blacktop

wow that panel is so clean and simple compared to my dinosaur

I have to say, your plans are amazing,

new guitar and its headed for surgery-good luck
more guts than I have, 'fer sure
but Les would be proud of your spirit

Looks a little complicated but neat wiring and cavity.

After over a year of GASing over this thing, I pulled the trigger on one about a week ago. I know it's nothing like the original, but the differences are what sucked me in. I ended up with the lightest one I found, only 8lbs 6ozs. I'm still trying different combinations of amps & tone combinations, but I like it. It's a different animal completely. Unlike the originals, it has a balanced line out. The Les Paul Signature had a balanced line out, but the recordings & their predecessors were unbalance & sometimes noisy. You can use the two outputs together, the ground lift does work to get rid of the hum. I haven't taken a pickup out yet to see if they weigh anything as much as the originals, I doubt they are wound with the heavy wires the low impedance pickups were wound with. It would be nice to find out a bit more about the pickups, other than that they are high impedance. It's nice to be able to run either pickup as a single coil, though I don't know how much I will use that feature. The bottom photo is taken with my 1973 LPR, 40 years difference between the two!

Here's mine. I have had it for just a little over a year. It had absolutely no flaws construction wise. Plays Great and I always get asked about it when I play it at a gig. Mine weighs in at just a hair over 9 pounds.

P1140007_resize by GrooveVue, on Flickr

P1140011_resize by GrooveVue, on Flickr

P1140012_resize by GrooveVue, on Flickr



My only beefs about this guitar is that it is much darker sounding than my other Les Pauls, and the single coil sounds are not brighter than the HB tones. If I use the bright switch on my amp it sounds about right. Single coil settings are still a bit disappointing. The out of phase sounds are perfect and actually better than on my LP loaded with BKP PG Blues pickups.

I am curious about the pots in this model. Has anyone measured them or know the specs? Could they be replaced with something brighter?

Here it is on a Valentines day gig.

P2140027_resize by GrooveVue, on Flickr
P2140030_resize by GrooveVue, on Flickr
P2140034_resize by GrooveVue, on Flickr

Mine seemed pretty much perfect right out of the box, the finish seemed flawless. I was a little concerned about how light the fret board was, I didn't want to end up with baked maple or one of the many substitutes they used after the government raid. There is still a lot of misinformation out there describing these. zZounds still has a "Decade" switch in the description. Most of them weigh a tad over 9lbs or as high as 10+lbs. I had to take a double take when I saw 8lbs 6ozs. It seems like there are more 2013's left than 2014's. I never actually saw one available for sale until 2014. No special 12th fret commemorative marker on these that were shipped in 2014. Still a unique guitar, different than your normal Les Paul & very little like it's namesake. I wonder if Lester would approve??

im certain im an oddball,
but in looking at these pics,

but I actually love the looks-unique


there is no other LP that looks like this, the hog top, the black trim

I loved it too when I first wanted one, back in 1970,
as a kid, I liked all the switches-like the dash of an old Jag

bought a fretless wonder instead,
didn't get mine until about '95-i think I wish mine had a bigsby-although all ive ever heard is they are a trick to get properly set up-Lily had a thread on hers ages back, and
ive heard overall, they are almost as much of a PITA as a Floyd Rose

Stevedenver said:

im certain im an oddball,
but in looking at these pics,

but I actually love the looks-unique


there is no other LP that looks like this, the hog top, the black trim

I loved it too when I first wanted one, back in 1970,
as a kid, I liked all the switches-like the dash of an old Jag

bought a fretless wonder instead,
didn't get mine until about '95-i think I wish mine had a bigsby-although all ive ever heard is they are a trick to get properly set up-Lily had a thread on hers ages back, and
ive heard overall, they are almost as much of a PITA as a Floyd Rose

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Steve, according to the Gibson specs the reissue has a maple top. eace2

The old pick ups, while a unique and signature sound, have been described as sterile. I would be more inclined to describe them as one-dimensional, in that they have, I guess, no overtones, no depth, no complexity to their sound, but a very clean, almost naked sound of the string alone, uncolored , 'unthickened' entirely. "

Interesting posts..
If anyone is still reading this thread, I have a few questions.

