gibson les paul vintage mahogany

The Vacant

Saw that Guitar Center has a sale on Vintage Mahogany Les Pauls. Can't find any info on them on Gibson's website though. Anyone play one? How are the Burstbucker pickups? Are they worth looking into, or should I just keep saving for a different model?

lucylespian

The Vacant wrote:

Saw that Guitar Center has a sale on Vintage Mahogany Les Pauls. Can't find any info on them on Gibson's website though. Anyone play one? How are the Burstbucker pickups? Are they worth looking into, or should I just keep saving for a different model?

VM's are basically a stripped down Custom, solid mahogany, no maple cap, no flames, no binding either on the body as I remember, The binding is a labour intensive process, which adds a lot of cost, so unbound models tend to be a lot cheaper.
Burstbuckers are solid pups. Tons of people flick for other things, but Joe Bonamassa is happy playing em stock, and says good things about them, I have em in 2 LP's and they are fine.
All the usual things apply, go play a few, pick one you like, be prepared to tweak it a little. Check fretwork and general fit and finish, and buy the one that speaks to you.

xtremehardy388

I played one for two songs in 2006....I'm pretty sure Gibson cut down a sequoia, put two pickups and 6 strings on it and shipped it. Amazing sound but unless you're built like The Rock or John Cena...it'll be a work out to get through a show with it...

lucylespian

xtremehardy388 wrote:

I played one for two songs in 2006....I'm pretty sure Gibson cut down a sequoia, put two pickups and 6 strings on it and shipped it. Amazing sound but unless you're built like The Rock or John Cena...it'll be a work out to get through a show with it...

I'm pretty sure that they would now be chambered, but don't quote me on that.
Easy to tell thoguh, just pick one up.
The chanmbering removed heaps of weight, but the sound is still great.

ianvomsaal

Personally, an all mahogany LP makes for an overly Dark & Muddy sounding guitar (I prefer a maple top to help counter-act that).
The Alnico V BurstBucker Pro humbuckers are fine pickups - they have Alnico V magnets (instead of the more traditional Alnico II's).
The BurstBucker Pro is also Wax Potted - which helps them withstand louder volume pressures without feedback (microphonics).

The Original BurstBucker 1, 2, & 3 use Alnico II magnets, and don't have wax-potting (they're more true to Gibson's originals pickups).
Players looking for a vintage tone prefer them because they allow you to get your distortion from the amp rather than the pickup.
I like Alnico-II's more than Alnico-V's (and you can save some $$ by going with Seymour Duncan's Alnico II Pro or Custom Custom).
Cheers . . .

- Ian