Les Paul Junior for 2018 hot or not ?

[scott1970]

I dig it.

 

[jstarr]

Hot.

 

[jamdogg]

Whoa there, brother...Why would you want a slug P90 in a Junior? And the tailpiece is a throwback to old-school (which is sought after by many. Self included.) as well as the inlays. Pearl dots in a Junior? Don't be silly.

Why wouldn't you want a slug P90? they sound fantastic. you have them in your '14 MM, no? the throwback tailpiece likely will not intonate as well as the lightning bar, and sure doesnt look as good as the satin nickel finish IMHO. And pearl over acrylic any day. I get the whole purist thing, but at some point it should be recognized the old-school Jr, while very cool, is not immune to improvements.

 

[MrWrong]

I like everything about it except the price. I like the old time logo which would go well with my '07 GOTW #33 headstock pictured below:

 

[endial]

Why wouldn't you want a slug P90? they sound fantastic. you have them in your '14 MM, no? the throwback tailpiece likely will not intonate as well as the lightning bar, and sure doesnt look as good as the satin nickel finish IMHO. And pearl over acrylic any day. I get the whole purist thing, but at some point it should be recognized the old-school Jr, while very cool, is not immune to improvements.

Hey jamdogg, I didn't mean to harp on you, and I see your point on improvements. I just don't see a Junior as a slug P90 wielding instrument. It would "take the Junior out of the Junior" in my eyes. Don't get me wrong about Slug P90's. You're right, I have one in my '14 Melody Maker, although it's in the neck position. I put a P90 from my Junior Special neck in the bridge position (swapped them, which turned out brilliantly). That said, I'm now on the hunt for another '14 MM with the Slug p90's because I miss that tone! I still can't see pearl inlays in a Junior though. It's origin is "budget guitar". I think they were even made of clay back in the day (the inlays), although I could live with it. I can go either way on the tailpiece, really, but yes, I'm a snot-nosed purist of sorts. For that I can apologize.

 

[laterider]

Good heavens did any one see they have the SG Jr in the same manner. Knobs are in the right spot, the angle tail piece and same logo. Geez, I want both the LP and SG Jr now along with three 2018 P90 Classics in those perfect colors. Some of the models this year are killin' this old dog, good thing I'm fiddling with pickups right now and hoping these all get bought up before my wallet takes some serious hit this year.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SGJRH18VENH

 

[fibre1]

A friend of mine purchased the ‘demo’ Les Paul Junior 2018 model from Sweetwater. I had a chance to compare it to my original 1957 Junior.

For starters, the 2018 top is not as yellow as the original. But a better top than past Jr USA models.

The back of the 2018 Jr is a dark burgandy brown stain, not painted. You can see the grain of the wood, but you need really good lighting to see the grain, but it is stain, not paint.

The tail piece is in closer proximity to the pickup, reminiscent of a 1956 or earlier Jr.

The control cavity contains a circuit board with the mounted pots. The P-90 connects to the board with a quick release connector. The 2018 came with black top hat knobs. We were in the process of replacing them with gold tophat knobs while we were comparing the guitars, thus you may see inconsistencies in the knobs in my pics.

The neck is simiar to a ‘59 LP, not beefy like a ‘57 Goldtop LP. The neck is larger than past USA Jr’s that we have played. In fact, with my eyes closed it would be hard to tell the difference in neck size between the original 1957 Jr and the 2018 Jr. The neck heal size and location to body is very accurate to the original.

We played both Jr’s through two Fender Princeton Reverb II’s and with a bit of dialing in, we could get the two guitars very close in tone. The 2018 Jr was louder and brighter than the 1957, but this may be due to the tailpiece location being closer to P-90 pickup.

Overall, we were pleased with the new 2018 JR eventhough the logo, headstock, and tuners were not period correct. We both agreed that the guitar should cost under $1,000. It will be interesting to see if the price comes down a bit or if Gibson plans to hold the higher price and release additional colors.

 

[endial]

Excellent job @fibre1 (and friend), and THANK YOU. Brilliant information there.

 

[scozz]

$1299 for a junior??

Get a studio model with a case.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LPST17B6CHd1

or a tribute....which is even less money but a serious step up from a junior.

ETA:
Ta
that has to be a serious mis-print.

Yup I agree...$1299????

 

[fibre1]

 

[fibre1]

I wanted to show a pic of the 2018 LP Jr headstock. Although quite different, it is a pretty design.

 

[ARandall]

^ Yep, given that this is not a RI, I can't understand the continual bleating about the logo.

In fact not even the RI's get the logo right.....and have not done so for the entire history of their existence.

 

[Plexi70]

View attachment 275774

Besides the logo - what is different about the design of the headstock as compared to a regular Les Paul? Does the headstock seem to have the same pitch or angle as a regular Gibson?

 

[Plexi70]

I wanted to show a pic of the 2018 LP Jr headstock. Although quite different, it is a pretty design.

Forgot to also ask? Is the tailpiece aluminum or does it seem to be made out of Zinc?

 

[Mr Insane]

The Logo doesn't bother me. Now when they did the 100 logo crap, that looked fugly.

I love Juniors(look at my avatar), but for $1,300...they can *self censored*

 

[fibre1]

Here are pics of the 2018 JR and the 1957 JR headstocks. I am not certain about differences in the headstock angles, they seemed very close to me but I didn’t take pics of them from the side. As for the tailpiece, I would be surprised if it was aluminum. We hadn’t changed the strings, otherwise I would have taken pics of underside of tailpiece. Will try ro get those pics in the near future.

 

[fibre1]

This pic shows the circuit board, pots and stock P-90 that comes with the 2018 Junior. The owner of the guitar, Garnet P., has decided to upgrade to RS vintage pots, cap and wiring. He is also upgrading to a Seymour Duncan P-90.

 

[scott1970]

I dig the headstock, too.

 

[Plexi70]

I have one of these Juniors coming my way in 2 weeks. I use to have the ‘15 version but didn’t like the shape of the neck and sold it. Thanks for describing and taking picture of the circuitry. I intend on replacing the wiring with a Wolfetone Meaner P90 and wire it 50s style with TVT volume pot and a 250K tone pot. Your ‘18 Jr is likely brighter because it has a 500k tone pot - consider using original spec of 250k for tone. It really helps shape the mids and isn’t same as 500k half way.

 

[endial]

...I intend on replacing the wiring with a Wolfetone Meaner P90 and wire it 50s style with TVT volume pot and a 250K tone pot. Your ‘18 Jr is likely brighter because it has a 500k tone pot - consider using original spec of 250k for tone. It really helps shape the mids and isn’t same as 500k half way.

Plexi70- I agree; 500k Volume pot and 250k Tone pot in a Junior. Could you please educate me on what a "TVT" pot is? Thanks.