TOM Les Paul Axcess

[icsm]

why can i not find it on the gibson website?

[Boleskinehouse]

There are a lot of things not on Gibson's website.

[River]

Originally Posted by Boleskinehouse

There are a lot of things not on Gibson's website.

Yeah, buddy. Bole knows who has the "secret" stashes. Wildwood may not be the best or only, but their web site bears watching. Those are the actual individual guitars they have, pictured.

[vladmaximus]

Originally Posted by River

We will, Vlad, we will.

You do the same now, y'hear?

me?

give me the guitar,and let me ROCK the shit out of the guitar...

hi hi hi hiiii...

can i ?

[Jessenoah]

Originally Posted by AXE

do it axe, pull the trigger

who needs moeny for small things like food or shelter

[LP Bob]

I want a TOM Axcess badly myself, it looks sweet, though I just picked up a Traditional Pro that plays great last month. I'm thinking maybe I should have held off and bought the Axcess instead (stoptail version), as I like the rib contour and lighter body, coil taps also, but they're charging like $3300+ for an Iced Tea Axcess stoptail version, which is overpriced. Anybody seen Iced Tea Stoptail Axcess's at a reasonable price?

[icsm]

Its a custom shop model so unfortunately more expensive than the USA line. Im sure you'll find one on ebay soon.

Thanks for the info re:Wildwoods!

[1959burst]

Originally Posted by carydad

I wanted one LAST year, and settled for the Floyd. Though the TOM was in the price list, it just never happened. I wasnt happy. Traded away the floyd one a little while ago, just never bonded with it. It was also just a little skinny, and I didnt like that either. I would prefer a full figured girl, if ya know whatta mean. I wouldnt get another one unless it was a TOM and full depth.

i got his axcess and i love it, i wanted it for the floyd!!!!!! amazing guitar, i modded it and it's my number 1 gig axe.

[icsm]

cool, how much does she weigh?

[Mr Insane]

I nearly crapped my pants when I saw how thin they are.

[dspelman]

I'm surprised that you guys are just now discovering it -- the TOM version's been hanging around LA shops most of this year, I think. Like the Floyd version, these are slightly thinner bodies than the traditonal (small "t") Les Paul, and they're chambered or weight relieved. That, and the tummy cut makes them much more comfortable to play than the usual LP, and the neck heel *really* makes a huge difference in comfort for the upper fret access (FWIW, I've found that the little "dip" on the front of the PRS guitars is absolutely useless in that regard). The lighter, non-solid body makes a bit of a difference in the overall sound (compared to solid-body full thickness guitars with the same Burstbucker setup) but not as much as you'd think.

And finally, these guitars come with coil taps (push pull on a tone control) as standard. About time.

Frankly, I'd like to see this neck heel and the tummy cut available on ALL LPs, regardless of the weight of the guitar; it just makes SO much more sense.

The guitar on the right is a black Custom Shop version of the Axcess guitar with ebony FB, MOP block inlays, white "triple" binding around body and headstock (hate the current cream stuff). When seen next, the gold hardware and the black Floyd will be replaced with nickel/chrome, the pickup covers will be gone, there'll be a Fernandes sustainer stuffed in the back, there'll be a '57 in the bridge and the knobs will be black. Follow-on photos in about a month.


This guitar (and the Floyd version) owes its existence to the Neal Schon Sig Custom shop guitar (not available no how no way). Neal's guitars, however, are full depth bodies (though chambered); all have a Floyd, the neck profile carve is specific to those guitars, there are special inlays on fretboard and headstock, there's a Fernandes Sustainer built in, there's a mid-sweep boost/cut, the knobs control a master volume, a master tone, a push-pull for the mid-sweep and a Sustainer Intensity pot (rather than the usual 2V/2T) and the knobs are arranged differently and spaced out a bit more than the usual LP Quad. Hopefully a few more pieces of his guitars will shake themselves down through the Gibson hierarchy onto the production run LPs...

