What is with the Gibson Les Paul craze?

[FloridaNative]

Originally Posted by Inzane

Actually I was going to make a car reference too, but more general.

To me the Ibanez guitars we know and love are like the Japanese sports cars.
And the American classics like the Fender Strat and the Gibson Les Paul are like domestic muscle cars. (and similar to cars, the old vintage strats and LPs are superior to their modern versions, right? ).

I think the guitar world to auto world parallel works quite well here. I guess I like my guitars just like my cars... Japanese!

I've got a Japanese car too!! I love it! The only other car I loved as much as this one was my Nissan. hehe

[Inzane]

Originally Posted by FloridaNative

I've got a Japanese car too!! I love it! The only other car I loved as much as this one was my Nissan. hehe

Big Nissan guy here. My wife's car is an '05 Altima 3.5SE (w/ manual tranny), my daily runabout/winter beater is a Sentra SE (to be replaced with a G35 hopefully someday in the not too distant future), and my baby is a 93 300ZX Twin Turbo - which I maintain, modify, race and show.

[Davey]

Either way, you get the point

[FloridaNative]

Originally Posted by Inzane

Big Nissan guy here. My wife's car is an '05 Altima 3.5SE (w/ manual tranny), my daily runabout/winter beater is a Sentra SE (to be replaced with a G35 hopefully someday in the not too distant future), and my baby is a 93 300ZX Twin Turbo - which I maintain, modify, race and show.

Cool!! That's the only thing I miss about my new car is the stick shift! I don't feel like I'm really driving with the automatic transmission. But it's still a great car!

[ibanezking]

Unless you're big league..............
and have a legion of tech's waiting at stage left to change your guitar for each song (and tune it)..............

............ you need ONE versatile guitar that can do it ALL!

Ibanez do that............
Very few others do????

Max

[ibanezking]

I have a BMW 330d Touring

It does lots of things well..............
But nothing perfectly.........
Its the ideal compromise

Its pretty quick (i had it chipped)
Its comfortable, but not like my bed
Plenty of room in the back but not loads
It handles, but its no ferrari
Its economical - 45mpg
It looks cool - but its no Z4

Unless you have enough dough for 6 cars - each one does each of those PERFECTLY, then you need a compromise........
Just like guitars................

Max

[sick-boy]

Originally Posted by Inzane

I don't read a lot of guitar magazines, and mostly because there aren't many available in my area, but I do pick up Guitar World occasionally (lately every other month or so if there's something that interests me). Anyway one thing that I've been noticing the last few months is whether its in the ads or the articles, there are all these obscure bands I've never heard of and they're all shown holding Les Pauls. ??

Now there's no way all these guys could possibly be in endorsement deals with Gibson. So it makes me wonder... With guys like Satch and Vai, Ibanez can say "see, we make great guitars.. THESE guys play them.". But with all these other misc. guys shown playing Les Pauls, (assuming they're not all in endorsement deals) its more like "See.. look at me, I'm cool because I play a Les Paul." Which is like reverse endorsement sorta.

Has anyone else noticed this?

And what is so great about a Les Paul anyway? (No, I've never held or played one... yet).

I haven't picked up a guitar mag in awhile, but I never noticed that with Gibson Les Pauls, but I did however notice the trend with Epiphone Les Pauls. I thought it was just a way to sell cheap guitars.

And I wouldn't say the people in the ads are nobodys either. Sad as it sounds, more people know who My Chemical Romance is over Satch and Vai. And those are the people those ads are geared for. So it makes sense to me. But I never said I liked it.

[Davey]

Originally Posted by ibanezking

I have a BMW 330d Touring

It does lots of things well..............
But nothing perfectly.........
Its the ideal compromise

Its pretty quick (i had it chipped)
Its comfortable, but not like my bed
Plenty of room in the back but not loads
It handles, but its no ferrari
Its economical - 45mpg
It looks cool - but its no Z4

Unless you have enough dough for 6 cars - each one does each of those PERFECTLY, then you need a compromise........
Just like guitars................

Max

You want to try selling that post to Ibanez, it'd make a great ad

In fact...

Originally Posted by ibanezking

I have a BMW 330d Touring

It does lots of things well..............
But nothing perfectly.........
Its the ideal compromise

Its pretty quick (i had it chipped)
Its comfortable, but not like my bed
Plenty of room in the back but not loads
It handles, but its no ferrari
Its economical - 45mpg
It looks cool - but its no Z4

Unless you have enough dough for 6 cars - each one does each of those PERFECTLY, then you need a compromise........
Just like guitars................

[ibanezking]

yeah yeah yeah

I've had a couple of vodka and cokes and the sh!te is just rolling off the tongue..........

No, i'm trying to drop some weight (getting married in Jan) and this is my mid week treat!

Seriously - its all about versatility!

Max

[Davey]

Lol, you should get a job working for Boner

Congrats on the wedding mate

[Inzane]

Originally Posted by sick-boy

I never noticed that with Gibson Les Pauls, but I did however notice the trend with Epiphone Les Pauls. I thought it was just a way to sell cheap guitars.

You could be right... my eyes might not be trained well enough to pick out the difference. *shrug*

[Salamander In The Sun]

Originally Posted by ibanezking

its got to be just a "COOL" thing

........ Les Pauls are just NOT nice guitars to play.........

Too heavy - check!
Not versatile - check!
over complicated layout - check!
Very poor upper fret access - CHECK!
Poor tuning - check!
.....................

thats why i bought my Les Paul double cut
as it addresses all the above

Max

Too heavy - That's actually very subjective. I don't find them to be all that heavy, and even if I did, I'd tolerate the extra weight for the improved tone.

Not versatile - Buddy, I've seen Les Pauls used for every style of music. Metal, rock, blues, pop, you name it. Besides, how does the Doublecut address the issue of versatility? They're essentially the same guitar, minus the upper horn and controls.

Overly complicated layout - A pickup selector and dedicated volume and tone controls does not make for a complicated control layout, IMO.

Poor fret access - Again, another thing that varies from person to person. I've never had too much trouble reaching the upper registers of a Les Paul style guitar, because I have long thin fingers. I will agree though, that for most people, it probably does slow playing a bit.

Poor tuning - Come on, man. First off, that's just not true, and second, how does buying a Doublecut fix the issue of tuning stability? I'm going to go out on a limb, and say that Gibson uses essentially the same tuners on most of their guitars.

I probably am a bit biased, though. The Les Paul has always been one of, if not my all time favorite.

[jim777]

I think if you wear an Ibanez you nmight be expected to shred or play like Vai. If you play an LP, you can safely strum all day. I like Les Pauls, but that might have something to do with it as well.

[ibanezking]

come on mate - their nick name is ****son Le's Shoulder Pull!

Heavy sound - thats not verstaile

one vol, one tone - any more is just gettin in the way

unless your a fukn gynaecologist, you need way more access than a LP can offer

those green kluson type tuners are sh1te - my double cut has Grovers that you can adjust!

You're not talkin to some Jemsite gobsh1te here........... i fix these things day in day out............

Max

[quiksilverdew]

Actually, Gibson probably does sponsor a ton of those bands. My friends band is small (they are horrible too) http://myspace.com/inaviate but their guitarist (my friend) was sent a few SGs and a few Les Pauls on the condition that he never plays his other guitars onstage. They also hooked him up with a bit of cash haha!