I have a '75 LPR with Nashville harmonica bridge, and the finish has become horrible. The laquer has got that horrible yellow-musty sun-faded look, and pale-highlighted sealer is starting to show through the finish, and it looks really dull and opaque. No grain is visible at all..
There are small areas on the neck where the laquer is through to the mahogany, and there are belt-buckle gouges on the back, again down to the wood, (all done by the original owner)

Q's.
1) Do you think a refin (strip, sand, sealer and then laquer ) is advisable?

2) Do you think that alternatively, a refin in Les-Paul Snow White or cream, is advisable?

I realise that it will probably decrease the value of the guitar, but it looks terrible and really dull just now, and I don't think I shall ever sell it.
As far as weight goes, I have an Orville LPC (about the same) and two Burny Randy Rhoads LPC's ( they are much, much heavier than my LPR.)

------

As an aside, about ten years ago, I got Kent Armstrong to make me hi-impedance LPR pickups, using my original 'Gibson' logo shells as moulds. They have 4 way wiring and split/series parallel options, and are very good, especially for the price. (I got them wound hotter than normal Gibson humbuckers) so I suppose I've got the best of both worlds, with an original LP Recording and a sort of new V2 with hi-impedance humbucking pickups.
They can sound a bit like a Tele or a strat in the 'in between positions' with the phase switch in and single coil, and like a humbucker Gibson in series mode.


At the moment, I have the original LPR (dual-stacked humbucker) pickups on the geetar, and I used variations on Helmuth E. W. Lemme's (of Munich Germany) active circuit, specifically designed for the LP Recording..

The pickups through the now correctly-stepped 'decade' eq ranges are by no means sterile. Possibly, as you say, my caps had deteriorated, and the treble and bass boost and cut options (including mid-range cut/boost ) as well as the volume boost have opened up the guitar wonderfully.

If anything, I think the sound approaches low-impedance Lace Alumitone territory, without the microphony, and it still has a beautiful and clean and sparkly top end, and a very full bass. The mid-range boost allows it to drive pedals and pre-amps wonderfully. It can sound anywhere from a strat, to an Ovation acoustic, to a LP or a tele, or just about anything. I'm really glad I did the mods.

Recently, in the endless quest for the perfect guitar, and in true Les Paul 'if it works, then be sure to mod it' -style, I added a 6-way Varitone selector with internal choke, and a chicken-head knob..


I've used the blade selector as a 3-way pre-set mid control, as I don't have enough real-estate on the mounting plate for treble, mid, bass (all have boost/cut) and volume, as well as the Varitone (I only have one master volume at the moment) and I don't want to mod the original plate, and I want the LPR to still look as original as possible, but to be the ultimate versatile geetar (of course ..

I would like to have the mid range on a pot, because it has a huge range of cut and boost, and it works really well for solos with a little tweak (pulling mid range in and out is great, and I could never do without it now) but I do like the Varitone as well, and so we shall see..

I want to experiment with tasteful dual- ganged pots next,(plus the Varitone) so that I can get a variable mix of both pickups, because I miss that a lot, but again, I want to keep the original cosmetics if I can, and don't want the guitar to look like a very heavily modded 'Les PaulVeriser' ..

But as a gigging and recording guitar... Just wonderful!, and now getting much better with every mod !. )
I would highly recommend Helmuth Lemme's LPR designs.

keep up the really good twanging folks!

richard
bulgaria

stratking said:

Completely off topic but just for my own edification, wasn't Jerry playing the alligator strat for the Europe '72 tour? He had the Alembic Blaster in there and was playing twins, but I think the '70-72ish timeframe was him on the Strat.

