Who builds these?

[Leee]

Wife’s friend - I’ll call her Sally - was talking with an old friend from high school.
Turns out he plays guitar, so Sally told him about my collection.

For some reason, she’s all into the whole Les Paul thing and she’s really got it going on by impressing guitar players with her knowledge.
I mean, for some random middle-aged blonde lady to approach a guitarist and start chatting with you about your guitars…

Anyway, I guess this guy told her he has a couple of Les Pauls too.
Sent her pics even.

So she sent the pictures to me.
Just to share, and to make conversation.
I mean, as an avid Les Paul enthusiast, I would be happy to see the connection she made.

Oh….
Well…
I broke the news, told her they aren’t actually Les Pauls.

Similar design, but made by someone else.

She was so disappointed.
“So who builds them?” she asked.

Hell, I dunno.
There are plenty of guitars out there on the market that I’m really not that interested in so I don’t know much about them.
So, anyone know who builds these?

 

[jlee]

ESP. Don’t know the model designation.

 

[Leee]

ESP was my guess.
I was trying to explain to her that I don’t know anything about those guitars.
Some of them are $300 Chinese guitars but some of them are actually pretty nice.

“Well, they look like a Les Paul” she said.

Well, I told her, a Camaro looks a lot like a Mustang if you don’t know the difference.

I think she thinks a lot less of the guy now.

 

[ArchEtech]

ESP LTD EC-1000

They aren’t that cheap. They maybe not be technically a Les Paul. Nothing is unless it has Gibson on the headstock.

Still pretty cool guitars. Still lots of cool singlecuts out there.

 

[TXOldRedRocker]

Top one looks like this model.

https://www.espguitars.com/products/19108-ec-256fm

 

[Leee]

Right.
That’s what I told her, some of those guitars are actually very well-built. They just aren’t a Les Paul.

And I know ESP builds some top-notch stuff.
I told her they tend to be popular with the metal guys.
She confirmed that he definitely is.

Speculating here, but I think that she thinks that he thinks that she’s just a dumb girl and doesn’t know the difference.
(And she didn’t, but forget that part for the sake of this conversation…)

I think that’s what kinda derailed her.
She knows how expensive a Les Paul is, and she understands the passion the players have for them.

She understands that owning them is a bit of an accomplishment for anyone who buys their first one.

She gets all of that.

Her ex played guitar all his life, if only half-assed for his own amusement.
(Kinda like me)
Her son was really into it for a few years.

So for the guy to bullshit her, well, I think it just didn’t sit right with her.

BWAHAHAHA!!!!

 

[jimmyjames]

Tell 'er I've got 3 with Super Real on the headstock, and she can take me out to dinner

 

[Leee]

How close are you to San Angelo, Texas?

 

[ArchEtech]

I think if a girl I was dating was that worried about which guitar I owned, or wanted to judge me based on playing an esp LTD vs and R9 I’d politely tell her that it’s not going to work out.

 

[Leee]

I think if a girl I was dating was that worried about which guitar I owned…

Sure.
But that wasn’t the issue.

He misled her.

Let’s take this all the way back to the whole “Epi’s as good as a Gibby” thing.

How many times has someone posted a pic of their Les Paul (here or anywhere else) but they clip off the headstock and disguise the fact that it’s not a Gibson?

I think the guy could have said something along the lines of, “I have a couple guitars along the same lines as a Les Paul” and this conversation would have never happened.

Have YOU ever lied to some chick about the guitars YOU own?

 

[Roxy13]

If it's single cut shaped then it is often easier just to tell a non player that it's a Les Paul. Even many non players have some idea then of what that is.

 

[jim777]

If it's single cut shaped then it is often easier just to tell a non player that it's a Les Paul. Even many non players have some idea then of what that is.

This. Same goes for Strats and Teles as well. Brad Paisley says he plays Teles when most of his guitars say "Crook" on the headstock, and everyone knows what he means.

 

[ArchEtech]

How many people call non Fender Telecasters and Stratocasters?

 

[Dolebludger]

Some players call all single cuts Les Pauls if they roughly have that shape. And Epi single cuts with that shape are LPs — even legally. They are referring to the basic design — not the manufacturer. Gibson, of course, has been very jealous of its original designs and their names. Even this very sub forum used to be called “other Les Pauls” and the name was changed at the “request” of Gibson, as I understand it.

All I am saying is the guy who referred to his ESP guitars as Les Pauls probably wasn’t trying to impress anybody. He was only using a commonly-used description of his guitars. And, yes, I hate the people who attempt to “fake” Gibsons and Epis and put those names on the headstocks. And I call my Tele and two Strats by those names, though they weren’t made by Fender and don’t have Fender’s name on the headstocks.

 

[Cozmik Cowboy]

I think if a girl I was dating was that worried about which guitar I owned, or wanted to judge me based on playing an esp LTD vs and R9 I’d politely tell her that it’s not going to work out.

If a girl I was dating knew & cared that much about guitars, I'd so happy I might even slip and tell my wife about it........

That sounds like a guitar geek's dream girl to me (as long as she didn't think there was something special about overpaying for "'59" in the model name.........).

 

[GBLEV]

I think if a girl I was dating was that worried about which guitar I owned, or wanted to judge me based on playing an esp LTD vs and R9 I’d politely tell her that it’s not going to work out.

If I was in this guys shoes, I'd just tell her I keep my Gibson LP's stored in a closet in my bedroom, then I would invite her to see the collection!

 

[Dolebludger]

And then are some of us who own a Gibson (in my case, vintage) who prefer to play out with another make we are proud of, because it plays better for us. Like I said in post #14 above, some of us call all single cuts with LP-like shape Les Pauls. IMHO, the term “Les Paul” has become generic.

 

[Leee]

Right.
I get that.
But that didn’t work for Sally.

She was lied to, and she’s going to have trouble getting past that.

Besides, he’s a metal guy and that’s just not her thing.

 

[Dolebludger]

Lee, I understand that Sally feels lied to. Now, if I were somewhere playing my Epi Les Paul, I’d describe it as such. If I were playing one of my PRE SEs, I would describe that accurately (if anybody asked or cared). But the terms “Les Paul, Strat, and Tele” have become so generic that some players use these terms when the guitar wasn’t made by Gibson or Fender. Now, this can be insulting to a guitar fan like Sally. One of my favorite true stories is about the time I went out into the audience (without the guitar) and asked if anybody knew what kind of guitar I had been playing. Nobody knew. It was a Strat (partscaster, mostly Fender) with the most recognizable shape of all.

 

[Roxy13]

"What kind of guitar is that?"

"Well, it's a Bacchus BLP-STD-H."

"Huh?"