2023 Les Paul Special NGD

[rockabilly69]

Well I finally found a LP Special that I wanted to buy. A lot of people were talking about how Gibson had stepped it up with the USA Juniors and Specials, but up to this point, I played quite a few of them, and had mixed feelings. Some of them just looked plain wrong, with a banana yellow tinge, some of them were really heavy hovering around 9 lbs, and some were setup pretty badly with a high cut nut that just made everything go sharp on the first few frets and not so fun to play. As for the setup, I could work on that myself, but the color and the weight, well I can't change that! One thing though, most of the ones I played sounded pretty good, and some sounded really good.

Well by chance, a friend of mine (forum member ProfessorTwang ) told me about one that was in the local classifieds, so I checked it out. A local guy sold it to me. He had just bought it a few months earlier, but needed some money as he started a new job and was waiting on his first paycheck.

This one has the cool more wheat color, with some nice grain poking through, and that's just what I was looking for. It's under 8 lbs, and it's setup perfectly, which IME is kind of rare for Gibson! And bonus, it sounds great. In a day or two, I will try and record a good demo with it so you guys can hear it.

So as you can probably tell, I'm really happy with this one. Frankly, it feels like a Historic instrument (I have a Historic SG Special and 3 Historic LPs). Score one for Gibson!!!

 

[jb_abides]

Nice this one found you, congrats!

 

[Greywolf]

Love the soapies , great score !

 

[charliechitlins]

Smokin!
I love that finish!

 

[rockabilly69]

Nice this one found you, congrats!

Love the soapies , great score !

Smokin!
I love that finish!

Thanks guys, I'm glad I was patient waiting to find the right one. Three of my best friends (all good guitarists), bought one in cherry, and one of those guys plays in a new band with me, so I got to hear their guitars before I laid the cash down. Everyone of those guys modded their guitars, with either new pickups and/or bridge (Music City bridge and studs, and RS Harness on forum member Professortwangs). And the guy in my band and ProfessorTwang both filed the nut slots on theirs, and got them playing exactly the way they wanted. I think I'm the only one that will keep his guitar stock (maybe). I don't know who set up mine (I didn't ask the seller), but they did a great job. I know he bought it from Sweetwater though, so maybe he asked them to set it up. Hell if I knew how good this guitar ws going to be beforehand, I would have paid the new price for it, and still felt like I got a bargain. I had a custom shop double cut Special, and this one is a far better guitar all the way around. I'm not slaggin' the custom shop, because I love my historics, but this guitar has just got the goods, and as most of you know, a lot of times that just comes down to luck. I put a Music City bridge on both my Historic SG and R4, and I swear I can hear a more resonant tone on both, so I am tempted to try one, but it's hard to mod a guitar that sounds this good out of the box!

 

[charliechitlins]

Yup.
Just play it.
It's exactly how God intended.
And if you're happy with the set-up.... Score!