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This is correct... Europe '72 was mostly the Graham Nash strat through silverface twins. I think he got his first Irwin in '73, and after that things started getting faster and rounder... :spabout

As for the OP, I played one of the new ones last week in a shop out here and I wasn't really impressed... at least not $2500 worth of impressed...

ritchie said:

I have a '75 LPR with Nashville harmonica bridge, and the finish has become horrible. The laquer has got that horrible yellow-musty sun-faded look, and pale-highlighted sealer is starting to show through the finish, and it looks really dull and opaque. No grain is visible at all..
There are small areas on the neck where the laquer is through to the mahogany, and there are belt-buckle gouges on the back, again down to the wood, (all done by the original owner)

Q's.
1) Do you think a refin (strip, sand, sealer and then laquer ) is advisable?

2) Do you think that alternatively, a refin in Les-Paul Snow White or cream, is advisable?

I realise that it will probably decrease the value of the guitar, but it looks terrible and really dull just now, and I don't think I shall ever sell it.

Click to expand...

Hi Richard! :welcomeSounds like you've really bonded with that guitar and have gone to some trouble to make it your own. If it were me I'd refin it white because I think they look good that way. I'll assume that the white finish is one you're fond of as well. If it needs refinishing you might as well do something special with it!

chuckNC said:

Hi Richard! :welcomeSounds like you've really bonded with that guitar and have gone to some trouble to make it your own. If it were me I'd refin it white because I think they look good that way. I'll assume that the white finish is one you're fond of as well. If it needs refinishing you might as well do something special with it!

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Hi Chuck, and thanks for the reply, and the welcome, and the advice.. Yes, the snow white has tempted me ever since I saw the old footage of Les and Mary.. It might be that the Varitone with the 'Varitone' inscribed plate in silver on black would look fine.. and I'd keep the black chicken head knob

I would have to get a new scratch plate made in white/ black /white possibly, but that is do-able.. The neck is not so chunky as my Burny LP's, and fatter than my Orville, but it's fairly comfortable..

As far as the refin goes, the present finish is so opaque and cloudy that it's really unattractive, and just looks like a very dull brown paint (as my girlfriend said ) so it's long overdue..
I know a refin will devalue the guitar, but that's not so crucial.. It's a keeper, and in a new livery I think it will only be more so.

Funny, as I get older, the cosmetics of my guitars seem really important, (I don't know why and an LP Recording is really something special in my opinion.. (I would love a 'Personal' but that's just a dream)

take care and happy twanging

richard
bg

Garcia said:

As featured here: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LPRCNACH

It isn't listed on Gibson's site but us being sold (or was being sold) at various vendors worldwide. Limited run tribute guitar to Les supposedly perfectly modeled after the one he played at the Iridium in NYC for so many years but it looks like they took the liberty of changing the control plate, layout and functionality. It's written up like a V1, has features if a V2 but appears to actually be neither. I'm curious if anyone here bought one or had an opportunity to play one in store. If you have would you mind giving us all a full review and uploading several high res images? I'm really curious to know how well they did, the build quality, construction, circuit design, playability and tone comparison. I own a 1972 Recording v1 which I love. It's a sleeper and greatly unappreciated guitar.

Anywho, looking at the posted images it looks like your benigiting from modern construction practices (no pancake body for example) but it is solid, weight relieved or chambered? Who knows. It should have an ABR-1 or later SG style TOM but has a newer Nashville bridge. The control kayout as mentioned is changed and even though it's written up as having a Decade switch I don't see one. All I see is what looks like the controls of just about every new LP spread out. Look at the Sweetwater pictures. There are four knobs (two volume, and two tone instead of Volume, Decade, Treble and Bass) and the switches are Hi-Z and individual coil splits for each pickup. The Hi-Z switch is like V1 but is already has a built in transformer and dual outputs like V2. All sorts of stuff is odd to me. I could go on and on but would love for someone who has one to tell us what they think about it.

