NGD Les Paul Studio 70s tribute
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2015 12:21 pm
I got the chance to trade my Baja Tele for this and much as I loved the Baja I can always pick up another one for cheaps at some point in the future. Probably one with a rosewood fretboard. These LP models have now been replaced with one with mini Hums so I thought I'd grab this while I could still find one.
I'd been thinking about trying out a Gibson again and thought what the hell, I'd go the LP route this time.
The high output humbuckers and the neck profile (with volute) were the 2 things that sold me on this. The buckers are super heavy output (almost too heavy) but if you roll them back to around 7-8 they clean up very nicely. That way if you pop the volume up to 10 it's like a boost. It has traditional weight relief so it's pretty weighty (it probably seems heavier to me as I usually play Mustang/MM guitars). The rosewood fingerboard is nice and dark too.
As for possible future mods, I might look into a HB sized P90 for the neck position, if I do that I'll swap the pots on that part of the circuit and change the wiring on it to vintage style (it's not something you can really do with the Dirty Fingers pickups cos they get too shrill). These have thin finishes so it'll age pretty quickly. It's already worn round some of the edges. So a refinish may be on the cards sometime in the future if I can decide on a colour I like. I may just buy some nitro clear (or slightly dark tinted clear) and gloss it up a bit more. Mainly to protect the wood rather than being all that fussed cosmetically.
Overall I'm very impressed and it's nice to have something that covers some totally different territory sonically. I'd say that it's a great LP that you can buy new for Mexican Fender money. The build quality is pretty much flawless with the only negative being that some of the fret ends needed a bit of polishing/smoothing. Also the thin finish may not be to everyones liking but that's where they've cut back on lots of man hours in producing these. The Grover tuners are great, tuning stability is spot on (that's one thing I gad a serious issue with on both my previous Gibsons). You can also get this with the min-e-tune system if that floats your boat.
I've been getting my metalz on for the last couple of days. It could be a keeper but I guess time will tell. It looks a bit like a bowling ball...
I've also been thinking about buying a preowned LP Custom before they get too expensive to consider so this will be a sort of dry run for that.
Obligatory leather couch LP pics:
I'd been thinking about trying out a Gibson again and thought what the hell, I'd go the LP route this time.
The high output humbuckers and the neck profile (with volute) were the 2 things that sold me on this. The buckers are super heavy output (almost too heavy) but if you roll them back to around 7-8 they clean up very nicely. That way if you pop the volume up to 10 it's like a boost. It has traditional weight relief so it's pretty weighty (it probably seems heavier to me as I usually play Mustang/MM guitars). The rosewood fingerboard is nice and dark too.
As for possible future mods, I might look into a HB sized P90 for the neck position, if I do that I'll swap the pots on that part of the circuit and change the wiring on it to vintage style (it's not something you can really do with the Dirty Fingers pickups cos they get too shrill). These have thin finishes so it'll age pretty quickly. It's already worn round some of the edges. So a refinish may be on the cards sometime in the future if I can decide on a colour I like. I may just buy some nitro clear (or slightly dark tinted clear) and gloss it up a bit more. Mainly to protect the wood rather than being all that fussed cosmetically.
Overall I'm very impressed and it's nice to have something that covers some totally different territory sonically. I'd say that it's a great LP that you can buy new for Mexican Fender money. The build quality is pretty much flawless with the only negative being that some of the fret ends needed a bit of polishing/smoothing. Also the thin finish may not be to everyones liking but that's where they've cut back on lots of man hours in producing these. The Grover tuners are great, tuning stability is spot on (that's one thing I gad a serious issue with on both my previous Gibsons). You can also get this with the min-e-tune system if that floats your boat.
I've been getting my metalz on for the last couple of days. It could be a keeper but I guess time will tell. It looks a bit like a bowling ball...
I've also been thinking about buying a preowned LP Custom before they get too expensive to consider so this will be a sort of dry run for that.
Obligatory leather couch LP pics:
