how long had you been playing before getting a les paul?

[chrose1201]

I started playing in 1974 and got my first LP which was a 1978 Pro Deluxe which I traded or sold a few years later and went through a series of guitars from a 76 Ibanez Destroyer to a 58 Lp Jr, a 62 Melody Maker, 72 firebird etc. Lat week was when I got my 2nd LP a Studio Deluxe II with the 60's neck. If only I still had all or at least some of those old guitars!!!

 

[goldtop0]

Let me state that I didn't stop playing when I bought my first LP........ but it was too long a time before I got one..........hankered for it back in the 60s and ended up getting one finally in '91........and then took it from there.First played a 69-70 SG with a baseball bat neck and Ibanez gats after that........now I've got three Historic LPs but one will be sold this year.It's been quite a ride since the 90s.

 

[MacGyver]

for me it was around 3 years, couldnt resist

I started playing in 2004, and got my first LP custom in 2007. Black Beauty to be precise

 

[RNELEE]

About 3 1/2 years. My instructor had a The Paul that I thought sounded great. A new LP Special was about as close as I could come to his guitar, that was late in 2003. I sold that guitar in 2010-still miss it. The Special was my 1st electric.

 

[Les'isMorePaul]

Bout 2 years.

Kramer and Jackson were big on the scene so I had to settle on what I could afford at the time.

Suffice it to say that times changed.

 

[rufes]

wow... this is an old thread.

I started playing at 9. Some years later I remember how much I wanted a Les Paul specially watching Slash but there was no way I could afford it. Even a used Studio was completely out of my budget. All my school books were full of Les Paul Sketches.

After the university and after 5 years working I bought a nice standard to Dave's guitars. I remember perfectly the moment I open the case and took it.... woooooww.

I sold it some years later. I wish I still had it.

 

[PLarson]

I started playing guitar pretty late, at age 13 or 14. My older brother wanted me to play the flute. So, I can play Mozart on the flute, but that's not what I want....

My first electric guitar was a Hoeffner. I didn't like it. My next guitar was an Ibanez Gibson copy. Really nice.

But to answer your question, I bought my first Gibson Les Paul in 1990......so I must have been playing for 8 years....

 

[Hardrockmapletop]

I started playing shortly before my 12th birthday in 1975 on a Hoffman LP Copy, and bought two Les Paul Juniors, a 54 and a 59 DC in 1977.
Paid $500 for the 54 and $750 for the 59, back when the Aussie $ was buying around US$1.32

 

[58bourbonburst]

First of all: wonderful stories by y´all!

Second, my story:
´96
Started with a Yamaha acoustic, age 18, because I was mesmerized by Bowie´s Space Oddity. Quickly switched to a Fender semi-acoustic with cutaway. Played a lot of Bowie, Velvet Underground, Beatles, Blur.

´97
Bought a Fender Tele sunburst (MEX), because Radiohead was THE thing and I wanted to be like Johnny Greenwood. Could play all the guitar parts of The Bends and OK Computer.

´00-´10
Hardly played guitar because of lack of inspiration. And the Fender´s just didn´t feel great anymore. Also had a shitty amp (cheap Fender Frontman).

april ´11
Inspired by my friend´s Bloomfield Les Paul and bluesrock, I sold both my guitars and bought a Gibson Les Paul Trad. Pro Honeyburst with ´50´s neck and double zebras. It was nice, neck felt great/smooth, but knew it needed changes (conversion to a ´58-´60 Vos look maybe).

october ´11
F*ck it, sold the Trad. Pro and bought my current ´58 Vos Bourbonburst, OO YEAH! Besides the birth of my kids, the day the guitar was purchased was the best day of my life.

 

[7thStar]

Started off on a cheap 'Kay' Les Paul, which did a great job of putting me off Les Paul's for life (or so I thought!)...a truly awful instrument. As a result of that experience, I moved to SG's (Angus was an influence here) but couldn't afford a Gibson..so got a Yamaha, which being the 80's I added an SD JB & 59 too, plus Kahler

Finally got my first real Gibson (a cherry SG standard) in '95, then tried a Les Paul around 2000...it was quite a bit better than my first experience!...since then, I've had a couple of LP Standard's and my R8 since new in 2001 - still my main guitar. I picked up a NOS '11 Historic SC Special earlier this year which is proving to be a real weapon.