Thank you!

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I bought the '71 version, and it was a fabulous guitar for what it was intended. RECORDING. It had a flat impedance, therefore those who were looking for the classic Les Paul sustain tended to be dissapointed with it. Back then it was marketed with a Gibson Amp so you could make it sound like anything you liked ( for that day ). Mine did not have a Bigsby on it, and I'm glad it did not. To me, they look bulky, and get in the way of the picking hand - hence I prefer the vibrato arms which go with a PRS or Fender, or Ibanez for that matter. The MKI version of this guitar was a very versatile tonal guitar. It had inbuilt EQ, and phase alternators, chorus and flange inbuilt. I am so sad I sold the darn thing; I needed the cash at the time, but I can tell you that within the space 8 years it quadrupled it's price. I wrote to Gibson the year before the re-released it, and was very surprised to see them release an updated model again. It's selling point is that it was the guitar that Les Paul used until his dying day at his Friday night live at the Irridium gigs in NYC. With Les' style of music, as you could imagine, the guitar specialises in a huge variety of tones, and no longer needs the special Gibson amp. I used to play mine through a 180watt Fender Reverb, with a 10 band reverb, and that amp weighted a ton. For those who complained that they could not get the axe to sustain, feedback, or do any of those other tricks, that's where you need pedals for the LP Recording Model II. Unless you want to be a one man recording guitar orchestra, you don't need many pedals, because the tones you get out of that amp are sweet, round, clear, and sharp when they needed to be. In studio, you can get this axe to do anything, and sound like any Gibson.

Frankly, if I had the $4.995K asking price for this MKII, I would jump off a tall building for it. Why is that? Remember - it's a STUDIO guitar, a RECORDING guitar, all the fancy stuff gets done IN SESSION, and it will do it with ease. Like anything you make an investment in, you simply have to be sure of what you want out of your axe before you buy it. If you are a Jimmy Page wannabe - forget it, although I suspect he'd have a lot of fun with it in session. With the pedals I had, largely governed by a volume/wah pedal, it sounded priceless. As I said earlier: in 1972 it cost me $647 Australian Dollars; I sold it on in 1981 for $1995. Doing the research I did with Gibson in 2013 I was told that the one I bought in 1972 would probably be worth about $19,500 US. That's for the MK I - heaven help what the MKII will be worth in the years to come!

respectfully, no LPR ever had flange and chorus features, unless it was modified. these were not stock features. fwiw the only guitar i can think of with these features was a chet atkins model, possibly a vox and some italian offerings.......

btw wtf is a 10 band reverb?

Just purchased a new 2014 recording model. Had my original stolen in '74, so I figured instead of buying an original with possible pot noise, electronic corrosion, and original pups. I'd just as soon get a new one. I remember my original being so fricken heavy, but played and souned sweeter than a normal LP. Also the channeled body sounds pleasant like my other LP. Will leave more info after arrival.

Jaxon said:

Just purchased a new 2014 recording model. Had my original stolen in '74, so I figured instead of buying an original with possible pot noise, electronic corrosion, and original pups. I'd just as soon get a new one. I remember my original being so fricken heavy, but played and souned sweeter than a normal LP. Also the channeled body sounds pleasant like my other LP. Will leave more info after arrival.

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Now that you've had a while to play with it, what do you think?

David J said:

Steve, according to the Gibson specs the reissue has a maple top. eace2

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All of the new models I have seen did not have a Maple top.

I purchased one last year...it's still in the case and original box with the plastic still on the pickguards. It's an awesome guitar but just not for me. I'm going to sell it probably on ebay unless someone who loves/and wants it makes me an OK offer. Not interested in making a profit, just want to sell it for what I paid, which was about $2,400. Anyone interested, LMK. I live in Palo Alto, CA...
Nick Copping nick.copping@gmail.com +1.650.269.5363
Thanks!