NGD - ES LP Goldtop o.o

mdubya

mdubya

Well-Known Member
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I couldn't help myself. These Gibson blowout sales are making life difficult.

I've been shopping for a player Goldtop. Mostly Epi Elitist 57 RI and Orville 57 RI. But people are asking unrealistic prices for these guitars, if you can even find them.

I have thought the ES LP was cool from the get go and some of the Goldtops I have seen have left an impression. Not to mention I love ES guitars and I am a fan of the Memphis made guitars in general.

Someone in a thread on mlp alerted me to a blowout sale going on at Chicago Music Exchange (a shop I have had very good experiences with) and mentioned they were able to get an even better deal than the blow out price.

I stalked a particular ES LP Goldtop with humbuckers (they make a cool P-90 version too) for about a week. I shopped other guitars, priced out a luthier built guitar, thought about buying a little Marshall Lead 12 - anything to stave off the GAS.

Ultimately, I lost the fight. I made a ridiculously low offer on the guitar I had been watching. CME countered with a slightly more reasonable offer, which I accepted.

Behold, the new mdubya ES LP Goldtop:

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Oh now that scratches an itch there dont it?!?!??!?!

that is plain gorgeous and I bet it sounds amazing
 
CME had these listed as "used" and as "floor models." The CME rep explained that these were new old stock, new in the box. This particular guitar is a 2015. The VOS treatment is a bit heavy handed, IMHO. The nice pure nickel strings were a little bit oxidized, as were the frets. The nitro was still a little bit sticky. There has been some criticism of the Memphis qc and if I wanted to find fault with some nitpicky things about the guitar, I could. But I wouldn't even notice if I didn't go looking for these imperfections (I only look because of the complaints of others, really).

Here's the good stuff: a nice rub with a soft, clean towel cleaned up the strings and the frets. Setup is close to perfect. String spacing (one of my personal pet peeves with other Memphis guitars I have) is perfect for me. The MHS Custom Buckers, while a bit heavily aged for my tastes, are plain AWESOME. Great PAF tones. Super touch sensitive and dynamic. They even produce double tones, hitting a 2nd harmonic as the note decays. Really cool. Really great sounding. The neck is a very medium neck: not even as chunky as my SG Classic. It is less chunky than my Custom Shop Firebird, too. The shape is very rounded, with almost a slight V shaped feel to it. Really cool. Reminds me of a hand made replica or of a real vintage 50's neck (many of which are more modest in size than the big fat reissue necks).

The hardware is really nice. The keystone tuners and the inlays and nice and white (not snotty green), opaque, they even look a little bit aged. The dark back and back grain are both gorgeous and really everything I could have hoped for. And the guitar just plays great. The biggest thing holding me back is the 10-46 strings. I prefer 9-42 and the 10's are showing how soft I have become. :p Once cleaned up though, the pure nickel strings are too nice to waste. :D The fretboard is nice and dark and smooth with some red streaks, very similar to the very nice board on my 335.

I really wondered if I was doing the right thing with this purchase. Bottom line: it has exceeded my expectations. Once polished up and new strings are installed, I imagine I will be even more pleased.

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It is very tough to get a good photo of the back. It is darker and the grain more prominent in person.

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The soft V to the neck is sublime in hand.

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eSGEe said:
Oh now that scratches an itch there dont it?!?!??!?!

that is plain gorgeous and I bet it sounds amazing
Click to expand...

Yessir! I have been wanting a cool Goldtop for ages. I didn't NEED one, but really been wanting one. I certainly have enough really cool guitars at this point, so finding the right one was important. I wasn't so sure this was going to be the right one. But I am feeling more and more confident that it is. Now if the Gold were start to "green-up" a bit, over time, well...that would just be too much to ask for, wouldn't it? :fingersx:
 
FWIW- this is about 6.5 lbs. Lighter than my 335, not quite as light as my 330. Perfect. And a joy to just sit and play, comfortably, for as long as you want.

Another big concern was, would it sound like a "real" Les Paul? Well, it does, very much so. Good news.
 
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Very nice mdubya! I like your new guitar. I'm very partial towards goldtops. I also like your detailed review... makes me GAS even more, for your guitar. Cool that someone at this forum has one of Gibson's ES line of guitars and can describe them more personally.

Since your LP is a lot lighter than a regular solid body LP, how does the balance feel?
 
syscokid said:
Very nice mdubya! I like your new guitar. I'm very partial towards goldtops. I also like your detailed review... makes me GAS even more, for your guitar. Cool that someone at this forum has one of Gibson's ES line of guitars and can describe them more personally.

Since your LP is a lot lighter than a regular solid body LP, how does the balance feel?
Click to expand...

It balances perfectly on my knee. It balances better than my ES 335, which is fine, too. I think the LP neck being set deeper into the body helps. It also has a minimalist mahogany tone block in the body, so it's not completely hollow (close though, even more minimal than the 335).
 
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