Zakk Wylde Camo Les Paul?

[TJ]

dirrtycraig said:

I got a '71 LP Deluxe that sounds PHAT. theres no comparison between the old ones and new ones..
Honestly for $4000.00 you could by a REALLY nice old Gibson LP. I would NEVER pay $4000.00 a new Gibson. At least an older one it will go up in value and you can't lose money.

I could do alot with $4,000

$2,500 for a Mansel or Wayne guitar
$500 for a ticket to SF to watch the Giants play a weekend series
$500 for a night of debauchery after the game
$500 to dump at a strip club watching "Bridget the midget"

Hell I'd be way happier with that then owning a Les Paul. ;D

[tree]

hey motrock.... He had the prototype with him but he has a natural top custom that has always been his studio guitar. I have never heard a guitar with that much low end. I flipped. It sounded like a he had a bass player playing with him. It was nutts. But like Craig said... If you have $4000 for a les paul.... be on the lookout cause thats an investment not a purchase.

Tree

[zao]

i have 2 gibson custom shop zakk les pauls. i never paid 4000 for either of them, i bought them brand new, i paid 3000 out the door for the camo and 2750 out the door for the bullseye. i own lots of nice guitars but these are 2 of my favorites, they arent overpriced to me. the necks are awsome feeling. both weigh around 10 lbs. they both sound different and alot of people say they sound the same because of the emgs but thats not true. the ebony fretboard sound different from the maple fret board. they seem to have a used value on ebay of 2500 to 3000 depending on condition. some dudes hate the paint job but i love them. im not into tiger or snakeskin type guitars but theres some guys who would kill for them. i think it sucks that gibson asks 4000 for these guitars but they are awsome and prices that high scare off buyers. but ive bought all my gibson stuff the last 7 years for 50% off list. and i get that at alot of different dealers. but i buy lots of gear, a guy only buying one or 2 guitars wont get those discounts too often,but they are out there. ive played the epi zw and it doent come close, i have 2 on order from the 357 deal for my son. even at 50% off list gibson dealers are still making 5 to 7 percent on a guitar from the custom shop. depending on the volume that the dealer sells.

[motrock]

tree said:

hey motrock.... He had the prototype with him but he has a natural top custom that has always been his studio guitar. I have never heard a guitar with that much low end. I flipped. It sounded like a he had a bass player playing with him. It was nutts. But like Craig said... If you have $4000 for a les paul.... be on the lookout cause thats an investment not a purchase.

Tree

Ya, see that would be an investment. Sure, it would be awesome to have a Les Paul setting along side my Mansel. Two awesome guitars! But, the price has to be right........and the quality has to be equal my Mansel. I have yet to play on a guitar that it the quality of my Mansel!

[motrock]

zao said:

i have 2 gibson custom shop zakk les pauls. i never paid 4000 for either of them, i bought them brand new, i paid 3000 out the door for the camo and 2750 out the door for the bullseye. i own lots of nice guitars but these are 2 of my favorites, they arent overpriced to me. the necks are awsome feeling. both weigh around 10 lbs. they both sound different and alot of people say they sound the same because of the emgs but thats not true. the ebony fretboard sound different from the maple fret board. they seem to have a used value on ebay of 2500 to 3000 depending on condition. some dudes hate the paint job but i love them. im not into tiger or snakeskin type guitars but theres some guys who would kill for them. i think it sucks that gibson asks 4000 for these guitars but they are awsome and prices that high scare off buyers. but ive bought all my gibson stuff the last 7 years for 50% off list. and i get that at alot of different dealers. but i buy lots of gear, a guy only buying one or 2 guitars wont get those discounts too often,but they are out there. ive played the epi zw and it doent come close, i have 2 on order from the 357 deal for my son. even at 50% off list gibson dealers are still making 5 to 7 percent on a guitar from the custom shop. depending on the volume that the dealer sells.

Networking is the biggest part of everything. I bet I could find one of those a lot cheaper.

[Hacksaw]

Old les pauls are great... late 70's early 80's they ran into a wood shortage and changed their wood suppliers for the mohogany body etc... ( I think it was from brazil??) if ya notice the 80's and up, are much heavier guitars, and have a good bottom end but mids and highs where shallow and sometimes very brittle... so watch for that when looking at used les pauls.. I have a 78 that is much heavier than my buddies 68 model ( by 4 to 5 lbs). the change to different mohagany from another country was very dense mohogany wood. I dont think gibson ever fully recovered from that situation. mine is the clear maple top custom also.. all stock.. never changed a thing.

LP's are a awesome guitars. mine cost $1800 in 78, inflation.... ya.. X 2

agree with dirrty craig.. buy a older one if you want more of a musical top end.

[DonaldDemon]

FWIW, I paid $800 for my '94 LP Studio brand new! It was last years model (bought in '95) and was one of the last Gibson's this store was carrying. I can't beat that!

My LP is heavy but it really doesn't bother me. I don't have any problem with shrill highs or shallow mids at all. For an all stock guitar it sounds killer! I wouldn't change a thing....well except for the nut:(

I have had other LP owners new and old play my guitar and ask me what pup's I put in to make it sound so good! I think I just got lucky and got one with the mojo:)


As for the nut....Has anyone changed theirs on thier LP? My G keeps going out of tune because some strings are sticking in the nut. Rather than have to keep it lubed I want to change it to graphite or an Earvana nut system. Anybody have experience with these?

