Gibson ES-Les Paul CME Floor Model

[rolijen]

NGD! Got one of CME’s floor model ES-Les Pauls. Color is called faded lightburst. When I tried out an ES-Les at CME last week, I was blown away with how lively and responsive it is. From jazz to country to rock, it really works well for all. The one I got (they still have several) is flawless. It’s still early but I like it better than any Les Paul I’ve had. It’s lightweight (6.5 lbs), sustains great and when cranked, allows controlled feedback that is just amazing. It is very 335-like but looks and feels like a Les Paul.

I know some forum members have gotten flawed guitars, but I’m happy to report that both of my CME floor models are excellent and among the best guitars I have.

Roli

Here are a few pics:

[Stringswinger]

Congrats! A Lester that won't make your chiropractor rich! May she inspire your playing for many years to come!

[rio]

Looks sweet! I don’t like Les Pauls particularly for various reasons but I really want an ES-LP after seeing another NGD thread about it and seeing how hollow the body is from a picture of the internals.

Congrats!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[citizenk74]

Wow! That's a beauty! Congratulations, and play it in good health!

[Lobomov]

If been considering one of those for a long time .. so I grateful for your quick review and if you want to share more views on it .. pls don't hold back

[rolijen]

If been considering one of those for a long time .. so I grateful for your quick review and if you want to share more views on it .. pls don't hold back

As I get more familiar with it, I’ll share more insights.

In the time I have spent with it so far, i’m very impressed. It looks like a vintage Les Paul Standard. It feels like an ultra-light Les Paul custom (it has body binding front and back and thus the edges are square on back, like a Custom). So far, I’ve only tried it through my Katana 100. I will try it with my Super Reverb and tube screamer tonight. The MHS pickups are really good. I was finding sweet jazzy neck pickup tones last night. It really is unique in that all 3 pickup combinations sound fantastic. I’ve had LPs where the neck pickup was prone to mud. On my Strats, I use the neck pickup probably 80% of the time. In contrast, on my previous Les Pauls, the switch would get used to pointing down. This ES-Les appears to have great tones in each position making the selector quite useful.

Anxious to do some blues tonight. Really liking the concept of a semi-hollow LP. It works.

[Endorphins]

sweet!







.

[rpguitar]

I looked at that one for a long time. I wondered why it was still sitting around when all of the others had gone (except the $2200 black one). The burst looked interesting but funky online... it is WAY nicer in person! Really good looking actually. Enjoy...

[GNAPPI]

+1 to all of the above comments, you bought a gem for sure.

The LP-Es is lightweight, GR8 looking and sounding, and with its smaller body these features all add up (IMO) to as close to a perfect git as you can get. Enjoy it!

[rolijen]

I looked at that one for a long time. I wondered why it was still sitting around when all of the others had gone (except the $2200 black one). The burst looked interesting but funky online... it is WAY nicer in person! Really good looking actually. Enjoy...

I was also wondering why they seemed to sit. The answer for me was to go see them in person. Last Saturday, I went to CME and checked out a few ES-LPs. My skepticism quickly melted away as I demo’d one with a Princeton Reverb in one of CME’s demo booths. I wanted the MHS pickups but no Bigsby, so ended up getting the faded lightburst. The Studio version is dirt cheap but has no binding, a stencil logo and doesn’t come with MHS buckers. Even so, the cheaper model does come with ‘57 classics so I’ll bet it’s fantastic as well.

At the top of the food chain is the bourbon burst with a Bigsby. If you’re into Chet, that would be a dream guitar. That one and my model sound very Chetty. I’m getting wonderful PAF tone and resonance that just isn’t there in a solid LP.

Im a former skeptic turned believer. Have a great day!

Roli

[Woody Sound]

Beautiful color.

[Stringswinger]

I looked at that one for a long time. I wondered why it was still sitting around when all of the others had gone (except the $2200 black one). The burst looked interesting but funky online... it is WAY nicer in person! Really good looking actually. Enjoy...

The two black ones were not part of the Gibson blowout deal with CME hence their higher price (CME bought those two at regular dealer pricing before the blowout and they are just trying to get their money back on those two).

[QAman]

I’ve contemplated buying one for some time - it’s a beauty do enjoy.

[rolijen]

The two black ones were not part of the Gibson blowout deal with CME hence their higher price (CME bought those two at regular dealer pricing before the blowout and they are just trying to get their money back on those two).

I tried one of the black ones when I was there last week. The build quality was the same as the bursts and it felt and sounded exactly like them. The black version did not catch my eye. On the other hand, the f-holes are less noticeable against the black background. But I like f-holes!

[rolijen]

One other item of note: the inspection label on the box indicated an inspection date of October 2016. So at least some of these guitars have been in inventory for a while.

[vinnyv1k]

A real sweetie roli ! Do enjoy and Congrats my friend.

[rpguitar]

I would like to thank Roli for the inspiration to finally give the CME folks a shot. Just grabbed a Bourbon Burst ES Les Paul. I've been interested in this model for a long time, but it was always at a premium price til now. Let's see what we get...

