MichaelT

If they came out now like they did then? Probably not. They were unique for their time and the times were different, as RCT said. But, here's a question: What would the music scene be like now had The Beatles not come out when they did? Live music is different now even from when I was playing on the road in the 80's and 90's. We can and do still get gigs now and we've had a busy summer. It's not like it was then where they have a band at the same venue for 4 or 5 nights a week or at least not around here. A lot of places around here are one nighters. The money is usually $50.00 to 100.00 per person, depending on where it is and what size the venue is.

Back in "ye olden days" of the 80's and early 90's I played mostly Flying V's through a Randall RG120 half stack. Loud, lots of gain, 80's and 90's hard rock/heavy metal. Lately, it's been mostly my Les Pauls through my Marshall DSL40CR. 40 watt tube amp, clean/crunch channel, overdrive1/overdrive2 channel, slight reverb, master volume control, gain control, decent speaker and EQ. It has a built in attenuator type feature where it can go from 40 to 20 watts. This is the amp I use most often with the band and is perfect for rehearsals and live shows. We play mostly classic rock, blues, some country, some hard rock. This amp can do it all.

I'm not too concerned about the "no animal parts" thing. I'd probably go with a '57 Historic Goldtop. I have Goldtops with P90's. It would be an interesting phone call because I wouldn't believe them.

Putting the Gibson name on a Gibson headstock on an Epiphone guitar might sell more of them but then "devalue" the Gibson brand. It would be like putting the Chevrolet logo on a Cadillac. Same company makes both but a Cadillac is known as a high end luxury brand and a Malibu more of an every day kind of car. Gibson wants their Gibson guitars and their Epiphone guitars to be a luxury brand and an affordable brand. Their plan is to have someone start on an Epiphone and move up to Gibson eventually. The Fender American, MIM/Asia or whatever gets confusing when you have to look fairly closely to see what's what. With Squier on the headstock, you know what you're getting at a glance. I'm not knocking lower priced guitars and have certainly owned and played my share of them.

I'm glad Gibson is taking internet security and our identities seriously. If someone can do this to the forum, it's a matter of time before they have account information. The people making the counterfeit Gibsons are taking aim.

I have a 2018 Traditional. It's one of my main gigging guitars.

Poor little Goldtop. I feel bad for the guitar. What did it do to deserve that? So sad.

Tributes are rarely faked. It's usually Customs or Standards. I really enjoy my 2017 Tribute. It gets more playing, band rehearsal and gigging time than the Standard, Traditional and Classic I own. It's not a bad price for that guitar. My Tribute is on the left.

The funny thing is that someone is going to think they are authentic clones of the pedals Hendrix used and by using them, they'll be able to sound like Hendrix. They just want to charge more for the pedals.

I bought one of their "B Stock" capos last year. They're REALLY nice. Very sturdy and they come with different inserts for different neck radius. They're quick and easy to use and I've used them on electric and acoustic guitars. They also sent me one of their wooden picks as well. I think I ended up paying around $45.00 for it. I hardly ever use a capo but bought it just to check the quality and to have a nice one. They're expensive but they are good quality.

I wonder if you can just get the locking piece separately without the strap button itself? I have one of the new version ones and I had no idea it had a spot for an allen wrench to tighten it further and lock it down. It definitely doesn't stick out as much as the previous versions. I've used Schallers for decades without an incident.

Pretty much, yeah. I'm going back Saturday to pick up a subwoofer for the band and I'm tempted to bring my Traditional to get a real comparison. They're very similar.

I didn't buy one but I did get to play it on Saturday. It was a LOT like my 2018 Traditional as far as the color, flame, sound and everything. The neck is slightly larger but not by much. In fact, if I took the Traditional truss rod cover off of mine and put a Standard cover on, it would be difficult to tell the difference other than the amber colored switch knob instead of the cream colored one. It was 9 pounds, 6 ounces and played VERY WELL with just the standard factory setup. I actually didn't play it as long as I normally would because it was so similar to one I already own. I'm going to call this a win for Gibson. Pickguard installed, Standard truss rod cover, amber knob, Burstbucker 1 and 2. Almost the same guitar. I haven't had the opportunity to play any of the others yet but it's a quality instrument. Even thought their website says it comes with .010's, it felt like .009's on it. Very easy to play. And, the tailpiece was down all the way, which is something I found a bit unusual from the factory. Intonation was perfect right out of the box. If I didn't have one just like it, I'd get it.

I guess I'm not very OCD at all when it comes to a lot of that stuff. I've never actually looked at the angles of the pickup rings and pickups. I wonder if it would make a difference and if it would be noticeable? I have adjusted the pickups up or down to try different tones and it makes a bit of difference. I think I may have adjusted pole pieces at one time in my life but haven't for a long time. Would love to hear if it makes a difference.

I couldn't tell you how many guitars I've owned over the years. Maybe 30 or so. I have 12 right now. My Gibsons are 4 Les Pauls and 3 Flying V's. Others owned are a Dixon V, Ibanez Jiva, Fender American Pro Strat, Oscar Schmidt classical and Conrad parlor guitar. I rotate my electrics out for different gigs, usually taking at least two with me in case of a string break or other issues.

The closest I've played is a 1961 Les Paul, which was the SG shape. The lead guitarist's dad in my first band had it and let his son (my bandmate) play it. It played and sounded very good but I'm not sure it was any better nor worse than the ones I own now. The sideways tremolo was certain to take it out of tune really bad though!

We have two guys in our band that use the Xvive system and they're happy with it. I couldn't use something like that with my Ibanez Jiva, which has the jack recessed into the body. I went with the Line6 G30. From what I've seen, the kind of units you're looking at work pretty well. We're playing mostly small stages these days and they work great for them.

I'm usually a Gibson guy too but I've taken my Strat as well and thankful I did when we played a wedding reception. I broke a string playing Midnight Rider (I have no idea how) right at the lead part. I squeaked through but took my Strat as my 2nd guitar that day and it fit in quite well with the music we were playing that day. Changed string during break and used the Les Paul Traditional for the rest of the day. I tend to take at least two guitars with me just in case. And I must add that I love the color of that guitar. Looks old and the MIM Fenders I've played have been quality guitars.

My lovely wife didn't laugh at this nearly as much as I did. In fact, her exact word was, "No."

Cry Baby, Snark stage tuner, BoostaGrande, Noise Gate up front. Chorus and Delay in loop. I use the gain from the amp and the 6 button switch from the amp to change between clean/crunch, OD1/OD2, MasterVolume1/MasterVolume2 in my Marshall DSL40CR.

If you've seen a picture of me, you know I don't get my hair cut. :D

I don't change my strings very often but I do take the time to clean them afterwards. I have the same issue with my hands. I'll wear out a bridge and tailpiece and dull them up pretty quickly if I play the guitar a lot.

AC

If it were me, I'd play each of them and see which one resonates with me the most. Dialing in that amp and the guitar shouldn't be terribly difficult. I'm anxious to try the "new" Les Paul Standards as well. The main thing for me is the playability of each and the sound I'm looking for. That's probably not real helpful but people have different tastes and sounds they like. And, people have different thoughts about what kind of neck and action feels good to them.

My 1981 Gibson "The V" has quite a bit of wear from being played every day for hours a day since I got it in 1984. I've played a few hundred shows with it and it's been from one side of the country to the other. That kind of wear can be faked but I prefer the real thing. I take great care of my guitars but stuff happens. I'd much rather do it myself and have real wear than fake wear. I sure wouldn't pay $6000.00 for a fake relic job on a guitar. But to each his/her own. I just prefer the real thing.