ShortScale.org

They've been that price at GC before. Usually for those one day only sales.

Still a good buy for a new gibson though.

not exactly my bag, but like you said it's a good deal...

i hate the way the finish feels on the faded models

my experience is that there is very little care taken to the edges of the fretboard and frets on faded gibsons. the fretboard is really square, and the frets are sharp on the ends. ridiculous. even the cheapest epiphones are a little sanded/contoured and finished.

i think the faded's have gone downhill (along with Gibson) recently, cause my faded les paul is super solid and the finish feels fine. though the red finished ones feel like you're holding a glue trap.

I like the POOP, but I feel the price is still too high for what you get with the faded series. I've yet to play a faded that wasn't a shitpole.

i don't like the faded look. seems like an excuse to save money on gibson's part.

It's an excuse to make more profit!

1. Shit cheap guitar
2. Gibson Naem
3. ???
4. PROFIT!!!

Gibson's "worn" finishes are nothing like how any paint in the world ages, and they make the guitar feel like a toy.

Explorers have always looked cool though... I once nearly bought a cheesy counterfeit Explorer body, one without the bolt-ons even What sold me on it was the corny, surfboard-esque walnut/maple/mahogany sandwiching from the 70s... Missed the ebay auction though, bah. In any case, that one is still too expensive.

I liked the early Faded SGs back when they had the crescent moon inlays. I never ran across a bad one of those. All the ones I played from after the fretboard change felt like shit.