Well, actually I don?t. I?ve always been a big Gibson guitar fan whenever I could afford them. I haven?t always been able to afford them. I?ve always had to put these fuckers on credit or I had to do a trade plus cash to get some Gibson guitar from an independent guitar store. And even then, the Gibson guitars were pretty shady. There was always something wrong with them or I had been lied to about them by the salesmen with such words like, ?This is outta the custom shop' or 'this is brand new.' Or 'these guitars come outta the custom shop with straplocks.? Whatever it was, I just never ever seemed to be happy with the Gibson guitar. I mean, I would have to pay lots of money to get a descent guitar and then modify it to make it my own and make myself happy. When you?ve gotta do that, then usually to me, it?s not even really worth having the guitar. I just can?t stand certain things about Gibson guitars whenever I see them. It ain?t like what it used to be and it doesn?t seem to be getting better.
Cosmetic issues
I am by no means, ?Anti-Gibson?, but I refuse to spend large amounts of money to get a fuckin? expensive guitar like a Les Paul Custom with some shitty volume and tone knobs, cheap ass plastic tuners and whatever else they do to make these guitars. It doesn?t make any sense. I don?t understand the whole idea of tuning a guitar with plastic tuners. Would you drive a car with a plastic steering wheel? Would you jack up a car with a car jack made out of plastic? I just don?t understand this concept. What? To make it look vintage with vintage tuners? If it?s brand new and you don?t wanna play it, don?t fuckin? buy the fuckin? guitar. That?s all I?ve gotta say. A fuckin? guitar shouldn?t be as much as a car or a mortgage payment. That?s totally ridiculous. I know a lot goes into making and building some of the best guitars on the planet, but that?s why there are so many other companies out there who don?t wanna build guitars that are gonna cost an arm and leg. It?s pathetic.
Give me a fuckin? break with these plastic tuners? These things just snap onto a tuning knob. No support to hold it in. What the fuck?.? What kind of cheap fuckin? concept is that? Vintage look?.? If the weather got hot enough, the fuckin? things would fall off. Put some fuckin? metal tuners on there. Grover makes ?em. All fuckin? guitars should have metal tuners. Why? Why the fuck not. Yer turning METAL strings and tuning them. Plastic ain?t made to do that kind of shit. When you tune the guitar, the METAL strings create tension, when there is enough tension and you can?t turn the plastic knobs anymore, the plastic just snaps right off and breaks. Whenever I see a very expensive Gibson Les Paul with plastic tuners, I just look at it and say, ?this was a cool guitar until I saw the cheap ass plastic fuckin? tuners.? Who made this stupid cheap ass executive decision to put some plastic tuners on a very expensive and heavy Les Paul.?.?. That?s just fuckin? stupid and pathetic. And I can?t believe guitars are coming outta this factory like this. You don?t see Fenders with plastic tuners. You don?t see Gretsches with plastic tuners. What the fuck.?. Get a fuckin? clue. Plastic tuners don?t fuckin? belong on a fuckin? guitar. You put them on fuckin? little K-mart guitars.
Why should I buy a Gibson Les Paul Classic with plastic tuners? Well, I did. I had figured that I could spend less money for basically, a Les Paul standard, but with cheap ass plastic tuners and some half-assed pickups. Which if I had more money or more credit, I could?ve spent about 300-500 more bucks and got the Les Paul Standard. This whole company is based on money. Only the rich can play the ?real? guitars?.? WTF?.? The people who have a little money can buy the knock off copies.
What?s in a name?.?
I mentioned the knock off copies. The knock off copies are the names of the guitars that are essentially the guitar, but by another name. For example, if you couldn?t afford the $2000 dollar Les Paul Standard, you could probably afford the Les Paul Classic which is probably $300 dollars cheaper, but don?t count on getting a hard shell case, you?ll be lucky if you get a gig bag. I don?t know why these places or companies are so gotdamn hard up about hard shell cases.?.? What the fuck.?.? If yer spending mucho cash for a guitar, it should come with a case, right?.?. I can?t imagine a Gibson Factory worker spending his/her long working days in a factory see a guitar they helped build, leave a guitar store without a case. That?s fuckin? bullshit. But I?ll get to the cases later. I?m talkin? about the different names for the same guitar. The Classic is ?based? on the Gibson Les Paul Standard from 1960, but is cheaper because it?s not called a Les Paul Standard. Imagine that shit. ?We can?t sell you a Standard, but we can sell you this other guitar which is based on the standard, at a lower price. Oh, and that?s without the case.? Cheap fuckin? bastards.
