This is a Les Paul reissue (an R9, meaning it is a reissue of a 1959 Gibson Les Paul) made in 2000. I had bought this one new from Mark’s Guitar Loft, a trusted and known place where I occasionally buy new or used Gibson guitars. I trust Mark to the point of buying with eyes closed basing myself on Mark’s description and images of the guitar. Mark never steered me.
So this is already a 10 years old guitar. I had completely stripped down to the wood – not the paint, just the parts – some time ago when I needed some parts for my Husk Les Paul.
It was also a good chance to repurchase all replica parts for it, which is what I did at RS Guitar Works. I bought a TonePros aged bridge, studs, stopbar, harness, strap buttons, pickup rings, pickup switch, …
The pickups here are instead Throbaks PAFs. For what I played/listened to them (I re-assembled the guitar while my babygirl was seeing the light the other day, as a stress release for me, since we chose to have Luna get born at home, like in the old times) I like them a lot. Naturally, I will shoot clips with this one soon, so anyone can have an idea on the wood, the parts etc.
Extremely light “featherweight” Les Paul standard, non chambered nor weight relieved. This is just a light and resonant one. I tend to like lighter Les Paul of any era, though I’ll gladly play heavier ones when my back supports me.
Decent flame on the top, although it must be noted I couldn’t care less about the top “beauty”. I care about the tone of a guitar more than its looks. I have had beautiful guitars that sounded dead and dull and those are gone, sold. All the guitars I have now make you desire to play them for their tonal characteristics AND playability: if they don’t sport both of these qualities, they go.
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