Starting To Look For One Of These:

Yargnad said:
The tribute is the only line I bother looking at most of the time. I can't afford a Standard or Traditional plus I don't need nor care about binding. I prefer the bigger neck profile and bare bones looks more than anything else.
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I always did kind of like the Gold Tops, even in Gibson's 'Tribute' line. Like you, the lack of binding wasn't a big deal and the bigger necks were a big plus.

But, I also feel the need to say this honestly - I've owned 5 entry-level Gibson's (and got rid of all of them) and the difference in quality between a Standard and a Tribute or a Studio is like night and day.

Honestly, I've played Epiphones that were better guitars (overall) than my brand new 2016 Gibson Les Paul Studio.
 
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Robert Herndon said:
I'm starting to poke around again and looking for one of these 50's Tribute Gold Tops. They are a lower level guitar, without binding and the backs of the guitar are painted black and the wood grain is visible through the paint.

I've shopped for a husk online and also a few locally, but haven't come up with anything.

I'd like to maybe trade my 2019 Schecter Hellraiser C1FR Transparent Purple Burst, so I'm hoping to find one in the hands of a player as opposed to buying one outright online.

I did find one at a shop in Collierville Tennessee for $1,100.00, which seemed like a decent price to me.

I'm out of wall space and guitar hangers and I've been donating a lot of stuff to the music academy and/or younger players to play it forward and make more room.

I have enough Genuine Gibson parts to fully outfit a husk - should one present itself.

I'm no longer worried about the common wavy fretboard (all 5 of my new Gibson's had this, some worse than others) because I am confident that I can plane and refret a neck now.

I'll likely sand all the black off the back of the guitar down to bare wood and apply linseed oil. If you haven't owned one, the black paint is very sticky and feels like a latex base. You can leave a thumbprint in it that disappears the next day.

I also have a long shaft 21 tone wire harness in reserve, several sets of Gibson pickups, Grover tuners, bridges, misc hardware, switch and cavity covers, pickguards and screws sufficient to build a guitar if needed.

I think I'm at a point in my skill set where I'm able to correct all the inherent problems I experienced with my new Gibson's, so I'm going into this fully aware that I'm gonna have to fix things to make it a working guitar, dependable enough to earn a living with.

It would be nice to have a genuine Gibson after years of chasing them unsuccessfully. I know that's foolish, but it's honest.

Again, I'm in no great hurry and really can't justify a $1,000+ purchase right now (following a two bathroom remodeling project) but I know you guys have far more exposure to human beings and guitars than I do, so I thought I would put a bug in your collective ears.

Thanks...
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I'm pretty sure you traded your last God Top for the Schecter...
 
Robert Herndon said:
The reason for wanting the 50's Tribute is the wider, thicker neck profile.
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I like the 50's style necks and my big hands/large fingers make it more than just a personal preference.

I just decided that it was counter productive to keep buying brand new "fixer-upper" Gibsons (for around $1,000.00) then replacing pickups, wiring and sometimes the nut (to correct hum/buzz or too low action height) and then you still have to deal with incorrect neck angle, humps in the fretboard, bumps in the fretboard around the fret ends which are things beyond what I want to take on and things that i encountered personally, not only on my own (5) new Gibson instruments, but on many similar models that I've serviced for others.
 
I traded @esge my 2016 Gibson SG T Series for a Chinese knock-off Les Paul that was a 1000 times a better, more playable guitar than the Gibson, even after I spent over $1,000 on it to fix all the problems.

To this day, I am told that SG has passed from person to person several times and is never retained.

2016 Gibson SG.jpg

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I have a real nice Epiphone Joe Bonamassa Gold Top with Sheptone pickups I'd part with. Not cheap though...

It has a Tusq Nut and has been Plek'd and set up professionally.

Here is blurb from the seller I got it from.

"The first mod was the pots and caps were changed out for a set of paper and oil caps and overvalued pots from RS guitar works. The next mod was the bridge was replaced with Faber E-sert studs which convert it to ABR 1 studs. The bridge was changed to a Tone Pros locking ABR 1 the tailpiece is a lightweight aluminum one off of one of my Gibson Custom Shop guitars. The tailpiece studs are also Tone Pros locking ones. Last but not least this guitar is Pleked by none other than the fine staff at Glaser instruments in Nashville."

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Sp8ctre said:
I have a real nice Epiphone Joe Bonamassa Gold Top with Sheptone pickups I'd part with. Not cheap though...

It has a Tusq Nut and has been Plek'd and set up professionally.

Here is blurb from the seller I got it from.

"The first mod was the pots and caps were changed out for a set of paper and oil caps and overvalued pots from RS guitar works. The next mod was the bridge was replaced with Faber E-sert studs which convert it to ABR 1 studs. The bridge was changed to a Tone Pros locking ABR 1 the tailpiece is a lightweight aluminum one off of one of my Gibson Custom Shop guitars. The tailpiece studs are also Tone Pros locking ones. Last but not least this guitar is Pleked by none other than the fine staff at Glaser instruments in Nashville."

View attachment 76127
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That's a nice guitar with some cool mods too!!!!
 
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