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Best Shops in EU with the biggest LP59 RI stock to choose from ?

electricsky

Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2008
Messages
341
It's been several years i want to buy a really good Les Paul 59 Reissue , with big wide flame top but i can't find one in Paris / France and with Cites , it has become a nightmare to buy from USA , so i would like to know what are the best shops in Europe selling Custom Shop Gibson , with the biggest stock of Les Paul 59 RI to choose from , where i could go and try them ( France , Germany , Netherland , Belgium , maybe London /UK ...etc ) ?

In Paris , we really have nothing like that , most don't have nice big flame tops and on top of that , they mostly sell some aged ones that are often much too aged for me , whereas i look for some VOS or really very lightly aged ( True historic , CC ...etc ) .
I know the guys at Guitar Legend in Pigalle in Paris and the other shops there but i really never found one with a top i loved there in many years ( especialy compared to the nice ones i see in the good shops in USA; it is like night and day compared to what i find in EU ) !

And if possible , with a good website where they show them ( i took a look on Session.de , no pictures for many of them , the only ones shown are very average , no English version and it takes ages to load each page !) and where they also have some Tom Murphy painted .
 
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porterburst

Active member
Joined
Dec 3, 2001
Messages
1,931
It's been several years i want to buy a really good Les Paul 59 Reissue , with big wide flame top but i can't find one in Paris / France and with Cites , it has become a nightmare to buy from USA , so i would like to know what are the best shops in Europe selling Custom Shop Gibson , with the biggest stock of Les Paul 59 RI to choose from , where i could go and try them ( France , Germany , Netherland , Belgium , maybe London /UK ...etc ) ?

In Paris , we really have nothing like that , most don't have nice big flame tops and on top of that , they mostly sell some aged ones that are often much too aged for me , whereas i look for some VOS or really very lightly aged ( True historic , CC ...etc ) .
I know the guys at Guitar Legend in Pigalle in Paris and the other shops there but i really never found one with a top i loved there in many years ( especialy compared to the nice ones i see in the good shops in USA; it is like night and day compared to what i find in EU ) !

And if possible , with a good website where they show them ( i took a look on Session.de , no pictures for many of them , the only ones shown are very average , no English version and it takes ages to load each page !) and where they also have some Tom Murphy painted .






https://www.peachguitars.com/


They have "MANY" good demos on youtube as well.

Youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG07-tB1QtjLz9RQJycLBjw
 
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electricsky

Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2008
Messages
341
Thanks , i did not know this shop , unfortunately the tops are not that great compared to the few shops in USA who have some really nice ones !
Average straight quarter sawn or flat sawn with grain too much visible and the figures are too straight , not wild enough for my taste ( they don't look much like the vintage ones or very nice reissues ).
it's really frustrating to see such nice tops in USA ( although i suppose it's just a small percentage of all the 59 sold there ) and never see some like that in EU !!
 

Tom Wittrock

Les Paul Forum Co-Owner
Joined
Aug 2, 2001
Messages
42,567
Music Store Cologne has them sometimes, and you might also check Thomann's website. :salude
 

0 2339

Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2017
Messages
166
btm guitars

kirstein

musikhaus hermann

all 3 in germany and i've heard good things about them...
 

kuwahara80

Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2005
Messages
367
You can also check musik-produktiv(dot)de in Germany.
They usually have a photo gallery of the nicer guitars.
 

electricsky

Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2008
Messages
341
Music Store Cologne has them sometimes, and you might also check Thomann's website. :salude