I still have that Yamaha SG and Gibson SG Std, the Gibson being my backup gigging guitar. Also had a few Strats along the way, the last being a USA '62 but eventually gave up on them - I don't get on with the knob / selector placement...but for sound, they do have their place.

Can't imagine not having a Les Paul as my main guitar anymore, for me they're the perfect instrument in style and tone for what I need ...but to answer the OP's question - I started playing in '84 so about 15 years!

 

[SFK]

11 years.

My first guitar was a Memphil LP Special copy. (1980-81)

A nice Japanese Strat Kit my Dad built for me (81- present)

71 Fender Mustang (85-86)

78 Ibanez Paul Stanley (86 -present) (Main guitar 'till 91 when I got..)

90 Les Paul Classic All Gold

Since then there have been a few Jrs, Classics and a Studio that was very good.

I've landed right back to 1 LP goldtop and 1 TV Jr.

My first LP in 1992:

I just bout back that "really good Studio" last month:

 

[SFK]

And yeah. I've still got an R7 and 2 Jrs.

 

[LCP]

Started on a LP Studio. Then traded in for a 1960 Les Paul Custom Reissue.

 

[Black58]

Started in '79, on a little ol' Stella .. with electric strings!
From '80-'85, it was a Gibson Sonex 180 Custom and an Ibanez Roadstar II.
Didn't really play from '86-'91; Kinda just banged around on a small, no-name acoustic that I used to keep in the back of my car.
Started back up in '92, on the Sonex.
Got my first Lester in '93, a Classic Plus.
Aside from a couple brief flings with a Firebird an' a Strat, early on, nothin' but Lesters, since! :yah

 

[frazettafan]

Started in '72 on a s/h (£15)Watkins 'Rapier44' and got a '69 Goldtop off my tutor in 1974 for £140 by way of selling my Grandmother.

 

[FourT6and2]

I think somewhere around 12 or 13 years. Started out with a Rogue, then went through: Ibanez RG, Ibanez S470, PRS Custom 22, Jackson Dinky, PRS Singlecut, '79 LP Custom, '84 LP Custom, R9 Historic.

I still have the '79 and '84. Got rid of the Historic. Didn't like it.

 

[Sct13]

My very first electric guitar was a Les Paul copy from a Sears Outlet store in 1974 ish....It was a Cherry burst custom copy, It played real well for a beginner. I just saw one very much like it at a guitar show and nearly bought it....But I was not able to afford a real Lester.
A band buddy let me use his Crestwood LP (remember those)? for a few years until I finally got a little money and began to expand my equipment list. But it was a Strat not a Lester....

the Very First LP was not until I graduated HS and off I went into the USARMY, I finally got a norlin, it was a dark burst with a lot of reds.

That guitar was brought back from Fort Benning (with a butload of other stuff) to be stored at my moms while I went over seas to Korea.

When I got back, all my equipment, except two of my guitars were safe. My mom said that "one of my friends" brought over a letter from me, stating I am allowing him to borrow my guitars for a gig, and to let him take them. She believed him because he was a long time friend and his aunt was storing my car for me.......Never saw that LP or "Friend" again. The Strat was stumbled upon by me in a pawn shop some months after I got back. That was recovered.
As was my 73 Mercury Cougar; At the time he and his aunt were estranged due to his problem lifestyle. I do not know what became of the LP but I heard he died a few years ago....

My first LP after that was a standard, Then a a few Trads now just Historics.....

Funny how karma comes around.

 

[Karloff]

33 years. Had always played Strats, bought a LP Std in 2007. bought a Classic last year. all I play now.

 

[jimmi]

Wanted a cherry sunburst LP after growing up watching Page, Duanne Allman and Lynyrd Skynyrd. My grandfather took me to a local store that had a used Heritage Award Gibson LP and paid the difference between the money I had saved and the 750 asking price for Christmas in 1985. I was 15. I still have the guitar. I think of him and miss him a little everytime I play it.

 

[kthesheep]

Fender Musicmaster from 1964 until first official Les Paul in 1970
It was a cherry deluxe.
Used a razor blade to widen the pickup cavities to fit Humbuckers and put a set of Grover Imperials on the first day: