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I said I didn't need another Les Paul but my local Guitar Center had one of these so I had to go over and check it out.  I was thinking I might trade my Les Paul Custom Lite, but they offered a pretty good price without the trade so I bought it.  Didn't hurt that they had a sweet brand new Fender Super Reverb to demo it on.

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Has the Burstbucker 61R and 61T pickups - not sure how they differ from the Burstbucker Pros that are in my Standard, but they sound a little hotter, and a little dirtier although they clean up nicely at lower volumes.  Also the "out of phase" push pull seems to be a little more distinct sounding than my Standard, maybe because the pickup are uncovered?

The neck is a nice slim 60s style, although flatter than the asymmetrical fingerboard on my Standard.  The finish looks like a plain top, and the photos don't show it very well, but there is some figure in there.  I like the reflector knobs which seem a little taller and easier to grab onto than regular top hats, nut does not bind and the set up is overall very good.  I will go over it in a day or two and set to my liking, but for now just having fun playing it.  Has 9 hole weight relief, so comes in at 8.5 pounds, about a pound heavier than my Standard with "ultra-modern weight relief", but not too heavy.  I don't play those 9:00 PM to 1:00 or 2:00 AM bar gigs anymore so hopefully I can tote it as long as needed.

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Very nice. Congrats. Regarding how the BB 61s compare to the BB pros, I personally much prefer the BB 61s. They sound more vintage to me. I think with the BB 61s they were going after the more treble usually associated with the 1960s LPs. However, they are not as treble focused or have the same output as a BB pro. The one thing I think the BB pros have over the BB 61s is the coil tap sound, which I think is a bit better and more usable. However, untapped, I think the 61s are amazing. They remind me a bit of a Classic 57 with a more tamed low end and a bit more treble, if that makes sense. Maybe a better comparison would be the love child of the Classic 57s and the BB pros. A bit more clarity than the Classic 57s, but not as "modern" sounding as the BB pros. 

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Thanks guys.  What can I tell you I am weak!!  I fell in love with the color, and I usually don't buy guitars for the way they look - but I fell quickly for the shade of red.  Then once I played it I was hooked and felt the price was right so there was no escape.

Pauloqs - I would tend to agree with you that the pickups have "a bit more clarity than the Classic 57, but not as modern sounding as BB pros".  I can't find any specs on the 61R and 61T yet.  Sort of funny that Gibson names them that way, which infers a pickup from 1961 and in that year the only Les Paul they made was an SG.

Billroy - First I play it unplugged to see how resonant it is by itself.   I feel if a solid body electric is resonate unplugged, unless there is some wiring problem or something, it will sound great when you amplify it.  I play up and down the neck making sure I don't hear any string buzzing, and nothing is fretting out.  I sight down the neck to see what sort of relief is present and that the neck isn't wavy.  I crank on the tuning keys a bit (even if it is in tune) to see if there is any pinging (nut binding).  Then I ask for a Fender Tube amp to plug into and make sure I can get a clean crystal clear sound from the pickups.  You can always get distortion by overdriving the amp, or with effects - but a muddy sounding pickup can't be cleaned up much so I want it to be as clean as possible to start with.  In this case I also gave all the push/pull knobs a test to make sure they worked as well as play volume and tones from  1 to 10 to see how responsive they are.  Then when I get it home it's "Katy bar the door" as it gets plugged into my Rivera Venus 6 and crank it up. 🙂

 

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14 hours ago, Twang Gang said:

Sort of funny that Gibson names them that way, which infers a pickup from 1961 and in that year the only Les Paul they made was an SG.

 

When they came out, they were originally the pickups on the 2018 SG Standard, hence the name. 

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