[Dirrty Craig]

Graphite is great. The PRS's come with them and both of mine have no wear and stay in tune better than any guitars I've ever used or played. I think Gibson used cheap plastic nuts on the Studios so you should definitely replace those. I need to get a new nut for my '71. I put the Rio Grande Scott sent me in the bridge, ordered orginal NOS Gibson covers for the pups and Sperzel locking machines. This thing should be gig ready this week I hope.

I did alot of research on the woods, and I think the reason mine sounds so good is the "pancake" body style which was used from '69 to I think '73. A 1/4" piece of maple sandwiched between two slabs of mahogony, and a maple cap. Its real brite but tons of articulate bottom end.

[morecowbell]

dirrtycraig said:

I did alot of research on the woods, and I think the reason mine sounds so good is the "pancake" body style which was used from '69 to I think '73. A 1/4" piece of maple sandwiched between two slabs of mahogony, and a maple cap. Its real brite but tons of articulate bottom end.

I think you just got a good one Craig. My brother has an early 70's LP Deluxe similar to yours, pancake body, etc., and it's a complete dud (although I'd never tell him that) . I've spent a fair amont of time with it over the years, and it's just a lost cause. It's just got no resonance, no vibe, it's just a dead sounding piece of wood.

So lucky find for you! A couple years ago I came across a '94 LP Classic Plus, and it's one of those great LP's. It's so alive, it's a joy to play. Bought it for $650 with case.

So for you guys looking for a LP's a a reaonable price, just keep checking the local ads, they do come up here and there.

[DonaldDemon]

morecowbell said:

dirrtycraig said:

I did alot of research on the woods, and I think the reason mine sounds so good is the "pancake" body style which was used from '69 to I think '73. A 1/4" piece of maple sandwiched between two slabs of mahogony, and a maple cap. Its real brite but tons of articulate bottom end.

I think you just got a good one Craig. My brother has an early 70's LP Deluxe similar to yours, pancake body, etc., and it's a complete dud (although I'd never tell him that) . I've spent a fair amont of time with it over the years, and it's just a lost cause. It's just got no resonance, no vibe, it's just a dead sounding piece of wood.

So lucky find for you! A couple years ago I came across a '94 LP Classic Plus, and it's one of those great LP's. It's so alive, it's a joy to play. Bought it for $650 with case.

So for you guys looking for a LP's a a reaonable price, just keep checking the local ads, they do come up here and there.

Maybe '94 was a good year for LP's because that's what mine is.

If I can just fix the nut and tuning problem it would be 100% perfect. I changed the tuners to Grovers before I knew it was the cheap plastic nut that was giving the tuning problems. It seems that it's not an easy job to replace a nut. They must be cut properly, etc. Luckily I have a great guitar tech near me so he can set it up.

[morecowbell]

Replacing a nut is easy and cheap, especially for someone who knows that they're doing. I wouldn't sweat that. Graphite nuts are great, got them on my Jackson and PRS. My LP has the stock nut, stays is tune fine as well. Now that I think about it, so does my YJM strat with a brass nut.

So I guess any decent material that CUT properly is they moral there. Easy work for any qualified tech.

[twistofcain32]

i paid 1700 for my lp custom it was brand new back in 02
on ebay. motrock you will get used to the finished neak
the sound that you will get from the guitar will be worth it

[Dirrty Craig]

Yeah I must have got a good one. I just plugged it in this morning and its sounds freakin' amazing. It has such a character to it thats really different than my other guitars and I got some nice ones.. I think the Rio Grande in the bridge makes a differwence too, this pup really sings.

I just packed it up and am sending it to Lay's in Ohio. laysguitar.com/
They used to do all my work before I moved to FLA, I don't trust anyone else. I'm getting a complete refret, new nut, sperzel locking tuners and buff job on the finish. They do the best authorized Gibson work if you guys ever needed anything done. When I get this back its going to be a great addition to my live rig.

[cableguy72]

Hi guys. I'm new to the forum & a proud owner of an '06 Quickrod w/ matching 412 slant cab. I don't care too much these days for any Gibson product outside of the Custom Shop models. I've owned the Faded Series Les Paul and was very disappointed with it. This axe suffered from rough fret edges, a bad 3 way switch, and sterile pickups. I know the price was cheap ($699.00 in 2003), but for a USA Gibson you'd expect a little better quality control. As for clones or copies, I currently own an Orville LP '59 Reissue (Gibson Japan) and the thing smokes. I would put the quality and tone of this thing up against any USA Les Paul and it would either match or surpass it's US brothers.

[Hacksaw]

Cableguy72, welcome to the forum! and congrats on the QR/Cab!! Post pictures!!

sometimes those inexpensive knockoffs sounds great! I had a electra LP style guitar from the 70's ( it had plug-in modules go into the back for effects!) that guitar played as good as my les paul, and the sound was as good, and it only cost 400 bucks new. in-around 1975 my second real guitar and a music man tube amp.. if I only knew what I had! HAHA thanks dad!

you know its tough to pickup a knock off and try it out after we get high quality stuff.. but when i pick up a knock off.. I usually hit a low E and a few others, and feel for resonance in the body.. then plug it into a known amp.

any one have a method for pickup out a quality copy guitar?