[rolijen]

Glad to be a service, RP. Fingers crossed for you, man! And, you scored getting the Bourbon Burst. It's beautiful and is actually what I wanted. I was lucky though and got a Faded Lightburst with good color intensity and variation (others I saw were kinda meh, without much color). The playability and tone was pretty consistent across the several I tried out. I'm betting you love it.

Roli

[rolijen]

So, I used the ES-LP with my Super Reverb on Friday and it was glorious. I was particularly impressed with the rich, clear, grand piano-like bass notes. These pickups are the real deal.

Side note, twiddling the Treble knob on the Super resulted in static. Not good. Pots are not dirty. Amp sounds great put the Treble control has static across entire sweep of its range. Crackly. Uh oh, my old friend, my beloved amp which I’ve had since I was a young man was on the fritz. Sad Roli

Then, I remembered a new acquaintance who had come to try one of the guitars I had up for sale had shared the contact info of an amp technician about 45 minutes from here (I live in farm country, in the boonies a couple hours outside Chicago). I texted the guy and he said to bring it to him Saturday morning.

Next morning, I took the amp to him and found him to be a great guy. He’s a kindred spirit and is skilled with vintage Fender amp repair, restoring and clone building. I expected it to be there a week. But, later that day, he texted saying she’s done! So I drove back over and he showed me what he’d found. A silly ceramic disk capacitor had begun to fail allowing DC current to leak into the tone circuit. He had the exact part on hand and replaced it. After solving that problem, he cleaned all connections, checked bias, tightened all jacks, sockets, and chassis hardware, glued down a couple of spots where the Tolex was lifting, etc. Not only was the amp fixed when I got there, but he had cared for my longtime companion and returned it to me in better condition than is was in when I brought it to him. That is how you do it, friends.

Saturday night was a joy. I planned on playing several guitars but ended up so happy with the tone combination of the ES-LP and SR, I stuck with that. Just saying, the ES-LP sounds amazing. I did lower the pickups a bit to find the sweet spot and encourage all to remember that Gibby humbuckers like a certain distance. Because it varies, YOU have to find ‘that’ distance by experimenting. The classic blunder is to raise them too high. Sure you get more power/volume but it comes at a price—truckloads of mud. I’m real happy. Have a great day, all.

Roli

[73Fender]

That is sweet. Congrats.

[rpguitar]

So I received my Bourbon Burst ES LP from CME (too many acronyms?) yesterday.

Of course I needed to tweak a variety of things to achieve a nice setup. I expect this, but if I was not savvy then my impression of the guitar would be very different. It sounds fantastic and looks great, plus it's so light and balanced, all in all a terrific model.

So... a Les Paul has 138 fretting positions including open strings (6 x 23). The guitar is therefore 99.27% perfect. Exactly one note, B on the sixth string, frets out hopelessly regardless of truss rod and action adjustment. It seems like the next higher fret is too tall just on that string. If I'm truthful, the Bb just below it is a little buzzy too, so make that 98.9% perfect.

Every other position is just great. So, what a pain in the ass.

I'm letting it sit in my humidified studio for 24 hours before making a call. Perhaps I'll be able to convince them to reimburse me for what is hopefully a small amount of fret dressing. I'm checking with "my guy" on what he thinks this might cost, sight unseen. I could also return it, but it does sound and play so nicely everywhere but that damn B...

To be continued

[ptchristopher3]

Presumably your guy will be all over this with a great solution.

With a brand new guitar I would always look for a LOW fret or two before dressing a larger area of the FB.

I have my decades-old magical specific location fret bender/lifter to slightly tweak a low fret under a single string. Works great and I have only missed and stabbed myself maybe 5 or 6 times.

Tricky on the E strings since you need to not lift the end, but what an effective thing for what can be a minuscule problem.

I am sure it is a very very easy problem to solve on the FM BB ES LP from CME.

Wow I now see the appeal of typing like a text bunny. OMG, LOL, IKR, SMH!!!!!

[ptchristopher3]

Weird how the ES LP balances well huh? I suppose a mahog’ Neck and those latter day Klusons keep things VERY light to the left (and in my opinion contribute hugely to the great sound of these guitars).

I suspect that the “Latter Day Klusons” are actually some vintage tuner cult in Utah.

[ThatRhythmMan]

RP,
That’s a lot more common than you might think I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a guitar with one high spot in one fret. It could be in a new guitar or an 80 year old guitar. I think repeated expansion and contraction of the wood must result in this somehow. I’m not sure how else to explain it. For some reason, I seem to see it around the 12-14th frets more than I have anywhere else and usually affecting the B and high E.

In the end, that’s a super easy and inexpensive fix. If you love the guitar, I say fix it and move on.

[Stringswinger]

Roger,

I bet the CME folks will tell you to have it fixed and will reimburse you for it. The fix is cheaper than the shipping cost to return it.