1979 The Paul, 2015 Les Paul Deluxe, 2007 Les Paul CR8 1959 reissue

2007 Gibson Custom shop Les Paul CR8 

Here are 3 very different Les Paul guitars:

The first is my 1979 'The Paul'. I bought this new. Over the years it has done many gigs. It is made of walnut with an ebony finger board and came with the, now very desirable, Gibson 'chainsaw case'. There were a few similar models such as 'The SG' and the slightly later Paul and SG Firebrands. The latter were made of mahogany with the Gibson headstock logo burnt into the wood and covered in odd black marks. The Paul came with Gibson T top pickups which are slightly more powerful than PAFs. It was also equipped with Grover tuners. The Paul plays and sounds great and seems to be widely recognised as great value, if you can find a good one. On mine, the nitro finish started to deteriorate badly after a few years. It was as if it was melting and it looked a mess so I refinished it in cream, as you can see, about 20 years ago. I chose that colour as it reminded me of the Les Paul Custom colour. At one point I had coil tap switches fitted but I reverted back to the original and plugged the holes when I refinished it. Although it probably isn't worth a lot, it is one of the best playing Les Paul's I have ever tried.

The next Les Paul is a 2015 Deluxe. This was from the notorious 2015 Gibson 100th anniversary year. It has Gibson G Force tuners, a brass zero nut, strange 3D silver logo on the rear of the headstock behind the nut, mini-humbuckers, battery powered 15db boost switch and a slightly wider neck. These are things most of which Les Paul aficionados hate with a vengeance! However, this is a nicely made Les Paul. The gold top finish is immaculate, the set-up is spot on with a low action. The electronic tuners work well and quickly. The pick-ups are good, bright, clear and powerful and the guitar sustains nicely. I don't really understand the horror that this guitar generates and, anyway, I could replace the tuners for a set of Kluson Deluxe for £50, take out the preamp and change the nut quite easily and I would be left with a conventional Les Paul. You know what? This guitar cost me less than £700 new... I will leave it as it is. I have seen dozens on G Force tuners up for sale on E bay so I know that lots of owners are 'improving' their guitars. In the future, original condition models will be as rare as hens' teeth.

The third guitar is an unusual chambered Les Paul 1958 reissue. This is not the same as the weight relief chambering that Gibson cut into modern Les Pauls. It is chambering on a greater scale so that the guitar weighs just over 7lbs which feels astonishingly light for a Les Paul. This is a 2007 model and relatively rare although you can find chambered versions of most if not all of the Les Paul reissues. I don't know if chambered models are still in production. You can tell them apart from the usual reissues/historics because the serial number starts with a C, so CR8 for a chambered 1959 reissue. This is a VOS model i.e. vintage original specification.