[olschoolblues]

is it possible to shave the heal on my les paul 2008 standard to somethign close to that, i hate the way i have to hold my hands to get to the top frets, and that is the main reason i ONLY use my american strat to learn new songs

[dspelman]

Originally Posted by olschoolblues

is it possible to shave the heal on my les paul 2008 standard to somethign close to that, i hate the way i have to hold my hands to get to the top frets, and that is the main reason i ONLY use my american strat to learn new songs

You wouldn't want to do that. The Axcess has a very long tenon to compensate for the loss of glued area in the heel; I'm thinking that you'd weaken the neck joint in your guitar should you start shaving one without providing some compensation in that area. The CSB guitar (Agile) in the shot with the black Axcess, above, also has a similar neck heel carve, but it's actually a neck-through guitar, so strength of the neck joint isn't an issue at all.

Carvin's CS (Carved-top Singlecut) models have a smoothed neck heel (and a thinner than traditional, but SOLID body), but it's not qulte as nice as the Axcess (Carvin's neck-through guitars have virtually NO neck-heel, of course):


The Ibanez Artist series guitars from the late '70's and early '80's are very LP-like, but are double cutaway (symmetrical) with a very smooth neck heel, and the Yamaha SG 2000 and SG 3000 (both still made but hard to find today) from the same era have neck-through construction and a smooth neck heel.

One interesting and surprising neck heel compromise is this one:



This guitar actually has a 24-fret neck, which puts the 24th fret about where the 22nd fret is on most LPs (near level with the bottom of the cutaway), and between the pushed-up placement of the fretboard and this "tilted" neck heel, it's *very* comfortable to play the high frets with this guitar.

[Harpozep]

Originally Posted by dspelman

I'm surprised that you guys are just now discovering it -- the TOM version's been hanging around LA shops most of this year, I think. Like the Floyd version, these are slightly thinner bodies than the traditonal (small "t") Les Paul, and they're chambered or weight relieved. That, and the tummy cut makes them much more comfortable to play than the usual LP, and the neck heel *really* makes a huge difference in comfort for the upper fret access (FWIW, I've found that the little "dip" on the front of the PRS guitars is absolutely useless in that regard). The lighter, non-solid body makes a bit of a difference in the overall sound (compared to solid-body full thickness guitars with the same Burstbucker setup) but not as much as you'd think.

And finally, these guitars come with coil taps (push pull on a tone control) as standard. About time.

Frankly, I'd like to see this neck heel and the tummy cut available on ALL LPs, regardless of the weight of the guitar; it just makes SO much more sense.

The guitar on the right is a black Custom Shop version of the Axcess guitar with ebony FB, MOP block inlays, white "triple" binding around body and headstock (hate the current cream stuff). When seen next, the gold hardware and the black Floyd will be replaced with nickel/chrome, the pickup covers will be gone, there'll be a Fernandes sustainer stuffed in the back, there'll be a '57 in the bridge and the knobs will be black. Follow-on photos in about a month.


This guitar (and the Floyd version) owes its existence to the Neal Schon Sig Custom shop guitar (not available no how no way). Neal's guitars, however, are full depth bodies (though chambered); all have a Floyd, the neck profile carve is specific to those guitars, there are special inlays on fretboard and headstock, there's a Fernandes Sustainer built in, there's a mid-sweep boost/cut, the knobs control a master volume, a master tone, a push-pull for the mid-sweep and a Sustainer Intensity pot (rather than the usual 2V/2T) and the knobs are arranged differently and spaced out a bit more than the usual LP Quad. Hopefully a few more pieces of his guitars will shake themselves down through the Gibson hierarchy onto the production run LPs...

Finally a Floyde that looks nice, mainly because you cannot see it!
The black on black is real nice. The lack of gold at the bridge does look a little weird but hey, it works.
I'm a gold fiend chrome is for lesser pauls
My Burney with the Sustainer was an interesting axe for sure. I do like push/pull/taps and have them in my R9 with the Tonestyler and CTS pots.
This Axcess seems to be a good line. It's weird some are Custom shop only though.

[icsm]

Originally Posted by dspelman

The guitar on the right is a black Custom Shop version of the Axcess guitar with ebony FB, MOP block inlays, white "triple" binding around body and headstock (hate the current cream stuff). When seen next, the gold hardware and the black Floyd will be replaced with nickel/chrome, the pickup covers will be gone, there'll be a Fernandes sustainer stuffed in the back, there'll be a '57 in the bridge and the knobs will be black. Follow-on photos in about a month.

Shes a beauty, Maybe give it all black chrome
so how much does she weigh?