I have to admit that I'm not a great fan of the way "new" Les Paul goldtops look. When they've been used for around 40 or 50 years they develop a patina that looks great, but to me freshly finished goldtops look a bit cheesy. That didn't stop me from buying this '57 Historic reissue though (made in 2003). Just a couple of notes and I was hooked. I have since improved it even further (in my opinion) by replacing the original BurstBucker pickups, which I thought were a bit "hard" sounding, with a pair of Seymour Duncan Antiquity humbuckers that turned out to be a perfect match.
My "other" Les Paul (not including the other two). What I mean is that this '58 Historic is so close in playability and sound to the goldtop introduced above, that it makes a perfect backup. It's interesting to note that there was absolutely no need to change out the pickups on this made-in-2001 instrument. The original '57 classic pickups sound superb in this guitar. Which is rather odd, because I generally find them to be a bit too brittle. This just goes to show that the response of the body – even of a solidbody guitar – makes a huge difference to how a given pickup will perform in it. The moral of this story is that just because a certain pickup sounds stunning on one guitar, there's no guarantee that it'll sound as good in another guitar ... even one of the same type. I'll leave this one alone.
Well ... the body's original! Other than that, the neck is a custom-order Warmoth with a '57 "D" profile and a 12" radius. The pickups are Kinmans, and the electronics have been completely redone and the control plate reversed from its normal orientation. The control plate reversal is done to place the volume control within reach of the player's pinky for fast volume changes as well as swells. An unfortunate consequene of the heavier-than-normal neck is that the guitar doesn't balance as well as it should. But other than that it plays well and sounds outstanding, so I'm trying to figure out a way to improve the balance without actually adding weight ... perhaps I should just play it sitting down.
Actually this walnut 335 could be a '73. Serial numbers and specifications for these guitars
are a bit vague around this time. But what matters is the fact that it is one of best-sounding,
best-playing 335's I have ever encountered. The combination of 30+ year old wood, and numbered
PAF humbuckers, and whatever other magic occurred during the time this instrument has been
in existence is sonically sublime in this example.
As you have probably deduced by now, I like this guitar a lot.
This big jazz box is a surprise in a number of ways. It's a relatively new instrument, it was manufactured in a country that has not generally been known for producing top-quality musical instruments, and it was incredibly inexpensive. In spite of these expectation-lowering parameters, it sounds wonderful and plays beautifully! When I say "sounds wonderful" I mean that primarily in the acoustic sense, because the original pickup was just totally unacceptable, but I replaced it with a very nice Lindy Fralin floater (which, of course, adds a bit to the actual cost) and now it sounds great both acoustically and amplified. I decided that I liked this guitar so much that I replaced the original plastic pickguard with a classy ebony pickguard that I cut and crafted myself. So now it's a "custom" Emperor Regent.
Back in the mid '70's when I was an eager music student at Berklee College of Music, I had the opportunity to attend a seminar/class with the late great Joe Pass. It was held in a small, intimate room, and there were only a handful of other students present. I had been a fan of his for years (well, as many years as I could at the tender age of 20), and was thrilled to be breathing the same air. Joe was playing a 175 at the time. He called it his "plywood guitar." I absolutely loved the sounds he made with his plywood guitar, but it took me almost 30 years to acquire one of my own. And here it is ... and although it doesn't sound quite as good as his did (gee, I wonder why), it does sound pretty darn good. This is a guitar I'll need to grow into, even at my age.