NGD

[Leonard McCoy]

I just couldn't resist picking up this sweet, sweet 2009 Les Paul Standard with Burstbucker Pros for left-handed in my favorite Gibson finish ever: black-night ebony contrasted with vintagesque cream-white binding.

 

It was a great deal in part due to the fact that she had been dropped to the ground at some point in her life which slightly chipped off some of the finish on the edge of the upper bout. The original locking Neutrik jack had been swapped out for a standard jack without locking mechanism but unfortunately with a slightly larger jack plate which doesn't really fit snugly into the mounting hole. I will have to reinstall the Neutrik even if that means getting my soldering skills on again and dealing with Neutrik's locking mechanism going forward.

 

Since I wanted only a small practice amp for playing at lower volumes in the living room, I went with a modeling amp in Vox's VT20X, but while really nice-sounding, even that one is too loud for me with its 20 Watts and a bit too large for my purposes also. I'll probably swap it out for Vox's more expensive Adio Air GT, one of those modeling amps with stereo-imaging for better sound at lower volumes (similar to Yamaha's THR10 only with much more and better modeling options).

 

So far, I set the guitar up by straightening the truss rod, adjusting the height of the bridge, correcting the intonation slightly, and adjusting the height of the humbuckers as well as I could muster and according to Gibson's recommended standard. I'm still a bit hesitant on adjusting the height of the individual pole pieces of the humbuckers so they mirror the radius of the fretboard, perhaps someone can provide some reassurance.

 

[jscully]

That’s a beauty

There is something special about an ebony LP

Nice lefty!

[Twang Gang]

Good find. Assuming you got a pretty good deal with the scratch and the jack plate issues which seem minor and easily overcome.

 

Don't worry about the height of the pole piece screws - they were never intended to be an adjustable feature that affects the tone (although of course they will go up and down). Having them match the fretboard radius is just fine. Adjusting the overall pickup height has a great deal more bearing on the volume of each pick-up and on balancing the volume between them. I like mine to be the same volume, but others may prefer to have one or the other closer to the strings for some variance - up to your personal taste.

 

Love the binding as to me that is what an Ebony LP should look like.

 

Lefties are always a little harder to get your hands on, and looks like you got a good one. [thumbup]

[Marky Forrest]

Very nice guitar. I really like the ebony with cream colored binding. Like Twang said, its issues seem minor so you have a real find there. Congratulations!

[Pesh]

Looks killer! Congratulations!

[Leonard McCoy]

I'm keeping the Vox VT20X after all. It's a nice little amp with plenty of features and great modeling.

[Leonard McCoy]

Pickup height: I would highly recommend sticking to Gibson's recommended specs regarding humbucker height. The height of the bridge pickup was just the slightest bit off (too high) causing harsh brightness in the sound of the pickup until I set the pickup the slightest bit lower again. Phew!

 

In other news, tomorrow she'll receive her old Neutrik jack output back at my luthier's, and he'll fix anything else he may find wrong with the guitar or the setup. Coming from playing solely acoustic guitars, each time I'm baffled how incredibly easy it is to bring the guitar out of tune by fretting too strongly.