except mine is a 1962, this ones a 1963 
Posted on 09/18/2007 5:14:02 PM PDT by Drew68
A lot of people think so. there is a great debate going on over on the various guitar forums about Gibson vs. Heritage. The Heritage Les Pauls used a lot of the features that Gibson used in the 1950s but discontinued later for cost-cutting reasons.
I didn't think Heritage was still in business? I had figured the Gibson's lawyers had long ago shut them down.
Having owned several of these now “vintage guitars” I don’t see what all the hubub was about. In most cases, the originals had very poor quality of materials and workmanship. I guess that it that they are now 50 years old and that is the allure.
My latest axe is a custom guitar where the materials and workmanship are second to perfect and about the same price as the average Gibson.
I have a mid-70’s Gibson ES347 which is pretty smooth and of excellent quality. Many of the mid-70’s to mid-80’s Les Paul’s had some pretty funky quirks about them with setting up the intonation and harmonics and would not sustain very well.
except mine is a 1962, this ones a 1963
Nope; not worth going digging for...
I’ve been buying and selling old guitars since about 1968. I used to insist on playing older, vintage guitars with fetish value. But as the prices of these older instruments has climbed, I now feel that much of the hoopla is pure fetish. There are valid arguments on both sides of the old vs. new issue.
On one hand, to some extent, most musical instruments (other than the violin family) are mechanical devices plus sounding devices. It is true that for most acoustic instruments, aged woods can impart tonal qualities that simply cannot be duplicated with newer woods. That is, if they were quality instruments to begin with. Not all old ones are great guitars. It is also true that SOME high quality older instruments have certain intangible inspirational qualities to them. Some of this is imaginary, but some is not. I’ve owned and played older guitars that have amazing “vibe” to them.
But, as a fan of Strats and having owned well over a hundred vintage examples over the years, I recently bought a near new one on ebay, never having actually played it. I knew, though, from playing others of that specific model, that this model had a neck profile that I really liked, was unavailable elsewhere, and was a precision-made deal. I’m about the last one who would reco a new guitar over and old one, but this one utterly devastates any one of the six 35+ year old ones I own. Maybe tonally it isn’t quite as good as my favorite old ones, but it’s better in every quantifiable way. And after you run it through effects and whatever, the tonal differences are pretty much swamped.
Better or worse, older or newer, is pretty subjective. I owned a 1959 Strat that was an absolute dog, both sound wise and playability wise. I’ve owned a very low-end Squier guitar, which is a Korean $139 Strat that had a killer, knockout neck and made a super guitar with a drop-in pickup upgrade ($150). I will say that a brand new or near new guitar (or most any other instrument) will tend to have much more uniform mechanics. Likewise, older instruments in the era I happen to prefer (say 1957-1968) more often than not have wear-based mechanical issues that (in some, many cases) you can’t fix because fixing them will de-originalize them, and/or they are too valuable to take out and jam on in a sleazy bar. In fact, the more valuable some of these things get, the more they seem like liabilities.
You are correct. The vintage market has been taken over by collectors driving the prices of sub-standard guitars through the roof. 1970s era Gibsons and Fenders used to be considered inferior (not that there weren't some good ones made during the 1970s) but now command top dollar.
Even today's Indonesian, Korean and Chinese made Squires and Epiphones are often better instruments, playability-wise, than 1970s era American made Fenders and Gibsons but they have no collectible value.
| Chinese Les Paul |
I have a Samick. It is my "take to the boat guitar" for when I deploy to sea. It is basically a double cutaway Les Paul with a set neck. I replaced the p'ups with DiMarzios. It is a great little guitar and a lot of fun to play! Since it only set me back about $250, I don't worry about it. It has great action and a nice, slim neck. It is heavier than my Les Paul, though!
I have a Godin SD that has excellent sound that is made in Canada and assembled in N.H. Great clean sound and versatile, an excellent jack-of-all-trades guitar!
How can I tell the difference between an original Gibson Air Guitar and a cheap knock off?
Boy, that one would fool almost anybody! When they are that new(ish), you can’t even judge from tarnished solder joints or older pots/caps inside the body cavity.
One of the guitarists in my band owns 9 genuine Les Pauls. To each his own I guess.
That's why the "vintage re-issue" and "reliced" lines of guitars have become so popular. Owners of valuable, collectible vintage instruments can leave their priceless guitars at home and hit the road with a worn, "reliced" version that is identicle to their prized vintage guitar but worth only a fraction of the original.
Show off!
I did some google research on these Chicom Gibsons when I noticed them en mass on eBay last year. It was something about buying a ‘59 Les Paul re-issue for $20 with $175 shipping that made me curious.
End result was I found an Chicom goods importer website where they had thousands of items that had to be ordered in bulk and could be customized to your specs, whatever you wanted it to look like they would do; The musical instrument inventory section showed a picture of a knock-off Les Paul.
My $150 Chinese Epiphone plays better than my 1972 Les Paul Anniversary special (which I sold).
There are other teletale signs as well.
For one. The headstock is too big. The inlays on the neck are wrong and the ‘bell’ cover is shaped wrong and also too big.
It’s like they took a Les Paul and an Epiphone and combined them.
I’m sure if you took it about it probably has cheap electronics in it as well.
This is true, but the ‘57 “relic’ed” Strats I’ve seen still seem to cost at least in the upper $2K range.
I’m personally fond of the “Strat Plus” models that were made from about 1989 to about 1997. These had the roller nut, Sperzel or Schaller tuners, and the Lace pu’s (which are not that great sounding but they are loud and resistant to dimmer noise) AFAIK, these were the first Fenders to have a “rolled” finish process applied to the fret-edges which is very friendly to my hand. Great “out” guitar.
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