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Lately I've been talking to some of you about solid bodies and practical gigging guitars that can handle a lot of different genres.
I've been really enjoying strats lately. Some of them sound more ratty than others but a strat with hotter alnico 2 pickups and 12-52 strings sounds incredible for jazz.
OK but that's not the point of this thread. This is.
It was just delivered today. I only got to play it for a couple minutes before getting back to work. This has been the longest day and I can't wait to play it some more.
For more details: it's a murphy lab R9. Yes it has fake finish checking. I don't look for relic for the sake of looking old, but Murphy Lab guitars have blown me away lately. They use a different lacquer formula that feels like the good stuff from 70 years ago. Also they pay a lot of attention to the fretboard binding and the manage to make the most perfect feeling modern necks I've played (including Collings, which is known to have incredible playability). My impression is that this murphy lab stuff is some of the best I've seen from Gibson. The amount of attention to detail required to make these is remarkable, and while, yes, they're copies of vintage guitars, I think the effort of making exact copies is a forcing function that has resulted in insanely high caliber output.
It'll be a while before I feel comfortable enough to record something with this as I'm getting used to the lighter strings and the general feel of the ax, but looking forward to it.
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03-04-2024 07:57 PM
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yum
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Carved top jazz guitar. What’s not to love?
She is a beauty!
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Blame??? How about credit?
Seriously, that's one fine instrument - and you don't have to convince me of the wisdom. I've been playing LPs since I bought a new Custom in 1973. I even found a new one when I switched to 7s in the early '90s, and I still have it. It's not nearly as nice as yours and I've "modified" it a bit over the years. I was going to refinish the top after I plugged the bridge pickup rout, but I realized that I wasn't sure the "grain" was even real on an Epi. So I colored in the grain on the filler with a furniture touch up pen and coated the work area with some "vintage" clear poly.
It's still a great gigging guitar that will handle anything I can throw at it. Unfortunately, it weighs about 10 pounds, but you'll get used to the weight. Just use a wide strap to distribute the load evenly across your shoulder.
BTW, yours does not have fake checking. The checking is real - it's the implied history that's fake, and nobody in his or her right mind would complain. You'll love that sucker!
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I will happily take some of the blame.
Congrats! Lesters and Strats are great for jazz (when set up properly) and do a lot of other music as well. They are the world's most popular electric guitars and for good reason.
May she inspire your playing for many years to come.
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I love the color - congrats!
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I love that color...purdy.
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Lovely, I've never tried one. How does it compare to an archtop? Can you get a similar sound? Thanks
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Wow! Very nice Juan, congrats on the new axe. That is a very nice dark looking rosewood board. Now you just need the Twin with JBL's to complete your Mike Bloomfield rig. My Edwards LP copy sure sounds nice through mine at any volume but especially when it's loud! You know you want to. C'mon, what's another couple thou for a lifetime of tinnitus? The sustain is forever.
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That is a really nice finish TBF
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Lovely! Enjoy the Les Paul.
I prefer a nice goldtop:
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"I Blame You All." Great title for a 12-bar blues.
Congrats. That's just luscious. Long may she run!
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That’s a beauty! Congrats! The LP was sort of intended as a (then) modern guitar for jazz, but nobody except its designer used it as such. Could be worse, as not even the Jazzmaster’s designer used it for jazz. I hope you’ll enjoy yours so much that a re-fret is needed in about 2 years.
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If on an "album" a second selection might be... "It's not my fault" :-)
Originally Posted by Flat
OP, nice Paul!
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No one takes better photographs of their instruments than you Juan!
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Wow, looks great!! Interested to hear your impressions after some time with it.
Somehow I have never owned a Les Paul... hmmmm.
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Who? Us? No.. no.. we're all in the 'tele is all you need' camp.
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Looks great!
I got my first LP in 1968, a first year black custom, and it was my main guitar for 10 years when I switched to a strat and an ES345.
Got back into the LP game in 1994 with a first year R8 and still have and love it! I tend to use it more for fusion, blues etc, because it's strung with 10's. But it can do jazz if set up for that. Luckily mine's not too heavy either. Also- real PAF's that I got many years ago doesn't hurt!
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She's a beauty, omphalopsychos! What is that, tea burst or what? Gorgeous.
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Thanks all.
I agree the finish and color of the top are just wonderful. I believe they call this some variation of the lemon burst. Maybe a faded lemon burst or a dirty lemon burst. IDK I just think it's beautiful.
In case people are wondering how it compares to an archtop it's actually very interesting. This is actually my first les paul. It has 11-49 strings on it, which is different from the 13-53 I would typically use on an archtop guitar. However I think there are some qualities that are respective to the differences in construction regardless of string gauge.
Compared to an archtop it is much less compressed. I.e. the difference in amplitude between picking hard and picking soft is substantially increased. Tele players are probably well acquainted with this difference where you might not want to strike as hard as with an archtop because hitting the strings too hard will cause a volume spike (or overdrive your amp depending on the setup).
It also has way more sustain. [insert spinal tap reference here].
The notes are still huge and meaty but there's more of a snap at the front of the note. Additionally, it's overall a bit brighter.
Great for solos, great from comping, great for heads and chord melody. Maybe 4 to the bar stuff wouldn't work so well on a les paul but yeah this is a killer guitar.
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:47 seconds
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The only way I can get an acceptable 4 to the bar sound with a solid body guitar is with single coil pickups. In general though, I prefer an archtop or Gypsy guitar for that application. Originally Posted by omphalopsychos
Lesters are great for solo chord melody stuff. The sustain gets you into territory that only a piano can rival.
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Agree with all the above. I won't use the LP for any context that requires swing comping, but I've been playing in some larger ensembles and love the way solid and semi hollow guitars cut right through the mix.
Btw here's an early clip of GB in Jack McDuff's band. Killer sound. Bright but not too much.
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The LP is a great solid body jazz guitar. Everything doesn't have to be a Tele god damn it.
Are you going to keep it as is, or do anything special to it?
I wouldn't not be able to do some special wiring with 4 knobs.
Do you ever use middle position (or bridge position)?
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