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2017 Les Paul Gold Top - Poker Chip or No?


Oubaas

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So I got a 2017 Gibson Les Paul Tribute T gold top the other day, and I'm purely delighted with it, which you'll know if you read my review in my "2017 Starts Today for Me" thread.

 

Now the questions is, shall I install a poker chip to match the nice, cream pickguard and rings? Or leave it without?

 

The pictures that I've seen of Duane Allman's gold top show it with not only the poker chip removed, but the pickguard as well. So I really don't mind the missing poker chip too much, and I like the pickguard, so that stays.

 

What say ye, forumites? Shall I spend the big bucks and put the poker chip on, or just leave it as it is? :-k

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If we were talking flamy top id be saying no.... Leave it be... the more top that's showing the better.

 

But it does give you that classic look... However if you arnt bothered and your guitar hero had his off then im not sure theres much point, leave it as it came.

 

Lol, but its not Duane Allman's guitar.. its yours.. do as you feel [thumbup]

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The first Japanese Les Paul copies I remember from the late 60's early 70's did not have the poker chip, therefore... ANY Les Paul without one looks like a cheap Jap copy to me.

 

That said, I DID remove the Varitone number plate from my 345, which some 345/355 fanatics would probably say is blasphemy.

 

As for the pickguard, my 41 year old LP spent most of it's middle years with the pickguard removed. It's back on now, and not only do I currently prefer the "traditional" appearance, my playing style has changed such that I find it useful as a "finger rest".

 

As has been stated above, it's your guitar, do whatever you want.

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I'm 100% pro-poker chip, LP's do not look "right" without IMO.

I (person with a "light" degree of OCD) would check them in store if posible.

On my 14 Traditional the plastics had all different shadings of "cream".

The stock pokerchip was what I would call pink cream, so did the pickguard.

I bought historic plastics that did match much better* altogether.

To me it looks much better now, but it was too much money for a bit of plastic.

 

* They aren't perfectly matched but if you look at real vintage instruments you may notice that those are also a bit mismatched sometimes.

 

I wonder how my plastics will look in 30+ years...

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I think I'm going to go ahead and get a poker chip that matches the pickguard and rings. I'm a traditionalist at heart

 

Thanks for the opinions, folks! [smile]

I'm 100% pro-poker chip, LP's do not look "right" without IMO.

I (person with a "light" degree of OCD) would check them in store if posible.

On my 14 Traditional the plastics had all different shadings of "cream".

The stock pokerchip was what I would call pink cream, so did the pickguard.

I bought historic plastics that did match much better* altogether.

To me it looks much better now, but it was too much money for a bit of plastic.

 

* They aren't perfectly matched but if you look at real vintage instruments you may notice that those are also a bit mismatched sometimes.

 

I wonder how my plastics will look in 30+ years...

As far as Gibson guitars are concerned, I'm also 100% pro-poker chip when the switch is mounted to the wood. On my Explorer it is mounted to the pickguard and therefore without. But the Explorer's task has originally been researching the Van Allen radiation belts rather than Rhythm and Treble... [biggrin]

 

The two non-Gibson-or-Epiphone guitars of mine with toggle switches are fine without to my taste. (A third one, my Japan-made Suzuki LP copy, has the poker chip stock, too.) Anyway, it is about a Gibson here, so I think you're right to put it on.

 

I'm not sure, but I think I have been just lucky with the subtle hues of the plastic parts just named creme. They all match nicely on each guitar although they vary between them. The point most amazing to me is that this also includes body and neck bindings - who could ask for more? [thumbup]

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...They aren't perfectly matched but if you look at real vintage instruments you may notice that those are also a bit mismatched sometimes...

They should be slightly different colours on vintage instruments.

 

From what I've read the Items cut from sheet plastic - the p'g and poker-chip - were made from a different composition of plastic raw material than that which was used to make the injection-moulded p'up rings. The p'up rings are made from a softer material (which might be a requirement of the moulding process?). They were close in colour but not identical.

I could be wrong of course - I have absolutely no evidence to back this up whatsoever - but I suspect the USA-line p'g & p-chip are now moulded whereas the Historic uses parts from cut-sheet - which might explain the colour differences you noticed.

 

I'm open to hearing from anyone with actual knowledge on this matter!

 

Pip.

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Guest Farnsbarns

All true. Gil Yaron was making molecular level accurate plastic parts long before Gibson did the True Historics. He makes, or used to make, pup rings moulded from an original late 50s m69 Gibson pup ring, complete with identical tool marks and flaws. He wrote quite a lot abut it in a very long LP build thread on TDPRI forum long ago. Can't find the thread. The plastic type is CAB for the pup rings if memory serves. Don't remember any more detail than that.

 

My guess is that the pup rings had to be softer because they were moulded with flat bottoms and forced to conform to the contours of the carved tops.

 

I had the poker chip off my R8 for about a week. Yuk! Hated it. Put it back.

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