Speaking of Les Pauls

It's odd, but when I was buying my first 'Good' guitar - as it happened an Epiphone SG with a bolt-on neck from Grattans catalogue, which after the first thing I had, believe me, really was good - what I really wanted was the one on the opposite page, which was again an Epiphone, but this time a Cherry Sunburst Les Paul Standard.

I was working in a Cash 'n' Carry I think, and the difference between £4 and £9 a week was the same as driving lessons and a pair of Adidas Ivan Lendl trainers, so I went budget, and there we are. It lasted me well, and I gigged with it for a while so I've got no complaints. Wish I still had it.

Anyway, far too many years later, that little niggle has never gone away, and despite owning far too many guitars, I've never gotten around to getting a burst.

And I still haven't, but what has just shown up is a Vintage - as in the brand -Les Paul-a-like, all set neck and humbuckers, bogey tuners and generally nicely pretty coloured, and I have to say that I wish I'd done it ages ago.

Dead good fun to play, even if the scale seems a bit odd.

So, big question, do I just change the tuners, put some better pickups on etc. or do I get radical and satinise it, like I talked about here.

Money in the mouth's position time methinks...time to ponder.

Taking the gloss off of stuff

I'm not a big Slash fan - I mean, he's good and I liked the early G 'n'R stuff, but I haven't really kept track since then, not that I dislike him, just don't listen. If that makes sense.

Anyway, the other day I was looking at the latest reproduction of the copy of a Les Paul he played back in the day...
Well, you know the score.
And I thought that I liked the look of it.

What I liked about it though was that it has a dull finish - satin or matte, I don't know what you'd call it - rather than all glossy and shiny.

No big deal, and I am not ever likely to spend a couple of grand on a guitar, or even a few hundred much more fun to make them, but one for the lottery-list, if nowt else.

Imagine-my-surprise, as they say in all the best places, when I came across this thread on a web site, where a fella was turning a gloss Les Paul into a nice matte or satin one. With easy to use implements...

The one on the left is the before which as you can see is very nice, yet really glossy and shiny.


The one to my right is the after, which is uber cool in excelsis...

Anyway, just thought I'd mention it, and do go read the link as he did a wicked description/explanation...

Now, if I only had a cherryburst Les Paul

Hmmm...