1978 gibson les paul standard review

by james ansara
(toronto)

1978 gibson les paul standard review

i bought my les paul when i was 14 ,at that time the guitar was six years old .it is a norlin era paul with a three piece maple neck,and one piece mahog /three piece maple body.after replacing a di marzio super dist. in the bridge position with an origional 70's p/u,i needed to change nothing else.this guitar has been my reliable electric since 1983 ! playability,tone,desireability are all present and with,by now a bit of patina.the slightly shorter scale has always appealed to me as has the warm, thick tone of gibson guitars.my example is a cherry sunburst finish with plain maple on top.my only regret is that the top is not flamed maple.as far as i know, the maple neck has a brighter sound than the mahogany version witch suits my style of playing.clomplaints:the tuning keys are mediocre,the finish while very nice is not that durable,there is none left on the back of the neck now,and the top developed a small(but repairable) crack.this is not bad for a thirty year old instrument,keeping in mind when i bought it i was younger and harder on things.i have always used 11 to 48 strings so tuning and intonation have remained remarkably stable,in fact once new strings are broken in it pretty well stays put.i have spent money on strings and cleaner/polish, and one professional setup in twenty five years!i myself have polished the frets a few times with 1200grit wet paper and they are a little lower now but still some years from replacement and this guitar has not been babyed. i have experienced no problems with the electronic parts whatsoever, the odd cleaning of pots and swtices, so every thing is origional.gibson seems to use good components. no one needs to hear from an unkown player (me) how archetypal and influentual the les paul was and is, you either like or love them,and i expect this one to give me many more years of service.so if the extra weight and, by now "classic" look are o.k. with you a les paul will give you endless sustain , quiet pickups and a killer tone.

1978 gibson les paul standard review