Issues with Re-issues
The reissues aren't really true to the meaning of ?reissue?. Why do I say this? Because they aren?t. I remember back in the day that the Gibson Les Paul Junior double cutaway TV yellow models were reissued. Aren?t reissues suppose to be like the original?.? Well, they weren?t. The originals didn?t have the tune-o-matic bridge. Imagine that. The Melody Makers made today are made with shitty ass finishes. The originals weren?t made like that. The originals had pickguards. The originals didn't have P-90 pickups. And the originals were called Melody Makers, not Les Paul Melody Makers. This is another attempt to sell some lower budget Gibsons by a name what was once used and a marketable name such as ?Les Paul? Melody Maker. That?s fuckin? pathetic. Faded series. Now, yer confusing people here. Should I get a $600 Epiphone Les Paul with no case or should I get the $450 Gibson Les Paul Melody Maker with no gig bag? Well, I wouldn?t get the Epiphone because I?ve played Epiphones in the past and I just can?t play those anymore, I?m a better guitar player now and I?m too good for Epiphones. I?ve been playing too long to be playing beginners? guitars. But they are out there for people to buy. I wouldn't buy the Epiphone because they are cheaply made, but they somewhat stand true to the 'reissue' of original Gibson made guitars. The Epiphone Junior TV yellow has all the same specs, even the wraparound bridge, the only thing that sucks about it, is how cheaply made it is. But the Gibson reissues come with a tune-o-matic bridge. WTF?.? And some came with P-100 pickups. What the fuck?.?. The original Gibson Les Paul TV jrs didn't come with P-100's. P-100's don't even date back to the late 50's. What the fuck.?. If yer gonna make a reissue of a guitar and name it the same name as the original, shouldn't it have the exact same specs?.? That's almost like saying that you wanted a whopper, but someone gives you a big mac. And the guy tells you that it's the same thing. It's not. Essentially, both of them are burgers, but one is grilled and the other one is fried. One has this and the other has that. The originals have this and the reissues have that. Not the same thing. Shouldn't be called the same guitar in my opinion.
Stupid fuckin' names.
I know no one will believe me when I say this, but back in 1995, I was tryin' to find out if Gibson made the Les Paul Juniors. They did, but I didn't have no way of getting one. The whole internet thing wasn't really a big thing in 1995 to me, not like it is today. But I wanted a Gibson Les Paul Junior in TV yellow double cutaway really badly. So I pretty much drew up some pictures of guitars that I had figured would be cool, but Les Paul Juniors with 2 pickups. But that idea had been thought of as the Gibson Les Paul Specials which came about in the 50's. So I came up with Les Pauls with 2 pickups, but humbuckers and double cutaway. I hadn't seen those. I think PRS had that idea. But I drew these pictures up and had some weird funky names. This was some serious shit I drew up because I drew it all on graph paper and I sent it to Gibson. I had the weird names as I was saying and looking back now, they were pretty ridiculous. I came up with names just as 'Gibson Les Paul Junior Special' and 'Gibson Les Paul Studio Special'. Almost like the ones Gibson has come to use. It's amazing how years later, these names were used to sell the guitars they couldn't sell, right?.? The Gibson Les Paul Special cherry red with 2 p-90 pickups double cutaway was a guitar that they just couldn't sell and they had to rename it as the Gibson Les Paul Junior Special. How fuckin' ridiculous is that?.? It says 'Les Paul Special' on the guitar, but on the tag, it says, 'Gibson Les Paul Junior Special'. Pretty fuckin' ridiculous if you as me. Then they started making these other Les Pauls with thin bodies with Humbuckers and calling them Les Paul Specials. If I can recall, Specials had P-90's. The 90's version of Specials sometimes came with P-100's. Now, they come with flat out, Humbuckers. And the specials and juniors are not archtopped. These guitars are flat guitars. Much like that of the early Juniors and Specials, just with Humbuckers. So that's the New Les Paul Specials. The double cutaways are called Junior Specials. That sounds so fuckin' stupid.
10/10/07
VOS
Vintage Original Specs ? did they read this page?!?!??! Maybe they did. These are guitars built down to the exact specs as the originals. Finally!!!!?!?!??! I actually bought one. Well, I traded up for one which is a 2006 reissue of a 1956 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop. This is a VOS and it was made in the custom shop. With that in mind, it should?ve came with a Custom Shop hardshell case. NOPE. I got it from an independent store, so it came with a tan case. I can?t really afford the brand new copies at $3000-$3300, so I got this in a trade for $2700. This guitar plays very cool! I?m happy with it. The looks of the guitar are aged to look like a 1956 Gibson. My gripes with this are the plastic tuners and the volume and tone knobs. Other than that, it?s a killer fuckin? guitar.
03/04/08
I picked up a 2007 Gibson Les Paul Junior TV Yellow Custom Shop VOS Reissue of a 1958. Yes, finally, I was able to get the guitar I actually wanted for some time now. The reissues from the 90's just didn't quite cut it. They had the tune-a-matic bridge which was not ever a part on the original Juniors. And plus, they came with P-100 pickups! WTF!??!?! This one is a Custom Shop which is even aged to look like it was one from 1958. I like it alot. It's got all of the paperwork, goodies bag, the original Custom Shop case, it's all original! I'm very happy with it. I had thoughts of trading it for something else or even selling it, but I think I'm gonna do my best to keep it. It's actually hard to get these things if you don't have money or enough credit to spend the $2500. It's ridiculous! I was able to trade up the Goldtop for this. The goldtop was cool, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't the actual guitar I've always wanted!