brighteyedc Posted December 28, 2008 Posted December 28, 2008 I have a 1989 Les Paul Custom, and I wonder what the differences are with a 2008 made Les Paul Custom. Can anybody help ? Thanks !
RichCI Posted December 28, 2008 Posted December 28, 2008 No. Only you, who has actually played the 89 Custom and whatever 2008 Custom you're looking at can tell you the difference. Wood varies and, thus, so do guitars.
Bram Posted December 28, 2008 Posted December 28, 2008 That's a difficult question to answer via internet. I LOVE mid to late 80's Gibson Les Pauls. Most of them are such well build guitars that play and sound great and I especially love the ones with ebony fretboards. If you want to buy a Les Paul Custom these days (with ebony board) you'll have to pay lots, lots of money and they're only available from the Gibson Custom Shop... Your 1989 LP Custom is a rare bird now. ''They simply don't make them like they used to''.
brighteyedc Posted December 28, 2008 Author Posted December 28, 2008 Thanks a lot for your helpful messages ! Just to clarify : I do love my 89 custom (ebony, with gold hardware, built in Nashville), and I don't wan't to buy another one. I was just wondering...
LPCustom89 Posted December 28, 2008 Posted December 28, 2008 Thanks a lot for your helpful messages ! Just to clarify : I do love my 89 custom (ebony' date=' with gold hardware, built in Nashville), and I don't wan't to buy another one. I was just wondering...[/quote'] +1 !!
TattooedCarrot Posted December 28, 2008 Posted December 28, 2008 I think as far as specs go, they are the same.
Bram Posted December 31, 2008 Posted December 31, 2008 The wood from a 1989 LP Custom is different and much older than the wood used for a 2008 LP Custom. That's probably the most important difference between these two guitars. The 1989 will have a true 'vintage' vibe and feel, while the 2008 LP Custom is brand new and won't have that same vibe/feel as the 1989 Custom. Feel/Vibe have a great influence on the way a guitarist plays the instrument, so that's also a BIG part that will make the differences in tone between the two Les Pauls. 'Tone' is mostly in the fingers and the way you feel connected with your instrument. I'd probably sound better on the 1989 LP Custom, cause I love aged, 80's Les Pauls, especially Les Paul Customs when it comes down to feel/vibe.
RichCI Posted December 31, 2008 Posted December 31, 2008 I LOVE mid to late 80's Gibson Les Pauls. That's probably an extra good period to buy any Gibson as it's right after Henry Juszkiewicz took over Gibson and started kicking asses. Excerpt from an interview with him: Q: Were there key decisions that really made things jump? A: I fired all of management. That made things jump! But they were so bad' date=' I didn't want them near the place. What happens is it has nothing to do with the people involved. It has to do with a sick culture. Once a sick culture takes place — a certain belief system — it's virtually impossible to fix. Q: Did you do anything in particular with the products themselves? A: Our employees wouldn't buy our products. They thought they were bad. One practice common in all companies was that if a product didn't make a certain quality level, you would sell it as a second. The problem was that dealers were not necessarily telling their consumers that seconds were seconds. So I got into the factory and I picked up a guitar. Got the employees around. "See this guitar," I said. "This guitar says Gibson on it, and it's not Gibson quality. So, here's what we do." I took the guitar, and I smashed it on the factory floor. I said any guitar that doesn't make the grade is going to be put in a pile, and we are going to take a chain saw to it every week. We are doing that to this day. We have Japanese dealers who just cry when they see the pile. It's a very small pile, though, now.[/i']
RichCI Posted December 31, 2008 Posted December 31, 2008 The wood from a 1989 LP Custom is different and much older than the wood used for a 2008 LP Custom. That's probably the most important difference between these two guitars. The 1989 will have a true 'vintage' vibe and feel' date=' while the 2008 LP Custom is brand new and won't have that same vibe/feel as the 1989 Custom.[/quote'] I partially agree with that statement. I don't know about it having a more "vintage vibe and feel" (whatever you mean by "vintage" from a guitar that isn't even 19 years old), but certainly wood is more scarce now than back then so there is less good looking wood for tops and wood does change as it ages. But, I don't feel like my 1991 Custom has changed much, if at all, since I bought it except for the bridge pickup becoming a bit microphonic. Of course, it's hard to quantify such a thing since I've been playing it since I bought it rather than playing it once then picking it up again 17 years later and trying to make a comparison. In my opinion, you can find a brand new guitar that feels just as good as an old guitar and it's more brought about by just getting one that made with a piece of wood that reacts well to playing more so than it just being an old piece of wood or not. I cherry picked my Custom from at least 50 other LPs of various models that I tried out over several months while working at a music store and it was just leaps and bounds much more lively than any of the other ones I tried. They were all brand new guitars and, while none of them sucked, it was one that happened to be made from a really good piece of wood that shakes like crazy when you play it.
