Gibson Les Paul Traditional – Update
Gibson Les Paul Traditional - Update
I've been playing the traditional for a good few months now and I'm still impressed with the look, feel and range of tones that are available.
LP Traditional
Its starting to lose that new nitro smell now its out on the rack and the neck is getting less sticky the more that I play with it, its become my go to guitar. The neck is a chunky 50's which I feel more comfortable with, although not as easy to play as a PRS its got a certain something that makes it very playable.
QA
QA?
I have noticed a few blemishes that I didn't spot when purchasing but they do not effect the playability and are perfectly acceptable to me as I wouldn't want to change it for one with a different top.
There are a few marks on the fretboard around the binding but on the whole there are no real issues to make me feel like I got cheated.
Gibson are certainly not up there with PRS in terms of finish but they are much improved since the last time I tried one (about 4 years ago).
Sounds
I would recommend the Traditional for anyone looking for more blues and rock playing than metal, the pickups are not hot enough to give you that Metallica EMG sound, go for a Standard if this is the sound you are after.
Remember these are 57 classics not burstbuckers (as in the 08 standard).
Overall I would still recommend this as an alternative to the 08 Standard if you are after that classic weighty LP.
Gibson Les Paul Traditional = Old School Tone
If you are after that classic LP tone, then the Traditional is the one for you.
Gibson have flooded the market with new models in the past few years and to be honest I wasn't impressed with the quality vs price argument for a few years. When you are looking to drop over £1000 on your new pride and joy you want to make sure its going to be worth it.
The current crop entering the market are noticeably better than the ones that I looked at around 3 years ago, maybe the ones I looked at were bad examples but I wasn't going to shell out my hard earned cash for one. Im glad to say the quality has improved immensely since those days when I looked 3 months ago for a new piece of kit.
Two of my favourite players also happen to be big LP players, Slash and Peter Green. Which has made it hard to ignore the lure of for too long before getting hooked.
I went shopping at World Guitars to try out the Standard and the Traditional and came back with the traditional for the following reasons
- Chunky but comfortable neck
- Nice AA maple top
- Classic tones from the 57 pickups
- Heavy (as a LP should be!)
The Traditional uses two 57 classics, which are great for blues and rock playing. Not as hot as a burstbucker and a little muddier (is that even a word!), a good balance and when played through a nice tube amp amazing.
The neck is back not he chunky 50's feel unlike the Standard, which is a new carve to be more comfortable. But with any guitar TRY BEFORE YOU BUY.
The most impressive part for me is the AA Maple top (mines in Honeyburst), which has grains going both horizontally and vertically and with the pick guard off looks stunning.
Overall:
- Finish 4/5 - Dropped a top score here due to a bit of binding not lining up correctly, bit more work for Gibson here but much improved
- Sounds 5/5 - Anything from classic blues to rock, if you are a metal player then get the Standard
- Value for money 4/5 - LP's are expensive but you are getting an instrument that is going to last a lifetime, ive dropped a mark here because of the finish issue