Page 29 - Guitar Classics Magazine - The Les Paul Bible 2019

REVIEWS

thing that’s common is treble, and lots of it, with
extended upper harmonics and enough high-end
presence to play faux-pedal-steel country licks.
Think about the stinging attack of Bloomfield
and Beano and how those huge, biting lead tones
are reminiscent of a Telecaster on steroids – there’s
something horn-like in the adenoidal, almost vocal
quality of single notes. It’s easy to hear how the PAF
fits into the Gibson pickup family tree as a logical
step forward from the P-90, with which it has so
much shared sonic DNA.
Without being shackled by heavy potting, the
alnico III Custombuckers in our review guitar
have plenty of air in the high end and there’s an
abundance of light and shade on tap thanks to
volume and tone controls that have no shortage of
usable, musical range. Interestingly, the concave tops
on the butyrate knobs mean that it’s a little easier to
get some purchase on those top hats in sweaty stage
conditions than it is when using less accurate repros.
The shifting harmonics you can hear when you
hold a chord and listen closely to this guitar’s acoustic
sustain are present in abundance when plugged in.
The amplified tones range from cutting to dark and
complex, yet the neck pickup is never woolly or
cloying; there’s always plenty of snap available if
you dig in, while the bridge is the place to go for
more of a nasal quack. It’s powerful, too, with plenty
of punch for rock riffs and powerchords.
When we rev up a Collector’s Choice Les Paul KEY FEATURES
loaded with original PAFs for comparison, it’s clear PRICE £5,199 (inc. hard case)
DESCRIPTION Solidbody set-neck electric guitar. Made in USA
that Gibson has indeed been listening hard. The
BUILD Two-piece figured maple top with single-ply Royalite
PAF-equipped reference LP has more separation
binding, solid mahogany back, solid mahogany neck with
when playing complex chords and a slightly sweeter ‘Authentic ‘59 Medium C-Shape’ profile, bound Bolivian ABOVE Tinted clear coats
treble extension, but the strong family resemblance rosewood/pau ferro fingerboard with 12-inch radius, over the mother of pearl
between the two sets of tones on offer is undeniable. 22 medium-jumbo frets, nylon nut, aged cellulose nitrate Gibson logo lend it a
Not bad when you consider that the PAFs alone are trapezoid inlays, holly headstock veneer greenish-gold hue
worth about as much as our review guitar. HARDWARE & PLASTICS Nickel no-wire ABR-1 bridge with
lightweight aluminium stop-bar tailpiece. Kluson single-line,
Through a tweed Fender or Plexi-style Marshall,
single-ring tuners, laminated cellulose acetate butyrate
the 60th Anniversary model does everything a good pickguard and jack plate, stepped two-ply truss-rod cover,
Les Paul should, and even when pushing the amp butyrate gold top-hat knobs, amber Catalin switch tip,
hard with a Tube Screamer and a klone, we don’t silkscreened cellulose acetate butyrate poker chip
experience unwanted microphonic feedback – ELECTRICS 2x alnico III unpotted Custombuckers, CTS 500K
especially not at the kind of stage volumes at which Audio Taper potentiometers (2x volume, 2x tone) with
paper-in-oil capacitors, 3-way toggle pickup selector switch
most of us are gigging these days.
SCALE LENGTH 24.75"/628.6mm
There will always be those who want to make
NECK WIDTH 42.8mm at nut, 52.5mm at 12th fret
further tweaks to a reissue guitar in the spirit of NECK DEPTH 22.3mm at first fret, 25.1mm at 12th fret
recreating every detail of a vintage instrument – STRING SPACING 35.8mm at nut, 51.7mm at bridge
even its flaws – but we’d strongly recommend WEIGHT 8.9lb/4.03kg
getting to know what the Custombuckers can FINISH Royal Teaburst nitrocellulose (as reviewed),
do in their latest unpotted incarnation before Cherry Teaburst, Factory Burst, Green Lemon Fade,
Southern Fade, Slow Iced Tea Fade, Sunrise Teaburst,
you consider swapping them out. And even if you do
Golden Poppy Burst, Kindred Burst, Orange Sunset Fade
want to use this 60th Anniversary model as a
OPTIONS Indian rosewood fingerboard
platform for modifications, it’s more affordable and LEFT-HANDERS Yes
vintage-correct than many recent True Historic and CONTACT Gibson gibson.com
Collector’s Choice models. Regardless, in its stock
form, this is a dream guitar for most players and
Gibson Custom has done a fine job of recreating a A gorgeous Les Paul that’s closer to
mid-century classic for the modern world. 9/10 the golden-era experience than most

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