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Have you seen this beauty?


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My dream guitar for as long as I can remember was a gold top Les Paul with cream P90s. If only I had the cash' date=' this would be mine.[/quote']

 

I'd love to have one too, but would prefer an R6 with a stop tailpiece. The only other LP I've ever played that I liked as much as mine was one that belonged to an old friend. The last time I played it was probably around 15 years ago but I haven't forgotten it; it was a Custom Shop like an R6 (or maybe it was an R6) and it just boogied!

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  • 2 weeks later...
Wasn't their a problem with the original Les Paul bridge?

Yes.

If I recall, the strings had to go under the tail, making the muting of strings almost impossible.

The neck angle was incorrect for the tailpiece, or vise-versa, so they weren't the best players.

Somebody tell me if I'm wrong.

 

That tail is great for historical accuracy, but the '54 was a vast improvement...

My dealer tells me every original and reissue '52-53 they ever sold went to collectors.

They weren't purchased with playing in mind anyhow, just to complete a set or something.

 

I understand the desire for the guitar, but give me a '56 anyday.

TOM with P-90's - heavenly!

 

 

I suppose a trapeze tail that could be strung over the top would be cool, that's what the pic shows.

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I think the original tailpiece was not even studded to the body.

 

I do not think this particular guitar is exactly like a '52, I do think it is tweaked to make it more functional, it is not being marketed as a '52 reissue.

 

There was one at the Gibson Showcase but it was behind glass, I could not grab it and try it out.

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The weight of the Les Paul Tribute is listed as 5.7 lbs which is very light for a Les Paul.... Does anyone know if it is chambered or weight relieved?

 

Under 6lbs?!?!?!

Yeah, what's the deal? o.O

Goldtops...don't think I have the "cool" to pull it off.

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  • 2 months later...
Wasn't their a problem with the original Les Paul bridge?

 

Yup. If any of you have "The Gibson Les Paul Book" by Bacon and Day' date=' you can read about it on p.17-20.

 

Here's a sample of what Les said:

 

"They made the first guitar wrong. [...'] When they sent me mine, I stopped them, said this won't even play." (p.20)

 

Considering this, it's sort of ironic that Gibson would issue this guitar as a "Les Paul Tribute"...

 

:-k

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Yes, the original '52 was made different to Les' original design with the incorrect neck angle so they had to string the bridge incorrectly. The Tribute model addresses this by having the correct angle and using Les' original bridge design for the first time with the strings going over the bridge rather than under.

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Yes.

If I recall' date=' the strings had to go under the tail, making the muting of strings almost impossible.

The neck angle was incorrect for the tailpiece, or vise-versa, so they weren't the best players.

Somebody tell me if I'm wrong.

 

That tail is great for historical accuracy, but the '54 was a vast improvement...

 

...I suppose a trapeze tail that could be strung over the top would be cool, that's what the pic shows.[/quote']

 

You are correct.

 

The 'Trapeze' on the guitar in question is different to the 1952 production instruments; it is made according to Les Paul's own original drawing - the one put out on the first thousand or so GT's was of a slightly different, Gibson, design.

I'm assuming the 'new' design works perfectly. Someone on the forum has posted a clip of him playing his '52 Tribute.

 

As kluskie says, the problem wasn't the design of the bridge. The problem was Gibson didn't angle the neck back from the body enough so that when the strings were wrapped over even a fully lowered bridge the action was still way, way too high to enable the instrument to be played.

 

According to Les Paul he himself called Gibson after he received his own instrument from them and told them they needed to increase the neck-break angle. By this time the production/delivery had already commenced and it was too late to bring them back.

 

The only way the first batch of instruments could be played was to raise the height of the bridge and under-wrap the strings. This, unfortunately, made them very uncomfortable to play and it was practically impossible, as Neo says, to palm-mute the strings.

 

There are photo's of two such examples in the Tony Bacon LP book. Both are understrung and both are owned by Mike Slubowski (of LPF fame!).

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Yes' date=' the original '52 was made different to Les' original design with the incorrect neck angle so they had to string the bridge incorrectly. [b']The Tribute model addresses this by having the correct angle and using Les' original bridge design for the first time[/b] with the strings going over the bridge rather than under.

 

If that's the case, then I take back what I said about it being ironic.

 

The way it looks, Gibson finally admitted Les was right and did it "his way".

 

That's certainly a Tribute!

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