Used Gibson Les Paul custom? What years and what’s a good price to pay used

[Leee]

I remember the first time I actually took a close look at a Les Paul in a guitar shop.
I was in high school, 81-82-ish.

I was surprised at how small they were.
I always presumed they were like 335 size, probably because of all the pictures with so many tiny little dudes like Randy Rhoads playing them.

 

[1allspub]

Regarding a LPCs and metal... when people started swapping hotter pickups into their LPCs (like Dirty Fingers and Super Distortions and some of the hot Duncans) and then later Gibson starting installing the 490/498 set from the factory, metal players started gravitating to them. But I think it was also very much a visual thing initially, especially with Ebony LPCs. Their sinister black look fit the genre better than, say... a clownburst! And it has turned into kind of a chicken/egg thing (ie, did the metal crowd like the black LPC aesthetic and mod them with hot pickups and then they started to become associated with metal OR did used hot-rodded LPCs just happen to get picked up early on by metal players which lead to more LPCs getting hot-rodded, which led to their association with metal which led to Gibson starting to put hotter factory pickups in, etc, etc, etc!). Now, if you’re gonna start talking all mahogany LPCs then I think you’re definitely into a sonic difference that does indeed favor the metal genre. The all hogs have a uniquely darker, more sinister growl to them that differs from maple-capped LPs. And the ebony fretboards also play a role in metal players affinity towards LPCs, I believe. The extra brightness and snap of the ebony helps to balance with the hotter pickups and heavily driven/dark tone of metal guitarwork.

Regarding White LPCs turning yellow... gotta say, I don’t see/think piss yellow at all! To me it looks like buttercream! And I love the look! I’d love a white LPC to go with my Ebony and Silverburst ones, but only if it had ambered to buttercream. In fact, new white LPs (and just white guitars in general) are kinda boring to me. But I do love how they age.

I like fresh looking guitars though as well (Ebony when new and glossy is stunning!) but I like how they all age even better. It’s like the difference between a brand new, stiff pair of jeans and a pair of well worn, faded ones. The worn, faded ones just look better and feel more comfortable.

My 2010 Silverburst LPC is juuuuust starting to amber a bit. You can see it in the binding primarily, but also now on the silver nitro as well. And I’m loving it!

My Ebony LPC is a VOS model (2022 BB7) with the ambered/yellow binding and one of the main reasons I wanted a BB7 RI VOS was to get that yellowed binding. It just compliments the gold hardware perfectly and reminds me of an old 1977 Trans Am Special Edition (ie, the Bandit car!).

But, as always, YMMV! And wouldn’t it be boring if we all thought and liked the exact same thing.

 

[davidpggarrett]

It's the bling, the ebony board (extra bite) and the hot pickups (498t).
Talking about non reissues of course.

I think Randy Rhoads might have started it though.

Bravo, Sir. From an uneducated outsider, this is my assumption.

 

[redcoats1976]

a friend let one go about 4 years ago for $2500.1973,dimarzio active pups swapped in,headstock break,and refinned so well it made the new customs on the wall look like ass.if i had known he was selling it it would be mine today.the one that got away...