Gibson Les Paul Classic Custom Electric Guitar with 3 Humbucker Pickups (with Case)

Feature:
The guitars features a volume knob for each of the three '57 classic humbuckers and an excellent mastertone knob that features quite a diverse, but still excellent sound. There's off course the typical Tune-O-Matic bridge, but I don't use it much though. Once in the beginning and than it's good. The strings have a great feeling to it and the neck is made for easy playing. The guitar has gold plating for the humbucker covers and the bridge, tailpiece, strap buttons, pluging thing and tuners have a gold color to. The finishing is great too, as expected from Gibson. I would have liked locking tuners instead of the grovers though. Now I have to tune the strings again every 4 to 7 days and I believe a split coil switch would be a great asset to the guitar's diversity of sounds. The fact that all three hummies are exactly the same type, may attract a large public, but it may get a bit unilateral. You may feel the need to replace one of tose humbuckers and personalize the guitar. I'd also like to put a bigsby on it one day (personal taste). With locking tuners off course.

Quality:
The product is made exellent. With the usual Gibson binding technique and painting and varnishing processes. If you watch the factory tour video on Youtube, you will see how carefully and well these Gibsons are made.

Value:
It is expensive. I got it for a relatively great price (€2,700 instead of the usual €3,400 for this one in Europe) at a large music store with a great service, but still I think this guitar is worth the money. For its concept, it's the best guitar out there at that price. But if you want to spend two times as much of money you may prefer the Black Beauty. At the same price, the only guitars that come close to my opinion are Paul Reed Smiths.

Desirability:
From the first time you hold it, you'll be convinced of the absolute refinement and stunningness of this guitar. yet, it hasn't got the attack to blow you away like the PRS SC-line of that price does.

Sound:
Genuine rock sound. But clean, without effects or distortion, it's also very suitable for more quiet songs and even songs meant for acoustic guitar. Just put the tone knob to 0 and play with the switch in treble position, which means playing with the middle and bridge humbucker. awesome for blues, folk, funk, early metal, hardcore, rock, punk and rock 'n roll. One thing that might be better in my opinion is this guitar hasn't really got a great attack, like the Paul Reed Smith SC-line. it's a bit more careful, but that's just a matter of taste and personal style. You just can't say the guitar sounds "bad". The Les Paul sound has gone through an evolution of 55 years now and praised and trusted by hundreds of thousands of guitarists around the world who own one. You really sense this high level of refinement when playing this guitar.

Ease of Use:
Awesome. I came from playing an Art & Lutherie folk guitar and this is such a different league! It was so easy to get used to the guitar. It just plays so fluently and fast. You don't make many mistakes on this guitar. The weight is well balanced and the strings are nicely smooth and make no rough sound when gliding your fingers over them. These Gibson Les Pauls Classic Custom with 3 Humbuckers are really easy to play and definately in comparison to strats, which I believe are a pain in the ass when it comes to ease of playing. The only little thing is the guitar's heavy. But many people like that, so I'll leave that in the middle.

Support:
Never used it.

Overall:
I'll keep it till I'm too old to play it and than, I'll give it to my children as a gift, or sell it with a great profit, as I expect it to be worth than.

Feature:
The third pickup is a luxury item that I don't use too often, though it can come in handy. It sounds just slightly brighter than the neck pickup, but still much closer to the neck's tone than the bridge's. It is wired as such where you can turn it on whenever, regardless of what setting the selector switch is on. I use it sometimes when I am frequently switching back and forth between the neck pickup's tone and the tone of the bridge pickup combined with only half of the middle, instead of having to cut the neck pickup's volume quickly. The grover tuners stay in tune very well, though mine are the sort of diamond shaped ones instead of the more oval shaped ones that the picture shows.

Quality:
Fantastic. I didn't get this guitar for its looks and third pickup, (though it is a nice touch) I got it because of its fantastic tone and superior playability. I honestly think that every guitar has its own unique sound that relative from instrument to instrument, not model from model. It was $2600, as apposed to the customs that were $4000, which theoretically are supposed to be the best.

Value:
10 all the way

Desirability:
It looks great too

Sound:
I went to my local guitar store looking to buy a high quality guitar. Les Pauls were at the top of my list, but I also tested out at least a dozen different models from a variety of brands. This guitar has THE BEST tone out of everything I tried- incredibly deep, has a huge presence, and incredibly clear. I also tried two different Les Paul Standards, and two Les Paul Customs, this was vastly superior to them all.

Ease of Use:
Playablilty is fantastic. I don't know what it is, but I've played other les pauls that aren't nearly as easy to bend the strings as mine.

Overall:
Fantastic.