Thanks for all your answers.
The problem is that Thomann doesn't put the pictures of the guitars that would ship , so you don't know what you will get !
And seeing all the tops of the other shops listed ( the ones showing the guitar that would ship ) , i see that most are really not the nice tops i saw in USA !
i really hope Cites will stop including finished instruments soon ,or i fear i won't ever get one with a top i love ( part of the pleasure to own a 59 RI for me at least ,on top of the sound, it to get a really nice top ).
I have been told it can take up to 8 months ( and 4 to 6 months easily !) to get a cites doc in USA !!
I thought more 59 Ri's had nice tops .
About 2 or 3 years ago i was thinking about converting one of my original 54 gold top to 57 , because it was already a few years i was looking for a really nice and good sounding 59 RI or 52 53 54 /57 conversion but couldn't find one ( and at least i know how my 54 sounds ) and when Cites problems happened , it made it even more difficult !
I still haven't converted my guitar but i am really bothered and frustrated looking for a 59 top i love and that sounds good as well !
i know where to find nice 59 RI 's in USA but the shops selling second hand don't want to bother with Cites ( it's russian roulette not being sure to receive it if it doesn't ship with the document, so it's much money to loose ! ) and the ones selling new ones can't ship new ones outside USA !
 
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Pip

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 26, 2011
Messages
1,570
I’m afraid it is far from easy in the uk/Europe I’ve imported a couple (pre cites) paid the 22% duty and got some very nice Lesters. They have been moved on, I got a pretty nice top on my Nicky and stopped looking, they are basically meh nearly all the time here in the UK.
i understand that the top isn’t everything but we just tend to get the tops that very few people would want at the price of a premium guitar.
I leave the breeze site open and could pick almost any of them each month but it’s just not worth the hassle.
Good luck with your search, maybe made to measure with photos of the proposed top is the way to go.
 

electricsky

Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2008
Messages
341
Went again in the street in Paris where there are a few guitar shops to try some 59 RI's , tried 2 , one didn't look too bad ( compared to all the others i saw ) but none of the two sounded really good !!
On top of that they lock the tail piece down to the top on all of them, making much tension on the strings and doesn't let them vibrate correctly ( and i really don't think it adds sustain , knowing the studs are long and big enough to do not need that ).
My 50's gold top ( wrap around ones and 56 ) sound much better accousticaly ; they ring !
I'll go back when the guy i know working there will be back from holidays, so he will check the ones in the stock that are not on display to see if there is one that could correspond to what i look for but i doubt there will be one ( never saw some with really great big flame tops there , whereas it is the best shop for Customs shop Gibson and Fender guitars in Paris and maybe even in France ) .

In another hand , i went in the only good vintage guitar shop there ( open for 35-40 years ) in Paris , where the owner ( a friend) often has a few good vintage guitars ( the only place selling regularly high end ones where i bought most of my vintage ones , among which 63 blonde / see through ash body strat and others 60's strats , LP gold top 's ,50's ES175, 64 SG std ...etc ) and i tried a 58 les paul special ( he had bought that 58 special and a 58 jr from a guy at the same time ) which sounded instantly good even before plugging it !
Night and day ...
Unfortunately some of the best ones he has at the moment ( 58 335 , 53 Tele , 56 strat and some others ) were not there as he only brings the most expensive ( over 20k ) on appointments .
It is the first late 50's special i saw that turned from TV yellow to darker yellow; sort of mustard color (a bit weird although original finish but the tone was beautiful and the guitar nearly mint !!) .
Did you ever see some which turn to that darker mustard color ?

When did all the standard 59 RI 's started having true historic specs , 2017 or 2018 ?
 

surfreak

Well-known member
Joined
May 6, 2002
Messages
1,115
UK

Peach Guitars
Guitar Guitar
PMT
CODA

Germany

Guitar Gallery
10 Guitars

NL

The Fellowship Of Acoustics


Among these you will find lots of fine pieces, but the prices are definitely higher than in the US.
 

wsaraceni

Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2004
Messages
453
Sixty sixty sounds in Denmark street in London doesn’t have huge amounts in stock, but what they do have is amazing. Easily one of the top 2 best music stores I’ve ever been in. Such a cool comfortable vibe there
 

STC

Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2019
Messages
104
In the UK I have shopped and had a good experience with:
Guitar Guitar
CODA
GAK


Good comms with Wildwire and Peach but did not buy.

All the best with the hunt!
 
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