01GT eibach

You can also just throw out a flier, trying to sell at a higher price point and see if you have any bites.

This has been a simple yet nice Christmas for me, and I am very appreciative of that. And now ... to provide the logical conclusion to the thread's title ...

When Ted Nugent was back in the '70s with Derek St. Holmes singing, they laid down some great rock and roll. I would definitely take one played by him.

This video is a sequel to the previously posted video where the guy who made the initial video was subsequently gifted a new 50s Les Paul Standard directly from Gibson because of other videos he had done. In this video, he goes back to Righteous Guitars to use their PLEK machine again, but this time to check the newly gifted Les Paul Standard. As for background info, Gibson started PLEK'ing upper-tier Gibsons and all CS in 2010 until 2014 when Gibson started PLEKing all of their guitars. Pretty interesting stuff ...

Super nice guitar -- In my experience, Firebirds were very cool just in the fact that there never seemed to be a lot of them around, That is, a lot of my fellow players did not have one, and they were only here and there in music stores. We seem to be surrounded with SGs, Les Pauls, Strats, and Teles -- and then to a lesser extent Explorers and Vs. So, yes, a great acquisition!

Wow, that's another rough one. RIP, sir ...

My favorite Clapton is (by far) Derek and The Dominoes and then Blind Faith.

When I bought my 2010 Les Paul Trad Pro (see pic), they made a big deal of the "PLEK" fretboard manufacturing process. And the neck and fretboad on that guitar are rightfully immaculate. Now, I never hear about PLEK. So, the above post makes me wonder if they wandered away from PLEK?

Yes, Gibson keeps a tight rein on their prices where vendors are not allowed to undercut each other, and with few true sales. The big push now is for 36 or 48-month 0% credit which is another discount for the consumer. Usually, with Black Friday sales, that is one of the few days where their coupon is applicable to Gibson and Fender products. But not this year ... for 2020 , Guitar Center did a "VIP sale" for one day in November where you put what you want in a "wish list" before the sale, and then they would issue you a personalized coupon for what was in your wish list up to 15% the morning of the sale. When they would have a regular advertised 15% off sale, it would only include 2018 models, the Trad Pro (which is a GC exclusive, I think) or (usually) no Gibsons at all. It was also smart for Gibson to get away with specified model years on their guitars. Come the new year, all of last year's stock instantly became the "old model" where you could just wait for a clearance sale in April or so. Now, everything is just listed by model with no release/manufacture year attached to it, thus removing the "old vs new model" inventory syndrome. I was keeping my eye out for a broader Christmas sale on Gibsons, but it never came.

Yes, very compelling -- so talented (I am stating the obvious) and funny.

Totally agreed -- It also comes down to musicianship level and economic strata too. But when I hear about anyone buying a R9 and changing out the pickups after they barely have even played it, I still will invariably roll my eyes regardless. Please don't judge me ... LOL

I agree with that statement. After living with some nice instruments, it definitely may become apparent that a change is in order. However, what really makes me roll my eyes is spending good money (say, $2000 or more) on a new guitar or even a Custom Shop just to immediately go and rip out major components on it. That to me is just making mods for the sake of making mods. For me, when I spend that much money on a guitar, it better not need anything non-aesthetic to be changed out. For lower end guitars, it is a totally different story ... it often makes a ton of sense to change out saddles, a nut, tuners or even pickups because it is not a higher-end MIA Fender or Gibson with all of the higher-end components. But anyone getting a new Les Paul standard (or better) to start modding it out before the "new guitar" smell is even gone is just crazy to me. Just my opinion , though.

I get where you are coming from. I was the one who posted above in this thread that I also recently bought a new Les Paul with a small flaw. For me, I was concerned that I would return the guitar and then get a replacement guitar with a (much worse to me) fret-edge problem, possibly a small dent in the neck, some screwed up binding or something even worse or a combination thereof. So for me, I opted to keep the original guitar to prevent that from occurring, also knowing the small headstock blemish is pretty small and where a guitar often will take real life bumps and bruises anyway. In your case, just by the words you used above, it sounds like you will always be second guessing yourself if you did keep it. Just return it, and get what you want. You are spending good money on this purchase.

GC is no longer selling the "vintage sunburst" that I got, with only the transparent red and blue finishes available. If that finish is really sold out (and it may not be), then I will feel really good about getting off the sideline and pulling the trigger on this one just in time. The red is definitely nice, but I really prefer the old-style burst, especially considering the guitar's 50s cues (non-weight relieved, P90s, rounded neck, etc.).

Guitars are like busses. There is another one always coming around ...

I am not sure that changing the pickups on a guitar you have owned for years, after having determined it was really needed, is anything close to high crimes and misdemeanors. Just the same, though, we will still keep an eye on you ...

And about how much do you have to spend?

To the OP: Let us know what you end up deciding, and how it goes.

Very nice!

I have had 496R/500T pickups in a '79 SG Standard for decades now. They were recommended to me by the Guitar Tech from the Doobie Brothers who installed them for me, fwiw. Regardless, I was glad I listened to him These are great pickups. They take on gain very well, pulling out all of the rich harmonics. And they also do cleans very well too. They are rich and fat sounding pickups, and not "tinny" at all. As for Dirty Fingers, I am not a fan. Maybe it was the guitars that they were in when I played them, but they have never impressed me.

Love the Rush pick ... My birthday present this year was the Rush vinyl 40th anniversary Permanent Waves set. Great stuff. And Humble Pie??? Steve Marriott was AWESOME.

I'd recommend changing out the entire bridge and tailpiece. Especially since they are gold plated, it would look nice to get new ones. On my 79 SG Standard, the saddles get really worn down and the tailpiece gets super decayed due to my right hand placement. When they get so worn down , I change them both out ... You can always start a new patina. Keep the original parts with the guitar though. Just my opinion.

The good news is that Gibson is only being beat up for small things like this instead of much more egregious defects. For me, my (recently purchased brand new) 2018 LP Classic Player Plus has a small defect/chip at the very top of the headstock. I know what caused my issue though. The guitar went into the cardboard box "headstock down" so that the side of the box with the "Top - This End" was actually the end with the body of the guitar and not the headstock. So the guitar, especially being a 2018 model, may have been resting on its headstock (in its case, though) for well over a year.

Since no one gave you credit for the funny post then, I will do it now. Great pic. That is funny!