2007 Les pauls
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I depends on how much mahogony Gibson wants to remove. They normally tap the mahogony for weight relief.
Historics are the only ones with solid chunks of wood.
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Not chambered. They still tap out the mahogony with standards. When I say tapped, I mean the drill holes here and there in the mahogony for weight relief.
Wouldn't that affect the tone quite a bit? I think Les Pauls are meant to be heavy ass guitars and people just whine too much, sounds like Gibson's just thinking up more cost-cutting measures to make a bigger profit:zzz:
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All new Les Pauls (outside of the historics) have significant routing throughout the body. We are not talking the small holes they used in the 90s, this is more like a semi hollow body! Here is an x ray of a new LP.
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·That looks like the P-90/Bucker configuration of a the Les Paul BFG. It shares it's "weight relieved" body with the other low end Les Paul, the Studio. I seriously doubt that's representative of the amount of wood in a Standard which goes for over twice that price. Got an x-ray of one of those?
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I agree with traynor_garnet above. There was a huge outcry about this on the lespaulforum ( as you can imagine, it was a shit-storm over there!) and on thegearpage. The new Les Pauls are significantly weight relieved compared to previous models. I'm not sure ifs always to the extent of the x-ray above, but they are much lighter than before.
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Yes, the above picture is of a BFG but Gibson has confirmed that all new Les Pauls (not just the low end ones) are built like this. If you search you tube you will find a video factory tour of the Gibson plant that clearly shows all the LP bodies routed in this manner. Here is a shot of a regular (non BFG) LP.
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From the Gibson site:
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/Chambering the Les Paul_ A Mar/
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/Chambering the Les Paul_ A Mar/
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·That's....awful. A little bit of me just died.
Who does that to a fine piece of mahogany?Someone who should be shot. :2guns:
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That's just not right--I like the chunky nature of the Les Pauls--that's a 5 pound difference given Marlon's weights.
At least they do mention it on their website, btu how many people buying them know that?
At least the historics don't do that, but this could still drive up the cost of older Les Pauls.
At least they do mention it on their website, btu how many people buying them know that?
At least the historics don't do that, but this could still drive up the cost of older Les Pauls.
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Actually, they made the switch without telling anyone. Once people discovered this Gibson eventually came clean.
I know of stores who don't even know Gibson is doing this. I told as salesperson in a local place but I could tell he didn't believe me.
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That's not right--especially with the prices the new regular ones get these days.
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Looks like the Gibson spin doctors worked overtime to explain this for 2007. There was another Gibson article, which I can't find at the moment, in which they admit they started just drilling holes for weight relief. They added that this was because supplies of lighter mahogany were not longer available as they once were for the productions models. After much experimentation (trail and error?) they said they came upon a pattern that gave superior resonance to just drilling random holes. Gibson would start using this new pattern of weight relief drilling in their 2007 Les Paul productions models.
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Does anyone know what year they started doing this? It would be good to know from a collectable standpoint. Of course if there's enough backlash then they may stop this process thereby ensuring that these "hollow" ones will be collectable because of being limited in production. Or they could come out with yet another variation of the Les Paul... maybe call it the Less Paul! :wink:
My opinion is that the big players, Gibson and Fender especially, have watered down their flagship guitar models into so many subsets that it's devalued them as a whole. That's part of the reason vintage instruments get so much more on the open market. When someone says they have a pre-CBS strat or a '59 Les Paul it's a known quantity (condition aside). Nowadays when someone says they have a new strat that could mean anything from total dreck to a very nice guitar depending on the model, hardware, the day it was made, place of manufacture etc...
They've largely taken the "craft" out of it and reduced it to a business model. :frown:
My opinion is that the big players, Gibson and Fender especially, have watered down their flagship guitar models into so many subsets that it's devalued them as a whole. That's part of the reason vintage instruments get so much more on the open market. When someone says they have a pre-CBS strat or a '59 Les Paul it's a known quantity (condition aside). Nowadays when someone says they have a new strat that could mean anything from total dreck to a very nice guitar depending on the model, hardware, the day it was made, place of manufacture etc...
They've largely taken the "craft" out of it and reduced it to a business model. :frown:
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Whoa, I didn't know they took it that far, I still though they were doing holes for weight relief.
For a few hundred extra just get a historic 57 gold top, that way you get all the wood.
For a few hundred extra just get a historic 57 gold top, that way you get all the wood.
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