Bram Posted December 31, 2008 Posted December 31, 2008 RichCI: Cool story about Henry Juszkiewicz. About the 'wood shaking thing' when playing the guitar: that doesn't necessarily mean that it's a great sounding guitar plugged-in. My 1988 les Paul Standard doesn't shake like crazy when playing it, but it sounds great/big/warm plugged-in with great sustain. My Faded has all the shake when playing it unplugged, but it doesn't sound better than my 80's LP. The Faded sounds thinner; it's a great guitar, but sometimes I think it's too thin sounding...especially compared to the 1988 Les Paul. Some guitars sound 'like crap' unplugged, but have a great tone plugged-in. Some guitars sound like heaven unplugged, but have a 'shitty' tone plugged-in...through the same amp.
RichCI Posted December 31, 2008 Posted December 31, 2008 Do the two guitars have different pickups in them? I would attribute the difference in tone more to that than the wood itself. You might try swapping the pickups in the two guitars and see what sort of results you get; maybe what it really comes down to that you don't like the pups in the Faded. For me, I really like/need some tactile feedback from the guitar in the way of being able to feel it reacting in my hands.
Bram Posted January 1, 2009 Posted January 1, 2009 Yeah, they both have different pickups that fit the vibe/character from the individual guitars.
Kurt Posted January 1, 2009 Posted January 1, 2009 Hello! I´m playing an 1986 Les Paul Custom in Dark Sunburst for over 15 years by now and I´m absolutely loving it. When I got mine I´ve tried a few others as well and I liked mine better than the ones they built in the 90s. But that is always a matter of personal taste and every guitar sounds different. Even to Paulas of the same make. I´m pretty sure you´d find a very good 2008 Les Paul too. But in my opinion they are too expensive these days. If I had to get a new one, I´d check the Studios and cheaper options first.
Blue Eyed Tone Posted February 11, 2009 Posted February 11, 2009 Looks like I have to sell my '86 Les Paul Custom with a Maple Fretboard. The mid 80's Les Pauls are hands down the best! Let me know if you're interested.
Bram Posted February 11, 2009 Posted February 11, 2009 Hello! I´m playing an 1986 Les Paul Custom in Dark Sunburst for over 15 years by now and I´m absolutely loving it. When I got mine I´ve tried a few others as well and I liked mine better than the ones they built in the 90s. But that is always a matter of personal taste and every guitar sounds different. Even to Paulas of the same make. I´m pretty sure you´d find a very good 2008 Les Paul too. But in my opinion they are too expensive these days. If I had to get a new one' date=' I´d check the Studios and cheaper options first.[/quote'] That's really great!
sok66 Posted February 11, 2009 Posted February 11, 2009 As noted, would be hard to compare on a general basis, because guitars are so variable. However, IMHO that was a great period for Gibson. Henry had great rapport with the employees (my, how things change) and had motivated them to asipre to Gibson's great heritage. Having been in retail when the CMI & Norlin thugs & idiots ran the place, I can fully understand why Henry put them on the street. I had several '89 LPs (Std, Pre Historic Std reissue and 35th Anniversary LP Custom) in the early 90s and they were among the best I've ever owned. Some detail stuff wasn't quite right, headstock size, tuners, wide binding in the cutaway on the Custom. That aside, the build quality was fabulous. The 35th Anniversary Custom was gorgeous and one of their first attempts to replicate the originals down to small details. It was all mahogany like the originals, with Klusons rather than Grover-style tuners. Pickups were 2x 490s & a 498, which didn't match up too well, so I swapped in some 57 Classics when they were first introduced.
Bram Posted February 12, 2009 Posted February 12, 2009 Nice add here: till 1989 the Les Pauls had three-piece tops. This is a thread dedicated to the Les Paul Customs made in the 80's: Very useful, interesting info and facts. http://bbs.espguitars.com/showthread.php?t=32780
Kurt Posted February 12, 2009 Posted February 12, 2009 That's really great! Hang on to your 1986 les Paul Custom. Mid to late 80's LP's are just something special; they rock hard and play great (not too heavy in weight' date=' not too light either). I played a '86 Les Paul Standard about 2 years ago and that one also played fantastic with that great sustaining, 'Slashy' kinda Les Paul tone. Slash loved his '88 Les Paul Standard as well.[/quote'] Hey Bram. Thanks for the nice words about my guitar. I´ve checked the serial number after all this and found out that I´ve made a mistake. It´s an 85. And yes, it´s got a three-piece top. But I like it that way. It´s almost the same colour as the one in the thread. Even the case and the colour of the interieur fit. Mine also has a relatively thick neck and wide and flat jumbo frets. Pickups used to be PAFs in those days. But mine has 57 classics because I liked them better. But I kept a pair of PAFs from 1984. I believe that the 80s Gibsons were very good guitars. Of course they should be checked before buying, but I don´t think that they´re bad quality in general. Greetings Kurt
fatihelloween Posted May 28, 2009 Posted May 28, 2009 Hello, I know that different strings brands, distance between strings & pick up change tone dramatically but maybe this mp3 can give an idea. 3 Guitars in mp3 with this order. Custom 2008, Custom 1989, R7 2005 Melody was played 3 times for 1 guitar (Neck, both, bridge) Marshall JMP1 Clean channel with full gain. http://www.elk.itu.edu.tr/~fatih/lptest.mp3
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