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NGD, is the 8th one the charm?


sparquelito

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Okay, so after selling my last Les Paul 4 months ago (and foolishly vowing not to even consider another one for at least a year), here I am with another LP NGD.

To my credit, I did a lot of soul searching over the past months, and pondered why it was I never bonded with the 7 previous Les Pauls I had owned, on and off, since 1978. I came to the realization that I had been longing for a particular LP model, since 2007 anyway, and for whatever reason, never came across one that I could put my hands on.

I'm talking about, of course, the weird, wild, and woolly 2007 thru 2011 Gibson Les Paul BFG.
I had purchased a BFG back in 2019, but that was the re-issue. It didn't possess the original weirdness of the earlier incarnations. (Naked zebra Burstbucker, P90, clear Lucite cavity covers, no truss rod cover, wooden knobs, and a kill switch.)
So it came in and out the door in fairly short order.

I finally located my oddball dream guitar a week and a half ago, rolled the dice, and had it shipped from the previous owner up in Canada. Via Reverb, of course.

Here she is. A 2011 model. All original, with two slight modifications.
The Grover tuners were replaced by the previous owner with locking-type tuners, and the naked zebra Burstbucker was replaced with a Gibson 500T humbucker.
I must say that I don't mind the replacement tuners at all, and they work really well.
And the 500T is a monster pickup. Loud, toneful, and possessing some serious balls.

Best of all, and I have technically had the guitar for two days now, I am really bonding with this guitar.
It's light, at 7 lbs, 2 ounces.
I love light.
And it has the best, most comfortable-feeling neck of any Gibson I have ever owned or played.
I really like the feel of this neck.
The P-90 is super expressive, and the volume knobs and single tone knobs work like no others I have encountered.

Two thumbs up.
Hoping that number 8 is the charm.

🙂

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Edited by sparquelito
typo
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She seems happy in the Gibson corner.

To seal the deal, I finally framed and mounted an old poster that somebody brought me from New York many years ago. I put it in the bedroom nearest my music room.

They said they bought it from the Iridium Ballroom.
Old Les seems pleased.


😗

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Many congrats..  I had a BFG Gary Moore for a while... I loved everything about it apart from it had a really fat neck. But I loved the thin finish where you can feel the wood under your hands... And the middle position is one of the most monstrous sounds I have ever heard a LP make..  Really fun and the lightness of it helps with that.

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  • 1 month later...

Well.

So I made a bit of an improvement to the old BFG.

I ordered a gold tortoise-shell pickup cover the other week, (from Guitars Electric LTD, Tettenhall, Wolverton, UK) and did a little crafting and painting to make that bridge humbucker look just right.

Remember that the previous owner had taken the zebra burstbucker out, and installed an all-black Gibson 500T.

I love the sound of the 500T, but the overall look, the aesthetic of the rough-and-ready BFG was just not the same.

With the addition of the pickup topper, all is well in the world now!!
It took some drilling, painting, and mild relic'ing to make the topper look aged, period-correct, and semi-authentic.

I'm gonna shut up now.
🤔

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