This is my 2004 Gibson Les Paul Standard. It is all stock (except for a chrome jack plate ) if a little worn. It has 2 Gibson Burstbucker pickups and the 60's neck shape. The finish is called "Latte Creme" and is not a very popular color
I got the guitar in May 2004 while on an overnight trip to San Diego. My wife and I were getting ready to open our teaching studio and this was to be our last "getaway" for some time. I was NOT guitar shopping...
While wandering around the Gaslamp District we stumbled into Centre City Music, which at the time sold only Gibson Guitars and Marshal amps. I had had my 1979 "The Paul" for some time and had yet to find a Standard (or any new Gibson, for that matter) that I liked enough to spend the money on. I still liked trying them out, though so I spent a half hour or so noodling away on an increasingly disappointing pile of Les Pauls. Most played "so so" and none sounded all that great.
As I was getting ready to leave my wife pointed to what I considered the ugliest guitar in the store and asked "why don't you try that one"?
Just to humor her I had the salesman get it down and played it for a few minutes. It kicked the living crap out of every other guitar in the store. At a certain point my wife tells me "You know you'll have to buy that, right?". Even my non-guitar playing wife could hear that it was a one of a kind find for me. I decided it was time to go to lunch and I would think about it. I really shouldn't be spending $2000 or so on a guitar I don't "have to" own. Eventually we ended up back there and asked about the price. $1596+tax case included. That year the street price on that guitar was $1999 and I think they just wanted it out of the store. So I bought it biggrin
One thing about the guitar is that it played horribly. I did a minor setup on it when we got home and played it that way for about a month or so, and then had a pro setup done. The intonation was terrible as well. It was like an untrained monkey had done the final setup and inspection at Gibson. The guitar sounded too good to worry about it, though. All easily rectified by a trained professional....
I had only had my 2002 Suhr Classic about 2 years at that point but this guitar immediately replaced it. At that time I was gigging constantly and teaching full time. After 6 months it needed another setup and even a fret dressing due to excessive fretwear messedup0
One thing that sets this guitar apart from my other guitars and even other Les Pauls is that it has a really huge onstage sound. When I was doing trio cover gigs it would fill quite a bit of sonic space even clean.
I don't have too many recoded examples of this guitar at the moment but here are a few...
Here I am playing the LP through my old Top Hat Ambassador 35 on a gig. Very clean tones:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txAZMXfVTLA
This is a demo of my 1971 Deluxe Reverb where I play the Suhr Classic 1st and then this guitar at about :40
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoLcYYI0vyU
"Radiate" - with my rock band "Felt" on a gig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57V-sviHIAU
Here is solo I did for a music library compilation through a Zvex Nanoamp into a Demeter Isolation cabinet. I think we also used a Barber Direct Drive on this one, too: http://markwein.com/soundfiles/RockGod.mp3
I'd have a really difficult time replacing this guitar if lost or stolen. Its also a reminder that I have the coolest wife in the world, too smi